Benjamin Franklin understood the difference between making promises and producing results. His famous statement, “Well done is better than well said,” appeared in Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1737. The message remains relevant to business owners, entrepreneurs and leaders who must turn their words into measurable action. In business, people often judge success by what an … Read more
Indra Nooyi, born in India in 1955, joined PepsiCo in 1994 as head of strategic planning, became president and chief financial officer in 2001 and took over as chief executive in 2006, the first woman to hold the job. She led the company until 2018, and she often explained what the top job taught her. … Read more
Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, who lived from 1817 to 1862, is best known for Walden, his account of living simply beside a pond near Concord, Massachusetts. He also wrote long, frank letters to friends, and one of them, sent to Harrison Blake on November 16, 1857, contains this challenge: “It is not enough … Read more
B. C. Forbes, the Scottish-born journalist who founded Forbes magazine in 1917, spent his career studying why some businesses succeed. Born in 1880 as the sixth of ten children, he began writing in South Africa before moving to the United States and building a publication devoted to business leaders and their work. In his 1917 … Read more
Maya Angelou is remembered for her writing on courage, personal responsibility and human dignity. The quote, “Nothing will work unless you do,” captures a practical lesson about achievement. It reminds us that progress depends on more than good intentions. We must take action, remain consistent and accept responsibility for the work our goals require. For … Read more
Sundar Pichai grew up in India, studied engineering there and later earned degrees at Stanford and the Wharton School, then joined Google in 2004. He worked on products such as Chrome and became chief executive of Google in 2015, then chief executive of its parent company, Alphabet, in 2019. In a long podcast interview in … Read more
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, offered a powerful lesson about business growth in his 1999 book, Business @ the Speed of Thought. He wrote, “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” The quote appears in a chapter titled “Convert Bad News to Good,” which explores how businesses can use negative feedback to … Read more
William Shakespeare’s line, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,” remains one of his most memorable observations about human behaviour. It appears in Troilus and Cressida, a play set during the Trojan War. Ulysses speaks the words while explaining how people respond to novelty and why public attention often shifts from established heroes … Read more
Entrepreneur Madam C. J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove in 1867 to formerly enslaved parents, built a hair care business that made her America’s first recognised self-made female millionaire. Her parents died when she was a child, and she worked as a laundress in St. Louis before she started selling hair products. She told audiences at … Read more
Indra Nooyi led PepsiCo as chief executive from 2006 to 2018, and she spent much of that time arguing that a company can grow and still leave the world better off. She called her approach Performance with Purpose. In a 2010 interview, three years into her tenure and in the middle of the Great Recession, … Read more