Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. (1928–2019) was an American businessman and financier. He is remembered as a corporate raider, activist shareholder, hedge fund manager, political activist, and environmentalist.
Born in the small railroad town of Holdenville, Oklahoma, Pickens got a degree in geology from Oklahoma A&M, now Oklahoma State University. He joined Phillips Petroleum Co, his father’s employer. After just three years, he formed his own company called Petroleum Exploration (later called the Mesa Petroleum Company) with a $2,500 investment. He built it into the largest independent oil and gas company in America.
Pickens took the company public in 1964 and built a reputation as a business maverick, unafraid to compete against oil-industry giants. Then he shook corporate America with a series of hostile takeover attempts that earned him a reputation as a corporate raider. Pickens’s star faded in the 1990s. He lost control of debt-ridden Mesa, and his bullishness on natural gas prices turned out to be a costly mistake.
Pickens’s autobiographies include The Luckiest Guy in the World (2001) and The First Billion is the Hardest (2008.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by T. Boone Pickens
Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader. Don’t fall victim to what I call the ‘ready-aim-aim-aim-aim syndrome’. You must be willing to fire.
—T. Boone Pickens
Topics: Decisions
Far too many executives have become more concerned with the “four P’s”—pay, perks, power and prestige—rather than making profits for shareholders.
—T. Boone Pickens
Topics: Business
I’ve always believed that it’s important to show a new look periodically. Predictability can lead to failure.
—T. Boone Pickens
Topics: Change
Work eight hours and sleep eight hours and make sure that they are not the same hours.
—T. Boone Pickens
Topics: Work
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Warren Buffett American Investor
Charlie Munger American Investor, Philanthropist
Peter Thiel American Entrepreneur
Ray Dalio American Investor
Mohnish Pabrai Indian-American Investor, Philanthropist
Al Gore American Politician, Environmentalist
Jesse Lauriston Livermore American Investor
Sheryl Sandberg American Executive, Author
Richard Rainwater American Investor
Eli Broad American Entrepreneur