Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican business magnate, engineer, investor and philanthropist. He was ranked as the richest person in the world by the Forbes business magazine from 2010 to 2013. Slim derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. As of February 2019, he was the twentieth richest person in the world according to Forbes’ listing of The World’s Billionaires with a net worth estimated at $64.1 billion. He is the richest man in Mexico and Latin America. His conglomerate includes education, health care, industrial manufacturing, transportation, real estate, media, energy, hospitality, entertainment, high-technology, retail, sports and financial services. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, while his net worth is equivalent to about 6% of Mexico’s gross domestic product. As of 2016, he was the largest single shareholder of The New York Times Company. May his quotes inspire you to take action so that you may live your dreams.
1. “Staying occupied displaces preoccupation and problems, and when we face our problems, they disappear.” Carlos Slim Helu
2. “The people inside the group need to have some conditions to follow. We have a philosophy of leadership, ideas, and concepts. They need to share that.” Carlos Slim Helu
3. “Well, when I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments.” Carlos Slim Helu
4. “Anyone who is not investing now is missing a tremendous opportunity.” Carlos Slim Helu
5. “The key is the Internet. The United States is by far the most advanced country in this new digital culture, so we have to be there. The Internet is the heart of this new civilization, and telecommunications are the nervous system or circulatory system.”Carlos Slim Helu
6. “If you are in business, you are not enjoying. You are working.” Carlos Slim Helu
7. “The only way you finish with poverty is with jobs.” Carlos Slim Helu
8. “All times are a good time for those who know how to work and have the tools to do so.” Carlos Slim Helu
9. “The truth is, you leave this world with nothing. What you are is a temporary administrator, and you must administer well the wealth in your care, and generate more. The surplus can be used to do many things for people.” Carlos Slim Helu
10. “In business, you invest when things are not in good shape. When you invest at these times, you take a better position than your competitors. When there is a recession and your competition does not invest, they are giving you the advantage.”Carlos Slim Helu
11. “Money is not a goal. The goal is to make companies grow, develop, be competitive, be in different areas, be efficient to have a great human team inside the company.” Carlos Slim Helu
12. “It’s important to give a better country to your children, but it is more important to give better children to your country.” Carlos Slim Helu
13. “I’ve always said that the better off you are, the more responsibility you have for helping others. Just as I think it’s important to run companies well, with a close eye to the bottom line, I think you have to use your entrepreneurial experience to make corporate philanthropy effective.” Carlos Slim Helu
14. “When you live for others’ opinions, you are dead. I don’t want to live thinking about how I’ll be remembered.” Carlos Slim Helu
15. “Choose the right employees and then set them loose.”Carlos Slim Helu
16. “In this new wave of technology, you can’t do it all yourself, you have to form alliances.” Carlos Slim Helu
17. “It’s very important for leaders in business to work to create human capital, a team that has the same sense of purpose and alignment.” Carlos Slim Helu
18. “One of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the bricks are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important.” Carlos Slim Helu
19. “Focus on essentials and try not to get distracted and bogged down by things that don’t add value to the bottom line.” Carlos Slim Helu
20. “Think of an athlete. He may be very good in his own house, but not as good as his neighbours. You have to go beyond your home. You have to go worldwide.”Carlos Slim Helu
21. “Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis get any sound investment will eventually pay off.” Carlos Slim Helu
22. “When you are convinced what to do and what you need to do, it’s not hard to do that.” Carlos Slim Helu
23. “Competition makes you better, always, always makes you better, even if the competitor wins.” Carlos Slim Helu
24. “Technology is going to transform people’s lives and society everywhere in the world. I spend most of my time studying new technologies. My main task is to understand what’s going on and try to see where we can fit in.” Carlos Slim Helu
25. “All businesses make mistakes. The trick is to avoid large ones.”Carlos Slim Helu
26. “The biggest things in life are not materials.” Carlos Slim Helu
27. “You cannot have people in your organization who are pessimists. They take you to mediocrity.” Carlos Slim Helu
28. “I think entrepreneurs can think long term and find solutions, go in the way for long term solutions and not short-term.” Carlos Slim Helu
29. “When there is a crisis, that’s when some are interested in getting out and that’s when we are interested in getting in.” Carlos Slim Helu
30. “If you’re in business, you need to understand the environment. You need to have a vision of the future, and you need to know the past.”Carlos Slim Helu
31. “I learned from my father that you continue to invest and reinvest in your business – including during crises.” Carlos Slim Helu
32. “Do not allow negative feelings and emotions to control your mind. Emotional harm does not come from others; it is conceived and developed within ourselves.” Carlos Slim Helu
33. “When we face our problems, they disappear. So learn from failure and let success be the silent incentive.” Carlos Slim Helu
34. “Mistakes are normal and human. Make them small, accept them, correct them, and forget them.” Carlos Slim Helu
35. “Live the present intensely and fully, do not let the past be a burden, and let the future be an incentive. Each person forges his or her own destiny.” Carlos Slim Helu
Check out the excellent video from Evan Carmichael on Carlos Slim Helu’s Top 10 Rules For Success:
My name is Asad Meah, I am the CEO & Founder of AwakenTheGreatnessWithin. I am a dreamchaser who has gained a wealth of knowledge in entrepreneurship and personal development over the past five years through self-education. My mission is to inspire millions of people to become entrepreneurs by awakening their minds to their greatness that resides within them.
