The Athenaeum Study Club met on Nov. 9 at the Chickasaw Regional Library. Jane Knight reviewed the autobiography of Sam Wyly titled, “One Thousand Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire.” Wyly’s informative and motivating memoir describes his highly successful business career that spans nearly four decades beginning in the early 1960s.
Ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the 1,000 wealthiest men in America, Wyly founded and grew such diverse companies as University Computing, Sterling Software, Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores, Bonanza Steakhouses and Green Mountain Energy. His ability to spot a trend prior to it becoming one, allowed this self-made entrepreneur to see the fast-paced advancements in technology as industrial and investment opportunities well before the average businessman could react. An uncanny awareness of evolving societal changes had given him the proverbial “leg up,” as he climbed to the top of the very tall ladder he used to measure his own success.
The book resonates with his contagious personality as Wyly relates poignant anecdotes of his Louisiana boyhood while providing solid advice for building successful companies. Throughout his long career that was based primarily in Dallas, he clearly enjoyed every opportunity that came his way. His optimism, creativity and generous spirit have made him one of the most admired business icons of our time. He continues to reside in Dallas where he and his wife, Cheryl, are major contributors to the arts. The new Dallas Theater Center has been named the Wyly Theater because of their generosity.
