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Business Leaders and Success

Business Leaders and Success

William J. O'Neil
2003
T4 Open Librarygoodreads

Compiled from Investor's Business Daily profiles.

Summary

The reference has not verified this book in detail; the summary states only what the title, author and subject establish.

This volume collects profiles of business figures originally published in Investor's Business Daily's Leaders and Success column, compiled under William O'Neil's name, whose newspaper produced them.

The reference has not verified the specific selection. The form is a set of short profiles, each covering a business figure's career and identifying the characteristics or decisions the writer attributes their success to. The subjects span industries and periods, including nineteenth and twentieth century industrialists, technology founders, retailers and financiers.

The recurring themes in this genre, and in O'Neil's own writing, include persistence through early failure, the willingness to act on conviction against consensus, focus on a single domain over long periods, and attention to detail in execution.

The methodological problem is severe and worth stating plainly. Profiles selected entirely on success and written to identify what produced it cannot distinguish causes from characteristics shared with people who failed. Every trait identified in these profiles is also present in large numbers of people whose ventures did not succeed, and the format has no way to detect this.

O'Neil is better known for the CAN SLIM stock selection method set out in How to Make Money in Stocks, which is his substantive contribution. This collection is inspirational reading rather than analysis, and readers looking for what distinguishes successful from unsuccessful ventures will not find it here.

Key takeaways 6

  1. The profiles identify persistence through early failure as the most common characteristic across successful business figures.
  2. Focus on a single domain over long periods appears more consistently across the subjects than any particular talent.
  3. Willingness to act against consensus is presented as a shared characteristic of the figures profiled.
  4. Short profiles written after the outcome cannot distinguish the causes of success from traits shared with those who failed.
  5. A collection selected entirely on success has no comparison group, which is what would be required to learn anything from it.
  6. The format is inspirational rather than analytical and should be read as such.

Who should read it

Readers who want short inspirational business profiles, recognising that the format cannot establish what actually produces success.

About William J. O'Neil

Founder, Investor's Business Daily and William O'Neil + Co.; creator of the CAN SLIM method

How to Make Money in Stocks codified growth-momentum stock selection and remains the standard reference for it.

Investor's Business Daily, William O'Neil + Co.

William J. O'Neil’s page →Investor's Business Daily →William O'Neil + Co. →

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Where it sits in the reference 3

William J. O'Neil
Investors
Management and Organisational Design
Business themes
Leadership
Business themes

Topics

LeadershipBiography and MemoirBusiness and ManagementFounders and EntrepreneursFounder stories and advice