damiOluwatoyinbo.com

I have nothing against college degrees.

I am privileged to have one in Chemical Engineering.

However, it is necessary for us to constantly remind ourselves that what we achieve in life has a lot more to do with education than it has to do with degrees.

It is important that we observe that the people who become the most successful (at least by natural definition are those who follow their passion and not necessarily highly esteemed professions or careers.

The most successful people are those who make their calling their careers

and their purpose their profession.

What you have been given by God has tremendous power to produce significant results inspite of anything you do not currently possess.

I am pleased to present to you a list of globally respected CEO’s who never got college degrees yet went on to build businesses that are changing the world.

Some of them dropped out for some reason.Others never stepped on the soil of a college campus but they all made it against all odds.Today, some of these CEO’s employ PhD holders….hmmmm….food for thought.

Read on and be inspired.

1. Dennis Albaugh

Chairman, Albaugh
Type of Business: Pesticides
Education: Associate’s degree from Des Moines Area Community College
Fun fact: He has a collection of more than 100 classic Chevrolets

2. Paul Allen

Founder and chairman, Vulcan
Type of Business: Media, telecommunications
Education: Dropped out of Washington State College after two years
Fun fact: He persuaded Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard. They later founded Microsoft (MSFT) together.

3. Richard Branson

CEO, Virgin Group
Type of Business: Travel, radio, TV, music, venture capital
Education: No college degree
Fun fact: He became an entrepreneur at age 16 with the creation of Student magazine.

4. Maverick Carter

CEO, LRMR Innovative Marketing & Branding
Type of Business: Marketing
Education: 3.5 years of college at Western Michigan University and University of Akron combined
Quote: “Don’t be afraid if you see an opportunity to go and give it shot. You can finish school later; it’s always there.”

5. John Paul DeJoria

CEO, John Paul Mitchell Systems
Type of Business: Hair-care products
Education: No college
Fun fact: He started out selling greeting cards at age 9.

6. Michael Dell

Founder, chairman, and CEO Dell (DELL)
Type of Business: Computers
Education: Attended University of Texas, Austin; did not finish.
Quote: “When I started our company, it was very much an idea outside of the conventional wisdom, and if there were people telling me that it wasn’t going to work, I wasn’t really listening to them.”

7. Felix Dennis

Founder and chairman, Alpha Media Group, formerly Dennis Publishing
Type of Business: Publishing (Maxim, The Week)
Education: No college degree
Fun fact: He wrote a biography and published a magazine about Bruce Lee; sales surged when the martial arts star died suddenly in 1973.

8. Barry Diller

Chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)
Type of Business: Media
Education: Dropped out of UCLA after three weeks
Fun fact: He started his career working in the mail room of the William Morris Agency.

9. Bill Gates

Co-chair and Trustee, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Chairman, Microsoft (MSFT)
Type of Business: Philanthropy. Software.
Education: Dropped out of Harvard
Fun fact: As a schoolboy, he created a program that allowed people to play tic-tac-toe on the computer.

One of the most important concepts  you’d ever grasp is that of your identity.

Most of your decisions are informed by your perception of yourself.

You’d never live up to your true potential until you know who you are.

Who you are determines what you have.If you are a lion, you have the ability to roar.

If you are an eagle, you have the ability to soar.

If you are a submarine, you aren’t equipped to fly.

You see, your identity is very vital.

Interestingly, many people don’t know who they are neither do they know what they have, so they live like slaves instead of reigning like kings.

Many have become victims of users and abusers because they have no idea of  how God sees them.When people realise that you don’t know who you are, that you have no sense of significance, they take advantage of you.They exploit you.They use what you have and dump you.

Consider a girl who grows up in a hostile family and ultimately suffers from low self-esteem.She becomes easy prey to the first guy who tells her sweet nothings and creates  the kind of atmosphere that she has always dreamed about.If the guy is a player, you know what will happen.He’ll use her and dump her for his next victim…

A young man whose father nevr affirmed or appreciated may seek security in the wrong circles…hopping from party to party…from club to club…”looking for himself”…smoking…drinking and…(fill in the gaps if  you can)

what God calls us…

sorry, gat to go…I’d finish this off shortly.

I haven’t still recovered from the business seminar I attended two weeks ago where Dr.Cosmas Maduka, the CEO of Coscharis Group spoke.

He shared from his wealth of experience.One of the things he taught was how to become a conglomerate.

Here are ten points he shared …

• Pick and remain focused on a business you understand well.

• Thoroughly understand your market.

• Look for and hire professional managers.

• Put in place strong financial and administrative controls.

• Constantly research the market to continue the relevance of your product.

• Do not spend money unnecessarily on office appearance and self-serving activities.

• Have a business/strategic plan and constantly review it.

• Keep proper and complete record of transaction.

• Make sure there is a job description and match with the skill set of your staff.

• Set performance milestones and standards against which results can be measured.