T. Boone Pickens

Introduction T. Boone Pickens was born on May 22, 1928 in a place known as Holdenville. Thomas Boone Pickens, Boone’s father was an employee in the oil sector where he worked as a landsman, he was involved in leasing mineral rights. His mother Grace was responsible for overseeing the operations of the Price administration office for the counties that surrounded Holdenville. Her role was to ensure that the gasoline and goods that went to the counties were rationed. The life of T. Boone has always been a unique one (BoonePickens 3).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on T. Boone Pickens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Early Life of T. Boone T. Boone is said to have been born in unusual circumstances since a few days before his birth, the doctors had discovered complications and informed his father that either the child or the mother would survive. Boon’s father did not agree with the decision the doctors had made, hence he sent one doctor to go and read a document on c-section. This attempt culminated in both the child and the mother surviving. From an early age, Boone followed the example of his parents and grandmother in regards to spending money sparingly and working hard. He exemplified remarkable skills in expansion without knowing that this was to be portrayed in his life. When he was 12 years old, he gained interest in a newspaper which marked his acquisition skills. His father was a risk taker while his mother was a hard worker; these are qualities that T. Boone emulated later in life. His mother ensured that he disciplined him accordingly while his grandmother Nellie and aunt Ethel influenced his bringing up to a great extend (Kinicki 185). Boone confessed that his grandmother was very influential and most of the family members consulted her before any major decision was made. His aunt was a school teacher and checked his progress in school constantly. Boone’ s family went to live in Amarillo, Texas when he was a youth and he went to high school there. He spent a year in Texas AM University before shifting to Oklahoma AM University to study for his geology degree. Boone lost a scholarship in 2006 where he was to earn 25$ a month playing football because he was described to be short and could not run fast in the game. He started working at Philips Petroleum and was in the company for a period of 3 years after which he quit. He borrowed $2,500 and together with two other colleagues they started a firm known as petroleum Exploration Inc that dealt with gas and oil. Its focus was on gas opportunities and oil reserves that existed locally. He later started Altair Oil and Gas Company to explore gas and oil in Canada. Both companies came before Mesa Petroleum Company which became one of the most reputable oil and gas companies in America under his leadership. The company produced large volumes of oil and gas between 1964 and 1996 (CNBC 2).Adver tising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Reasons behind Boone’s Success It is agreeable that Boone achieved great success and there are many factors that contributed towards the success. He possesses many positive qualities some of which were constant learning during his childhood days which helped him succeed in business. The first positive quality that enabled Boone succeed in business is honesty. Since childhood, Boone has always been honest as portrayed by a story he told of a wallet he collected. One day as he was transporting papers, he collected a wallet that was in thick grasses. There was no money in the wallet but he could find the name of the owner. Boone realized that the owner was a customer who lived not far away so he decided to return it. The owner was thrilled by the act and in appreciation, he gave Boone one dollar to thank him. When he went back home, h e happily narrated the story to his mother, grandmother and aunt. To his surprise, his grandmother told him that they were not ready to accept a reward that had been given on grounds of honesty. This incident confirms one of the positive qualities of Boone of being honest, a quality that assisted him to achieve success. The second positive quality that is associated with Boone’s success is his determination. He is never comfortable when he lags behind in what he does and during the early days of his career, he discovered that striving to be in the front is not in itself achieving success. Boone has succeeded in taking up large and reputable oil businesses because he believes that there is no leadership to successfully restructure the industry. Due to these leadership qualities of Boone, he managed to make Mesa one of the most profitable oil companies. His leadership entails giving employment to young and energetic employees who make an active contribution in his business (CNB C 5). The third positive quality that led to the success of Boone in business is that he is naturally a curious person. Since he trained in geology at the university, this is one area that helps him succeed in business. His geology training enables him to carefully study business scenarios, make an analysis of the possibilities and then take the necessary actions. He graduated in 1951 from Oklahoma University and uses a unique approach to analyze the actual worth of companies and work out on contracts on commodities. Early in his career, Boone realized that stewards in corporate America were using a Ready, Aim, Aim pattern as opposed to taking the right actions. This made him feel that there was need for him to get into the business world and make maximum benefits out of shareholder values.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on T. Boone Pickens specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fourth positive quality that assisted Boone Pickens to succeed in business is that he tells things the way he sees them. He handles matters without reservations whether they are business deals or coordinating his employees. He utilizes his wisdom in running the businesses and combines it with his humorous nature to ensure success in his business. His employees and even family members find it easy to identify with his insights and they often refer to them as Booneisms. Some people first contemplate ignoring his insights but they later find them helpful. For example, he emphasizes that everybody in business must be willing to make decisions because a good leader must have the capacity to make decisions. In addition, he says that business people should keep things informal. He advises that talking is the most effective way of doing business. Writing is crucial for keeping the records but the ideas are generated through talking (CNBC 6). Despite many positive qualities that characterize T. Boone and ones that have enabled him to succeed in business, he has some negative qualities. This is common to human beings and business people because no matter how successful an individual is, he or she must have some weaknesses. One of the negative qualities of T Boone is his involvement in politics. Successful business people who actively participate in politics may sometimes discover that there businesses are affected negatively. For example, Boone was supporting President Bush financially in the 1980s. In 2007, he also made donations worth millions of money to politicians. He is said to have used a lot of money to have people dispute allegations made through political advertisements. Some of the published articles that Boone wanted to dispute were those related to his participation in earlier wars that took place in the country. The use of a lot of money in political interventions is considered a negative quality for Booken since this is likely to affect his business success Conclusion T. Boone is am ong the most recognized and reputable business people in energy issues worldwide. He is also the president and chief executive officer of BP Capital Management which is a firm specializing in investment. Boone is also an author who wrote several books among them Boone Pickens and The First Billion is the Hardest.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Boone has been described by some people as the luckiest man in the world and has given huge sums of money to charity. Today, he is involved in applying his early career lessons in managing his ranch which is over 70,000 acres and running his oil and gas related businesses. It is agreeable that Boone Pickens is among the most successful business personalities having started his business career when he was young. He is indeed a person whose experiences in business can be used to inspire other people. Works Cited Boone,Pickens. Pickens Life and Legacy. 2011. Web. CNBC. Biography of Boone Pickens. 2011. Web. Kinicki, Angelo. Management:A Practical Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2010. Print This research paper on T. Boone Pickens was written and submitted by user Brendan Harding to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.