The story of an everyday hero.

• Position: Reprint

From Six Tires, No Plan by Michael Rosenbaum. Copyright [C] 2012 by the author. Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press (www.gbgpress.com).

IN 1960, TWO YEARS BEFORE Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Ark., Bruce Halle rented an empty shop in Ann Arbor, Mich., and founded Discount Tire Co. Half a century later, both companies are industry leaders with strong cultural drivers. While Halle's story is less studied than Walton's, the growth of Discount Tire offers significant insights into the creation of a sustainable, Productive business.

Truth be told, Bruce Halle does not love tires. He doesn't love tire stores, either, even though he has amassed an empire of more than 800 retail tire stores over the five decades since his founding of Discount Tire.

What Halle does love is paying forward, creating the opportunity for the next guy who is willing to work hard to build a life and pay forward to the guy after that. He loves to see his own success reflected -- and created -- through the success of other people.

This is the...