From the Book?

  Today's PRIORITIES Give Me Focus   

John C. Maxwell

       What would you do if you suddenly found yourself independently wealthy and the owner of a successful multimillion-dollar business? That's the question Howard Hughes found himself facing when he was only eighteen years old. Hughes's mother had died during surgery in 1922 when he was sixteen. When his father died of a heart attack less than two years later, the young man inherited the Hughes Tool Company.
       Hughes's father, Howard Hughes SR., had built his company from the ground up. Born in 1869, he worked in the Missouri zinc and lead mining industries in the 1890s. When he heard about the major petroleum discovery near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901, he recognized it as the opening of a new industry offering great opportunities. (In one day of production, the first well had produced half the United States' cumulative oil production). He soon moved to Texas and started a drilling business with partner Walter B. Sharp.
        For seven years they worked successfully. But then they were unable to complete jobs that involved drilling two different Wells because they could not drill through especially hard rock. To solve the problem, Hughes Sr. went off and invented (and patented) rotary bits to do the job. The equipment revolutionized the industry. Within five years, his bits were being used in eleven States and thirteen foreign countries. Between 1908 and 1924, he obtained seventy-three patents and became wealthy. He is reported to have said about his drill bits, "We don't have a monopoly. People who want to drill for oil and not use the Hughes bit can always use a pick and shovel."

Who wants to Be a Millionaire?

        When the senior Hughes, his son became a Millionaire. He hired a management company to run the Hughes Tool Company, and then he thought about what he wanted to do with his life. As a boy, he had loved all kinds of machines. He had built a radio and talked to ship captains when he was in his early teens. And he had gotten a barnstormer to give him flying lessons secretly when he was fifteen. He was intelligent, and the whole world was open to him.

        He decided to go into the movie making business. After marying a Houston socialite, he promptly moved to Los Angeles. Biography write Michael Sauter says, "The impulsiveness of the move would become typical of Hughes, who repeatedly threw himself into expensively risky ventures lik a boy ibssesed with a new hobby." Soon Hughes was producing movies and buying theaters in which to show them. His work got little attention until he made an aviation movie called Hell's Angels, which he also directed. He later went on to produce The front page and Scarface, both hits. He was in a position to build a major studio and become a force in Hollywood, but by then he had lost his focus. He seemed to be more interested in pursuing glamarous Hollywood actresses than in making movies. His wife divorced him in 1929.
        In the late 1920s, he turned his attention to aviation. He received a pilot's licence in 1928, and soon he was experimenting with aircraft design. He started his own aircraft company in 1932: Hughes Aviation. He's buy a plane, strip it down, and redesign it for speed. Then he worked as his own test pilot. For several years he set many of the world's airspeed records. For a decade, he repeated the pattern of designing planes and pushing them to the limit from the cockpit.
        Then in 1940, when Trans World Airlines was in need of cash, Hughes was invited to invest in the company. He didn't just invest, he bought a controlling interest. At the time he decided he wanted to make air travel more popular, so he engaged. Lockheed to build planes for TWA according to his specifications. The next year, he opened a large aircraft manufacturing plant of his own in Los Angeles, which supplied parts in support of the war in Europe. Meanwhile, Hughes continued to dabble in the entertainment business producing and sometimes directing movies.
In September of 1942, Hughes added another major activity to his agenda. He was awarded a contract from the government to construct prototypes of flying boats. He agreed to deliver the planes in 1944 for a cost of $18 million. For the next several years, he worked on developing the planes. But by 1945, he still had not delivered any planes to the government, despite having spent over $800 million, including the construction of a huge hangar for $175 million. Hus lack of focus not only prevented him from suceedi g in that venture, it also led to a mental breakdown (one of three he experienced)

Anything goes

            Howard Hughes went on to buy RKO pictures, several small airlines, television stations, and numerous hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. No matter whatsp got his  attention, he was able to do it thanks to Hughes Tool Company, which bankrolled his pursuits. But nothing seemed to maintain his attention for long, and nothing seemed to satisfy him. He got married again in 1957, but he and his second wife drifted apart. In 1966, he moved to Las Vegas without Informing her, and despite numerous attempts, she was never able to see him again. A few years later, he left the country. By then he was becoming more and more ecentric. The rumor was that he lived like a hermit, was phibic about germs, and had succumbed to fpdrug addiction. In 1976, he died while being flown back to the United States for medical treatment.

          There are those who would call Hughes a success because of his wealth, he was the nation's first billionaire and at one time the wealthiest person in the world. But when I read about Hughes, I see a broken life if unfulfilled potential. He was unable to sustain any long-term relationships. His marriage didn't last. He had no children. And the only companies he owned that thrived are the ones he either never ran or eventually relinquished control of. He transferred ownership of Hughes aircraft to the nonprofit Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1955, drove RKO pictures into bankruptcy in 1958, and relinquished control of TWA when it neared collapse in 1960. In 1971, he signed away control of the remainder of his empire. He died alienated and alone.

From the book Today matters by John C. Maxwell

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