The new captains of industry

"The men who made America great. The thinkers. The brave visionaries. The ones who never accepted 'no' for an answer."

Many years ago when I was in school, I studied about the Captains of Industry in America. The men who made America great. The thinkers. The brave visionaries. The ones who never accepted "no" for an answer. They would always find a way to make it work. And their results were historic. And with a combination of their type of thinking, hard working American people, and our vast resources, America became the world leader.

Have not seen too much of that in my lifetime - only in history books. Oh, we had Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. They were very good at their particular technologies, and did kick the can down the road. But they were not the huge game changers that we once had. And just when you think maybe those days might be over, along come a select few who just might have the "right stuff".

I know some don't care for this man's politics, and maybe I don't either. But I am not focused on that part of him. I have said many times in the recent past that Jeff Bezos is changing just about everything in retail. Amazon has been a real game changer. It is responsible for some big box stores having to scale back. Other stores to focus on more internet sales. And some have had to shutter their doors because they could not keep up. 

Bezos is not just satisfied with Amazon. Nope. He also has bought the Washington Post. He also owns the rocket company known as Blue Origin. And that company is really exciting. Jeff Bezos was recently interviewed and he is ready to take the next step. What step? Like, let's go to Mars. And let's set up some colonies off world. Unlike NASA, Jeff does not believe in waiting forever. He has his foot on the gas.

But hold on Jeff - you are not alone. Elon Musk also wants to colonize Mars. And he has pretty good rocket company also. Space X, his reusable rocket, has done some amazing things as of late. Like land on a platform at sea once the payload had been delivered in orbit. Unlike the space race of the 60's between the Soviet Union and America, this space race is between two modern day Captains of Industry. 

I would be remiss not to mention the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. This very young company, started only 17 years ago by these two PhD students at Stanford, is changing everything in data retrieval. Like most of us, I can't count the number of times I use Google each and every day. And Google is on everything. Laptops, desktops, smart TV, tablets, smart phones, and so forth. Google has just about put the Dewy Decimal system into the ash heap of history.

I know there are probably more that I did not mention. These are the guys I am watching right now. I am fascinated by them. We are lucky to have them. Hopefully, they will influence many others to also be brave in their visions. America became great using Captains of Industry. America can also stay great using modern day Captains of Industry.