YOU CAN DETERMINE YOUR SUCCESS

Larry Ellison was born in 1944 in the Bronx to an unwed mother; he never knew his father. While still an infant, Ellison was shipped off to Chicago to be taken care of and eventually adopted by, his mother’s aunt and uncle. He grew up in a two bedroom apartment and attended two years of college before dropping out when his adoptive mother died. An excuse strong enough to justify failure; but Larry Ellison weathered the storm to become the founder of Oracle, the multinational computer technology corporation with headquarters in Redwood City, California, USA.
A question was once posed to Ellison on how he perceived success; hear him, “The most important aspect of my personality, as far as determining my success goes, has been
• my questioning conventional wisdom,
• doubting the experts; and
• questioning authority.
While that can be very painful in relationships with your parents and teachers, it’s enormously useful in life”.
More than three decades ago Larry Ellison demonstrated these three virtues, he saw an opportunity other companies missed: a description of a working prototype for a relational database. No company had committed to commercializing the technology, but Ellison realized the tremendous business potential of the relational database model. He questioned conventional wisdom; he called to question, the opinions of experts and refused to yield to the cohesions and limitations imposed on him by the authorities. Larry launched into relational database technology and ever since, the face of business computing has not remained the same.
Ellison had always been interested in computer and software design; he had earlier worked with Ampex Corporation before founding what would become Oracle in 1977 with $2000 of his own money. The company was so successful that it made Ellison a billionaire many times over and continues to secure his place as the 9th richest man in the world. Here is a man who dropped out of college! Here is a man who had legitimate background to justify failure! He refused to be swayed by the rational expectations of men, he refused conventional wisdom of men, he refused to be tamed by the bureaucracies of the authorities.
Today Oracle is the gold standard for database technology and applications in enterprises throughout the world—the company is the world's leading supplier of information management software and the world's second largest independent software company. With its recent acquisition of Sun, Oracle becomes an undisputable leader in the hardware arena, among others. As at 2009, the Oracle had more than 115,000 in its employment worldwide.
The success story of Larry Ellison and Oracle is instructive as much as it is illuminating. A mind that fails to question conventional wisdom will find it difficult to think outside the box. A mind cowed and subdued by ‘experts’ sooner than later becomes captive to environmental opinions. The success story of Larry Ellison is worthy of emulation for all! Indeed, you can determine your own success.