Education: Dropped out of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1984 after six years of on-and-off studies. He plans to get an undergraduate degree this spring through UMass' University Without Walls program.
Career: During the 1980s, worked as a deejay at Boston nightclubs. He then created ads for Massachusetts recruitment firm, JWG Associates. In 1989, Taylor started ad and recruitment agency Adion. Looking for ways to find more job applicants, the idea of an online recruiting service came to him in a dream--literally. In 1994, he launched Monster Board, one of the first online recruiting sites. He sold it a year later to TMP Worldwide (TMPW
) for $900,000 and remained as CEO.
Management philosophy: He believes leaders must make work fun. That's why he has a giant statue of his company's monster mascot in the lobby, and he sponsors lots of employee parties. "We have a work-hard, play-hard atmosphere," he says. Some staffers think the drinking and dancing go too far and quit to form a rival company.
Hobbies: As a former deejay, he spins records at all company parties. He holds the Guinness world record for the longest-distance waterskiing behind a blimp: 3.3 miles, in Panama City, Fla., in 2000. He shattered Richard Branson's previous record of 1.5 miles.
Trademark formal wear: Tuxedo jacket with black leather pants.
Dream Job: Labor Secretary.
Family: He and wife, Janet, have three children: Ryan, 12, Brooke, 10, and Cole, 6.
Copyright 2001 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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