Magazines Give Thanks, Offer Motivation in December Issues

By Jennifer Hopfinger
December 27, 2005 10:25 AM

Now's the time of year when people count their blessings, but few have more to be thankful for than Ping Fu.

Inc. magazine (http://www.inc.com/home/) named Ping Fu, the 47-year old founder of Geomagic, a $30 million digital imaging company, Entrepreneur of the Year in the December issue. "She's leading a modern industrial revolution that will make customization cheap and outsourcing obsolete, and forever change the way things get made — from turbines to artificial hearts," John Brant says in the cover story, "The Dimensions of Ping Fu."

Geomagic is an innovator in the field of digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP), which can render any object on a computer screen in full three-dimensional fidelity. "Within the past few years, DSSP — and Geomagic — has transformed the hearing aid and dental tech industries, helped digitally preserve the Statue of Liberty, streamlined the manufacturing process for Fisher-Price dollhouses, and recreated engine manifolds for a NASCAR racing team." The technology obviously has a growing number of application possibilities — Geomagic's revenue has increased by 2,105% in the past five years — but what's more impressive is how its founder came to be a high-tech pioneer.

Ping Fu has quite a different educational background than most of the men and women who end up on the covers of business magazine. She didn't attend school between the ages of 7 and 18. Rather, "she was educated through torture … in her native China during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s." In fact, she came to the U.S. directly from a Chinese jail cell, knowing only three English words — please, thank you, and help. Fifteen years and a doctorate in computer sciences later, Ping talked an audience of venture capitalists into giving her $1.5 million in seed money for her startup.

While that inspirational story is hard to top, Business 2.0 magazine (http://www.business2.com/b2) offers more motivation for burgeoning business leaders in its December cover story, "My Golden Rule." The magazine asks "30 business visionaries, collectively worth over $70 billion, what single philosophy they swear by more than any other — in business, life, or both." The contributors include New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, billionaire investor Carl Icahn, poker world champion Phil Hellmuth, and Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

But before readers get swept up in resolutions to apply themselves harder in the new year, SmartMoney magazine (http://www.smartmoney.com) reminds that it's also okay to indulge in less-noble desires — namely scoring awesome presents in this season of gift-giving. The December issue features "The Best of Everything: 8 Luxuries That Will Make Your Life Better." Writer Maggie Dunphy reports that high-end goods, from handbags to golf clubs, are selling at record levels, but "today's big-name luxury goods have replaced extravagance with subtlety." Dunphy reports on "the new, less-is-more movement" and educates readers on how to spot "the very best in cashmere, cameras, and a host of other understated luxuries."

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism