Portrait of an American Businessman: One Generation from Cotton Field to Boardroom

by Carl Ware, Sibley Fleming (With), Desmond Tutu (Foreword)

Carl Ware is an American success story. Born in 1943 to humble Georgia sharecroppers, he faced hardship while growing up black in the Jim Crow South. Ware worked his way through college, taking part in the Atlanta Student Movement. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he rose to become one of the most influential business leaders and philanthropists of his generation. Ware served on the Atlanta City Council from 1973 to 1979. In 1979 he was named VP of Special Markets for Coca-Cola USA. He founded the Coca-Cola Foundation and became known as the company's Daring Diplomat. As the highest-ranking African American executive at the Coca-Cola Company, Ware would become the architect of his employer's South Africa disinvestment and the first American businessman to meet with Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990. During this time, Ware proved instrumental in the fall of South Africa's brutal system of apartheid.

336 pages, Hardcover

Published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[Chanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of my life when a photo or story came on the local news about Carl Ware, my mom would let it be known that he was from Newnan and has family were sharecroppers as well. I was happy to read his book.
Book was an easy read, especially if you enjoy genealogy and love seeing success stories.
Mr. Ware’s details of his successful career should be a read for those wanting to become leaders.
It is clearly a story of just because you start at the bottom, doesn’t mean you have to remain there. Building a legacy as he has done, started with his dad being the first African American to vote in Coweta County.
I love stories about Georgians.