Apollo Group's John G. Sperling Forward-Thinking Attitude Keeps His Schools Growing.(A)

By Christopher L. Tyner

Investor's Business Daily

Growing up dirt poor and dyslexic in a small shack in southern Missouri's Ozarks, John G. Sperling's chances of becoming an American education revolutionary seemed slim at best.

Today the 80-year-old chief executive and chairman of higher-education provider Apollo Group Inc. of Phoenix looks back on his rise from humble beginnings and credits his success to attitude.

"I'm an implacable opportunist," Sperling said in a recent interview. "Whenever I see an opportunity, I pursue it relentlessly."

Cultivated early in life, his can-do attitude brought profound change to theworld of academia in the form of the Apollo Group, the company he created in 1973. Today Wall Street values the for-profit education operation at more than $4 billion. His innovative method has both schooled and shaken the ivory towersof academia. In the process, it's created a corporate balance sheet that's theenvy of Silicon Valley.

Sperling's success in education lies in a willingness to experiment. His career has been a hunt for new approaches to the teaching/learning process. Every class he taught was a trial-and-error exploration. Add to that, he said, "a willingness to work hard and a high tolerance for risk," and you have the Sperling formula.