Ross' Rules

Last week I received the following question which I have paraphrased below.

Mr. Ross,

How have you attained your enormous wealth?

Sincerely,

Mr. Charles B. W. III


I get this question all the time from eager young upstarts and IRS auditors. And while I've told the story thousands of times, the creation tale of G. Glen Ross, as I like to call it, is one I never tire of telling.

Like most children, my youth was one of hard work and intense education. Strict disciplinarians, my mother and father sent me away to an exclusive preparatory school at age four. Alone for the first time in my life, I threw myself into my studies and by age seven had mastered Latin. My gift for languages set me apart from the other students and the faculty took keen interest in my education. Over the course of the next few years I would add Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian and Old English to my repertoire. And while I enjoyed language, it was a simple book report that would change my life forever. For it was in fifth grade when I read the Wealth of Nations for the first time.

A love affair blossomed and I was consumed by economic theory and all her mysterious secrets. While the other boys we're playing lacrosse, I was studying the invisible hand and game theory. I looked at the world in terms of supply and demand and market forces. I started my first business at age eight and by eight and a half performed my first hostile takeover, forcibly usurping a candy distribution operation run by a small wiry boy by the name of Preston. Little did I know that the success of this action would form the backbone of my corporate ethos.

My college years took me to Yale and Harvard, where I studied my craft under some of the most influential minds of the 20th century. After serving as a Lieutenant in Korea, I joined a major accounting firm where I quickly ascended, becoming one of the youngest partner in the firm's history. Building on my successes, I then assumed a directorship at Phillip Morris, which I held through the company's heyday.

And while I made my mark in those positions, it wasn't until the 1970s and 80s that I found true success. Serving in various executive management positions within the defense, oil and banking industries, I was able to parlay my intelligence, personality, determination and impeccable timing into a fortune.

For some, that would have been enough. But, like a mother's love or a father's acceptance, enough didn't equal happiness. So I kept moving forward and upward and my portfolio and number of ex-wives grew larger and larger. I made millions upon millions in telcom, energy and a then little known phenomenon called the World Wide Web.

So, why am I still doing it? Because I don't have to. In fact I never had to. Work, as my friend above said, is for the middle class. They do it because they have to, not because they want to. I, on the other hand, come from wealth and privilege. I've never had to work a day in my life. But I do because I love to.

Why?

Because work is competition in its purest form and for those who thrive in its arena come the spoils of war. It is only then that man is able to know success. And that, my friends, is the key.