What 7 Powerful CEOs Learned From Their First Job
1. Indra Nooyi, Pepsi Co
First Job: Receptionist
“I’m so secure in myself, I don’t have to be American to play in the corporate life.”
Indra Nooyi’s story is that of a determined girl who did not have things on a platter. Nooyi broke the conventions of her conservative South Indian heritage to pursue her education in America at the Yale School of Management. Paying her own way through school, she worked as a receptionist in her dorm from midnight to sunrise to earn money and struggled to put together US$50 to get a western suit for her first job interview out of Yale. One of the biggest lessons that remains with her since then came from her discomfort with the formal western outfit. She had worn a trouser that reached down only till her ankles to her first interview. When she got rejected, she turned to her professor at school who advised her to wear what she is comfortable in and would wear if she was in India. He told her to “be yourself”. She wore a sari for her next interview and got the job. She has followed this philosophy for the rest of her career.
2. Bill Gates, Microsoft
First Job: Computer programmer
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”
Bill Gates took on a variety of odd jobs during his high school career, but landed his first corporate job in his senior year as a computer programmer for the aerospace company TRW. It was at TRW that Gates began to develop as a serious programmer, and he and his partner Paul Allen began seriously considering forming their own software company. Having shown an interest in computer science from a very young age, Gates continued his education at Harvard studying prelaw but then promptly dropped out to pursue his true passion, founding Microsoft.
3. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo
First Job: Grocery checkout clerk
”Employees, especially young people, want more than a paycheck.”
At age 16, Marissa Mayer took on her first job at the County Market in Wausau, WI, where she worked as a grocery checkout clerk for the summer. She learned a lot about family economics during her time there, including the way that people make trade-offs, and how people make fundamental decisions such as how and what to eat. She memorized a high volume of number codes for produce items in order to streamline the checkout process, and had to scan over 40 items a minute in the coveted express lane under high pressure. It was there that she learned the importance of working quickly and accurately, a skill that would prove to be highly transferable for the rest of her fast-paced career.
4. Jeff Bezos, Amazon
First Job: Camp Leader
“I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.”
Always the entrepreneur, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos created his own first job. While in high school, he and his former girlfriend Ursula Werner launched the DREAM Institute (Directed REAsoning Methods), an educational summer camp for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Here, Bezos’ real entrepreneurial talents began to shine through. The 10-day course taught students everything from Gulliver’s Travels to black holes in space, nuclear war and how electric currents work. With 6 sign ups, Bezos charged $600 per child. In the pamphlet, Bezos described his program as one that “emphasizes the use of new ways of thinking in old areas,” a mindset that he would put to good use when developing Amazon.
5. Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Network
First Job: Grocery clerk
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
Oprah says she will never forget her first job. As a teenager growing up in Nashville, Oprah began working at the corner grocery store next to her father’s barber shop. She hated every minute of it. As an employee, Oprah recalls not being allowed to speak to customers. For her, this was a very clear sign that staying silent was not part of the equation to a successful career. It is fortunate that she found out what she dislikes early on, because at age 16, she landed a job that paid her to talk. A Nashville radio station, WVOL, hired Oprah to read the news on the air, which she says she loved.
6. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway
First Job: Paperboy
“I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.”
Warren Buffett started out delivering newspapers on his bicycle for The Omaha World-Herald when he was just a child. Around the same time, took on other odd jobs such as washing cars and working at his father’s grocery store. With his income from a variety of jobs, Buffett showed an early interest in investment. As a teenager, he used his savings to purchase several pinball machines that he placed in local businesses, hoping to achieve a decent ROI. But even more than pinball machines, he was interested in stocks — making his first stock purchase at the early age of 11. On his first tax return, he even claimed his bike as a deduction. By the time he graduated from high school in 1947, Buffett had earned $5,000, which is the equivalent of $54,000 today.
7. Howard Schultz, Starbucks
First Job: Paperboy
“In life, you can blame a lot of people and you can wallow in self-pity, or you can pick yourself up and say, ‘Listen, I have to be responsible for myself.”
Howard Schultz grew up in a low-income family in the Bronx. At the age of 12, he began selling newspapers as his first job in support of his family’s financial difficulties. Schultz always knew how difficult it would be for him to break out of poverty. However, his dream of becoming successful was stronger than any obstacle. Having a strong recognition of the state he and his family were living in, Schultz moved on to work in a local cafe and continued to take on various jobs including stretching leather at a fur store. This exhausting job only made Howard stronger and deepened his wish to succeed in future. Being physically strong, Schultz excelled at sports and was awarded an athletic scholarship to Northern Michigan University where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Communications in 1975.