The Life of Meg Whitman

Abstract

We all have dreams in our lives irrespective of our varying situations or life conditions. We all want to be special, rich,important, famous and powerful. Our life always puts barriers in the form of circumstances, adversities and so on making it difficult for us to achieve what we want. However, there are people with strong will power, superior intellect, exceptionally focused and extreme patients who have always deserved it and then dreamt of it. Such people have the will power, determination and passion to overcome all obstacles and make it big in life.One such super achiever is Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay. During her tenure with eBay from March 1998 to march 2008, she is ranked as the 8^th top performing CEO of the past decade by Harvard Business review.

Early Life

Meg Whitman was born in 1957, Long Island, New York and was the youngest child in Whitman family. Meg’s father owned a loan business and her mother was a homemaker. Meg was a talented child during her school days and was the then captain of her swim team. She loved playing hockey, basketball etc.

Fifty five year old Meg Whitman is a very skilled and talented business women today being the former CEO of eBay and former California gubernatorial candidate, she is also looked up as a possible CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Meg is well known for her ability to successfully run a big giant company like eBay. Meg also serves as a member of the board of director for Proctor and Gamble and also with DreamWorks(Rose, 2011).

Meg achieved her degree in economics from Princeton University and later completed her MBA from Harvard Business School. Meg always dreamt of pursuing a career in medicine and wanted to become a doctor by profession however after a summer job selling advertising for a campus publication, which literally proved to be an important turning point in her life, Meg became economics major before doing her MBA.

Meg’s very successful and rewarding career started when she served with Proctor and Gamble working as a brand assistant. Later on Meg served various leading brand of companies like Bain and company, Hasbro, Stride Rite, FTD and eBay working on executive levels. It was in 1998 when Meg Whitman joined eBay group with just a handful of 30 employees that she rose to great heights.

 Meg Whitman’s personal life

During her time at Proctor and Gamble, Meg got married to Griffith R Harsh IV, who is a famous neurosurgeon. She moved to San Francisco, California, after her husband took a residency position at the University of California.

This created a job shift for Meg as she joined Bain and company where she served for 8 long years as the Vice President.

 Meg Whitman’s achievements

With her excellent leadership abilities as a CEO and her exceptional managerial ability working as president of eBay, the company grew to a work force of 15000 employees. Under Meg’s leadership, eBay grew from $4 million to $8 billion. In addition to serving as a board member for eBay, Meg also served Proctor and Gamble, Sachs etc. This only proves her excellent ability of leadership, skills and intelligence. Meg’s wealth and business influence is well known as she was ranked as one of the as world’s most influential business woman by Times Magazine Steele (2010).

Omidyar, who worked with Meg Whitman when Meg was a part of eBay, opines that “She is a fantastic executive. She did a great job at eBay,”he said. “Her real skill is in using data to inform strategic decisions, and bringing teams together, putting the right people in right jobs at the right time. So I think on that basis, I think she would do a great job as a governor. “He also pleaded to “absolutely “work with Whitman if he is selected. “I think she would do a great job, he said”. “And I would work of course to change her mind on some of these other issues” Mehta (2010). The above words clearly confirms how experiences, professionally skilled and intelligent Meg Whitman is and on the basis of her positive attitude and innovative thoughts, Meg deserves to climb the ladder of success.

Meg’s qualification in economics and a degree in management have helped her a lot in achieving the desired skill-set which are further nourished by her learning and working experience. Her inherent talent is polished by her exposure to professionally managed organizations and moreover her application of right attitude at right places on appropriate time has indeed taken her to new heights of responsibilities and designations.

Meg Whitman is indeed a highly class business lady with versatile abilities of leadership, effective management, and human resourcing as well. Her qualities of dedication and diligence have helped her come a long way and will continue to do so. Everyone must aspire to inculcate these qualities to grow and succeed in life.

With a combination of such rarely found human attributes, she is sure to reach new heights of success and prosperity in the time to come.

References

Mehta, Seem September, 21 2010, EBay founder Won’t Endorse Meg Whitman for Governor, Los Angeles Times

Steele, F Laura, June 17, 2010 A Profile of California Republican Gubernatorial Candidate: Meg Whitman, America Inspired

Rose, Mary September 22, 2011 Meg Whitman: Must Know Facts About HP CEO’s Successor

Ezinemark.com

Order you essay

History is something that most people find interesting and many students opt to major in this subject. However, doing a history assignment may be challenging especially if it’s your first time. This is where we come in as our reliable term paper writing service can help you provide a 100% unique and cogent college essay timely delivered to you at surprisingly cheap prices. At Lifesaver Essays you get the guarantee of quality that comes without burning a hole in your pocket.