Ross Perot: Shorty Got Game

April 22, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

The episode explores Ross Perot's business successes and his near presidential run in 1992.

I’m having a bit of a dig at Ross Perot’s height, but for a little guy, this guy had a lot of game—not just as a businessman. This guy could have been the US President. Here is a quote from Time Magazine from 1992, when he threw his hat into the ring to become president: "It's hard to envision a seriously short guy who sounds like a chihuahua as a charismatic threat to democracy, but it is delicious to watch the thrills of horror running through the establishment at the mere thought." Because as we’ll see in the story, Perot came this close to becoming the President of the United States in 1992. But this is a business story, so we will also, of course, be talking about his business achievements, which are just as big. He was IBM’s top salesman. He coined the term facilities management and created the first professional business model around it. Then he built and sold two multi-billion dollar companies. And even more intriguingly, he hired a special ops commander who then trained some of his own employees, and then they flew into Tehran and helped break two of Perot’s employees out of a jail in Iran. I mean, this story has it all. It is brilliant. Enjoy.

People in this episode

Host: Caemin

Topics covered

business achievements
political aspirations
entrepreneurship
history of IBM
rescue operations
leadership

Keywords

Ross Perot
businessman
IBM
presidential election
facilities management
Tehran rescue
entrepreneurship

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: IBM, Time Magazine

Places: United States, Tehran