READING THE ZEITGEIST

A LOOK AT HOW PAYPAL CEO DAN SCHULMAN MOVED THROUGH THE EXECUTIVE RANKS, ALONG WITH THE BOOKS THAT WERE SHAPING BUSINESS MINDSETS AT THE TIME

1981

Schulman joins AT&T as an account executive in New Jersey Bell’s marketing division.

1984

Before publishing Iacocca: An Autobiography, by Lee Iacocca (1), editors had to remove dozens of four-letter words from this best-selling Detroit tell-all by the famed auto executive.

1986

Schulman graduates from NYU Stern with an MBA.

1987

Trump: The Art of the

Deal, by Donald J. Trump (2), is released. “If you’re going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big,” the future president opines in an autobiography that the New York Post called “chatty” and “generous.”

1992

Schulman is promoted to group product director for toll-free

800 services.

1994

CEOS should build for the long-term,

writes Jim Collins in Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (3), but simultaneously hold themselves to ambitious short-term standards.

1997

Schulman, then president of AT&T’S Worldnet service (its budding internet division), announces that the telecom giant will begin serving customers “over the internet.”

1997

In The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail

(4), Clayton M. Christensen teaches

MBAS to live in dire fear of disruption.

1998

Schulman is promoted to president of AT&T consumer markets.

2000

Schulman is named CEO of Priceline.com.

2001

Schulman is recruited by Richard Branson to run Virgin Mobile USA.

2001

The best way to lead, according to Jack Welch, General

Electric’s former prince of plastics, in Jack: Straight From

the Gut (5), is to eradicate “superficial congeniality.”

2007

Former Medtronic CEO Bill George releases True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership

(with Peter Sims)

(6). Know thyself, George preaches, and integrate your values into both your personal life and your work.

2010

Schulman joins American Express, where he establishes a separate innovation office.

2013

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, by Brad Stone (7), shows how small teams, bold bets, and a commanding founder have powered Amazon’s rise.

2015

Schulman, hired the year prior as CEO of Paypal, spins the payments company out of ebay.