This was a great book about how two men have created global empires. The subtitle is what really grabbed my attention: “How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires That Control What We Read and Watch.” It’s really a dual biography of Turner & Murdoch starting when they were boys and telling the story of how each built a global media empire.

If you don’t think two men can influence & control the information published & broadcast in newspapers, magazines, and television, this book might open your eyes. They clearly use their power to influence the information fed to the public in a way that promotes their own personal agendas. In other words, they are happy to do the thinking for anyone too lazy to think for themselves in the hopes of swinging readers & viewers to their point of view.

Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati and Rupert Murdoch was born in Australia, but their life stories have many similarities. They are both the oldest son and they were both troublemakers as adolescents - an early indication that they weren’t about the follow the herd. Both of their fathers were successful businessmen…and both of their fathers doubted their son’s abilities to carry on the family business. Both of their fathers also died suddenly & unexpectedly when the sons were in their early twenties. Murdoch’s father died of heart attack in his sleep and Turner’s father put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

This demonstrates a recurring theme among successful people. No one is immune to adversity. How we react to it is what separates the successful people from the herd. It would have been easy for either of them to just pack it in when their father died and use that as an excuse but neither of them did. They both had big, hairy, audacious goals and a successful risk attitude.

They both started with something but nothing even remotely resembling the global empires both built. The Murdoch’s were forced to sell most of their assets to pay estate taxes and Rupert was left with one small Australian newspaper. Turner’s father had actually agreed to sell his business before committing suicide. Ted sued to stop the sale and won. At that point the business was selling advertisements on billboards. There was little indication of the global empires about to be built.

Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch are both classic reptile brains. Murdoch routinely made multi-billion dollar deals in minutes and Turner wasn’t much different. I can just imagine the thought of convening committees of “expert” attorneys and CPAs to evaluate opportunities and consider all the consequences would make both Turner and Murdoch nauseous. They both followed their gut instincts. If an opportunity seemed like a good fit, they seized the opportunity immediately.

People who need to deliberate decisions for weeks or months are focused on the negative and looking for a reason to forego taking action. In other words, their expectations of failure are high. Turner & Murdoch are the exact opposite. Their expectations of success are high. And when the time came to bet all their chips on what looked like a winning hand, they did it without hesitation. They did it repeatedly without hesitation.

Both men were publicly and privately considered crazy for their wild ideas and neither of them gave a damn what anyone else thought. They both had a goal and they weren’t about to let any obstacle stop them. They both took enormous risks that left them on the verge of bankruptcy and both found ways to survive and thrive.

In the early days, Turner resorted to going live on one of his first television stations and asking viewers for money. He raised enough money to save his business and paid all the loans back with interest in a relatively short period of time. As recently as the 1990s, Murdoch’s empire was about to implode as he was unable to make hundreds of millions of dollars worth of payments to over 100 banks. Somehow he was able to convince each and every bank to grant a payment extension until he could pay off the debts. He even convinced the banks to give him $600 million more in short-term loans to keep his empire from collapsing. Eventually he survived the crisis.

Here are some revealing quotes by both Turner & Murdoch:

“I just love it when people say I can’t do something. There’s nothing that makes me feel better, because all my life people have said I wasn’t going to make it.” - Ted Turner

“Sometimes you’re treated like the skunk at a tea party. But that’s the fate of anyone who challenges the status quo.” - Rupert Murdoch

“I’ve got a bunch of flags on my boat, but there ain’t no white flags. I don’t surrender. That’s the story of my life.” - Ted Turner

“Fortune favors the brave.” - Rupert Murdoch

This is just a brief synopsis of an interesting and riveting book. It was like reading a good mystery novel. I remember reading “The Firm” by John Grisham over 10 years ago and I just couldn’t put it down. I always had to read the next chapter. This book was just as fascinating. It’s often said that success leaves clues. This book is jam-packed with clues.

Tags: Create Your Own Products, Make Money Online

Popularity: 15% [?]

Share this post: