"John, you probably read something about my experience in the recent year in the news already. What many do not yet know is, that in the last month I bought a new company in Italy, Europe. It is a car company called Lamborghini. After purchasing this company my lack of management talent became apparent for the first time.
I could use a headhunter and hire suitable personal all around the world and just use some money in exchange, but that doesn't suit my philosophy. I am only 19 years old; no established management talent would really respect me from the heart if they were 20-30 years older than me, nor would they share the same ideas and values as I do, because we would be a generation apart.
This is the reason I am here, at a random University campus in the United States. I want to personally visit some learning institutions and invite some young talent to join me on my future entrepreneur journey. I learned some news about you from different sources and wanted to invite you to join me along the ride. You would first serve in a team of assistants very close to me. You can see it as a traineeship at a large company.
If you prove trustworthy and give some valuable input, you have a big chance to join the upper management of a future company of mine."
John got more excited by the minute, and he really didn't need to think about it at all and immediately agreed to join the team. As a reward for his quick response Simon promised him the possibility to continue his studies and get a law degree in New York at any University of his choice, which Atari would finance him in full.
The rest of the day they spent walking around the campus of West Virginia University. But none of the other students left any deep imprints in his last life or were significantly better than the rest, at least the ones he met that day. Nevertheless, his actual goal was accomplished beautifully, and the leader of Atari was very pleased with the journey. Stanley Barnes, the head of the secretary office, exchanged contact information with Chambers and would be responsible for the further itinerary.
It was planned for John to join the Secretery Office in New York next month, in April, after receiving his bachelor's degree. Simon was able to quicken the process a little bit, after donating a sum of money.
Simon spent his night in a luxury hotel in Pittsburgh, before taking a plane to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to meet up with Sergio Marchionne. Getting the young Marchionne to join his secretary team was quite the headache for Simon, as he wasn't really a college student yet. Asking a high schooler to join his team seemed kind of weird. But he didn't have time to wait for another 8 years for him to finish his road of graduation.
In the end he decided to simply use money to solve the problem. When they arrived at the St. Michael's College School in Toronto Stanley Barnes used a large official and private donation to the headmaster in order to receive a written letter of recommendation to a "New Yorker headhunter".
After Simon received this recommendation from the headmaster, he seemingly personally appeared in Toronto himself to check out this future prospect.
When Sergio Marchionne learned about this course of events, he couldn't really believe it and neither could his parents. But after meeting Simon Smith himself at their home in Toronto and receiving the first check, that would completely cover Sergio's graduation funds at any University in New York, they all were very excited. Sergio Marchionne of course agreed to the more than generous conditions Simon offered him and immediately wanted to join their team to travel to the largest city in the United States. After some persuasion from Simon, he agreed to spend another month with his family and arrive at the same time as John Chambers, in April 1971, in New York.
His first trip for talent acquisition went way smoother than smoother than Simon could have ever imagined. He gained two very valuable future business management master's without any difficulties. Perhaps he highly underestimated his own charm while making the mistake and viewing both Chambers and Marchionne from a perspective of the future. Right now, they were just some ordinary students without any halo around them. Receiving the favor of a young self-made billionaire seemed like a large dream to both.
On March 14th Simon's private jet landed on the airport of New York. After his small journey across the United States and Canada finally returned home. There were still many targets Simon wanted to acquire for his team, but there was no need to rush. Many of them were still very young and Simon didn't have the time right now to closely lead their development now. Having 2-3 people closely by his side was more than enough for the coming year.
Luckily his last target was already very close by and still living in New York, Brooklyn.
Howard D. Schultz was born on July 19, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York, in a family of a former U.S. Army trooper and later truck driver, Fred Schultz, and his wife, Elaine. The family had three poor kids, even though the parents worked hard to give their children a decent future. Then, they could not even imagine their son becoming one of the wealthiest businesspersons in the United States.
The childhood of the future billionaire was spent in the neighborhood of the houses for low-income families, where there was nothing but the basketball court. Most of the people there were extremely poor, and it is evident that the children from this area were considered quite ordinary. That is why Howard always knew how difficult it would be for him to escape this poverty. However, his dream of becoming successful was more robust than any obstacle.
As a little boy, Howard often watched his father trying to find a job meeting his expectations. When Howard was seven years old, his father broke a leg while being at work. As he had no medical insurance, the subsequent financial difficulties in his family left an indelible mark in the boy's memory.