Mark Zuckerberg
Cofounder, Chairman and CEO, Facebook
Real Time Net Worth — as of 6/10/18 - $72.2 B
2018 Billionaires Net Worth — as of 3/6/18 - $71 B
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, have pledged to give away 99% of their Facebook stake over their lifetimes.
Mark Zuckerberg Advice
“If you want to build something great, you should focus on what the change is that you want to make in the world.”
“Entrepreneurship is about creating change, not just companies.”
“In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.”
“Some people dream of success…while others wake up and work hard at it.”
“People think innovation is just having a good idea but a lot of it is just moving quickly and trying a lot of things.”
“You are better off trying something and having it not work and learning from that than not doing anything at all.”
“The companies that work are the ones that people really care about and have a vision for the world so do something you like.”
“Building a mission and building a business go hand-in-hand. It is true that the primary thing that makes me excited about what we’re doing is the mission, but I also think, from the very beginning, we’ve had this healthy understanding which is that we need to do both.”
“Games is probably the biggest industry today that has gone really social, right. I mean, the incumbent game companies are really being disrupted and are quickly trying to become social. And you have companies like Zynga.”
“It’s really easy to have a nice philosophy about openness, but moving the world in that direction is a different thing. It requires both understanding where you want to go and being pragmatic about getting there.”
“The basis of our partnership strategy and our partnership approach: We build the social technology. They provide the music.”
“The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is risks. ”What really motivates people at Facebook is building stuff that they’re proud of.”
“If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.”
“This is a perverse thing, personally, but I would rather be in a cycle where people are underestimating us. It gives us latitude to go out and make big bets that excite and amaze people.”
“Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today.”
“In terms of doing work and in terms of learning and evolving as a person, you just grow more when you get people’s perspectives. I really try and live the mission of the company and keep everything else in my life extremely simple.”
“I think that people just have this core desire to express who they are. And I think that’s always existed.”
“It is important for young entrepreneurs to be adequately self-aware to know what they do not know.”
“The most important thing that entrepreneurs should do is pick something they care about, work on it, but don’t actually commit to turning it into a company until it actually works.”
“When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.”
“The question isn’t ‘what do we want to know about people?’, It’s, ‘What do people want to tell about themselves?”
“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”
“I started the site when I was 19. I didn’t know much about business back then.”
“People can be really smart or have skills that are directly applicable, but if they don’t really believe in it, then they are not going to really work hard.”
“The question I ask myself like almost every day is, ‘Am I doing the most important thing I could be doing?”
“Find that thing you are super passionate about.”
“Simply put: we don’t build services to make money; we make money to build better services.”
“Don’t let anyone tell you to change who you are.”
“It takes courage to choose hope over fear.”
“If you just work on stuff that you like and you’re passionate about, you don’t have to have a master plan with how things will play out.”
“Instead of building walls, we can help build bridges.”
“So many businesses get worried about looking like they might make a mistake, they become afraid to take any risk. Companies are set up so that people judge each other on failure. ”People don’t care about what you say, they care about what you build.”
Carlos Slim Helu & family
Honorary Chairman, America Movil SAB de CV (ADR)
Real Time Net Worth — as of 6/10/18 - $59.3 B
2018 Billionaires Net Worth — as of 3/6/18 - $67.1 B
His son-in-law Fernando Romero designed the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, home to Slim's extensive, eclectic art collection.
Carlos Slim Helu Advice
“I think entrepreneurs… can think long term and find solutions and go in the way for long term solutions and not short-term.”
“In this new wave of technology, you can’t do it all yourself, you have to form alliances.”
“It’s very important for leaders in business to work to create human capital, a team that has the same sense of purpose and alignment.”
“With good perspective of history we can have a better understanding of the past and present, and thus a clear vision of the future.”
“The combination of non-profit organizations like the foundations and profit businesses can work together in some areas.”
“Most people try to make a better world for our children when what they should be doing is making better children for our world.”
“Choose the right employees and then set them loose.”
“I learned from my father that you continue to invest and reinvest in your business – including during crises.”
“Anyone who is not investing now is missing a tremendous opportunity.”
“In business, you invest when things are not in good shape. When you invest at these times, you take a better position than your competitors. When there is a recession and your competition does not invest, they are giving you the advantage.”
“You cannot live without doing something.”
“Technology is going to transform people’s lives and society everywhere in the world. I spend most of my time studying new technologies. My main task is to understand what’s going on and try to see where we can fit in.”
“All businesses make mistakes. The trick is to avoid large ones.”
“If you are in business, you are not enjoying. You are working.”
“People need to feel very good about their achievements. They get pride from what they are doing.”
“Think of an athlete. He may be very good in his own house, but not as good as his neighbors. You have to go beyond your home. You have to go worldwide.”
“The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system, or circulatory system.”
“Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.”
“What is most valuable in life does not cost anything but is very precious.”
“You should have more time for you during all of your life – not when you’re 65 and retired.”
“Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets… any sound investment will eventually pay off.”
“The truth is, you leave this world with nothing. What you are is a temporary administrator, and you must administer well… the wealth in your care, and generate more. The surplus can be used to do many things for people.”
“Money is not a goal. The goal is to make companies grow, develop, be competitive, be in different areas, be efficient to have a great human team inside the company.”
“Competition makes you better, always, always makes you better, even if the competitor wins.”
“The better off you are, the more responsibility you have for helping others. Just as it’s important to run companies well, with a close eye to the bottom line, you have to use your entrepreneurial experience to make corporate philanthropy effective.”
“When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.”
“You cannot have people in your organization who are pessimists. They take you to mediocrity.”
“When you give, do not expect to receive, Fragrance clings to the hand that gives the rose.”
“Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive.”
“Mistakes are normal and human. Make them small, accept them, correct them, and forget them.”
“The people inside the group need to have some conditions to follow. We have a philosophy of leadership, ideas, and concepts. They need to share that.”
“Focus on essentials and try not to get distracted and bogged down by things that don’t add value to the bottom line.”
“It’s not a question of arriving [at a new company] and putting in a whole new administration but instead, arriving and ‘compacting’ things as much as possible, reducing management layers.”
“When we face our problems, they disappear. So learn from failure and let success be the silent incentive.”
“Success is not about doing things well or even very well, or being acknowledged by others. It is not an external opinion, but rather an internal status. It is the harmony between the soul and your emotions, which requires love, family, friendship, authenticity and integrity.”
“If you’re in business, you need to understand the environment. You need to have a vision of the future, and you need to know the past.”
“Profitability is coming from productivity, efficiency, management, austerity, and the way to manage the business.”
“I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization.”
“Work well done is not only a responsibility to yourselves and society; it is also an emotional need.”
“All times are good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.”
Carlos Slim Helu Exclusive Interview
Was your goal to make money? Is that your goal?
Carlos Slim Helu: I think it’s not a goal. Money is not a goal. The goal is to make companies grow, develop, be competitive, be in different areas, be efficient to have a great human team inside the company. Look for human development of the people of the companies because you cannot do anything without human capital, without your human team.
We are talking about how many people are with us but there are managers that are critical that began working in the company and grew with the company and develop to achieve success being in high level management position. And now the goal is well by one side, I think the wealth should be reinvested to create more wealth.
The fruit of wealth is income and it is important to develop the distribution of income. The distribution of income comes mainly by employment and second, by the money that goes to the government.
Carlos Slim Helu owns one of the oldest hotels in Mexico, Hotel Genève but the empire is in the telecommunications company; Telmex, which he acquired in 1990 when Mexico began privatizing its national industries.
A decade later, he spun off the cell phone business, American mobile and it’s one of the largest companies in all of Latin America. He also owns Sunborn, Mexico’s major retail outlet and biggest restaurant chain. His interest includes one of Mexico’s most important banks, airline, a mining company, hotels, construction, insurance companies, a bottling company, cigarette manufacturer, much real estate and on and on and on.
Are you always looking to acquire?
Carlos Slim Helu: In 1965 when I began, I had a soft drink bottling company. We are not in the bottling business anymore. We sold the tobacco business also to our partners. We are concentrating because during these 45 years and depending on the circumstances we were involved; we have the possibilities to buy some business. With time, we thought we were focusing a little more on what we thought had more important potential and development and needed more investments and management.
Business Lesson: Concentrate on your core competence. Be focused
Carlos Slim Helu: In ’82, there was a big crisis in Mexico and that meant that nobody was investing. And we invested in paper; we invested in tyres for cars, we invested in auto parts and aluminum and copper combustion. Actually we were focusing. We sold a corporation, we sold a tile business we bought in ’82 also; both of them. We were focusing in telecommunication, financing and mining, retail.
Business Lesson: Get in when others are getting out
Business Lesson: Always be prepared to make your big move
Was there early in life, a big event that happened to you that turned you from a millionaire to billionaire? Was there a major occurrence?
Carlos Slim Helu: I think work, investments and reinvestments. My father used to say that the money that gets out of a company evaporates. That means he was thinking in terms of investments and reinvestment and reinvestment. That is one of the things we do. Other things that we do are in good times, we maintain our winning streak.
When we do profitable business, we don’t get crazy; putting expenses all around or making fancy things. Then, we didn’t have corporate offices until now. We used to have them in the factories. The offices of the company were in the factories, not in another corporate building. I think it’s the way it happened.
Business Lesson: Watch your expenses
Business Lesson: Reinvest, Reinvest, Reinvest
Charles Koch
CEO, Koch Industries
Real Time Net Worth — as of 6/10/18 - $52.4 B
2018 Billionaires Net Worth — as of 3/6/18 - $60 B
Charles Koch Advice
“Successful companies create value by providing products or services their customer’s value more highly than available alternatives. They do this while consuming fewer resources, leaving more resources available to satisfy other needs in society. Value creation involves making people's lives better. It is contributing to prosperity in society.”
“Our vision controls the way we think and, therefore, the way we act the vision we have of our jobs determines what we do and the opportunities we see or don't see.”
“Embrace change. Envision what could be, challenge the status quo, and drive creative destruction.”
“To do meaningful work is to contribute - to create value in society.”
“Far too many businesses have been all too eager to lobby for maintaining and increasing subsidies and mandates paid by taxpayers and consumers.”
“The role of business is to provide products and services that make people’s lives better - while using fewer resources - and to act lawfully and with integrity.”
“We needed to be uncompromising with our workforce, to expect 100 percent of our employees to comply 100 percent of the time with complex and ever-changing government mandates. Striving to comply with every law does not mean agreeing with every law. But, even when faced with laws we think are counter-productive, we must first comply. Only then, from a credible position, can we enter into a dialogue with regulatory agencies to demonstrate alternatives that are more beneficial. If these efforts fail, we can then join with others in using education and/or political efforts to change the law.”
“Being captive to quarterly earnings isn't consistent with long-term value creation. This pressure and the short term focus of equity markets make it difficult for a public company to invest for long-term success, and tend to force company leaders to sacrifice long-term results to protect current earnings.”
“Many businesses with unpopular products or inefficient production find it much easier to curry the favor of a few influential politicians or a government agency than to compete in the open market.”
“In general, an asset should be sold when it has greater value to a buyer. This happens when a buyer has a complimentary business or capability that would enable them to do more with that business. Many businesses we have exited were not failures, but had simply reached a point in their life cycle where they no longer provided a core capability or served as a platform for growth.”
“We strive to hire and retain only those who embrace our MBM® Guiding Principles, which encompass integrity, compliance, value creation, Principled Entrepreneurship, customer focus, knowledge, change, humility, respect and fulfillment.”
“I studied what principles under-laid peace and prosperity and concluded the only way to achieve societal well-being was through a system of economic freedom.”
“No centralized government, no matter how big, how smart or how powerful, can effectively and efficiently control much of society in a beneficial way. On the contrary, big governments are inherently inefficient and harmful.”
“If there is wrong, you don't say we have to get rid of it gradually. If injustice exists, you need to eliminate it immediately.”
“When everyone gets something for nothing, soon no one will have anything, because no one will be producing anything.”
“Citizens who over-rely on their government to do everything not only become dependent on their government, they end up having to do whatever the government demands. In the meantime, their initiative and self-respect are destroyed.”
“Repeatedly asking for government help undermines the foundations of society by destroying initiative and responsibility. It is also a fatal blow to efficiency and corrupts the political process.”
“We try to evaluate how much value an employee is creating here and reward them accordingly.”
“Far too many businesses have been all too eager to lobby for maintaining and increasing subsidies and mandates paid by taxpayers and consumers.”
“I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington.”
“I want my legacy to be greater freedom, greater prosperity and a better way of life for my family, our employees and all Americans. And I wish the same for every nation on earth.”
“In business, real jobs profitably produce goods and services that people value more highly than their alternatives. Subsidizing inefficient jobs is costly, wastes resources, and weakens our economy.”
“Laying the groundwork for smaller, smarter government, especially at the federal level, is going to be tough. But it is essential for getting us back on the path to long-term prosperity.”
“Relentlessly strive to come up with new and better products and produce them more efficiently than the alternatives.”
“Successful companies create value by providing products or services their customer’s value more highly than available alternatives. They do this while consuming fewer resources, leaving more resources available to satisfy other needs in society. Value creation involves making people’s lives better. It is contributing to prosperity in society.”
“The successful companies try to keep the new entrants down. Now that’s great for a company like ours. We make more money that way because we have less competition and less innovation. But for the country as a whole, it’s horrible.”
“You pass a program and get people dependent on it, making it brutal to get rid of. The key is not letting it get started.”
“The billionaire Charles Koch goes over what it takes to fight in the political arena. As a controversial figure in business and politics, this industrialist and conservative advocate highlights his philosophy and reasoning behind influencing elections.”
Carlos Slim Helu Exclusive Interview
Full interview: Charles Koch
By Kai Ryssdal
We went to Koch Industries headquarters last week to spend about an hour with co-owner, chairman and CEO Charles Koch. Koch and his brother David, both billionaires, are also known as dedicated right-wing political fundraisers.
Ryssdal: Charles Koch, welcome to the program.
Koch: Thanks, thanks for having me.
Ryssdal: There you are, Boston, Massachusetts, 1961. Couple of graduate degrees from MIT, and you come back to Wichita, Kansas. Why?
Koch: Well my father had, uh ... I was working for a consulting firm back there, which was then one of the leading consulting firms, Arthur D. Little, and I was learning a lot, and it was a great place to be when you're single. All the girl’s schools there and they had jazz bars. I mean it was terrific. I loved it. Learning a lot, doing consulting for all sorts of big companies -- process development, product development, management services. And so my father starts calling me, urging me to come back to Wichita, and I remember what it was like growing up under him. Like, starting at age six he had me work in virtually all my spare time, and I don't mean doing easy stuff. Like, started out at age six digging dandelions at, you know, 100 degree temperature, and I'm thinking, "Why did my father hate me, and all my friend's fathers love them?" Because they're out swimming, and having a great time, and here I am digging that. And you, because you have to dig down. If you pull them up the roots will stay there, and they come right back.
Ryssdal: That's right.
Koch: So I'm out there digging, and then I soon graduate to bailing hay, shoveling out stalls, milking cows, digging ditches, all this other stuff, and that continued until I started working other places. And -
Ryssdal: So you say he was tough, your old man was?
Koch: So he was tough, yeah. His philosophy was this. He said, "I don't want my sons to be country club bums. So I'm going to make them work." Now, I was a little difficult. I was independent, kind of a free spirit, so I would try to find ways around this, and years later I ask him, I said, "Pop, why you were so much tougher on me than my younger brothers?" He said, "Son, you plum wore me out. Which I resemble that, but thankfully he stayed with it because he taught me work ethic. And he was tough. Well, and one of his favorite sayings, being Dutch, is, "You can tell the Dutch, but you can't tell 'em much." So he had a strong will, but he also had great integrity, great humility, treated people with dignity and respect, and he had a tremendous thirst for knowledge. And so I absorbed some of that, not probably to his standard, over, over time.
Ryssdal: Here you are almost 80 years old, right? First of November?
K