Kerry Stokes : The Boy from Nowhere
Link: https://www.bookdepository.com/Kerry-Stokes-Andrew-Rule/9780732295981
(source: https://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/books/2015/02/13/25-things-didnt-know-kerry-stokes/)
Kerry Stokes…. He is one of the Australia’s hidden wealth and owner of Seven Media Group. His story inspires me immediately and I’ve learnt a great deal about working hard. Simply a legend.
<<Out of Problems, Comes Opportunities>>
While some may see an impoverished background as a huge disadvantage, this is precisely what spurred and made many millionaires and beyond. Kerry Stokes is a fine example.
A technical whiz, a great self-educator, a quiet achiever, he has determination; whatever he wanted he would eventually get. He’s a forward-planner and very clever at picking good people. The hunger to grab every opportunity gripped him tightly. All his life, he would hunt for bargains — and knowledge. He set out to learn how much he didn’t know, and then to find someone who did. The young Stokes saw his own limitation and worked methodically to eliminate them and acquire the tools he needed to succeed. Stokes’ ability is to lock onto one challenge and master it while others floundered. He has an incredible ability to concentrate & absorb key information quickly, gravitating to people he could learn, harnessing the fear of failure to overcome whatever obstacle is in his way. He is living years ahead of the game.
Like a lot of young men, Stokes was willing to work hard to get ahead. Stokes kept going when it would been easier not to. He instinctively delayed present comfort for future gains.
His great skills, perhaps, was finding the right people. We can all appreciate someone after they are famous but he can appreciate someone BEFORE they’re famous. It would become a repeated theme for his relentless rise: Stokes had a series of older ‘mentor’ figures and inspired extraordinary loyalty among his staff.
With Kerry, it is more than just money. It is an attitude, an enthusiasm for the task, not just the business.
Who know where those traits come from? Were they born in him or a subconscious reaction to the poverty, dirt and chaos of his childhood? There is nothing like the hard knock life to teach us to read people, and see all type of personalities. He had no education to speak of, or any of the accomplishments others took for granted — and so he was not defined by them.
The boy who had nothing had become the man who has everything.
His advice: Stop thinking about yourself & focus on helping solve someone’s problems and you’ll make money.