Wednesday, August 10, 2011

My introduction of Larry Ellison

Larry Ellison—founder of Oracle Corporation and the leader of my Cyber Privateering Fantasy League team—is scheduled to give the keynote address at the 13th Annual Utah Technology Council Hall of Fame Celebration. For years, I've petitioned Larry to let me give this introduction. Especially in the state of Utah (which you will see from the introduction), I think this would bring down the house. You be the judge:
I’ve known Larry Ellison for almost 30 years. Since this meeting of the Utah Technology Council is predominantly attended by Mormons, I wanted to share  an audience-specific insight to your keynote speaker.
 Mike Wilson wrote the best-selling book The Difference Between God And Larry Ellison* — with an asterisk after the title explained at the bottom of the page: “God Doesn’t Think He’s Larry Ellison.” You’ll better understand the religious overtones of the title once you realize that Mike Wilson was the religion editor for the St. Petersburg Times.
I spent several hours being interviewed by Mr. Wilson as he wrote the book. He understood that I was a Mormon, and I shared with him my personal opinion—I had to make sure Mike knew I was in no way speaking for the whole Church—and only my personal opinion, that Larry Ellison was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. You can see exactly what Mike wrote on page 172 of the book. He never got past the “redeem the dead” part of our three-fold mission on the planet, and therefore never asked about the biblical backup, so I never got to tell the whole story. But I’m going to tell you, now.  
Of course, most of you can recite from memory the last two verses of Malachi, the very last book of the Old Testament:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. 
If Mike had looked at this prophecy, quite literally the last phrase in the Old Testament—“…lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”— he  would certainly have penned a much stronger title. Because the world’s largest genealogy repository, the Mormon Church, depends upon Oracle, and because fully one third of our mission is to redeem the dead, my own introduction is somewhat more cosmic in nature:
I therefore introduce to you:

  • Not only one of the richest men in the world;
  • Not only the founder and heart of Oracle;
  • Not only the owner of The America’s Cup championship racing yacht;
  • And not only the future owner of an NBA-championship basketball team  (another prophecy of mine);
I introduce to you  the man whose vision and persistence and dedication have saved the earth from destruction. I present to you, Lawrence J. Ellison.
[If you're interested in a summary of my posted quotes from Larry Ellison, click here.]


1 comment:

  1. Note: Larry was a no-show for the event anyway, so I didn't get to introduce him. Besides, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch was the one who put his reputation on the line to get Larry to speak, so he would likely have given the introduction anyhow. Selah.

    ReplyDelete

Implementation suggestions for THE MORGAN DOCTRINE are most welcome. What are the "Got'chas!"? What questions would some future Cyber Privateering Czar have to answer about this in a Senate confirmation hearing?