Forbes® Best Business Mistakes: How Today's Top Business Leaders Turned Missteps into Success

Chapter 13. STEVE FORBES

President and CEO, Forbes, Inc.

Editor-in-chief, Forbes magazine

Candidate for U.S. president, 1996 and 2000

Way before Steve Forbes ran for president of the United States, he was opinionated. And he has always liked to share those thoughts. He recalls:

I would do a news sheet for my classmates in grade school. I remember in one issue I tried to grade my teachers the way they graded me. It never saw the light of day. My father censored it. He said, "You've got enough problems."

That's one of the endearing characteristics of Steve Forbes. The mild-mannered head of Forbes, Inc., with his polite bearing, is not histrionic and doesn't blow you away with hyperbole, but he's determined to put in his two cents' worth.

And that's part of his pattern of surprising you. The best example of doing the unexpected may be what plays out just about every Friday, when, as a regular panelist, he tapes the business show Forbes on Fox for the Fox News Channel. After he goes on the air to tout the merits of the flat tax, less government regulation, and more capitalism to solve the world's problems, Steve takes everyone to lunch.

Now, I don't know how much Steve is worth. I've seen estimates that it's somewhere on the order of a half billion dollars, maybe more. Let's just say he doesn't stay up all night worrying about how he's going to take care of the heating bill.

That's why it's refreshing to see where he takes everyone to lunch: Wendy's—the fast-food joint.

I have no idea whether ...