"You can't win races without working harder than the other guy."
A blazing ball of contradictions and a genuine original, Ted Turner has been labeled a philanthropist and humanist, a fascist and a racist, a madman and one of the canniest entrepreneurs of all times. Hard-driving and hypercompetitive, he has amassed one of the world's largest personal fortunes, only to give much of it away to liberal causes, including $1 billion to the United Nations.
As "Terrible Ted" has proven time and again, behind his outrageous public persona lies one of the most highly disciplined and creative business minds ever. Beginning with a family billboard advertising company, Turner forged a global media empire, and in the process revolutionized television broadcasting. He pioneered the Superstation concept and founded CNN-the first 24-hour, all-news network-along with more than a half-dozen cable channels. Starting with the Atlanta Braves baseball team, Turner also assembled one of today's most lucrative sports conglomerates.
Ted Turner Speaks brings together hundreds of quotes drawn from a wide array of sources. Hear straight from the maverick's mouth the secrets of his phenomenal success in business, entertainment, and philanthropy. Here is just a sample of what you'll find inside:
"Exposure to defeat is a very important thing. Anyone who doesn't look to get beaten is doing a disservice to himself. "
"I may look like a clown doing back flips at a baseball game, but I'm a very deadly serious person trying to accomplish things just for the satisfaction of accomplishing them."
"I bet you're all wondering what it feels like to be a billionaire. It's disappointing really. . . . I've learned that great wealth isn't nearly as good as average sex."
"I give [the networks] hell because they don't serve the public interest. They look at the viewer the same way a slaughterhouse looks at pigs and cattle. They sell them by the pound to the advertiser-the same way they sell ham hocks and spareribs."
"My desire to excel borders on the unhealthy."
The world listens when TED TURNER Speaks
"Losing is simply learning how to win."
"The worst sin, the ultimate sin for me, in anything, is to be bored."
"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."
"When you're little, you have to do crazy things. You just can't copy the big guys.
To succeed you have to be innovative."
"Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise."
This book has not been prepared, approved, licensed, or endorsed by Ted Turner.
JANET LOWE is the author of the bestselling Warren Buffett Speaks, Bill Gates Speaks, and Jack Welch Speaks (all available from Wiley). Her articles have appeared in Newsweek, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Ms. Lowe lives in Del Mar, California, with her husband, Austin Lynas.
