Sanjay Mehrotra runs Micron, which did $90 billion of revenue this past year. He only got into America because his father cornered a consul coming back from lunch and talked at him for 20 minutes without relenting. This is him on the three denials, what his dad did about the third one, and an indelible lesson on tenacity: "I went to US Embassy with admissions in hand from US universities and I got denied my visa three times and three different times." "And when that happened, my dad didn't accept it and he said he wants to talk to the consul on duty who happened to be out for lunch." "As he walked back in, my dad essentially grabbed hold of him and I must say that he was very kind and lucky we were lucky that he let us into his office." "He was my father, he was my lawyer, he was my coach in that moment." "And at the end of that 20 minutes, the consul took the passport and he stamped the visa. And it was a performance of a lifetime for me to watch." "It was at that moment that I learned that if you ever seek success, start with tenacity. My dad just did not give up." He doesn't leave it there. He says they were lucky too, that if the consul had come back a minute later, or had simply kept walking, none of it happens. Bookmark & watch ↓

In 2007, a rival fund called Ken Griffin on a Sunday needing to dump a $30 billion book before Monday's open to meet margin calls. The senior banker on the competing bid went to bed. Citadel owned all of it by 6AM. This is him telling the whole story -- the 50-person team assembled in hours, the all-nighter, and the banker on the competing bid who called from Greenwich to say he was going to bed: "And he said, look, it's getting late, this isn't gonna get done tonight. I'm heading off to bed, I'm telling my guys to go home, and we'll pick this up in the morning." "And I said, there will be nothing to pick up in the morning. We're going to get this done. he sort of laughed and hung up." "6AM before the opening of the markets, we bought that entire portfolio." The quote he lands it on, from President Lincoln: "Things may come to those who wait, but only those things left by those who hustle." Bookmark & watch ↓