We hire about 450 college graduates each year. The first criterion is they have to work their way through school. The second is that somewhere, somehow, they have to have shown some type of leadership, whether it be the Boy Scouts or whatever. What I decided early on when I came into this company was that I would try to create an environment for 25,000 motivated people. The weak link in our chain was marketing and it always is.
Success is simply a function of hard work by smart people.
I've always believed that the best way to improve was to make people more self reliant. This country was not made by Harvard MBAs. This country was made by working class people who came here for a better life. One thing I've stood by all my life is to try to do it right, and not to try to be right. I never liked top-down orientation.