To say Tom Siebel has had an interesting life would be putting it mildly. He's a billionaire, a technology visionary, and the survivor of an elephant goring eight years ago that — given the odds — should have killed him. Several doctors told Siebel he would never walk again, much less sail competitively.

But he does.

So what do you learn about life when you've stared down death in the form of a five-ton elephant that crushes you, and lived to tell the tale? What do you learn when you've invented one of the first killer workplace apps of the PC era, then sold it for about $6 billion dollars?

After you've made all that, and survived it all, why are you still inventing at the age of 64?

Tom Siebel, now the CEO of C3 IoT, sat down with Fortt Knox at the Nasdaq's MarketSite in Times Square to share some insight into what's made him tick – and what's helped him succeed. Here are some bits to chew on:

Never Say Die

In 2009, Siebel had been on a walking safari with his wife and daughters when an elephant attacked him. He told Fortt Knox that during his recovery, he had 19 reconstructive surgeries, and relied on electric wheelchair to get around. One of his legs was almost completely shattered. Throughout the process, he kept looking for a doctor who could help him to make real progress.

"I would go visit physicians, and they would explain that they're going to have to remove my leg, and I'd say OK, you're fired," he said.

Finally he called the maker of the device that was holding his leg together, and asked what doctor in the world had the most experience installing it. It turned out, the two best were just up the road in San Francisco.

A few years later, Siebel made a full recovery.

The lesson here is not so much about what to do if you're trampled by an elephant. It's what to do if someone tells you that your goal is impossible: If that goal is important enough, don't just get a second opinion, get expert insight.

Work for Someone and Learn

Where did Tom Siebel learn to run a business? From working at Oracle.

Where did the leaders at Oracle learn? Trial and error. Fortt Knox asked whether he thinks that's ideal.

Actually, no, he replied.

"I think it might be a good idea to go work for another company first and learn about sales, learn about marketing, learn about accounting, learn about compliance, learn about human capital practices," Siebel said. "Maybe learn a little patience, get a little humility."

We tend to focus on the exceptions to the rules, people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. But many of the rest of us would be wise to spend a bit more time learning about business before trying to run one.