Would you begin a coast to coast trip without deciding on a destination? Doubtful. If you knew where you wanted to go, would you take along a road map to…
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Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers, says he knew from the time he was eight years old that he wanted to be in the hamburger business, but…
In family businesses, there seems to be little difference between a truly outstanding manager and an adequate manager. The landmark study on how executives learn, grow, and change conducted by…
Charles E. Merrill was born in 1885 in a small hamlet outside Jacksonville, Florida. As a young man, while Henry Ford was making the Model T automobile as a consumer…
They may only exist as a footnote in the annals of business history books, but Ernest Breech and Thomas White have possibly occupied the most meaningful of all management and…
Hogs. Fat boys. Soft tails. Leather jackets and suicide clutches. Few business marketers have tied their products with a lifestyle image better than William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson from…
How many times have we heard the expression, “The only constant in business is change?” Enough, probably, to make our ears sore. But like many cliches, this one also rings…
It was mid-life crisis and an observation by cowboy philosopher Will Rogers that turned Harlan Sanders’ life around. In 1930, Rogers observed on his radio show, “Let me tell you…
A restless curiosity, a love of outdoors, a propensity for risk taking, and the experience from his adventures in Canada led Clarence Birdseye, the son of a New York Supreme…
In all likelihood, you know of family businesses that have suffered through painful internal struggles or have endured embarrassing revelations. The consequences can range from public humiliation to catastrophic sanctions…