Eugene Meyer: Influence That Spans Three Presidencies

Eugene I. Meyer was financier, newspaper publisher and public official. He was the first president of the World Bank Group. He served as publisher of the Washington Post. From 1930 to 1933, Meyer was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Meyer was born on October 31, 1875 in Los Angeles, California. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Yale University in 1895. He worked for Lazard Freres where his father Marc Eugene was a partner for four years. He quit his job to be his own boss. He became successful as an investor and speculator and even earned a seat at the New York Stock Exchange. In 1915, when Meyer was 40 years old, his fortune was estimated at $40 million.

In 1920, Meyer and William H. Nichols formed a partnership known Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation. Later on, the company became known as AlliedSignal, the forerunner of the specialty materials business of Honeywell.

During the World War I, Meyer served the head of the War Finance Corporation under President Woodrow Wilson. He was the chairman of the Federal Farm Loan Board under President Calvin Coolidge. It was President Herbert Hoover who appointed Meyer as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Sir Ian McGregor: What “Poise Under Pressure” Really Means

Sir Ian K. McGregor was a Scottish-American industrialist and metallurgist who became the most controversial executive to manage British Steel. His popularity was also marred by the way he handled the miners’ strike between 1984 and 1985 while he was at the helm of the National Coal Board.

McGregor was born on September 21, 1912 in Kinlochleven, Scotland. McGregor took up metallurgy and engineering at the University of Glasgow. He finished his courses with some distinctions and was graded as a first class degree. Later, the Royal College of Science and Technology awarded him another diploma with distinction.

In 1935, McGregor worked with his father in a local aluminum plant in Kinlochleven. He did not stay long in that job because he was recruited to work as junior manager at Parkhead Forge. McGregor experience his first confrontation with a labor union when the crane drivers launched a strike. Within two weeks, McGregor settled the dispute which caught the attention of Sir James Lithgow, the chairman. He was marked for rapid promotion.

During the World War II, McGregor worked with the Ministry of Supply in its tank development program. There, Lord Beaverbrook, who was the Minister of Aircraft Production at that time, noticed McGregor’s talent. Lord Beaverbrook appointed McGregor to travel to US and Canada to scout on aviation armor. Then McGregor was commissioned by the British military to scout US’s Sherman tanks. McGregor became familiar of the US because of these assignments.

McGregor stayed in the US after the War. In 1966, McGregor served the American Metal Climax as CEO. During his tenure at American Metal Climax, the company diversified into mining. There, McGregor earned the reputation as a shrewd executive. He was uncompromising with trade unions and had a strong appetite for confrontation.

In 1977, McGregor went back to the British industry through Labor Party prime minister James Callaghan. During the time of Margaret Thatcher, the British government embarked on radical industrial restructuring. British Steel Corporation was one of the companies that the British government nationalized. McGregor was appointed as chairman of British Steel but his tenure was marred with controversies. His actions were widely criticized but the consequences were positive and were enjoyed by many British nationals even today.

Joseph McCoy: The Real McCoy

Joseph McCoy was an American entrepreneur who became famous in the 19th century for transporting longhorn cattle from Texas to the states in the eastern US. His reliability and reputation earned him the honor to be called “The Real McCoy” by ranchers in Texas.

The ranchers in Texas faced the difficulty of bringing their longhorn cattle to the buyers in Kansas. At that time, McCoy pledged the ranchers in Texas that he would ship the cattle by rail to Kansas and that the ranchers would still get a good return for stock.

The plan, however, was not easy for McCoy. Some Kansas homesteaders did not want the cattle to cross their land for fear that the tick-bearing longhorns might spread Texas Fever, which is fatal to some cattle specie like the shorthorn.

McCoy talked with railroad operators and presented the huge business opportunity. McCoy himself constructed a bank, an office and a hotel along the Kansas Pacific Railway. Later, the village became known as Abilene.

Being at the end of the Chisholm Trail, its trail ran west of Kansas. Using the Chisholm Trail to drive longhorn cattle to Kansas avoided the hostility of the homesteaders. McCoy’s bright idea brought two million longhorn cattle from Texas to Kansas in four years.

Neil H. McElroy: Business Management and Public Service Rolled In One

Neil H. McElroy was an American business executive and public service. He served as the president of Procter & Gamble. He was the Secretary of the Defense Department during the Dwight Eisenhower presidency.

McElroy was born on October 30, 1904 in Berea, Ohio although he grew up in Cincinnati. He finished economics at Harvard and worked with Procter & Gamble after graduation. He was with the advertising department. McElroy developed the concept of brand management and issued the famous three-page memo which became one of the advertising industry’s most essential texts.

Because he showed high business IQ, McElroy rose to the top and became the president of Procter & Gamble in 1948. His brand management revolutionized marketing in the US and it spread throughout the entire world. Brand management created the needed balance between centralized oversight and decentralized decision making depending on who has the best information that can affect the decision at hand.

The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, four days before Charles E. Wilson left the Defense Department as its Secretary. The launching of Sputnik I suggested that Soviet Union was ahead of the US in missile development. This led President Eisenhower to swear in Defense Secretary Neil H. McElroy on October 9, 1957.

Just one month after the Soviets launched Sputnik I, another Soviet satellite was launched into the space. Because of the growing about the Sputniks, McElroy’s first move was to make the needed clarification about the relative position of the US and the Soviet Union related to missile development and to speed up the American missile development efforts. At that time, the US was developing intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRMBs). McElroy said that these IRMBs can be as effective as the Soviet’s intercontinental-range ballistic missiles (ICBMs) when they are properly deployed in overseas locations. McElroy ordered the production and deployment of many US IRMBs and increased its military presence in the UK and Europe.

In McElroy’s opinion, the Sputniks did not represent a major military peat that changed the balance, but he recognized that the Sputniks had a significant impact worldwide. McElroy spent his early years in the Defense Department trying to explain the US missile program and easing the congressional anxiety about the supposed US-Soviet Union “missile gap.”

McElroy resigned on December 1, 1959. On his final day at the Defense Department, he received the Medal of Freedom from President Eisenhower. He left Pentagon and served Procter & Gamble as chairman of the board. He died on November 30, 1972.

David McConnell and the Sweet Scent of His Business Success

David H. McConnell was an American businessman who founded the California Perfume Company, which is more popularly known today as Avon Products. McConnell was born on July 18, 1858 in Oswego, New York. He grew in their family farm in Oswego.

While attending Oswego State Normal School, McConnell dreamed of becoming a mathematics teacher. However, in 1879, McConnell ended up selling books for a selling agency in New York. In 1880, McConnell worked for the Union Publishing Co. of Chicago where he eventually became in charge of southern territory.

McConnell was not making enough with selling books so he added free perfumes, which he himself has made, to his “portfolio.” Later, he realized that ladies were more interested in his perfumes than the books he is selling. McConnell believed that because books can be sold house-to-house, perfumes can also be.

Later, McConnell developed the concept of California Perfume Company. From just making perfumes at home, McConnell built a huge enterprise of cosmetics, toiletries, flavoring extracts and household articles known today as Avon Products.

Louis Mayer: The Guts that Made Millions

Louis Mayer was an American film executive and producer who was credited for creating the “star system” during the golden years of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Mayer was also one of the creators of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which is famous for the “Oscars.” Mayer believed that entertainment should be wholesome.

Mayer was born as Lazar Meir on July 12, 1884. His family was of Jewish descent. The Mayer family first moved to the US and lived in Rhode Island in 1887. Later, the family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick. There, his father established the J. Mayer & Son, a scrap metal company. Mayer was 19 years old when he left for Boston where he engaged in scrap metal business for a while. When the scrap metal business lagged, Mayer was forced to take odd jobs to support his family.

Mayer’s first encounter with show business started during the renovation of the Gem Theater which he undertook. The 600-seat theater in Haverhill, Massachusetts reopened as Orpheum on November 28, 1907. This was the first of Mayer’s many theaters. On the opening day, Mayer debuted with a religious film to erase the building’s bad reputation in the community. Within just a few years, Mater owned all five theaters in Haverhill. There, Mayer and Nathan Gordon established the Gordon-Mayer partnership, which later controlled the largest chain of theaters in New England.

The new partnership formed a film distribution agency that would cater to Boston. It was said that Mayer acquired the exclusive rights for the showing in New England of The Birth of a Nation for $25,000 from D.W. Griffiths. Later, Gordon also partnered with Richard Rowland and formed the talent booking agency Metro Pictures Corporation.

In 1918, Mayer moved to Los Angeles and started the Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation. He formed another partnership, this time with B.P. Schulberg and established the Mayer-Schulberg Studio. But Mayer’s biggest break happened in April 1924 when Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Mayer Pictures merged to organize Metro-Goldwyn. Later, the merger was renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Frederick Alfred Laker: A Pioneer of the No Frills Airline Business

Frederick Alfred Laker, or Freddie Laker as he is more fondly known, was a British airline entrepreneur. He had several ventures but he is best known for starting Laker Airways in 1966 and for adopting the "no frills" airline business model that was proven to be successful until today. He was born in 1922 in Canterbury, Kent and went to school in the Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. He didn't finish his schooling though but this didn't matter.

His first venture into aviation was a stint with the Short Brothers in Rochester. During and after the Second World War, Laker was then a part of the Air Transport Auxiliary, after which he worked a bit for the British European Airways and the London Aero Motor Services. He then became a dealer of surplus aircrafts from the war; put up Channel Air Bridge, Aviation Charters, and Air Charter; sold these three companies; and worked for British United Airways before finally opening Laker Airways. He was dubbed a knight in 1978 for his services to the aviation industry.

Frederick Henry Royce: The Other Half of the Brain Behind Rolls-Royce

Frederick Henry Royce was an English car designer and engineer, best known for co-founding the Rolls-Royce Company with Charles Stewart Rolls. The youngest in a brood of five, Royce was born in Alwalton but moved to London when their family business ran aground. When his father died, he helped out the family by delivering telegrams and selling newspapers.

He later on became an apprentice at the Great Northern Railway company before joining the Electric Light and Power Company to work on theatre and street lighting in Liverpool. In 1884, he put up a business with Ernest Claremont and called it F.H. Royce and Company.

It was in 1894 when Royce started becoming interested in motor cards, but by 1904 the man had already built three of his own cars. It was probably his decision to work on a 1901 two-cylinder car that sparked his passion. It was in selling one of the cars he made that he had the pleasure of meeting Rolls, marking the beginning of their future venture together.

Royce was a hard-working man but this very diligence gave him poor health because he never ate properly. Since he was not well, he was forced to leave Derby where the Rolls-Royce Company had a factory. Nevertheless, this didn't keep him from handling the design of the Derby factory. Royce also kept busy by demanding that all new drawings, plans, and designs be personally inspected by him.

In 1893, he was married to Minnie Punt. They were divorced in 1912 and he never remarried. He died in 1933. He was 70 years old. After the First World War ended, Royce was given the OBE and was declared in 1930 a Baronet for his contributions to the British aviation industry. Royce adhered to the motto 'Whatever is right done, however humble, is noble."