Dee Ward Hock (born 1929) is the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association. In 1968, Hock convinced Bank of America to give up ownership and control of their BankAmericard credit card program. The new company, called National BankAmerica, was a non-stock membership corporation equally owned by its member banks. The name was changed to VISA in 1976.

In May 1984, Hock resigned his management role with Visa, retiring to spend almost 10 years in relative isolation working a 200-acre (0.81 km2) parcel of land to the west of Silicon Valley. He was inducted into Junior Achievement’s U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Money magazine hall of fame in 1992.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Hock

Stanley Kubrick (July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer, who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career. Kubrick was noted for the scrupulous care with which he chose his subjects, a slow method of working, the variety of genres he worked in, technical perfectionism, reluctance to talk about his films, and reclusiveness. He maintained almost complete artistic control, but with the rare advantage of big-studio financial support for all his endeavors. It was his fourth film, Paths of Glory (1957), that brought him attention from many critics. It was the first of three films of his about the dehumanizing effects of war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick

Laozi (Chinese: 老子; pinyin: Lǎozǐ; Wade–Giles: Lao Tzu; also romanized as Lao Tse, Lao Tu, Lao-Tsu, Laotze, Laosi, Laocius, and other variations) was a philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching (often simply referred to as Laozi). His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of philosophical Taoism (pronounced as “Daoism”). He is also revered as a deity in most religious forms of Taoist philosophy, which often refers to Laozi as Taishang Laojun, or “One of the Three Pure Ones”.

Laozi is an honorific title. Lao (老) means “venerable” or “old”, such as modern Mandarin laoshi (老师), “teacher”. Zi (子), Wade-Giles transliteration tzu, in this context is typically translated “master”. Zi was used in ancient China as an honorific suffix, indicating “Master”, or “Sir”. In popular biographies, Laozi’s given name was Er, his surname was Li (forming Li Er, 李耳) and his courtesy name was Boyang. Dan is a posthumous name given to Laozi, and he is sometimes referred to as Li Dan (李聃).
According to Chinese traditions, Laozi lived in the 6th century BCE. Historians variously contend that Laozi is a synthesis of multiple historical figures, that he is a mythical figure, or that he actually lived in the 5th–4th century BCE, concurrent with the Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring States Period.

A central figure in Chinese culture, both nobility and common people claim Laozi in their lineage. He was honored as an ancestor of the Tang imperial family, and was granted the title Taishang xuanyuan huangdi, meaning “Supreme Mysterious and Primordial Emperor”. Xuanyuan and Huangdi are also, respectively, the personal and proper names of the Yellow Emperor. Throughout history, Laozi’s work has been embraced by various anti-authoritarian movements.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi

Vernon Linwood Howard (March 16, 1918 – August 23, 1992) was an American spiritual teacher, author, and philosopher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Howard

Gary is the President of The GoalsGuy Learning Systems, a highly focused training organization whose mission is to help their clients build and sustain superior performance. They accomplish this objective by helping their clients increase their sense of direction, confidence, and capability in all areas of their personal and professional life.

http://www.goalsguy.com/About/grb.html

Henry Charles Bukowski (born Heinrich Karl Bukowski; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. It is marked by an emphasis on the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books. In 1986 Time called Bukowski a “laureate of American lowlife”. Regarding Bukowski’s enduring popular appeal, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker wrote, “the secret of Bukowski’s appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet’s promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) (pronounced like the word thorough, with emphasis on the first syllable) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

Opera soprano Beverly Sills, called “America’s Queen of Opera” by Time Magazine, and known as “Bubbles” to her fans, was the face of opera for millions through her public performances, recordings and broadcasts during a singing career of more than four decades.

http://www.beverlysillsonline.com/