Ben Sliney

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Ben Sliney
As terrorists seized control of four airplanes on Sept. 11th, 2001, Ben Sliney, chief of air-traffic-control operations at the FAA’s command center in Herndon, Va., gave the unprecedented order to ground 4,000-plus planes across the nation and redirect any in the sky to the nearest airport. It was his first day on the job. On Sept. 11th, 2001, terrorists hijacked four American…
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Elliot Aronson

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Elliot Aronson
Your main task this afternoon is to interview the last two candidates for the position of manager on your team. At the close of the second interview you realize both candidates have the same relevant experience, strong academic results and practical ideas to implement once they start. You’re wondering how you’ll ever choose between them. As the final candidate gets up to…
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Caroline Criado Perez

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Caroline Criado Perez
It was 2001, and an earthquake had just hit Gujarat, a state in western India. Thousands of people died and nearly 400,000 homes were destroyed. So new homes were needed, but Gujarat’s rebuilding project had a major data gap: women weren’t included or even consulted in the planning process. Hence the kitchenless homes. In some confusion I ask Fordham how people were…
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Luz Long & Jesse Owens

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Luz Long & Jesse Owens
When African-American athlete Jesse Owens arrived at the 1936 Olympic Games, he was under immense pressure. At 22, Owens had broken world records even before making his first Olympic appearance in Germany and the world was eager to catch a glimpse of him. The atmosphere Owens was competing in was also tough and intimidating, to say the least. The 1936 Olympic Games…
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Brian Chesky

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Brian Chesky
This lodging should be called Scare-bnb. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has opened up about the weirdest complaint a user has ever made, and it involves a debatably friendly ghost named Stanley. “One day a customer calls us and says they want a full refund,” Chesky said at New York Times DealBook conference. “We say, ‘Why do you want a full refund?’ They…
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Harry Potter

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Harry Potter
Some business stories I hear are worth telling  and this is one of them. About a year ago I had the opportunity to work with a large technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. The task here was for me to work with their sales team to draw real life business stories that could be used in the future for sales storytelling.…
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Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger

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Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger
“This is the captain speaking, brace for impact.” This is how Chesley B. Sullenberger (“Sully”) addressed his 150 passengers before doing the maneuver known as the “miracle on the Hudson”. After colliding with a flock of birds and losing both engines, the highly experienced pilot ignored orders and followed his intuition. This led to a successful landing at the Hudson River. This…
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Tony Hsieh and Zappos’ WOW Service

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Tony Hsieh and Zappos’ WOW Service
Customer service rep Steven Weinstein answered the call from a female customer who required assistance with an online order for several items. The pair struck up a conversation during the call and even after the customer’s issue with the online order was solved, she still remained on the line and continued to chat with Weinstein for several hours. Weinstein claims that he…
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Diego Maradona

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Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona was a child of the potreros. He described himself as a “cabecita negra” – a little blackhead, the term used by Eva Perón for those of mixed Italian and indigenous heritage she saw as her natural constituency. Maradona’s parents were devoutly Peronist and had pictures of both Evita and Juan Perón on the wall at home. His father had been…
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Florence Nightingale

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Florence Nightingale
When Florence Nightingale arrived at the British military hospital in Turkey in 1856, the scene was pretty grim. The mortality rate was high, and the hospital was chaotic—even the number of deaths was not recorded correctly. Florence Nightingale established much needed order and method within the hospital’s statistical records. She also collected a lot of new data. In doing so, Nightingale learned…
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