Celebrating great men, champions of the masses, and achievement

This is no long thesis about all the great men and women of achievement in this world. Only a series of tomes could handle that. Besides, every country has its own list of 'Who's Who.'

I am expressing my own opinion about what makes some people stand out in my mind as giants. I mean it is true that it is not what you have but how you use it that really matters.

There are so many billionaires today but each has his or her individual style. In order to avoid any connotation of negativity, I will not name personal names, just the corporate names.

That is so because many people contributed to the corporate success. Also, I believe that all the stakeholders in a project should get some amount of credit, or at least an honorable mention, for their contribution to the overall corporate success.

These stakeholders would include, in my opinion, those who introduced the initial idea, funded it, developed it, maintained it operation, and built on it. That process emphasizes the importance of human interrelationship in the achievement of measurable success.

Nobody is an island, no one stands alone, but someone must ask for help when he or she has reached a personal limit, rather than just barging on inefficiently or depending on providence to save the day somehow.

There are so many people who have impacted greatly on the lives of their fellow human beings. However, I have chosen just eight organizations that I think have made a business of lessening the burden of life's pressures on the greatest number of people.

These are my champions of the masses and, if you read the biography of their founders, you will feel that you have entered into a different world or life. Perhaps, getting a feel for the 'perfect' life?

There is another way to look at the following list. Their respective countries provided the enabling environment for entrepreneurship to thrive.

From that political perspective, truly, the named organizations exhibit the beauty of modern democracy in the finest terms.

Here are my picks and why - anybody I have left out, please forgive me because, if this post is too long, nobody would read it through:

Ford - the Model T made general motoring possible and affordable.

Tata - $2,500 brand new car aimed to get low-income families off tricycles and bicycles.

Microsoft - opened Windows of opportunities into our lives with the personal computer.

Yahoo - made a household name out of Web-based electronic message communication.

Apple – put the “i” back into electronics with digital music downloads made easy.

BBC – the last bastion of dependable and trusted news for benchmarking other media.

Reader's Digest - enriching every month with the best stories from around the world.

Google - philanthropically gave us, up and away the essential tools of the Internet virtually on a platter of gold!


I could just go on and on but that is my shortlist for now. Who are your favorite role models and what makes them/him/her/it special?