From Warren Buffett to Tim Cook, these 5 Fortune 500 legends all share the same childhood job
Several prominent Fortune 500 executives, including Warren Buffett, Tim Cook, Michael Dell, Walt Disney, and Ross Perot, began their careers with childhood paper routes, which they credit with teaching foundational business principles. These early jobs involved predawn deliveries, customer collections, and consistent responsibility, shaping work ethics that lasted throughout their careers. Though paper routes have largely disappeared due to declining print media and labor regulations, the executives maintain that the experience was instrumental in their success.
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Long before the corner office, the IPO, and the billionaire life, several of America’s best-known executives had the same predawn alarm clock and the same stack of newsprint waiting on the curb. Recommended Video They all got their start in newspapers, either pedaling routes in the dark, tossing the latest newspaper on the porch, or chasing down customers for payment. Warren Buffett made some of his first cash by slinging The Washington Post. Tim Cook woke up at 3 a.m. to deliver the Mobile Press Register in Alabama. It taught these future executives some of the values they took all the way to the C-suite.
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