Examples of people who told their bosses to stick it and became successful.

[onion]

Originally Posted by Teacher

Tesla and Edison

Uh no. Tesla told Edison to stick it, but then Edison and his very, very power friends basically ruined Tesla's career. The guy had ideas far better than Edison in ever single way, yet they never picked up, because Edison was sabotaging him at every step. Considering Tesla died poor with few at the time knowing much about him or his work, and instead most people thinking his far dumber boss is the greatest inventor of all times, I really don't think this is a good example of what the OP was talking about at all.

 

[StephenHero]

Traci Lords

 

[Teacher]

Originally Posted by onion

Uh no. Tesla told Edison to stick it, but then Edison and his very, very power friends basically ruined Tesla's career. The guy had ideas far better than Edison in ever single way, yet they never picked up, because Edison was sabotaging him at every step. Considering Tesla died poor with few at the time knowing much about him or his work, and instead most people thinking his far dumber boss is the greatest inventor of all times, I really don't think this is a good example of what the OP was talking about at all.

My point wasn't that Tesla became more successful than Edison, but that he did enjoy some measure of success (before dying broke, of course).

 

[Master Milano]

How about Hugh Hefner?
Quit Esquire and started playboy magazine

 

[sjd]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

Lamborghini wasn't a subordinate of Ferrari, indeed, he was only a client of Ferrari. And quite successful at that, seeing as he was able to purchase Ferraris and start up his own sports car firm as a 'hobby'.

"There are several versions of why Lamborghini started his own company, all of them involving a conflict between himself and Enzo Ferrari. The most common version, as told by Lamborghini's son, is that Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the clutch in Lamborghini's Ferrari 250 GT. Enzo Ferrari sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari's clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors. In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved."

http://www.italiancar.com.au/site/ca...dex/lambo.html

 

[crazyquik]

OP's list includes one person who already owned a successful industrial concern (a tractor company) and a character from a novel. FAIL.

 

[romafan]

Sam Peckinpah
Jamie Dimon
Roy Keane

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by onion

Uh no. Tesla told Edison to stick it, but then Edison and his very, very power friends basically ruined Tesla's career. The guy had ideas far better than Edison in ever single way, yet they never picked up, because Edison was sabotaging him at every step. Considering Tesla died poor with few at the time knowing much about him or his work, and instead most people thinking his far dumber boss is the greatest inventor of all times, I really don't think this is a good example of what the OP was talking about at all.
^^ This is the story I'd always heard. In fairness, there's real skill involved in being a good business person, which Edison certainly was and Tesla certainly was not. But Tesla basically had most of his **** stolen or ripped off or even blatantly sabotaged by Edison, and died in relative obscurity (until much later, when he was rediscovered posthumously). BTW, this is how life works, unfortunately. The most successful people in the world aren't necessarily the smartest; they're the savviest. Savvy beats smart every time. So, while I feel sorry for Tesla and think he got shafted, I have to give Edison some credit for being a savvy and manipulative motherfucker. History is written by the victors, and not necessarily by the ones who are right. It kind of sucks, but that's how the real world unfortunately works.

 

[Don Carlos]

Originally Posted by Master Milano

How about Hugh Hefner?
Quit Esquire and started playboy magazine

+1

 

[frenchy]

TESLA is one of the most unappreciated geniuses of all time that mofo was into some weird,off the scale ****,like im talking on another level (see below) http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_wendwar.html

 

[HgaleK]

On the Tesla discussion- just look at the electric chair. A genius piece of work commissioned by Edison to scare people off of AC electricity.

 

[Slopho]

Originally Posted by JohnGalt

QFT, though it is really fair to use a novel as an example?

Nope, its like Star Trek. When every they brought up an example of something from the past they would throw in an alien. They'd be like:

"He's a lot like the ancient philosophers, Socrates and Plato of earth and Braniac of Smartron 2."

That third ***** is not real.

 

[gdl203]

That guy in that movie.

edit: office space. yea

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Puff Daddy
Puffy
P Diddy
Sean Combs

....the sad part is, it's all the same person.

 

[blackjack]

Michael Bloomberg got fired by Solomon Brothers and used his $10 million severance package to found what is now known as Bloomberg...


Jerry Seinfeld started out playing a bit role in an 80's sitcom called Benson . Only three episodes and he was fired in a humiliating manner -- one day, he showed up and realized his character was nowhere to be found on the script. He had been forgotten as he was considered too unimportant. This experience supposedly got him to focus on jobs where he would end up having some degree of creative control in the whole production process.

Ah **** - I misread the OP ... neither of these guys told their boss to 'shove it' - they got shitcanned instead.