Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are two of the richest business leaders in the world, with respective net worths of $202.5 billion and $261 billion. But that’s not the only thing they have in common.
The 60-year-old Amazon founder and 53-year-old Tesla CEO happen to be the oldest children in their families.
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Bezos has a younger brother named Mark and a sister named Christina, both of whom were early investors in Amazon; they bought 30,000 shares apiece for $10,000, potentially worth more than $1 billion today.
Musk’s younger siblings are businessman Kimbal Musk and filmmaker Tosca Musk.
Did Bezos’ and Musk’s first-born sibling status help them achieve their impressive leadership, wealth and success? Being an oldest child certainly doesn’t guarantee either, but some research suggests that it can prepare people to be strong leaders.
Earlier this year, Entrepreneur sat down with Dr. Brittany McGeehan, a licensed psychologist based in Frisco, Texas, who specializes in working with high achievers, to learn more about how birth order influences personal and professional outcomes, including leadership ability.
Although McGeehan acknowledges that conclusions about birth order and success don’t apply to everyone, oldest children do tend to be “natural-born leaders,” she says.
In fact, two important leadership qualities can help establish first-born siblings as people to look up to. As adults, they’re often able to take accountability and handle critical feedback more effectively than their younger brothers or sisters, according to McGeehan.
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Parents who want their children to find success in business (or in whichever path they pursue) should pay attention to their kids’ attributes and interests, McGeehan says.
Providing structure is important, McGeehan notes — but so is finding “the sweet spot” where the child can “lean into their work ethic without sort of cutting themselves off.”
