3. Bill Gates, Microsoft Founder: Imitate, Don't Innovate
3.比尔·盖茨，微软创始人：模仿，不创新
Bill Gates built one of the world's largest fortunes--$67 billion, according to Forbes--by licensing operating system software to IBM. In actuality, that software was wholly adapted from someone else's code. Gates' Microsoft lacked the innovative capacity to write it from scratch, so it dressed up some code from another company's software, which Microsoft had bought for $25,000. When Gates delivered the second-hand software to IBM, it was on time, but it was so buggy that IBM engineers had to rewrite it completely. Thirty-three years later, no one remembers or cares. Innovation is seldom as important as timely execution of an adequate imitation.
比尔·盖茨通过将操作系统授权给IBM创造了世界上最巨大的财富之一——据福布斯称，达到了670亿美元。事实上，这个软件完全是改编自另一家公司的代码。当时，盖茨的微软公司并没有足够的创新能力将它从草稿变为成品，于是微软以2万5千美元从另一家公司购买了这些代码并为它做了一番包装。当盖茨把这个二手软件交给IBM公司的时候，尽管来得非常及时，但还是存在着太多的漏洞。因此IBM的工程师不得不彻底地重新编写了一次。33年后，没有人记得也没有人在意这些。好的模仿在关键时刻往往比创新更重要。
4. Warren Buffett, Investor: Know-How Is Good, Know-Who Is Better
4.沃伦·巴菲特，投资家：有知识好，有人脉更好
Warren Buffett arrived at his savvy investment philosophy when he was very young, but his know-how was nearly worthless because he personally lacked enough capital to make large market moves. Buffett didn't get rich until he overcame his shyness, recruited members for his investment partnerships, and led those partners in squeezing stock performance out of corporate managers. Case in point: No one gets rich alone.
沃伦·巴菲特很年轻的时候就悟出了他的投资哲学。但由于他缺少足够的资金来推动整个庞大的市场，他那些对世事的洞察几乎毫无用武之地。巴菲特成为了有钱人是因为他战胜了自己胆小腼腆的毛病。他招募了一些投资伙伴，并且带领着这些伙伴从公司管理者那儿榨取了股票业绩。这个案例的重点是：没有人能仅仅依靠自己获得成功。
5. Richard Branson, Virgin Founder: Spread the Work, Spread the Wealth
5.理查德·布兰森，维珍品牌创始人：给别人工作，财富才会滚滚来
Sir Richard Branson suffers from severe dyslexia, but he's come to regard it as his greatest strength. Branson runs his Virgin Group as a venture capital fund that places bets on entrepreneurs with bright ideas that fit the Virgin brand strategy. He's never tempted to micro-manage any of the dozens of Virgin companies because he can't. "If I could read a balance sheet," he once said, "I wouldn't have done anything in life." In sum, work your strengths and get others to work theirs.