Story - 6
Thomas Edison
One day Thomas Edison came home and gave a paper to his mother. He told her,“My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.” His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.
After many, many years, after Edison’s mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won’t let him come to school any more. Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”
In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
Geniuses - An exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc
Persevere - Continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success
Raised - Elevated to a higher position or level; lifted, more intense or strong than usual; higher
Distributor - A distributor is a company that supplies goods to shops or other businesses
Desperate - Feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with, (of a person) having a great need
Faced - To accept that a bad situation exists and try to deal with it
Criticism - The act of saying that something or someone is bad
Until - Not before a particular time or event
Classic - Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind, very typical of its kind
Skyrocket - To cause to rise or increase abruptly and rapidly
Undaunted by the failure, Jobs founded a new company, NeXT, which was eventually acquired by Apple. Once back at Apple, Jobs proved his capacity for greatness by reinventing the company’s image and taking the Apple brand to new heights.
Entrepreneur - Someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity
Boundless - Unlimited or immense
Innovations - A new idea or method, products, or the use of new ideas and methods
Emphatic - Expressing something in a strong way and without any doubt
Comeback - An attempt to become famous, powerful, or important again after a period of being much less famous
Irrecoverable - Impossible to get back
Massive - Very large in size, amount, or number
Empire - A large commercial organization owned or controlled by one person or group
Fire - Dismiss (an employee) from a job
Undaunted - Still determined and enthusiastic, despite problems or no success
Eventually - In the end, especially after a lot of delays, problems, or arguments
After many, many years, after Edison’s mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up. On the paper was written: Your son is addled [mentally ill]. We won’t let him come to school any more. Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”
In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb.Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
Meaning
Tearful - If someone is tearful, their face or voice shows signs that they have been crying or that they want to cry
Genius - Very great ability or skill in a particular subject or activity
Inventor - The person who first comes up with a brand new idea or thing is its inventor
Century - A period of 100 years
Mentally ill - Health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior
Addled - Unable to think clearly; confused
Too - Excessively, in addition; also
Productive - If you're productive, that means you do a lot; having positive results
Attempts - The act of trying to do something, especially something difficult
Story - 5
RATAN TATA: The Empire Builder
What do you do when you have a role model to look up to and then, you are asked to fill the role model's shoes? When Ratan Tata became the chairman in 1991, he had a mammoth task set before him. His futuristic views and liberal attitude did not go well with some of the top honchos at Tata which resulted in a tussle at the management level. At the very start of his career as chairman, two companies under him faced bankruptcy and his employees faith in him dwindled as he brought down the retirement age from 70 to 65, leading to an ouster of some of the oldest employees of the organisation. Despite the many failures he has seen, Tata Nano being the latest, Ratan Tata did not give up and continues to be a global figure even today.
Meaning
To look up to - To admire and respect someone
Filling someone's shoes(idioms) - To do someone's job or accept someone's responsibilities, especially in a satisfactory way
Chairman - A person in charge of a meeting, organization, or department; a chairperson
Mammoth - You can use mammoth to emphasize that a task or change is very large and needs a lot of effort to achieve
Futuristic - Strange and very modern, or intended or seeming to come from some imagined time in the future
Liberal - Willing to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own
Honchos - The person in charge ; the boss
Tussle - To have difficult disagreements or strong arguments
Bankruptcy - A legal term for when a person or business cannot repay their outstanding debts
Dwindled - To become smaller in size or amount, or fewer in number
Ouster - To force someone to leave a position of power, job, place, or competition
Despite - Without being affected by
Story - 4
The Journey of a Failed Entrepreneur
He was born in a poor family, when China's cultural revolution was at its peak.As a teenager he used to guide tourist for free just to improve his English.He knew that the only way he could get rid of poverty, was through education. He started applying for different colleges, but got rejected from each of them.Even after applying for 30 different jobs, all he ever faced, was plain rejection in 3 simple words " You're no good". When he applied for a job at KFC, he was the only one who get turned down out of 24 people.
In 1995, when internet was blooming, he got shocked when no result appeared from China, when he searched "beer". And that's when he came up with an idea of an online marketplace - ALIBABA.But even after starting Alibaba, he couldn't make it profitable and it was about to go bankrupt. So he asked 17 of his friends to invest in his vision, because he still believed in his idea and soon Alibaba became the largest e-commerce store in the world.Today, Jack Ma is the richest man in China and has a net worth of $33 billion.
Jack Ma's story teaches us, that it is never too late to believe in yourself and to never lose hope.
Meaning
Cultural - Relating to a particular group of people and their habits, beliefs, traditions, etc
Revolution - A complete change in ways of thinking
Peak - The highest, strongest, or best point, value, or level of skill
Rid of - To remove or throw away something unwanted
Rejection - The act of refusing to accept, use, or believe someone or something
Blooming - Looks attractively healthy and full of energy
Profitable - Resulting in or likely to result in a profit or an advantage
Bankrupt - Unable to pay what you owe, and having had control of your financial matters given, by a law court, to a person who sells your property to pay your debts
Vision - The faculty or state of being able to see, the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom, an experience
Story - 3
Single Mother on Welfare
Take a guess of how much the first Harry Potter novel sold for…. got it? A million? More? Less? If you guessed $4,000 after a dozen of rejections, you are correct. The billionaire author finally sold her novel, while living on welfare and raising her daughter as a single mother. Rowling is laughing all the way to the bank to those publishers because the Harry Potter creator’s net worth surpasses the Queen of England. Proving to always believe in a little magic.
Meaning
Guess - Estimate or conclude (something) without sufficient information to be sure of being correct
Rejection - The act of refusing to accept, use, or believe someone or something
Billionaire - An extremely rich person who has money or property worth at least a thousand million pounds or dollars
Author - The writer of a book, article, play, etc
Welfare - Help given, especially by the state or an organization, to people who need it, especially because they do not have enough money
Publishers - Individual or corporation responsible for the printing and distribution of digital or printed publications
Surpasses - To become better, greater, or stronger than : exceed
Magic - The use of special powers to make things happen that would usually be impossible, such as in stories for children
Story - 2
Walt Disney was told he Lacked Creativity
One of the most creative geniuses of the 20th century was once fired from a newspaper because he was told he lacked creativity. Trying to persevere, Disney formed his first animation company, which was called Laugh-O-Gram Films. He raised $15,000 for the company but eventually was forced to close Laugh-O-Gram, following the close of an important distributor partner.
Desperate and out of money, Disney found his way to Hollywood and faced even more criticism and failure until finally, his first few classic films started to skyrocket in popularity.
Desperate and out of money, Disney found his way to Hollywood and faced even more criticism and failure until finally, his first few classic films started to skyrocket in popularity.
Meanings
Lacked - To not have or not have enough of something that is needed or wanted
Creativity - The ability to produce original and unusual ideas, or to make something new or imaginativeGeniuses - An exceptional natural capacity of intellect, especially as shown in creative and original work in science, art, music, etc
Persevere - Continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success
Raised - Elevated to a higher position or level; lifted, more intense or strong than usual; higher
Distributor - A distributor is a company that supplies goods to shops or other businesses
Desperate - Feeling or showing a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with, (of a person) having a great need
Faced - To accept that a bad situation exists and try to deal with it
Criticism - The act of saying that something or someone is bad
Until - Not before a particular time or event
Classic - Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind, very typical of its kind
Skyrocket - To cause to rise or increase abruptly and rapidly
Story - 1
Steve Jobs was Booted from his Own Company
Steve Jobs is an impressive entrepreneur because of his boundless innovations, but also because of his emphatic comeback from an almost irrecoverable failure. Jobs found success in his 20s when Apple became a massive empire, but when he was 30, Apple’s board of directors decided to fire him.Undaunted by the failure, Jobs founded a new company, NeXT, which was eventually acquired by Apple. Once back at Apple, Jobs proved his capacity for greatness by reinventing the company’s image and taking the Apple brand to new heights.
Meanings
Booted - To make someone leave a place, their job, or something that they are involved inEntrepreneur - Someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity
Boundless - Unlimited or immense
Innovations - A new idea or method, products, or the use of new ideas and methods
Emphatic - Expressing something in a strong way and without any doubt
Comeback - An attempt to become famous, powerful, or important again after a period of being much less famous
Irrecoverable - Impossible to get back
Massive - Very large in size, amount, or number
Empire - A large commercial organization owned or controlled by one person or group
Fire - Dismiss (an employee) from a job
Undaunted - Still determined and enthusiastic, despite problems or no success
Eventually - In the end, especially after a lot of delays, problems, or arguments
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