Customer Reviews

A Passion to Win

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Redstone is clearly a tenacious presence in the entertainment business and has built an incredible empire. This man took no shortcuts getting to the top of the mountain. There are some great lessons in this book. However, I was incredibly put off by his litigious nature. Redstone has filed numerous lawsuits during his professional career, and has threatened many more. Frankly, I got tired of reading about all of the "wrongs" that kept cropping up in his business and personal life. It seems that he is somewhat unfulfilled if he doesn't have a lawsuit against somebody going on. He claims that he only sues as a last resort. Please. As many as he has done it is clearly a tool of primary choice. One must presume Redstone never wronged anyone else. His enormous ego is also on prominent display in the book. You would expect that someone in his position would have a healthy dose and Redstone does not disappoint.

Another point of contention is his constant harping of his character and credibility. He claims that they are the bedrock of his existence. OK, what was he doing in Europe photographed with a young woman-although he claims innocence his wife left him after 52 years of marriage. He may have been innocent but his wife had apparently seen enough. Is this character and credibility? His reliance on his credibility is highly selective-Beavis and Butthead are the epitome of character and credibilty?

Also, after he purchased CBS his top 2 lieutinants were being squeezed out of positions. These gentleman were significant players in his building of Viacom and he played dumb in claiming he didn't know they would lose their place after acquiring CBS(they brought it to his attention). Redstone stated that he would call off the deal if they wanted him to do it. PLEASE. We learn plenty about Redstone in the book to realize that nothing stops him from getting what HE wants. After the acquisition, they were gone and he made a great point of saying how rich he had made them.

If you are looking for an objective view of Redstone and his dealings, this is not it. If you are interested in getting in on the inside of some big deals, you may enjoy it. Just bring your weedwacker to cut through Redstone's self serving BS.

A principle in speaking is that people remember stories much more than they remember concepts. This is a great story and there is much to be learned from it.

It's also clear to me how easy it is confuse a person with the single-minded courage of his convictions with someone who is ruthless. I have known a few people similar to Mr. Redstone, who were similarly single-minded of purpose. When you look closely at these people, the look in their eye in much more about having a vision or goal and thinking intently, "How can I make IT happen?" than it is about "who can I hurt or run over?"

If they do happen to run over people it is usually not done from malice, but because those people are merely in the line of whatever goal they are trying to achieve.

This is not to say that these strong-willed people suffer fools gladly (which they don't) or are not capable of getting even (and then some) after someone else attacks them first. But they don't go out of their way to hurt people without having been hurt by them.

Mr. Redstone also exemplifies how easy it is to become confused about aggression being bad. Tiger Woods is aggressive. Andre Agassi is aggressive. Aggression + Principle = Conviction. Aggression - Principle = Hostility. Aggression is actually admirable, but it needs to be wedded to principle. And Mr. Redstone is a good example of how to be aggressive in the right way.

Read this book as a guide to taking the bull by the horns and taking charge of your life, instead of waiting for life to happen to you.

If one is asked to describe a blueprint for genocide, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" invariably comes to mind. Thus ever should Sumner Redstone's "A Passion to Win" be linked with the equally heinous crime of cultural genocide.

In this book, Mr. Redstone recalls the long road that led him from drive-in theater projectionist to media mogul. At every twist and turn, Mr. Redstone defeats "incomprehensible" odds to claw his way to the top of his "entertainment" empire. The capstone of this empire was his acquistion of Viacom, and with it, MTV.

Redstone describes with almost messianic fervor how he ignored advice to sell off the fledgling music channel. "I believed that MTV could be a cultural force in America" (page 116). "Young people 12 to 20 were going to become adults of 30 to 40...", "If we attracted them early, we could keep them forever." (page 117).

Well, attract them he did, and anyone who can sit through ten minutes of MTV "programming" can readily appreciate Mr. Redstone's "cultural messages". (Try searching "Shower Rangers" on you favorite browser some time. Thanks, Sumner!).

Even more sinister is the calculating way in which he targets the youngest viewers for his oily propaganda. "I felt much the same way about Nickelodeon and the possibilities in creating a children's brand." (page 117). From cradle to grave, Uncle Sumner had a direct conduit to America's, and then the world's, most impressionable viewers.

But Mr. Redstone does not live in a vacuum. He has children and grandchildren of his own. They grew up with the MTV generation too (Can't you just see Grampa Sumner settling down with the grandbabies to watch some quality rap videos?). Mr. Redstone, however, believes that while "multiculturalism" and "diversity" are just the ticket for the gentiles, his family would attend private schools in Israel.

Towards the closing pages of this book, Mr. Redstone also mentions his wife of 50+ years, as he is in the process of divorcing her. "I took measures to see that she would have no control in the company". Heart warming, ain't it?

I highly recommend this book. As the old proverb goes, "Know thy enemy."

Sure there's some bragging here, but you'd be bragging too if you had built the kind of company this guy built. His stories make for an awesome read for anyone starting a company or managing one. His takeaways on negotiating are great lessons that even the most experienced negotiators won't mind hearing again especially from Redstone's been there and WON perspective!

Wow! I'm the first to review this book here in over a year!

A Passion to Win was recommended to me by a fellow Viacom employee, though he's at Paramount and I have freelanced at MTV for the past four and a half years. I'm embarrassed to say that I previously knew nothing of Sumner Redstone or his behind-the-scene battles to turn Viacom into the world's top entertainment company. When confronted with the inevitable bureaucracy of performing my job duties, I just envisioned a nameless, faceless corporation that really only cared about the bottom line.

What a treat it was to spend the last day and a half seeing operations from the creator's perspective! I have a newfound respect for Mr. Viacom (or Mr. Redstone) and every other division that has invariably kept him awake at night as he set to reform it from the inside out. Quite an inspiring and optimistic tome from someone who could easily have concentrated on the negatives of his own triumphant journey.

I was surprised with Redstone's candor in recounting his business deals, including the personalities of the players involved. The character "types" he has dealt with paralleled my own encounters with businessmen over the years. It was comforting to know that our dealings were not so dissimilar, only in the scope of what was being negotiated.

I'm sure Sumner has his share of detractors, but I was really impressed with his story. I found myself cheering (though not audibly) when he closed a significant business deal. The uncomplicated prose actually helped me through most of the legal situations, as that's never been an area of interest for me.

Suffice it to say that I think this book holds up exceedingly well, giving great insight into one of the top business minds currently at play on the American (even global) corporate landscape. A complete recommendation.

This is a lightweight tome about an unusual man.

Like him or loathe him, Sumner Redstone is a character and in this book what you read is about Sumner Redstone, a man of steel.

There is much to be admired about Mr. Redstone but not his writing skills. This unabashed self-promoting autobiography is not a bad read but it really does not get to the essence of the man and his business dealings.

One is reminded of Shakespeare's withering description "but Caesar is an honourable man" which served to cast doubt on the character of Caesar. I am not saying that there is anything bad with Sumner Redstone but the reader is left with the impression of our hero marching into battle at the head of a small, timid, lacking in confidence army. Granted he is a survivor and granted that he has got good business acumen but where, as they say, is the beef?

This is a story of Sumner first and foremost, a larger than life character while the other figures he interacts with are merely shadows in comparison.

Lest anyone get me wrong I have the utmost respect for this gentleman and believe that you do not get to run one of the biggest media corporations in the world by mere accident. But this book is not a fitting testament to the man. The world does not need the soft focus version of Sumner Redstone. What we do need is a no holds barred, warts and all unauthorised biography of the Viacom titan.

This is not the greates business book in the world. You can tell that by the fact that Blockbuster stores were required to sell it alongside their movie rentals before ultimately was taken from the shelves. Unlike a lot of the things you get from Blockbuster there are no late fees attached to this book. Says it all really.

Several other reviewers seem to have attached little (if any) importance to the fact that the information Redstone provides (especially the opinions) are from his perspective. They challenge the accuracy of his comments about various negotiations, lawsuits, personnel decisions, etc. No doubt he employs selective memory. No doubt he frequently bends the truth to suit what are often his self-serving purposes. No doubt in several instances he is flat-out wrong. So what? I rate this book so highly because it provides access to Redstone which would otherwise be denied, at least to me. No one can question the nature and extent of his achievements in business. No one can deny that he is among the most controversial of media empire CEOs. The person he himself describes is not someone I would wish to be closely associated with. I do not plan to invite him over for Sunday dinner (although he may well be delightful company in that situation) and I have not included him on my holiday greeting card mailing list. Again, so what? In his own words, he shares with me and other readers his "take" on his life and career thus far. We have his version of volatile relationships with others such as Barry Diller who also bears little resemblance to Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Redstone, for explaining why you think you have a passion to win; also, what you think the impact of that passion has had in your life.

Being from the Boston area, I have long followed and been interested in the career of Sumner Redstone. This autobiography greatly added to my knowledge of the man by describing the thought processes behind the many successful innovations he has helped pioneer. The main drawback of the book is that you will find his personality unappealing at times. He savages those who do not meet his exceptionally high standards.

If you do not know who Mr. Redstone is, let me fill you in a little. He is a self-made multibillionaire, who is the chairman and controlling shareholder of Viacom. This is the company that brings you the CBS television network, Paramount motion pictures, and many popular cable networks like MTV and Showtime. Mr. Redstone may well be the brightest owner of a major company in the world. He is certainly one of the best educated. But beyond that, he is undoubtedly one of the most competitive. The combination gives him the impact of a Mack truck when he decides to move.

The book begins with the most famous story about Mr. Redstone, how he survived almost being burned to death in a fire in Boston's Copley Plaza at age 55. You will come away impressed with his determination from reading about this experience. If you are like me, you will come away even more impressed that this experience had little psychological impact on him. It was just one more challenge.

The story then picks up with the horrible problems he had in turning around Blockbuster Video after purchasing it during Viacom's acquisition of Paramount. To succeed required recruiting two different top officers of the company (the first one was not successful) and renegotiating the fundamental way that motion picture studios were compensated for video rentals (substituting a revenue sharing arrangement for purchases of video tapes).

Mr. Redstone always wins in business. It's that simple. In fact, in this autobiography, he can recount few occasions when he did not in any aspect of his life. He bitterly resents the injustices present from those few instances. One was when a professor of law gave him a D in constitutional law at Harvard Law school (when he had taken the course earlier at another law school, he had received an A+). While an appellate lawyer for the federal government, he won 18 appeals in a row.

"I am hands on . . . but I also invite confrontation." Mr. Redstone acts as though each penny involved is potentially his own, and that the principle at stake is a life-and-death one. This gives his focus an intensity that no one I have ever met could match. His descriptions of bidding contests to buy businesses and efforts to win legal cases will provide fruitful examples of best practices for generations to come. If you want to win in business or law, think like Mr. Redstone. And get the best talent to help you . . . particularly if you are not a towering genius like Mr. Redstone.

The title of the book is somewhat misleading. Mr. Redstone is equally devoted to being a committed person who acts with courage and good character. In other words, he wants to win for the right reasons and in the right way. It's the principle that counts. For example, he gave the money he won suing the hotel where he nearly died to the burn unit of the hospital that treated him. He was originally attracted to law because it was supposed to be about justice. He found that practicing law, however, was just a business rather than a way to do justice. Almost all of his major business victories were aided at least in part by legal actions that he masterminded.

On the other hand, most people would not find the way he spends his time to be the ideal life. You'll have to decide for yourself how a single-minded pursuit of winning should be balanced by other interests and considerations.

I do encourage you to be more understanding and accepting of lesser mortals than Mr. Redstone is in this book. There is, after all, only one Sumner Redstone.

As a highschool student, I found this book to be extremely inspiring. Anyone who has ever thought of entering the field of business should read this book. I did and it helped me channel my i nner ambition. Redstones inspiring stories (he survived a terrible fire) made me want to get out and conquer the world. At times, Redstone seems a bit full of himself, but anyone who can climb to the top usuallly is. This book is a great read to anyone wanting to find passion by reading from a passionate person.

This book was well written with easily "digestable" chapters. It offers interesting insights into the entertainment and movie industries, as well as the discipline, tough negotiating, litaigation tactics, and optimism that SR needed to build Viacom.

As for the man himself, I came away admiring SR's intelligence, discipline, determination, and vision, but he clearly rationalizes his actions in an attempt to justify them. For example, as a campaign advisor to Muskie, he notes that politicians don't care about opinions, they want donations, and later proudly talks about his policy conversations with the Clintons. He critisizes Biondi's soft negotiating style, and then later critisizes TCI's hardball tactics. Being divorced himself and noting he had no time for friends at school, he had not qualms in quoting the wife of a former blockbuster CEO to the effect that she was suprised her husband had friends in a gratuitous personal attack on Fields. When he goes against a friend, he notes it's buiness, nothing personal, but is upset with Diller for bidding against him for Paramount. He oscilates between the virtues of shareholder accountability, and fairness to bidding companies, as it suits him.

In sum, I recommend the book, admire SR for his accomplishments, but wouldn't want my children to grow up to be like him.