Hertz’s CEO was angry about falling behind to United Rentals. “You made me change one of my tag lines. I had the largest car rental company and the largest equipment rental company in the world. And now I’ve got the largest car rental company, and the second largest equipment rental company. I don’t want to be second in anything.” He scolded Brad, “You’re making a mess of it. You’ll screw up the whole industry and go bankrupt!” Brad responded, “Look, you’re smart. And I respect that you know ...

Obscene profits. That was the headline one evening of CBS News in 1979. It was a report on the Iran hostage crisis. Petroleum prices had reached all time highs. Exxon had reported excessive quarterly earnings of over one billion dollars. The words OBSCENE PROFITS flashed across the TV screen of a twenty three year old musician. That young man was Brad Jacobs. “That sounds pretty good,” he thought, “maybe I ought to check out the oil sector.”