Who inspires you professionally? In this instance, I am not taking family, friends and historical figures into account even though all of them could be significant sources of inspiration. What I mean is who is currently an inspiration to you from the professional stand point? For me, two very different (age, background, experience, approach…) entrepreneurs come to mind instantaneously and they are Richard Branson and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Richard Branson (or more accurately, Sir Richard Branson) of Virgin is an astonishing example of believing in yourself, taking risks and sticking with it. Over the past 40+ years he has built an empire of over 400 companies (Virgin _____ [insert anything] it’s most likely his) and yet during that time he has been a complete gentlemen (btw, I doubt that it has anything to do with him being British 😉 ). He’s always positive, calm, cool and collected.
On the other hand, Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia or if you have been following his hustle from the earlier days of Wine Library is a man who has been an entrepreneur since he was a child where he was managing lemonade stands (talk about it being part of one’s DNA) and trading baseball cards. By comparison, he’s a bit louder and in your face, but I appreciate directness and that kind of approach…after all, why dance around something something longer than necessary. 😉
Who inspires you and why?