10 Examples of the Unsung Animal Companions Behind Legendary Legends

The Furry, Feathery Truth Behind Tech & Marketing’s Biggest Successes

Orlando Scampington
ThinkGrowth.org

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One of these things is not like the others.

The tech and marketing worlds have one dark secret in common: Much of what we consider to be purely “human” success has actually been the result of joint human-animal efforts. The timelines of both industries are full of conspicuous absences, the willful exclusion of the true co-contributors to the companies & products that have changed our world: pets. This post seeks to bring their contributions to light. As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “four legs good, two legs also good. Everything is quite good down here on Animal Farm, thanks for asking.”

Steve Jobs

As a boy, Apple visionary Steve Jobs was never without his foxy companion, a fox. Over the course of one hot summer, Jobs domesticated the fox on the outskirts of Mountain View and (in what would prove to be a bizarre twist of fate) he named it “Steve Wozniak” almost half a decade before he met the human Steve Wozniak.

Ursula Burns

One constant in Ursula Burns’ rise from intern to CEO at Xerox has been her pair of pet advisors. She secretly credits much of her success to the ruthless Machiavellian suggestions of her dog (Tanya) and the offsetting new-age emotionality prescribed by her cat (Lord Farnstable). Their competing ideologies helped establish a balanced path.

Mark Zuckerberg

Due to an unprecedented housing snafu at Harvard, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was paired with a local dairy cow as freshman roommate. While the two had a rocky start, they eventually became inseparable friends (as seen in David Fincher’s Hollywood film “Social Network? Rad! Van Zuckerberg’s Party Time 2: Zuck’s Revenge”). And rumor has it that Zuckerberg’s current dog, Beast, is wildly jealous of this old friendship.

Elon Musk

At one point, PayPal was going to be an online payment system for those looking to purchase imported exotic cats. Cooler heads prevailed and the company decided to focus their efforts on a broader audience. Musk’s cat (who was on the executive board for reasons unknown) was the only dissenting vote during this critical pivot.

Marissa Mayer

(Due to an ongoing & extremely complicated legal situation, I cannot comment on Marissa Mayer’s eagle or even acknowledge its existence in any capacity.)

Arianna Huffington

Media mogul Huffington doesn’t often speak publicly about her fiery social planner, Michael Hoppington, but nothing happens without his blessing. The definitive “behind the scenes” pet.

Gary Vaynerchuk

It’s part & parcel of his personal story but it bears repeating: Before Gary V. adopted this rescue cat, he was a couch-riding slacker with zero ambition. It was only through his encouragement (and outright harassment) that Frisky Business got Vaynerchuk up & moving. A truly inspirational figure.

Sheryl Sandberg

Ex-Google and current Facebook COO is rarely seen without her wax-footed parrot, Alicia “Bossy” Beakberg. A 2014 health scare (Tunisian feather rot) saw Beakberg sidelined for a few months but the resilient bird came back stronger than ever. Impossible to overstate how much Beakberg has contributed to Sandberg’s career.

Simon Sinek

A persistent rumor has some believing that renowned thought leader Simon Sinek is nothing more than a human mouthpiece for a hyper-smart butterfly named William J. Cardigan-Bosworth. I won’t comment on the veracity of this rumor but will simply say that anyone who has been backstage with him knows what’s what.

Susan Wojcicki

While working at Google, Wojcicki met Colonel Yermakov, a Russian highland bear who was the head of a little startup called YouTube. When Google acquired YouTube (for $1.65 billion in 2006), the two became fast friends. As current CEO of YouTube, Wojcicki often still consults with Yermakov who retired in 2008 to “improve my short game… I love golf but man oh man, the putting!”

Please check back in a few days for an important animal-related announcement that I’ll be making. It will change the way you think about your office work environment. It will not change the way you think about other things so continue as planned in every other regard.

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Author, Thought Leader, Dreamer, Visionary, Believer In Unlimited Human Potential.