SEVEN WHO SUCCEEDED FROM A SULLEN SLUM TO THE FRONTIERS OF TECHNOLOGY, THESE NEW PIONEERS TYPIFY A SPIRIT IN THE BEST AMERICAN TRADITION: INVENTIVE, . BOLD, RESOLUTE, EAGER TO OVERCOME THE CHALLENGES THAT CONFRONT THEM. SOME HAVE BECOME WEALTHY; OTHERS FIND SATISFACTION IN A MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
Perhaps it is all as simple as that old tale about Christopher Columbus and the egg. The explorer was being mocked at a dinner by a courtier who declared that Spain was full of mariners as bold and adventurous as he. If Columbus had not discovered the new route to the Indies, said the courtier, someone else would inevitably have done so. Columbus asked for an egg and then challenged all the guests to make it stand on end. They passed the egg from hand to hand, some trying in vain to make it stand, some arguing that it could not be done. When the egg reached Columbus, he tapped one end on the table, pressed it slightly flat, and so made it stand. Very easy, once the problem has been solved.
An apocryphal story, like most good stories, but how well it fits the discoverer of America, for Americans have always liked to imagine in themselves a special gift for confronting any challenge, rejecting any doubts, refusing to admit failure. "The difficult we do immediately," said a memorable World War II Army slogan. "The impossible takes a little longer."
It sometimes seems that the love of exploration and adventure has died in this weak piping time of fully insured this and no-fault that, but the reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated. To demonstrate its enduring vitality, TIME here offers portraits of seven Americans who exemplify the spirit that inspires this year's choice for Man of the Year.
They are men and women who have seen a problem or a public need and figured out a solution, who have successfully overcome all those familiar warnings that what they proposed to do could not be done. They come from diverse backgrounds: they are rich and poor; some are congenital rebels, others traditionalists. What all of them share is a certain quality of mind and character: imagination, boldness, energy and an iron determination.
Some made millions because they realized, as entrepreneurs always have, that there are patterns in the acquisition of wealth. One is the grasp and exploitation of new technology: the space satellite, the computer and the gene synthesizer today offer the same possibilities that the internal-combustion engine once did. Another is the grasp and exploitation of changing government rules: the deregulation of transport and telecommunications, for example.
But while this society often rewards successful entrepreneurs with fortunes, not all achievements can or should be measured by such materialistic standards. There are innumerable entrepreneurs who have solved problems, taken risks, overcome opposition, and who have never made any attempt to get rich. They did it for the satisfaction of the thing itself.
No seven men and women can represent the myriad variations of the entrepreneurial spirit, of course; such choices are arbitrary. Some celebrated and familiar success stories have been omitted simply because they are so celebrated: Lee Iacocca's rescue of Chrysler, for example, or Steven Jobs' creation of the Apple Computer empire. This selection is a sampling, a sketchbook and a salute.
Donald Burr