Real Facts

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Michelin gives 3 Stars to restaurants that are so good, it's worth visiting its country to eat there. There are only 81!

The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars.

Michelin also publishes Green Guides for travel and tourism, as well as several newer publications such as the Guide Voyageur Pratique, Guide Gourmand, Guide Escapade, and Guide Coup de Cœur.

First published in 1900 for France, Michelin introduced additional guides thereafter for other European countries. In 2005, it published the first guide for the United States focusing on New York City; followed by it's first Asian guide in 2007 for Tokyo.

In 2012, the Michelin Guide collection had 27 guide books covering 23 countries on three continents, with over 45,000 worldwide addresses. The 3 star Michelin rating means the guide suggests you visit the country just to try out the restaurant.

[AnAnYa]

A 21-year-old CEO fired 66% of managers on day 1. He’s grown the company from $4m to $200m in sales!

Ricardo Semler is a Brazilian businessman and majority owner of Semco, a Brazilian multimillion Dollar company. Semco was first owned by his father and Ricardo worked under him.

After frequent clashing about how to run the business, Ricardo threatened to leave the company. His father instead decided to step aside and let Ricardo run the company as he pleased.

On his first day on the job, Ricardo Semler fired 2/3rds of all top managers. He believes in a radical form of industrial democracy and a more participative system of business. Since he was 25 he has been inspired to want a greater work-life balance for him and his employees.

Through his leadership, the company expanded into many different industries and the revenues exploded: From $4 million in 1982 to $212 million in 2003.

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If a Google Employee dies, their spouse gets half pay for 10 years!

Google has been known to treat their employees really well. They treat them to free food, fitness classes, laundry services, and car washes. Now, they’ve pulled out the big guns. They’re offering their employee spouses 10 years of half pay when their Google working spouse dies.

There’s no tenure requirement needed to receive the benefits either. Right now, only U.S. employees are covered by the policy at this point in time, though. The surviving spouse or partner of a deceased employee will also acquire vested stock benefits, and children will receive $1,000 a month until the age of 19.

The timeline can be extended if the child is in school full time. Google said it is taking this approach because it is the right thing to do, ensuring that each employee's family is taken care of if an unforeseeable event were to occur — even if there is no direct benefit to the business.

Although it might attract more candidates to apply for a position, Google said that is not the reason why it implemented the benefits — more potential hires would just be a side effect.

[AnAnYa]

The CEO of the 2nd largest gun manufacturer resigned because it was revealed he had been in jail 15 years for armed robbery!

James Minder became CEO of Smith & Wesson in 2001 and was an invaluable member of the company. He had to resign in 2004, however, when it was revealed that he had spent 15 years in prison for armed robbery and an attempted prison escape.

The optics and public perception of having the CEO of the second largest gun manufacturer were too negative for the company, so they forced him to resign.

When he was asked why he hadn’t revealed that information before, he simply responded that no one had asked him about it. He had never lied about his past, he insisted, it just never came up.