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Howard Schultz

Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz helped Starbucks become the company it is today — a giant coffee

retailer with 23,000 stores in 73 countries and a market value of about $85 billion. However, this successful

businessman, who boasts a net worth of $2.9 billion, wasn’t born into wealth.

Howard was born in Brooklyn, New York as poor as a mouse. The child of two high-school dropouts,

Howard grew up in a flat in a public housing project for poor people.

“When I was seven years old, I experienced something that deeply affected me that I carry with me every

single day,” he said. “And that is the scar and the shame of being a poor kid living in government-

subsidized housing.”

Howard said his father became a “broken man” after working in many dead-end jobs that offered neither

money nor respect. But, this hardship seemed to motivate Howard to become the success he is today.

Howard's mother, however, encouraged him to pursue an education to open more doors for himself.

He earned an athletic scholarship to attend Northern Michigan University, but, upon arriving in college, he

decided he wasn't going to play sports at all.

Howard took on a wide range of odd jobs in school and following graduation. To pay for college, he worked

as a bartender and even sold blood.

“My first job after university was selling office equipment door-to-door. Each day I made up to 50 visits. I

liked talking to people and was pretty good at sales. I always gave half of my paycheck to my parents. My

first job led to others until I worked for a company that made housewares. One of our customers was a

small coffee shop in Washington, named Starbucks. In 1982, I went to visit the owners and got a job there.

I worked really hard and within a year, I was promoted.”

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“I never dreamed I would be in a position one day to be part of a company where I would have authority —

let alone build a company,” said Howard. “What I’ve tried to do is build the kind of company that my father

never got a chance to work for.”

“The image of my father unable to move on the couch, after his accident, stayed with me. So did the fear

of not having healthcare. Not long after he passed away, in 1988, Starbucks became one of the first

companies in America to give health insurance to all its employees—including part-time workers, a benefit

that was unheard of at the time, especially in retail.”

“Undoubtedly, one of my favourite accomplishments has been the Starbucks College Achievement Plan. In

2014, Starbucks and Arizona State University created the first-of-its kind program to give employees a

tuition-free university education. By spring of 2019, more than 3,000 Starbucks partners (employees) will

have graduated. Twenty percent of those who have participated in the program are like me, the first in

their families to go to university.”

1. What technique does the writer use in the second paragraph: Simile or metaphor?

2. Find a quote that shows what motivated Howard to work hard?

3. What adjective does Howard use to describe his father in the 4th paragraph?

4. What did Howard’s Mum encouraging him to do?

5. What did Howard have to do to pay his university tuition fees?

6. Once he took over the company and made it really successful, what two things did he do for the

employees?

7. What adverb is used in the final paragraph?

8. Explain the final quote in your own words.

9. What can you learn from Howard’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?

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Alan Sugar

Born in 1947 in London’s East End, Alan’s early beginnings were a world away from the wealth and fortune

he knows today. Growing up in a council flat in the poorest part of London, making ends meet was a

struggle for the Sugar family. At school Alan suffered server racism due to his Jewish background and

bullying because of his profuse, curly hair, he was constantly teased and called "Mop head."

Eventually, after spells earning money at a greengrocer’s and within the civil service, Alan’s business streak

emerged when he bought a van with his savings, he sold electricals from the back of it.

At just 21, Alan set up his own business, naming it Amstrad. He sold car radios, aerials and other electrical

items. However, it was the launch of Amstrad’s personal computer in 1984 that really put Alan’s company

on the map – his company had a net worth of £1.2 billion by 1986. Plus, thanks to Amstrad, TV viewers

could affordably purchase Sky set-top boxes.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for Amstrad, however. The 1987 stock market crash and stiff competition from

rivals such as Sega and Nintendo made life difficult for the brand. However, it eventually sold to BSkyB in

2007 for £125 million.

He's also spent a decade as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club during the 1990s, eventually

selling his stake for £47 million.

Arguably, Alan’s most profitable business venture to date is his property group, Amsprop, which he

established in 1985. Amsprop sells commercial space in sought-after locations such as London, with price

tags stretching into millions. The company is said to boast a current net worth of £800 million.

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In Alan’s autobiography, he credits his business success to hard work, examining the strategies of his rivals,

making his products better than others and catering to the mass market.

Most famously, Alan is known for his role as no-nonsense, tough-talking host of popular BBC show, The

Apprentice. The programme first aired in 2005 and has been going strong ever since, enjoying audience

ratings of over eight million.

As a self-made billionaire, Alan’s savvy business sense has made him one of the UK’s most influential

people. Worth a staggering £600 million by the age of just 40 (and then the UK’s 15th richest person), Alan

is now said to enjoy a wealth of over £1.3 billion. His name is a firm fixture on newspaper Rich Lists.

Despite his inflated fortunes, Alan is a supporter of charitable causes. He donated £3 million to refurbishing

Hackney Empire and his earnings from The Apprentice go to Great Ormond Street Hospital.

In 2000, Alan was knighted for his services to the electronics and home computer industry. He was enlisted

by the government as an Enterprise Tsar in 2016. Despite being over 70, Alan has no intentions of retiring,

resting or relaxing and time soon.

1. What adjective does the writer use in the first paragraph to describe Alan’s childhood difficulties?

2. What figurative language is used in the first paragraph?

3. What is meant by the word ‘emerged’ in the second paragraph?

4. What adverb does the writer use in the second paragraph?

5. What figurative language is used in the first paragraph?

6. What difficulties did Alan’s company face in 1987?

7. What technique is used in the final paragraph? 8. Explain the final quote in your own words.

9. What can you learn from Alan’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?

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Oprah Winfrey

Now aged 65 and worth an estimated $3 billion, Oprah’s lived a true rags-to-riches story. Eventually, her

perseverance, hard work and talent made her a massive media mogul and the queen of American TV.

Born to unmarried teenage housemaid in a poor community in Mississippi, in 1954, Oprah was first raised

by her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee because her mother couldn’t cope. She said her strict upbringing

included regular beatings.

Later, she moved into a hostel with her mother in Milwaukee. Between six and 14, she often had to sleep

on the porch and said she was physically abused for years.

Being sent to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville, Tennessee, was a turning point. He helped

create structure in her life, her schoolwork improved and she became more focused. She got her first job in

broadcasting as a part-time newsreader for local radio station in Nashville, while still at high school.

After lots of low paid jobs she saved enough money to go to Tennessee State University. She then became

Nashville’s first black female news reader and the station’s youngest-ever!

Moving to Baltimore in 1976, she became a news reporter but the formal, objective reporting style didn’t

suit her and she was told that she had no future on TV. Despite being sacked, she eventually found a new

job as co-host of a local TV chat show. It was a huge success, but her real big break came in 1984, when she

moved to Chicago.

She hosted a chat show called AM Chicago – and less than a year later, it became The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In 1986, it was televised nationally and then broadcast to more than 100 other countries. It has been

America’s number one talk show ever since, with more than 20 million viewers tuning in each week.

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Being rich and famous wasn’t enough for Oprah, she believed that the media could be used to inspire

others and change lives so she launched her own company, Harpo Productions. She’s gone on to have her

own TV station and has co-founded the women’s cable TV network Oxygen media, produces films and has

co-written five books – wow, what a woman!

When people tune into Winfrey’s shows, they experience first-hand her empowering attitude and ability to

inspire others. Even when discussing negative issues, she manages to bring out a positive message. She

covers informative topics, such as improving relationships, strengthening families and dealing with crises.

In sharing painful, personal aspects of her own life with viewers, she has been incredibly frank about her

rags-to-riches story. One of her most famous quotes is, “When you undervalue what you do, the world will

undervalue who you are,” – reminding people that they need to like themselves and realise their own

worth.

Oprah supports many charities and is an active speaker against child abuse. Having donated more than

$400 million to charitable causes and $12 million to Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American

History and Culture, US President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

She also started her own school, she founded the school in 2007 to serve the needs of very poor girls living

in South Africa, the boarding school has transformed the lives of hundreds of students, providing them

with the educational and emotional tools to realize their dreams of pursuing careers in such illustrious

fields as medicine, public service and architecture. “My hope was that I would give them an opportunity to

see the best of themselves reflected through an open mind, an open heart, to what is possible,” says

Oprah.

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She’s also a wonderful employer – in 2006, she paid for 1,065 staff members and their families to go on

holiday to Hawaii as a thank you for their hard work.

1. What is the triplet used by the writer in the first paragraph?

2. What adverb is used by the writer in the first paragraph?

3. What do you think the word ‘mogul’ means in the first paragraph?

4. Who did she first live with and why?

5. What improved when she went to live with her dad?

6. What part time job did she do at school?

7. Why do you think she chose to start a school for girls living in poverty?

8. What adjective does the writer use in the final paragraph?

9. Explain the final quote in your own words.

10. What can you learn from Oprah’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?

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Ralph Lauren

Known for its polo shirts and high-end ties, the Ralph Lauren fashion brand is easily recognizable. But did

you know that there was a time when the iconic fashion designer couldn’t even afford clothes?

“As a poor kid, I was always into clothes, but I didn’t have the money to buy them,” Lauren said in a 2002

interview. “When I’d get my brothers’ hand-me-downs, there was an energy in me that made me say, ‘I

want to get my own things, to make my own statement.’ Somewhere along the line, that energy —

coupled with my exposure, through movies, to a world I hadn’t known — turned into something.”

In his late teens when he chose to change his name from Lipschitz to Lauren after enduring years of teasing

and bullying.

Later, after a short time in the army, Lauren moved back to New York City and started working as a clerk

for a company that made expensive ties.

Whilst working at the tie company, Lauren got the chance to go to a polo match, a sport usually only open

to the very rich. This transformative experience — his first polo match — helped to shape his perspective

and activate his ambitious spirit. "We were exposed to fabulous things," recalled Warren Helstein, the

friend that took him to the polo match. "The silver, the leather, the horses, the tall slinky blondes with the

big hats, and the high society that we really weren't knowledgeable of."

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The event inspired him to start developing a high-class, elegant brand, which would eventually become

Polo Ralph Lauren.

Having only a high school diploma and a few business classes under his belt, the decision to start his own

company was the first of many risks Lauren would take in his legendary career.

The next was designing wide, colorful neckties at a time when narrow and plain was the norm. He had to

make and sell all the ties himself. Eventually he persuaded one of America’s biggest and most luxurious

shops to start selling them too. Bloomingdale's in New York began selling his ties and he sold $500,000

worth of ties in one year.

Over the decades he has developed the brand into all areas of fashion and at 75 is working as hard as ever.

1. What technique does the writer use in the first paragraph?

2. What adjective does Lauren use to describe himself in the second paragraph?

3. As a child, where did most of Lauren’s clothes come from?

4. Why did he change his name from Lipschitz to Lauren?

5. In the third paragraph, what verb does the writer use to emphasise how difficult it was for Lauren

to cope with the bullying?

6. Find a quote which explains what inspired him

7. Based on what the writer has shared about Lauren’s life, why do you think he still works at 75 when

he doesn’t need to?

8. Explain the final quote in your own words.

9. What can you learn from Lauren’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?

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J.K Rowling

J. K Rowling had to fight many battles to make her dream of becoming an author a reality. “I was convinced

that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write novels. However, my parents, both of whom came

from impoverished backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that my

overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a

pension.”

Her life got even tougher after leaving school, with the death of her mother and unexpectedly becoming a

single parent struggling to survive on benefits. “I remember years ago not eating so my daughter would

eat,” she said. “I remember nights when there was literally no money.”

One day as she waited on a delayed train bound for London, she began musing on the idea of an

adolescent boy who attends a school for wizards. This marked the conception of Harry Potter, but it would

take far more than a magic spell and the wave of a wand to bring him to life.

At the time Harry first popped into her head, Rowling was caught in that no man's land between the need

to find any work to pay the bills and the pursuit of a life's passion. She had worked a series of temporary

jobs. Barely getting by with the help of friends and family – "as poor as it is possible to be in modern

Britain, without being homeless," she later described it – Rowling found herself increasingly despondent,

angry over her failures and guilty about an inability to provide for her daughter.

Experiencing thoughts of suicide, Rowling realized she needed to get her act together, for the sake of her

daughter, if no one else. Her outlook improved after therapy, and she set her sights on a one-year teaching

training course, though there was still the matter of unfinished business with the boy wizard who flitted

through her imagination.

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Finally, in 1995 she completed the first book, Rowling followed through with the plan for teachers'

certification while desperately trying to get her book published. Following twelve rejections, she finally

found a publishing house Bloomsbury, which offered a £1,500 advance. Rowling also got some money from

the Scottish Arts Council, enabling her to finish her Harry Potter sequel on a brand-new computer!

Those days are long past, as the author earned $95 million between June 2016 and June 2017. Now a

philanthropist, Rowling enjoys giving back so much that an estimated $160 million in charitable giving

contributed to her fall from billionaire status in 2012. Today, Rowling’s fortune is back up to $1 billion.

1. What metaphor does the writer use in the first paragraph?

2. In the first paragraph, what do you think the word ‘impoverished’ means?

3. After feeling suicidal, how did Rowling recover?

4. How many publishers refused to publish her book?

5. What do you think is the meaning of the word ‘philanthropist’ in the last paragraph?

6. The writer opens one of the paragraphs with an adverb. What is the adverb and why do you think

the writer chose this word?

7. Explain the final quote in your own words.

8. What can you learn from Rowling’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?

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Jack Petchey

Multi-millionaire Jack, who was awarded a CBE by the Queen, started life in poverty and had to quit school

at 13 to start earning money and help his family.

That tough start is why he encourages today’s youth to get on in school and to put back into society what

they can. That’s the philosophy behind his Jack Petchey awards, he’s given away millions of pounds to

outstanding youngsters who have to make the choice where to donate the prize. “It gives them a sense of

contributing back to society,” he explains. “They make the decision—that gives them a sense of power and

influence in the right direction. That’s what I’ve done with the money I’ve made over the years, putting it

back into the society that made my fortune.”

Jack started work at 13 as a delivery boy for the greengrocer’s at the end of his street. But he had an earlier

brush with the law about his part-time job at the age of 12, when he got a police summons for working

under age. The prosecution at East Ham Police Court charged him with “carrying vegetables” after a

constable caught him hauling boxes of tomatoes.

War broke out in the late summer of 1939 when Jack had turned 14 and he went to work as a messenger

for the fire brigade at the height of the London Blitz, stationed at East Ham Town Hall and elsewhere.

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Later he got a job in the City as a lowly office boy, eventually moving up to counter sales for a firm of

stationers in Chancery Lane. Eventually, he applied for a management position—but was told he wasn’t

suitable and would ‘never make a businessman’! That’s the man who years later made millions on the

international business stage.

“They didn’t know what they missed out on,” Jack reflects. “It was bad management on their part. “But

that rejection taught me to think outside the box, when dealing with people.”

Jack quit the firm with £60 savings, bought a motor-car and started a car hire business. He soon expanded

into the now-famous Petchey car sales business which mushroomed between the 1960s and 80s with his

now-famous ‘smiling Jack in bow tie’ logo on all the ads.

He invested the profits, spotting opportunities in the ‘time share’ holiday business in the 1970s and then

joining the ‘big league’ in Mediterranean property development. He still runs his Mediterranean holiday

empire.

Incredibly, Jack is up most days at 6am with a light cornflake breakfast reading the financial pages, always

an eye on companies he thinks might be right for take-over and planning how he can use his millions to

help inner city teens. Clearly, Jack is still striving for further success and determined to help others to

follow in his footsteps.

1. What embedded clause does the writer use in the first paragraph?

2. In the second paragraph, what does the word ‘philosophy’ mean?

3. What adjective does the writer use in the first sentence of the second paragraph?

4. Why couldn’t Jack finish school?

5. What was Jack’s response to being told he’d never be a successful businessman?

6. What adverb does the writer use in the last paragraph?

7. Explain the final quote in your own words.

8. What can you learn from Jack’s story that will help you build the life that you’d like to live?