Being a CEO and a leader is one of the most challenging roles to undertake in any company and business. However, several success stories from the world’s best CEOs on how they raised their executive positions.
Most top 10 world’s CEOs came from nothing and had a challenging career journey to reach the full leadership ladder. This article explores some of the most famous successful CEOs who came from nothing.
Howard Schultz
Howard Schultz is an entrepreneur, author and previously held an executive position as the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company. He became the CEO of Starbucks during two periods of his career journey, from 1986- 2000 and 2008-2017. Howard Schultz is a Brooklyn native born in 1953 from a low-income family.
He struggled to go through school and graduated from Canarsie High School and later joined Northern Michigan University, where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in communication. Starbucks Coffee Company employed Howard Schultz as a Director of marketing businesses.
Howard Schultz has propelled his way out of poverty through hard work and persistence.
Mary Barra
Mary Barra is a businesswoman who has been the CEO and Chairman of the car motor company General Motors for almost a decade. She has been named to be the first female CEO leader of an automaker. Mary Barra graduated in 1985 from Kettering University, which was earlier known as General Motors Institute, where she attained a degree in electrical engineering.
As the CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra has driven the company to great success, particularly in 2017 where General Motors sold a Chevy Bolt EV and beat their competitor Tesla. The Chevy Bolt EV was their first electric car with a range of 200 miles to be priced below $40,000.
Mary Barra has won several Grammy awards and has been listed among the top 100 influential people in the world by Forbes.
Haroldo Jacobovicz
Haroldo Jacobovicz is an entrepreneur and a professional trained civil engineer. After completing his training program for four years at the Federal University of Parana and seven years at Colegio Militar, he started pursuing his professional career.
Haroldo Jacobovicz has been leading telecommunication and cloud communication companies since 2010. He is the firstborn amongst his four siblings and born to two civil engineers. According to a recent interview, Haroldo stated that success requires hard work, talent and pinpointing opportunities.
Final Thoughts
The mentioned leaders in the business world were born and raised in abject poverty. However, with their hard work and strong work ethics, they have become great leaders for the largest profitable companies globally and role models for the young generation.