| So you've got an MBA. The last thing you | | | | go its own way, producing a line of unique |
| probably want to hear is that instead of studying | | | | machines that once again have earned it a |
| for years, preparing all those cases, and paying | | | | devoted fan base.j |
| six figures to your alma mater, you could have | | | | 6.) Count Domenico Agusta - Lesson: Follow your |
| learned all you needed to know cruising the | | | | passion This Italian Count ran MV Agusta during |
| highway on your Harley. (OK, maybe you'd want | | | | its heyday between the end of WWII and the |
| to take your Ducati to the odd track day, too; | | | | early '70s. During that time, the company was |
| think of that as the equivalent of an advanced | | | | really a helicopter manufacturer with a small |
| seminar.) | | | | motorcycle subsidiary. The road-going |
| Here are ten vital business lessons you can learn | | | | motorcycles they made would never warrant |
| from ten of the most influential entrepreneurs in | | | | including the Count on this list, but thanks to his |
| the history of motorcycling. | | | | own fierce pride and competitive streak, the |
| 1.) Soichiro Honda - Lesson: Find your own way | | | | company also funded the greatest Grand Prix |
| The son of a village blacksmith, Honda was | | | | racing team of all time. |
| exposed to bicycles when they were brought into | | | | When the Japanese factories began to dominate |
| his father's shop for repair. He had only a primary | | | | in the late '60s, they drove out most of the |
| school education, but showed a striking aptitude | | | | Italian marques. By lavishing funds from the |
| for both engineering and business. Before starting | | | | helicopter business on his racing team, Agusta |
| the Honda Motor Company to make motorized | | | | single-handedly preserved Italian racing honor. |
| bicycles in postwar Japan, he had already built up | | | | 7.) Malcolm Forbes - Lesson: It's not what you |
| two successful businesses, one supplying piston | | | | know, it's who you know Forbes was the son of |
| rings to Toyota, and another making propellers | | | | America's first business magazine publisher. After |
| for the Japanese air force. Mr. Honda was | | | | heroic service in WWII, he came home to work |
| anything but a typical Japanese businessman. A | | | | at Forbes Magazine, although he nearly became |
| rugged individualist, he refused to participate in the | | | | the Governor of New Jersey - he won the |
| "keiretsu" alliances between companies, which | | | | Republican nomination but lost the election. So |
| typically gave big banks a strong influence in | | | | what does running Forbes Magazine have to do |
| business decisions. When virtually all Japanese | | | | with motorcycles? Nothing. |
| motorbikes had noisy, smelly two-stroke motors | | | | Forbes discovered motorcycling in the 1960s. He |
| he decided to make a four-stroke. That typified a | | | | bought a motorcycle dealership in New Jersey, |
| willingness to plan and invest for long-term | | | | which became one of the biggest shops in the |
| success even if it meant ignoring prevailing | | | | country. Using his high-level business connections, |
| "wisdom." One of the motorcycles that benefited | | | | he worked tirelessly to establish motorcycle riding |
| from that insight was the Super Cub | | | | as a respectable pastime. He was an extremely |
| step-through. It was introduced in 1958 and is still | | | | effective political lobbyist always ready to defend |
| produced almost unmodified today. Honda recently | | | | motorcycling from legal assault. With his |
| sold the 50 millionth Super Cub, making it the best | | | | media-savvy background, he managed to plant |
| selling vehicle of all time. | | | | scores of motorcycle stories in the mainstream |
| 2.) George Hendee - Lesson: You don't need to | | | | media. The social acceptability of motorcycles |
| know, you need to know what you need to | | | | today owes much to Malcolm Forbes. |
| know Hendee was one of the most successful | | | | 8.) Floyd Clymer - Lesson: If at first you do |
| bicycle racers in Massachusetts at the turn of the | | | | succeed, try again anyway |
| century - at one point, he won 302 races out of | | | | Clymer was already famous as a young teenager |
| 309! He started a company making his own | | | | - at 13 (in 1909) he was the youngest Ford dealer |
| bicycles, which sold well, thanks to his racing | | | | in the country! He went on to become a winning |
| reputation. | | | | motorcycle racer and soon had a dealership for |
| Many of the very first motorcycles were | | | | Harley-Davidson and Excelsior motorcycles in his |
| "pacers" used to train bicycle racers. They were | | | | home state of Colorado. He was an innovative |
| typically unreliable but Hendee noticed that Oscar | | | | marketer and one of the first people to sell |
| Hedstrom's ran very well. In 1901, Hendee | | | | motorcycles to police departments and delivery |
| approached Hedstrom and told him that his dream | | | | businesses. In his early 20s he began publishing his |
| was to start a company devoted to making | | | | first motorcycle magazine. |
| motorized bicycles. They called their company | | | | His career was put on hold when he served a |
| Indian, and in short order it was America's leading | | | | year in federal prison for mail fraud. He had been |
| motorcycle manufacturer. In 1912, Indian sold | | | | offered a chance to plead guilty and avoid prison |
| over 20,000 units. | | | | altogether but he always claimed he was innocent |
| 3.) Arthur Davidson - Lesson: Support your | | | | and refused to admit a crime he didn't commit. |
| product after the sale While his friend Bill Harley | | | | When he got out of prison he took over the |
| and to a lesser extent the other Davidson | | | | distribution of Indian motorcycles on the west |
| brothers provided the technical know-how, the | | | | coast. Here again, he had marketing savvy, |
| early business success of Harley-Davidson was | | | | arranging for Indian motorcycles to appear in films |
| largely due to Arthur Davidson. In 1910 he set out | | | | and lending them to Hollywood stars. When Indian |
| to enroll a national network of dealers. He also | | | | faltered in the '50s, Clymer desperately tried to |
| recognized the importance of factory-training for | | | | save the brand but failed. He also was briefly the |
| dealer service staff, and the importance of | | | | importer of the eyebrow-raising Munch Mammoth |
| advertising if H-D was ever to surpass Indian in | | | | motorcycle. |
| annual sales. | | | | Last but not least, he was the publisher of Cycle |
| 4.) Vaughn Beals - Lesson: Quality-control rules By | | | | Magazine from the early '50s to the mid-'60s and |
| the mid-'70s after years of AMF mismanagement, | | | | ran a very successful business publishing |
| Harley-Davidson had lost almost all customer | | | | motorcycle repair manuals. |
| loyalty and profits were in freefall. When a group | | | | 9.) George Barber - Lesson: Remember to give |
| of company executives led by Vaughn Beals | | | | back Barber was a sports car racer who gave up |
| offered to buy the division for $75 million, AMF | | | | the track to take over the family business, |
| quickly agreed. | | | | Barber Dairies, based in Birmingham Alabama. He |
| After the 1981 leveraged buyout, Beals led an | | | | built it into the largest privately-owned dairy in the |
| amazing corporate turnaround. He funded new | | | | southeast and then, late in life, assembled the |
| product development and implemented world-class | | | | world's most important collection of vintage |
| quality control. It's impossible to know what would | | | | motorcycles. |
| have happened to the H-D brand if Beals had not | | | | When the collection outgrew its original home in |
| risen up to save it, but it's certain that no one | | | | one of the old dairy warehouses, he built Barber |
| else could have done a better job at rehabilitating | | | | Motorsports Park on the outskirts of Birmingham. |
| it. | | | | The park includes one of the best race-tracks in |
| 5.) John Bloor - Lesson: Never underestimate the | | | | the U.S., and the best motorcycle museum in the |
| value of your brand, never take it for granted | | | | world. The track and museum are set in a |
| Like Harley-Davidson, Triumph was a company | | | | manicured landscape that puts every other U.S. |
| that had fallen on hard times - more than once. In | | | | race-track to shame. After spending $60 million of |
| the 1920s the company made an ill-fated move | | | | his own money on the park, Barber essentially |
| to produce cars as well and in 1936 an | | | | gave it to the city of Birmingham and the state |
| entrepreneur named Jack Sangster drove a hard | | | | of Alabama. |
| bargain, acquiring the motorcycle business at a | | | | 10.) "Big" Bill France - Lesson: If you build it, they |
| good price. Sangster's business instincts nearly | | | | will come France is best known as the father of |
| make him worthy of a place on this list, too. He | | | | NASCAR the builder of Daytona International |
| hired the brilliant Edward Turner and after turning | | | | Speedway, France was also a motorcycle racer. |
| a handsome profit on sales, sold the company to | | | | The city of Daytona Beach convinced the AMA |
| BSA for another big payday in 1951. | | | | to hold the 200-mile national championship race |
| From the mid-'70s through the mid-'80s Triumph | | | | there in 1937. After a few lackluster years, it |
| died an agonizingly slow death. The brand would | | | | seemed Daytona would lose the race, until France |
| have vanished altogether had John Bloor, a real | | | | was convinced to become the promoter. He |
| estate developer, not bought the old factory in | | | | continued to promote the race until, realizing that |
| Meriden. Against all advice, Bloor decided to build a | | | | it could not continue on the beach, he built the |
| new factory in nearby Hinckley. He spent millions | | | | speedway. He opened his track in 1959 and the |
| designing new motorcycles that were unveiled at | | | | AMA saw the light and moved the race there |
| the Cologne Motorcycle Show in 1990. While those | | | | two years later. Under France's control, the race |
| first "new" Triumphs got mixed reviews, the | | | | became an international sensation. |
| company has shown a remarkable willingness to | | | | |