Posted 4:33 PM by Blah blah

I Love Ted Turner! (Business, Profile)

If you like charismatic, successful, idealistic, and plainspoken men as I do, you'll love Ted Turner. I've admired him and his unusual life for many years. Yet I'd never heard him speak. On April 24, Ted came to San Francisco to give a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, America's oldest and largest forum for public affairs. (Some years ago, he also spoke at a dinner at my college dorm, International House Berkeley, which I missed.)

Listen to 4/24/03 his speech and Q/A session over the Internet. God, he cracks me up!

To hear or read the speeches of other movers and shakers who have visited the Club since its start in 1903, please go here.

When you first hear Ted speak, you may be shocked. He is actually not a fluent or very educated sounding speaker, a huge contrast to most of the speakers at the Club. He speaks with a parched, slightly grating voice, uses words imprecisely and recklessly, sounds alternately like a redneck farmer and a tie-dyed Berkeley radical, shows depression and emotional vulnerability, makes mistakes, flirts with the woman questioning him, and more!

Ted talks like a larger-than-life crazy uncle, a Yosemite Sam cartoon. I LOVE IT!

He reminds me of farmer guys I've met on a Greyhound bus in Georgia or idealists at a Communist bookstore in Berkeley more than the boring, tight-lipped, cultured, Republican, bureacratic-speak CEOs we are used to hearing. He doesn't speak like you'd think a "rich man" would.

Ted continually shocks the audience into applause by saying stuff your wacky uncle Vern might say but which is very true. Some Ted-speak:

"People will tell ya that these [nuclear] weapons are safe. BULLSHIT! They are NOT safe. They are extremely dangerous."

About the Cold War: "Russia is really quite a nice place!...And [Russians] like to DRINK. You know, that's the thing I could never understand. How could we who like to drink so much hate a country who liked to drink as much as we do! And that's not all they like. They like BALLET! How could you ever think of having nuclear weapons pointed at a nation of BALLET-LOVERS?"

"The environment? I'm FOR IT! That's why I'm trying to buy it up and protect it!"

Or like a beauty pageant contestant: "Peace in the Middle East? YES!"

Or something my aunt would say: "You know how much it cost me to fly here to talk to you? You guys aren't even paying me for this!"

"I say life is like a great B-MOVIE. You wouldn't want to leave in the middle, but you don't want to see it again either!"

"Too much concentration of power in the media today? Absolutely, especially when I'm not the one concentrating it!"

Ted has the balls (and the billions) to literally try to change the world. Graduating from Brown University, he's mainly self-educated, learning from the hard knocks of life. He's not an intellectual by any stretch, yet he tries hard to read and fill in the gaps. I think why I and others feel so familiar and comfortable with Ted, despite the fact that he's one of the world's richest men and the largest landowner in America, is that he's so "folksy." I feel like I could stick my bare feet over the chair, lean back, have some beers with him, and eat bison sandwiches. And he'd listen.

Give 'em hell, Ted! I feel great to know there's an old man with the mind of an idealistic teen up there with the muckamucks.

Here's Ted Turner's profile from AskMen.com:
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Overall rating 88

Ted Turner is an enigma; he is one of the world's richest, most successful businessmen, yet he is also one of the most controversial and outspoken. The sheer magnitude of what he owns, accomplished or has created is staggering, especially considering he only did in one lifetime, and more specifically over the last 20 years.

Among them, he is the founder of CNN, CNNfn, TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, the former owner of the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, WCW, donated a then record $1 billion to the United Nations, and married Hollywood star Jane Fonda. By the way, he also won the most prestigious yachting event, America's Cup in 1977. And these are only his most public achievements.

Personality & talent 90

Businessmen have a well deserved reputation for being among the most dry and boring people in the world, yet Ted Turner seems like Jim Carrey's lost brother sometimes. For example, among the comments he made after the AOL and Time Warner merger (in which he will be the largest shareholder): "If they want me to sell magazine subscriptions door to door, I'll do that."

But his most memorable quote has to be -- again during the AOL Time Warner merger press conference - "Shortly before 9:00 last night, I had the honor and privilege of signing a piece of paper that irrevocably cast a vote taken, a vote of my 100 million shares, for this merger," Turner said. "I did it with as much or more excitement and enthusiasm as I did on that night when I first made love some 42 years ago."

Besides the incredibly ballsy attitude one needs to take on the establishment -- as Ted Turner did when he took on the major broadcast networks with his launch of CNN -- one needs a vision, drive and talent to see it through. Although he wasn't able to help his beloved Atlanta Braves on the field during their 1991, 1992 and 1996 World Series losses, we can't question the enormous business acumen and skill of Ted.

Manliness 87

A lot of men would argue that the fact that he is a billionaire and still runs his own ranch up in Montana is definite proof of his manhood. It takes more than being able to milk cows to be a man, but Ted Turner is the epitome of a man, not only for being so successful, but remaining true to himself, his opinions, and never forgetting to be a humanitarian.

Women magnetism 90

Among the things Ted Turner has been criticized for is calling the Ten Commandments "out of date", especially the item on adultery. Ted Turner settled down a few years ago with Jane Fonda, a move that helped subdue the rumors of his womanizing, but don't be fooled, now that he is separated, he is swatting the women away, like one swats flies during a hot, humid, Mississippi summer night.

Accomplishments & fame 98

After all he has accomplished in the last 20 years, it's scary to think what he could have done if he was still young. He was a born salesman and entrepreneur, who has rarely failed in life and even when he did, he picked himself up and learned from the experience.

Coolness factor 74

All right, Ted Turner doesn't exactly fit the description of someone who is hip and in the scene. In fact, he can be a downright hick and redneck. But with a five billion dollar portfolio to back you up, you can buy all the cool you want.

Personal style 87

Ted Turner would be well served if he took a little bit of his well deserved fortune and hired a fashion consultant because he dresses as if Montana was Milan. Wearing the cowboy boots is fine while on the ranch, but in the powerful New York offices, Ted needs more style to go with his substantial success.

Secret Wish: That Ted Turner not be the last of his kind, namely a super successful entrepreneur who is not afraid to speak his mind, and say it like it is.