A candid, rollicking business memoir from the Home Depot cofounder, filled with personal stories, savvy business advice, and timeless lessons for a life well lived.
With a foreword by Pitbull
The start of Home Depot sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: Two Jews and an Italian decide to build a new kind of hardware store... In 1978, Bernie Marcus's livelihood depended on just such a scenario. Having been fired at the age of forty-nine, he teamed up with Arthur Blank and Ken Langone on a bold new endeavor. Their first day in business was so disastrous that the next morning, Marcus's wife wouldn't let him shave because she didn't want a razor in his hands. But the last laugh would be theirs, as the business partners grew Home Depot into the world's largest home improvement retailer, empowering millions of Americans to "do it yourself."
"Doing it yourself" has been the theme of Bernie Marcus's entire life. By the time he was fifteen, he had held more than a dozen jobs, joined a gang, and worked as a hypnotist in the Catskills. The son of a cabinetmaker and garment worker who survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Bernie overcame a hardscrabble upbringing to author one of the best entrepreneurial stories in American history. Today, Home Depot employs 500,000 associates at 2,300 stores and is one of the most recognized and admired companies in the world.
The same energy that made Home Depot successful has helped Bernie give away more than $2 billion and pioneer a new model for philanthropy, transforming millions of lives. There is no single, winning formula for trying to make the world a better place, but Bernie shares what he's learned—that the skills needed to build a Fortune 500 company are the same ones that can help cure cancer, treat veterans with PTSD, and transform autism treatment. And it doesn't take a fortune to make a big difference in your community.
Kick Up Some Dust will inspire you to dream, build, and give—and, maybe, change the world.
Listen live — at 8:30 A.M. ET, Saturday, April 8, 2023 via SuperTalk FM | https://www.supertalk.fm/
Join us this weekend on America's Roundatble - SuperTalkFM as Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy host Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot and chairman of The Marcus Foundation as he shares his life story, featured in his book titled, "Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking Big, Giving Back, and Doing It Yourself."
Today, Home Depot employs 500,000 associates at 2,300 stores and is one of the most recognized and admired companies in the world. Bernie retired as Chairman of Home Depot in 2002 . He serves as the Chairman of The Marcus Foundation, which has gifted more than $2 billion for medical research and facilities, military veterans, Israel, autism and community enhancement.
Bernie launched Home Depot at the age of 49, after being fired for the first time. Being fired enabled him to start the company he had envisioned long ago to encourage people to "do it yourself."
Bernie is an author of an inspiring, must-read book titled: Kick Up Some Dust - Lessons on thinking-Big, Giving-Back and Doing-it-yourself.” Bernie is 93 years old, and has been married to his wife Billi for almost 50 years.
He is a strong supporter of capitalism — the free-enterprise system, democracy and America.
Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group, reveals how his instincts and common sense have propelled him to massive business success in this detailed account of an incredible rags-to-riches story.
Listen live — at 8:30 A.M. ET, Saturday, March 25, 2023 via SuperTalk FM | https://www.supertalk.fm/
Join us this weekend on America's Roundtable as Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy host Billionaire entrepreneur John Catsimatidis, owner and CEO of the Red Apple Group. John Catsimatidis will reveal how his instincts and common sense propelled him to massive business success in this detailed account of an incredible rags-to-riches story.
Born on the small Greek island of Nisyros, John Catsimatidis immigrated to the States with his family and quickly became a true New Yorker, raised in Harlem. He went to school by day and worked in a small grocery store by night to help his parents pay the bills until, just eight credits short of graduating from New York University, he opted to work in the grocery business full-time.
Today, that grocery business has become the Red Apple Group, a conglomerate with interests in energy, real estate, aviation, baseball, entertainment, and media, including the iconic radio station WABC, where John hosts leading figures in government, politics, business, and economics.
As Catsimatidis has discovered, the American Dream doesn’t come with an instruction manual—or even a sign to let you know when you’ve arrived at the finish line. How Far Do You Want to Go? tells Catsimatidis’s dynamic story, from his beginnings in the grocery business to entering the political arena, including a New York City mayoral campaign. He’s tried his hand at nearly everything, but he’s far from finished with his adventures. Now, he offers readers a glimpse into the wisdom he’s gained—and the excitement he has for what the future holds in store.
