Saturday, April 19, 2014

On being rich

"Pronto rico... pronto pobre".  Spanish Proverb.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Howard Hughes' Vast Business Empire.

By the mid 1950's Howard Hughes had an increasingly complicated business empire. He owned the RKO Movie Studios which solidified his mogul status in Hollywood; he of course owned the Hughes Tool Company, his perennial cash cow;  he was also building an enormous aerospace company, the Hughes Aircraft and Aerospace Company, that was developing top secret communications and spy technologies along with aircraft for the military.

Then there was TWA (Transcontinental & Western Airlines), the airline Hughes transformed into an industry giant by introducing the first transcontinental flights in the late 1940's, which he had personally pioneered as a test pilot in the 1930's;  keeping TWA solvent would create huge financial problems for Hughes.

At the close of the 1950's his business empire had grown so vast and powerful that his influence could no longer go underestimated. By this time he also owned vast real estate holdings particularily in Las Vegas.  Howard Hughes' government contracts were increasingly entwined with top secret national defense programs during the Cold War - spying and covert surveillance were trademarks of Hughes technology. And in 1953, at the age of 47, he created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute - HHMI, which was a foundation dedicated to the reasearch and development of cures to all kinds of medical illnesses; this is where most of Hughes' money eventually went. Today, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, with its headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland, spends about $1 million per HHMI Investigator per year, which amounts to annual investment in biomedical research of about $825 million. The institute has an endowment of $16.1billion, making it the second-wealthiest philanthropic organization in the United States and the second best endowed medical research foundation in the world. HHMI is the former owner of the Hughes Aircraft Company - an American aerospace firm which was divested to various firms over time.

"It turns out, that he did enough things right over 30 years to live longer than any known severe pain patient on record to this day. I know of no other case on record for someone who had this kind of pain and live this long. He didn't let this pain or these medicines drag him down, and that's not appreciated about him. Everybody looks at all the negative things you've heard rather than the positive things. This was a brilliant man!" Dr. Forest S. Tennant, M.D. DR.P.H.  "Howard Hughes was one of the great geniuses of the 20th Century." National Geographic Television. 2007.

Monday, September 9, 2013

La Disciplina Personal


Parece que la disciplina personal es mucho más importante de lo que pensamos para conseguir un objetivo o adquirir un hábito, porque relajarnos mediante la omisión de pequeños detalles que a simple vista podrían parecer poco importantes, pueden ocasionar brechas en el sistema que acaben por hundir el barco.
Quizás por eso las personas que consiguen sus objetivos tienen una mezcla perfecta entre enfoque, motivación y autodisciplina.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

On making mistakes...

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." George Bernard Shaw.

George Bernard Shaw on Circumstances

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I dont' believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." George Bernard Shaw.

El ser Exitoso vs. el ser Valioso

"No trates de ser un hombre exitoso sino un hombre valioso".  Albert Einstein.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Something by Buckminster Fuller

"Real wealth is ideas plus energy."  Richard Buckminster Fuller