Found: Aces

Leadership: 5 things you can learn from Anita Roddick (1943-2007)

'Be daring. Be first. Be different....and be good.'

By Carleen Hawn, September 11, 2007 —  2 Comments

Long before Google made its claim on the notion of doing business without doing evil, British entrepreneur “Anita Roddick” built an billion-dollar cosmetics empire on this very maxim, and at least one more: “Businesses have the ability to good,” Roddick said, as often as anyone would hear her out. And she proved her point. Founded in 1976, Roddick’s then-novel company, The Body Shop, a maker and retailer of plant-derived cosmetics... CONTINUE READING

Lessons from the 'One-Man Conglomerate'

Merv Griffin, dead at 82, took entrepreneurship to new heights in Hollywood - and everywhere else he went, too.

By Carleen Hawn, August 13, 2007 —  2 Comments

Merv Griffin, a musician, singer and actor whose Hollywood career only really took-off when he became a TV game- and talk-show host died in Los Angeles Sunday, of prostate cancer. He was 82. Griffin may be best-known to Found|READers as the creator of the game shows “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” or as the host of “The Merv Griffin Show,” but what you might not know is that Mervyn Edward Griffin was also a billionaire, whose entrepreneurial empire rivals most business titans we are schooled to emulate. You’re not likely to read a Harvard Business School case study on the man, but would that you could. CONTINUE READING

You, too, can Learn from the Fashion Lady

Liz Claiborne was the 1st Female Founder to make the Fortune 500

By Carleen Hawn, June 28, 2007 —  1 Comment

Ode to Liz (1929 -2007): Liz Claiborne, one of America’s most influential fashion designers, died yesterday in New York City after a long fight with cancer. A trailblazing businesswoman, Claiborne turned the fashion industry on its ear in the 1970's and 1980's by giving this country's first generation of career women workwear that was stlylish and affordable. We call this innovation today, and succeeding generations of professional women owe her a debt of gratitude. So do multi-billion-dollar fashion houses like, Gap, Inc. CONTINUE READING

Surviving the tests of an 'Apocalypse'

Why founders should study the career of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola

By Carleen Hawn, June 27, 2007 —  1 Comment

A friend of mine recently had the opportunity to meet the filmmaker and father of "The Godfather," Francis Ford Coppola. The occasion was an event at one of Coppola's California wineries, Rosso & Bianco, in Sonomoa County. Coppola, now 68, so impressed my friend with his almost geeky passion for winemaking -- it is the man's 2nd award-winning career -- that we decided we'd try to pluck some of the fruit of Coppola's crafts for the benefit of founders. CONTINUE READING