 |
| Image Source: http://pursuitist.com |
I’d like to introduce you to the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Facebook, Inc., Mark Zuckerberg. In his early 20’s, while still an Undergraduate at Harvard University, "Zuck" founded “The Facebook,” an online community, exclusively for the use of Harvard students. Once the community opened to the public, it soon had over one million registered users.
The facebook.com domain was purchased once the community began to secure advertising revenue. The community continued to grow, and the home to any individual with a confirmed .edu email address. More recently, Facebook enabled access to high school students.
Leadership Qualities
Mark Zuckerberg has been ranked number 40 in Forbes listing of “The World’s Most Powerful People” (Perlroth, & Noer, 2010), number 35 of “The Forbes 400 Richest People in America” (Forbes Staff, 2010) and number 212 on the 2010 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires (Kroll, & Miller, 2010).
You might be asking why was Zuck selected to be featured in my leadership blog. To start, I have a strong interest in technology and Zuck just happens to be a great inspirational innovator, within the world of technology. Additionally, he had a creative vision, and had the will to act on that vision, using his talents to make his dreams a reality. Above all, Zuck reminds me that we have the capability within ourselves to control our own destinies and reach our full potential. Regardless of our current situations, we can decide to achieve greatness or do nothing at all.
References:
Author Unknown. (2008). Mark zuckerberg bio, founder of facebook. Retrieved from http://founderbios.com/mark-zuckerberg.php
Forbes Staff. (2010, September 16). The forbes 400: the richest people in america. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/wealth/forbes-400
Kroll, L., & Miller, M. (2010, March 10). The world's billionaires. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/10/worlds-richest-people-slim-gates-buffett-billionaires-2010_land.html
Perlroth, N., & Noer, M. (2010, November 3). The world’s most powerful people. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/wealth/powerful-people
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI chose Lance Armstrong as my leader and noticed Lance and Mark are very different, although they seemed to have a talent that was developed at a young age and they both excelled at their respective vocations. Mark started programming at an early age and continued work and development of programs and Lance began competing and winning amateur races at the age of 13.
I also find similarities in the extreme public support of Facebook and the overwhelming popularity similar to the public acceptance and support of Lance's Livestrong movement.
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteMark Zuckerburg was on my original list of leaders because he is a leader of technology which is our major course of study in this program. The vast majority of similarities in our leaders is that they were not expected to be leaders. In each case, our leaders were somewhat teen sensations who received opportunities to share their vision with others. Both of our leaders have become successful in different ways; however both seem to downplay their overall success.
Allison, I completely agree with your observation regarding Michael and Mark. Both individuals were indeed teen sensations and easily made an impression on society for their early accomplishments.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I have always been a fan of Michael J. Fox, and have followed his endeavors to this day.
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about Zuck as I was minimally aware of him and his experience. I do believe that the identification of vision is a truly vital and a vital leadership quality. The impact on society can be seen as recently as last week with the incidents and issues in Egypt. Social networking is largely responsible for the revolution. This same situation is occurring in many other countries as we write. I am sure that when facebook began, revolution was not on his mind, however the ability to bring millions of people together can have these type of effects.
I will be looking forward to your next two posts as you continue building the leadership blogs. Have a great day!
Dave
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI must admit to be somewhat ignorant when it comes to Mark Zuckerburg. I realized the incredible machine Facebook has become over the years, especially with the way it united people in Egypt over the last few weeks. So much negativity has been thrown the way of Facebook. I know my own school has had to deal with Facebook harassment and bullying by individual students. Believe it or not, Facebook has actually made an administrator's job that much tougher. However, the incredible impact that it has had and the ideas that ran around Zuckerburg's mind in coming up with this revolutionary concept is mindboggling. It takes a great person to not only believe in a concept they've created, but it takes a great person to continually allow that concept to evolve (as Facebook has). A simple concept has become universal.