• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Ogilvy

Published: Wednesday, 20 March 2013

A lot of successful entrepreneurs dropped out of school (Richard Branson) or university (Bill Gates).  But Ogilvy, who went on to become a famous ad man, at 38, had "no credentials, no clients, and $6000 in the bank" and a below average IQ of 96.

I watched a documentary on Ogilvy a few years ago, and when it got to the bit about his IQ score, it said that Ogilvy had tested his IQ at the end of his career, after he'd retired.  He was expecting to be a genius, but his results showed him to be below average.  He was disappointed for a few days.  But then he realised that he'd actually done quite well for himself to have done so well with such a low IQ.

So you don't think you're as smart as everyone else, you've scored low on an IQ test, you're broke, you don't have a job, and you don't have a great education.  So what?  Other people have been in that position before and created amazing things for the world.  And you can do so too.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Being a great customer

    I was in a hairdressers in Melbourne. I was 18. it was the first time I’d ever been to a hairdressers to get my hair cut in my life! It was at a...

  • Manufacturing Leadership Summit, Grand Rapids Michigan

    After a long pandemic hiatus from giving speeches in person, I was invited to be the in-person keynote speaker at The Right Place’s Manufacturing...

  • Aurukun Advance Queensland

    As part of my Advance Queensland Hot Desq tenure, I was granted the unique opportunity to visit a remote Aboriginal community, Aurukun, to encourage kids into...

  • Unless people you’re working with support you, you are going to fail

    Who are the guys that you are going to have pizza with when you successfully raise capital? Who are the guys that are going to inspire you? Who are...

  • 2Mar Robotics Blog

    Hello! It's been ages since I blogged here. More recently, I've been blogging at the 2Mar Robotics Blog.

  • Burnout

    I think that burnout happens when you set a goal, you work really, really hard to achieve the goal, and then the deadline comes and you haven’t...

  • The people I admire and how I use them for inspiration

    Most lists of inspiring people contain the billionaires, or world-wide success stories of people who have decoyed 20-30-40 years of service towards...

  • Australian Office in Taipei

    In March this year, I was invited to the Australian Office in Taipei, Taiwan, to give a speech for International Women’s Day.   During my 10-hour...

  • Make a wish!

    Go. Do it. Make a wish. Be wild! Be wise! Be audacious! How much does your wish cost? Can you afford it? Then pay and do it. You can’t? Calculate how...

  • Ruby Payne-Scott

    Ruby Payne-Scott was a pioneer radio physicist.  I was asked to go in and narrate her story for the ABC’s Fierce Girls series.  Listen to it here!...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top