rupert murdoch as dictatorial ceo

© Jeff Schubert 2007

Rupert Murdoch as Dictatorial CEO

Comparing Murdoch’s “executive suite” to those of

Napoleon BonaparteJosef Stalin,

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Benito Mussolini,

Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong

With the help of books by John D’Arcy and Andrew Neil.


• The Dictatorial CEO A Man The Power Personality A Human Being • The Lieutenants Dictatorial CEO’s Choice of Lieutenants Why the Lieutenants Serve Special Case of the Secretary / Gate-keeper • The Dictatorial CEO at Daily Work Evaluating and Monitoring Lieutenants Putting Basic Tools into Practice • The Daily Lives of the Lieutenants An Independent Life? Reacting to the Dictatorial CEO Competition between Lieutenants • Time and Tides Time and the Mind of the Dictatorial CEO Dictatorial CEO Acts Against a Lieutenant The Dangerous Life of the Heir

The Essence of it All ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

“There is a special trap for every holder of power, whether the director of a company, the head of a state, or the ruler of a dictatorship.”

“His favour is so desirable to his subordinates that they will sue for it by every means possible. Servility becomes endemic among his entourage, who compete among themselves in their show of devotion.”

“This in turn exercises a sway upon the ruler, who becomes corrupted in his turn. The key to the quality of theman in power is how he reacts to this situation.”

Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler’s ‘friend’, architect, Armaments Minister.

Murdoch © Jeff Schubert 2007

“When you work for …??.. you do not work for a company chairman or chief executive: you work for a Sun King. You are not a director, or a manager …..”

“You are a courtier at the Court of the Sun King – - rewarded by money and status by a grateful King, as long as you serve his purpose, dismissed outright or demoted to a remote corner of the empire when you have ceased to please him or outlived your usefulness.”


“All Sun Kings have a weakness for courtiers who are fawning or obsequious. But the wisest – among whom we must number our Sun King – know they also need courtiers with brains, originality etc. But independence has its limits: Sun Kings are also control freaks – and they are used to getting their way.”

“No matter how senior or talented or independent minded, courtiers must always remember two things vital to survival:

(1) they must never dare to outshine the Sun King; (2) they must always show regular obeisance to him to prove that, no matter how powerful or important they are, they know who is boss.”

The role of Fear © Jeff Schubert 2007

Stalin:

“Do you really believe a man could maintain his position of power for fourteen years merely by intimidation? Only by making people afraid?”

Speer:

“To the imagination of the outsider Hitler was a keen, quick, brutally governing dictator. It is difficult to believe that in reality he edged along hesitantly, almost fearfully. But that was the case.”

The role of Skill © Jeff Schubert 2007

Khrushchev on Stalin: “He didn’t simply come with a sword and conquer our minds and bodies. No, he demonstrated his superior skill in subordinating and manipulating people.”

Speer on Hitler: “He new men’s secret vices and desires, he knew what they thought to be their virtues, he knew the hidden ambitions and motives which lay behind their loves and hates, he knew where they could be flattered, where they were gullible, where they were strong and where they were weak; he knew all this by instinct and feeling, an intuition which in such matters never led him astray.”

Motives © Jeff Schubert 2007

Napoleon: “For me men are instruments whom I use according to my pleasure.”

Ataturk: “Some people like gardening and growing flowers. Others prefer to train men.”

Djilas: Stalin’s “certain great and final ideals lay hidden – his ideals, which he could approach by moulding and twisting the reality and the living men who comprised it”.

Dr Li:

Mao insisted “on policies that no one else had ever imagined, dangerous, risky Policies, all of which were designed to transform China”.


• Rupert Murdoch to “control the world” (D’Arcy)

• “He rules over great distances through authority, loyalty, example and fear.”

• “He bounded out to greet me, a smile on his face, faxes in one hand,

a handshake with the other. He ushered me on to his sofa, where he joined me, friendly, charming and informal – not at all like the demon of Fleet Street fame.” (Neil)

• “There is a Jekyll and Hyde quality to Murdoch: despite the bad-tempered calls, there are many times when he was courteous, even charming.” (Neil)

• “Charming. This is also when he is most dangerous.” (Neil)


The Dictatorial CEO• A Man ‘A Man’ Personal PR and the good press release If only the Tsar knew!• The Power Personality Self-belief Passion and focus The crucial importance of will-power • A Human Being The human side of the dictatorial CEO Lonely at the top Response to pressure and stress

The need for ‘A Man’ © Jeff Schubert 2007

Mussolini: “People do not want to rule, but to be ruled and to be left in peace.”

Speer: “My inclination to be relieved of having to think, particularly about unpleasant facts. In this I did not differ from millions of others.”

Hans Frank: Hitler “stood up and pounded his fist, and shouted, ‘I am the Man!’ – and he shouted about his strength and determination – and so the public surrendered to him with hysterical enthusiasm.”

The result of need for ‘A Man’! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Djilas: “The deification of Stalin, or the ‘cult of the personality’, as it is now called, was at least as much the work of Stalin’s circle and the bureaucracy, who required such a leader, as it was his own doing.”

“Turned into a deity, Stalin became so powerful that in time he ceased to pay attention to the changing needs and desires of those who had exalted him.”

Speer: “All his associates who had worked closely with him for a long time were entirely dependent and obedient to him.”

PR © Jeff Schubert 2007

Joseph Bonaparte: Napoleon “wants the need for his existence to be so direly felt, and as such a great boon, that anybody would recoil at any other possibility. If anybody could say all was well with the country if Bonaparte dies, that things would still be well, then my brother would no longer feel safe.”

Ataturk in 1925: “The nation has to be led by the hand. The man who has begun the revolution will also complete it.” (Ataturk = Father Turk)


1994:

“Do not underestimate how much Rupert resents

you becoming a public figure in your own right. He hates

the fact that you are better known, more regularly

recognised than he is in Britain. He resents the way people

talk about “your” Sunday Times. He does not like being

upstaged. There is room for only one superstar at News

International.” (Neil)

The Power Personality © Jeff Schubert 2007

Emil Ludwig:

“It is undoubtedly true that the men Mussolini set

out to overthrow were weaker than he. That is no

proof of the rightness of his idea, but only the

strength of his personality.”


“Editorial freedom, however, has its limits. When we did talk he would always let me know what he liked and what he did not, where he stood on an issue of the time and what he thought of a politician in the news.

Such is the force of Murdoch’s personality that you feel obliged to take such views carefully into account.” (Neil)

Self-belief © Jeff Schubert 2007

Ludwig: Mussolini’s “self-confidence” represents “half his success”.

Speer: “I often observed that Hitler felt a certain shyness toward people of high standing in some professional field.”

Bourreinne:

“When (Napoleon) was going to reprimand any one he liked to have a witness present. The presence of a third person seemed to give him confidence. Consequently, in a 'tête-à-tête' interview, any one who knew his character, and who could maintain sufficient coolness and firmness, was sure to get the better of him.”


• Murdoch “believes, with good reason, his instincts are infallible when it comes to print.” (Neil)

• He “does not like confrontations unless he provokes them, which he rarely does.” (Neil)

• He “has little stomach for sacking senior executives; it is a task which he prefers to delegate.” (Neil)

Focus © Jeff Schubert 2007

Joachim von Ribbentrop: “Hitler made a considerable impression on me. His statements always had something final and definite about them, and appeared to come from his innermost self.”

General Caulaincourt: Napoleon “always applied all his means, all his faculties, all his attention to the action or discussion of the moment. He put passion into everything.”

“Hence the enormous advantage he had over his adversaries; for few people are absolutely engrossed by the moment’s thought or action.”


• “Murdoch was the best entrepreneur, the best corporate gambler ever, and he succeeded because he has stuck to his one interest – media.” (D’Arcy)

• “There is no mystery as to why Rupert has changed his tune: he will always moderate his political fundamentalism if it suites his business strategy.” (Neil)

Will-power © Jeff Schubert 2007

Stalin: “What do you think I am, an old Georgian granny to believe in gods and devils? I believe in one thing only, the power of the human will.”

Ataturk: “Victory is won by the man who says ‘Victory is mine’, success belongs to him who starts by saying ‘I will be successful’”.

Hitler:

suggested to Leni Riefenstahl that the film of the 1934 Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally be entitled “Triumph of Will”.

Napoleon: “The throne is a man, and that man is me, with my will, my character, and my renown!”

A Human Being © Jeff Schubert 2007

Stalin to General Vasilevsky:

• “You command so many armies, yet you wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

• “Ask for their forgiveness.”

• “It’ll be a long time before you pay off your debt to me.”


“When I arrived Rupert saw how shaken I was

and poured me several large Scotches. We

talked long into the night. Rupert was talking me

down from the shock of a nasty situation: it was

a generous gesture, especially since it kept him

up most of the night.” (Neil)

Response to Pressure © Jeff Schubert 2007

Halide Edib: “The ugliest sort of fate seemed to hang over everyone in the headquarters. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) was most affected. He fumed, swore, walked up and down, talked loudly, summed up the situation with the rare lucidity of a delirium, and tormented himself with indecision as to whether he should order the retreat or not.”

General Jodl tapped the table in 1940: “Mein Fuhrer, in every war there are times when the Supreme Commander must keep his nerve!”


The Sunday Times first printed at Wapping in January 1986:

• Murdoch was “striding around, shouting at everyone to get a move on: he succeeded only in making them more nervous and slowing things down.” (Neil)

• “The more we slipped behind deadline, the more Rupert raged. Instead of encouraging people with words of support he allowed his fear of failure to overwhelm him.” (Neil)


The Lieutenants • Dictatorial CEO’s Choice of Lieutenants Talent, gets things done Trust, loyalty and obedience Flattery, servility, etc Dictatorial CEO has some fear of lieutenant ‘New faces’ and the ‘flaw in the weave’

• Why the Lieutenants Serve Lieutenant’s respect, admiration and attribution Dictatorial CEO makes lieutenant feel personally needed Dictatorial CEO shows loyalty to lieutenant Lieutenant is nothing without the dictatorial CEO Love of the country, the company, or the organisation. Excitement, ambition, money, prestige, power to boss others

• Special Case of the Secretary / Gate-keeper

Talent & Ability? © Jeff Schubert 2007

Sergo Beria: Stalin “had not raised many intelligent people to the rank of his closest associates because he feared that such would hinder his actions. But neither could he allow himself to choose only imbeciles if he wanted results.”

Bourreinne: “When I myself have delayed the execution of an order which I knew had been dictated by anger, and had emanated neither from his heart nor his understanding, I have heard him say a hundred times: ‘It was right, quite right. You understand me. This is the way to serve me: the others do not leave me time for reflection: they are too precipitate.’”


• “While most of his senior people in Australia were fairly basic, Murdoch was shrewd enough to employ the best legal brains and, when necessary, the best financial brains outside the company to ensure the safe negotiation of any problems.” (D’Arcy)

• “A close aide once explained to me that Rupert sometimes counted on his best people not to do his bidding – it allowed him to make broad attacks, which he enjoys.” (Neil)

Loyalty, trust, obedience © Jeff Schubert 2007

Dr Li: “Mao demanded Zhou Enlai’s absolute loyalty, and had he not received it, Zhou would no doubt have been overthrown.”

Falih Rifki Atay on Ismet Inonu as Prime Minister in 1923: “Aside from not feeling any personal competition towards Ataturk,

Ismet was a hard-working, serious administration man. He was an intellectual who believed in Ataturk.”

Anastas Mikoyan, observed that by the late 1930s: “Stalin was increasingly distrustful of people so trust was more important than anything.”


• Murdoch “picks editors like me who are generally on the same wavelength as him: we started from a common set of assumptions about politics and society, even if we did not see eye to eye on every issue and have very different styles. Then he largely let me get on with it.” (Neil)

• “During the eleven years I was editor, Rupert fired or eased out every chief executive of real talent or independent mind-set.” (Neil)

Flattery, servility © Jeff Schubert 2007

Dr Li: “Mao basked in the flattery even when he suspected that it was not sincere.”

Marshal Zhukov recalled Stalin snapping to a group of lieutenants:

“What’s the point of talking to you? Whatever I say, you reply,

‘Yes Comrade Stalin; of course, Comrade Stalin; you have taken a wise decision, Comrade Stalin.’”


• “ During the seven weeks of the takeover battle for the Herald & Weekly Times, when Murdoch was rarely present without Ken Cowley, his Chief Executive in Australia, in all those days, I heard Cowley say three words, “Yes Rupert. Yes Chief.” (D’Arcy)

• “Those who survive longest are a group of unthreatening Australians who have been with him for years. They are the consummate ‘yes’ men, their purpose is to reinforce his judgement in decisions the Sun King has already made, to nudge him in directions he has already decided to go and to present no challenge to him.” (Neil)

Fear of Lieutenant © Jeff Schubert 2007

Khrushchev thought “Stalin started to fear Beria”: “The practical means for achieving Stalin’s goals were all inBeria’s hands. Stalin realised that if Beria could eliminate anyone at whom Stalin pointed his finger, then Beria could eliminate someone of his own choosing, on his own initiative. Stalin feared that he would be the first person Beria might choose.” Often seemed Stalin “would have been glad to get rid of him but didn’t know how to do it”.


In contrast to overseas, many Australian executives and journalists

“have stayed with Murdoch for the last 20, 30 or 40 years, and have

been continually promoted and well looked after. Apart from the fact

that they were all servile, another reason is probably the fact that in

those early years of Murdoch’s building of an empire there was the

examples of the greatest creative accounting and tax avoidance carried

out by any company, and its obvious that Murdoch wouldn’t have liked

those people to leave early with the knowledge of the organization that

they had.” (D’Arcy)

New Faces ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Sergo Beria: “Above a certain level Stalin appointed only individuals he knew personally and never ceased studying them. He had one unchanging rule: one can never be too suspicious.”

Fain: Napoleon “had a horror of change, feared new faces, and held single-mindedly to conserving all the men who were formed under his shadow”.

Karl Hanke and the ‘flaw in the weave’: “It is all to the good if associates have faults and know that the superior is aware of them. That is why the Fuhrer so seldom changes his assistants. For he finds them easiest to work with. Almost every one of then has his defect; that helps keep them in line.”


“It was a closed shop and people never advanced in News Limited until loyalty to Murdoch and the company was proven. Both Murdoch and Ken Cowley would use the same terminology when I would recommend someone for a particular job.

‘We are not sure of him yet’ or ‘The jury is still out.’

It was almost as though, for anyone to succeed in News Limited they had to serve an apprenticeship under the culture that was unique to that organization.” (D’Arcy)

Lieutenant’s Admiration ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Hjalmar Schacht: “Hitler often did find astonishingly simple solutions for problems which had seemed to others insoluble.”

Sergo Beria: At the end of WWII Soviet military leaders “had a high opinion of Stalin’s capacities, because he knew how to select and utilise men”.

General Duroc to Caulaincourt in 1812: “You can be certain that his policy is more far-seeing than ours.”

Below’s wife:

“… loyalty of decent and intelligent men … He persuaded them because he was fascinating.”


• “Sometimes … when Rupert liked the paper, you felt that you could walk on water, not just because the boss was happy but because his newspaper judgement is unrivalled.” (Neil)

• “There were times when you thought you had the most wonderful proprietor on earth.”

In 1987 “… I had gone to argue for one section and left with two: I walked back down Park Avenue feeling ten feet tall.” (Neil)

• 1994 private dinner:

“Rupert was his usual friendly, fascinating self.” (Neil)

Personally needed ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Caulaincourt:

“Explains better than any other phrase could have done the price he was prepared to pay for success”. Napoleon said”:

“When I need anyone, I don’t make too fine a point about it; I would kiss his arse.”

Goebbels’ 39th birthday in 1936, Hitler visited him: “We go into my room alone. And then he speaks to me very kindly and intimately. About old times, and how we belong together, how fond he is of me personally. … He pours out his heart to me. The problems he has, how he trusts me, what great assignments he still has in store for me.”

Sergo Beria: Stalin “left each person he spoke to anxious to see him again, with a sense that there was now a bond that linked them forever”; “that was his strength”.


• “To influence senior journalists Murdoch would invite them to join him on a trip to Beijing or Hong Kong in the News Ltd private jet. He really won those people’s minds.” (D’Arcy)

• 1983: “I was surprised that this man whom I had only just me was speaking to me as if I was one of his inner circle. We talked easily; we seemed to be hitting it off.” (Neil)

• “Rupert has a habit of allowing new recruits to overrule his own wishes, for a while: it makes them think they will have real power at News Corporation and helps them feel at home.” (Neil)

Loyalty to Lieutenant © Jeff Schubert 2007

Hitler: “If any steps are taken against you, or if you have difficulties, interrupt the conference and invite the participants to the Cabinet Room. Then I’ll tell those gentlemen whatever is necessary.” ‘Behave toward him like gentlemen!’

he said, employing the English word, which he rarely used.”

Speer: “Heretofore Hitler had never introduced a minister in this way. For a considerable time I found myself moving in a kind of vacuum that offered no resistance whatever.”


“‘Leave it to me’, he said, ‘I’ll see the chapel committee.’ They met in his office. He listened attentively to their complaints. He charmed them – but finished up with a friendly but clear warning: ‘If you pass a motion of no confidence in Andrew’, he said, softly but carefully, ‘then you take on the whole company – and you take on me. I am behind Andrew one hundred per cent.’ He had made it clear that they could not expect me to be cast out as a sacrificial lamb – that any fight with me was a fight with him. The day had been saved for me by Rupert: I had been able to count on him in a tight spot.” (Neil)

Need for a Boss ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Djilas: Molotov was essentially “impotent without Stalin’s leadership”.

Falih Rifki Atay: Ismet Inonu who “had a definite need for Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk’s) authority”.

General Guderian to Hitler while glaring at Himmler who – in response – could do no more than polish his glasses: “The man can’t do it. How could he do it?”


• “They have complete obeyance to his demands, understandably because most of them were unemployable elsewhere at anything like the salaries and conditions that Murdoch gave them.” (D’Arcy)

• “Those who survive longest at the court of the Sun King are a group of unthreatening Australians who have been with him for years. They are totally loyal to their master and he is comfortable and relaxed in their company, though they will suffer the rough side of his tongue when he feels like it. This they take without complaint. They have no choice: they are unemployable elsewhere at anything like the salaries and status they enjoy with Rupert.” (Neil)


Neil recalled being offered editorship of The Sunday Times:

“Money was the last thing I was thinking about: I was being offered editorship of one of the world’s greatest newspapers at the age of thirty-four. He probably realised that I would have done it for nothing.” (Neil)


• Murdoch’s News: “a daring corporate ethos and a continuous adrenalin flow that keeps everybody excited and on their toes.” (Neil)

• In 1988 Murdoch wanted Neil to take on the additional job of running Sky Television: “I was excited by the offer and, without really knowing what was involved, accepted at once. This was what made working for Rupert Murdoch so exhilarating – and full of surprising opportunities.” (Neil)


The Dictatorial CEO at Daily Work

• Evaluating and Monitoring Lieutenants Management books Watching and testing• Putting Basic Tools into Practice Timing, and the importance of ‘ripening’ Playing cards close to chest Pretence, acting and lying Persuasion and inspiration Reminding the lieutenants who is top dog Using fear Divide and rule Blame a lieutenant when things go wrong Lieutenants are not people, but things!

Evaluation & Watching © Jeff Schubert 2007

Fain: “The Emperor looked over the lists kept at the palace gates. Each morning the Grand Marshal made up a bulletin indicating the names of people from the outside who had presented themselves the previous day, and the names of the people inside whom they had asked for.

This provided an idea of the habits and relationships that the principle inhabitants of the palace had with the people of the city.”

Dr Li: “‘Is there any news?’

was to become Mao’s daily greeting.”


• Gus Fischer:

“I think Rupert is happiest when he has someone in London who will call him on everything, even if he is just going to the bathroom.” (Neil)

• “Rupert can sometimes take a long time to get to the point: this was one of those times. We talked about politics, satellite TV, Fleet Street, even the weather got a mention.” Eventually he turned and asked:

“What do you think about being editor of The Sunday Times?” (Neil)

Ripening ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Napoleon: “Time brings things to pass imperceptibly; the great art is to act opportunely”.

Bourrienne: “Impatience, when he was under its influence, got the better of him; it was then impossible for him to control himself. He was indeed so precipitate that one might say, had he been a gardener, he would have wished to see the fruits ripen before the blossoms fell off.”


• “Rupert is actually not a very good manager; he

does not have the patience for it.” (Neil)

• “Murdoch is an impatient man: when he has

decided on a course of action he wants it to

happen yesterday, or the day before.” (Neil)

Cards close to Chest ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Admiral Kuznetsov: “Stalin had ideas on how to wage war, but with his usual psychological distrust, kept them secret from those who had to execute them.”

Bourreinne: Napoleon “never neglected any artifice to conceal, as long as possible, his designs”.

Ciano in 1941: “One should take notice more of the Duce’s state of mind than of the measures decided at the meeting.”


• “He trusts hardly anyone.” (D’Arcy)

• “Nobody in the company other than Rupert knows the whole picture.” (Neil)

• “For a Sun King, his immediate entourage is very small. There is no kitchen cabinet that follows him around the world: he travels alone; but then he is a loner.” (Neil)

Pretence & Lying © Jeff Schubert 2007

Speer: Hitler “seldom began a discussion without a preconceived opinion”, he “always attempted to persuade”; he would then often give his orders as “an opinion only”.

Mussolini in 1944: “The extent of credulity which can be found in any man of whatever class or intelligence in quite extraordinary”; “lies always win against the truth”.


Murdoch to Neil: • “You’re far too blunt with these people. You have to be more devious. Just be a bit more two-faced, be a bit more nice to them and then you can do what you want later on.” (Neil)

• “Hammond said he looked forward to fruitful relationship between company and his union. But Rupert only muttered about waiting to see the situation when the dispute was over and then changed the subject. ‘I realised then’, says Bruce Mathews, ‘that Rupert was going to renege on the arrangement.’” (Neil)

Persuasion & Inspiration © Jeff Schubert 2007

Sergo Beria: “When Stalin thought it necessary he was able to seduce a Field Marshal just as well as a young man. It was not enough for me to be obedient,

I had to be completely with him.” Prussian Ambassador to France: “Above all, Napoleon has a gift for inspiring confidence in people.”

Below: “Until the autumn of 1941” it was “rare for Hitler to give a direct order”;

“His preferred method was persuasion, so that his generals put his ideas into effect from conviction.”


• 1985 in London:

“Rupert Murdoch poked his head around the door. He could see we were miserable. He called me out. ‘Look’, he said firmly but quietly, ‘I know this is terrible but we’re going to do something about it. I’ve made up my mind. The key is Wapping; if the unions won’t go there on our terms then we’ll go without them.’ A wave of exhilaration swept through me.” (Neil)

• John Dux:

“During his visits to Wapping he should have inspired and encouraged his lieutenants. Instead he left them miserable and demoralised with his autocratic style and raging temper.” (Neil)

Top Dog © Jeff Schubert 2007

Bottai, one of several sacked in 1943: “What has Mussolini being trying to do. To distract people from the great interrogation marks of the hour. And then, to show his power over men.”

Hitler’s army adjutant:

“Some of Hitler’s decisions had nothing to do with military reasoning. They were only made to demonstrate to the head of the Army that Hitler was in command and nobody else.”


• “Rupert thought Bruce Mathews was getting too big for his boots and resented his independence. He began to insist on approving even minor matters and they began to quarrel regularly.” (Neil)

• Neil assembled his team in 1994 for one-day strategy session, but Murdoch subsequently rejected the plans that resulted. “With his rejection of our latest plans, he was also sending me a signal to remind me that I had only a leasehold on the paper: he was the freeholder and he would determine any further developments if he chose to.” (Neil)

Using Fear © Jeff Schubert 2007

Mme de Remusat on Napoleon: “His overriding general principal, which he applied in large matters as in small ones, was that people would only be diligent when they were uneasy.”

Ataturk in 1922: “The question is merely how to give expression to it. If those gathered here, the Assembly and everyone else could look at this question in a natural way, I think they would agree. Even if they do not, the truth will soon find expression, but some heads may roll in the process.”


“For much of the time, you don’t hear from Rupert. Then, all of a sudden, he descends like a thunderbolt from Hell to slash and burn all before him.

Since nobody is sure when the next autocratic intervention will take place (or on what subject), they live in fear of it and try to second- guess what he would want, even in the most unimportant of matters.

It is a clever way of keeping his executives off balance: they live in a perpetual state of insecurity.” (Neil)

• Murdoch “did not expect to see his particular views immediately reflected in the next edition of The Sunday Times. But he had a quite, remorseless, sometimes threatening way of laying down the parameters within which you were expected to operate.” (Neil)

Divide & Rule © Jeff Schubert 2007

Speer recalled a small lunch with Hitler: “As usual he made disparaging remarks about almost all of his associates except those of us who were present.”

Dr. Li: “Mao cultivated the discord, and when the divisions threatened to go too far, he would step in to mediate the dispute, serving as peacemaker, bringing us back to what was always an unstable, short-lived equilibrium.”

Dr. Li:

“Mao’s frequent travel to other parts of China, where he met alone with local leaders. He did not want the central authority to know what he said to the provincial and local-level leaders. His role as the source of all policy would be diminished.”


• “Murdoch asked me to be Chairman. I asked him why he wouldn’t appoint Richard Searby, a Melbourne man who was Chairman of News Corporation Ltd and most of the group’s subsidiary companies.

Rupert said that he wouldn’t have Searby because he was a Melbourne man and might take too big an interest in the company!” (D’Arcy)

• “Nobody in the company other than Rupert knows the whole picture. He relished keeping even his most senior executives in the dark: a divide and rule approach which leaves them feeling vulnerable.” (Neil)

• Gus Fischer:

“He won’t even agree he should report to me. He prefers the tension between executives which his episodic intervention creates.” (Neil)

Blame a Lieutenant ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

1940 Bottai wrote: “Mussolini is always right” now meant “if things go well, to take the credit; and, if things go badly, to blame others”.

Sergo Beria: When Stalin “launched a new campaign or negotiated a new turn in policy, he was careful to put other people out in front, so that he reserved complete freedom to manoeuvre. They served as scapegoats if things should go wrong.”


1994 in US in relation to Fox:

“I dined with David Corvo before meeting with

Rupert. I told him that I had learnt that he was

now saying to his cronies that it was my

‘dereliction’

that had killed the weekly (news) show. I had

‘lost interest in it and slackened off’.

Corvo shook his head in disbelief.” (Neil)

Things! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana: “When the ‘facts’ convinced my father that someone he knew well had turned out ‘badly’ after all, a psychological metamorphosis came over him. Years of friendship and fighting side by side in a common cause might as well never have been. He could wipe it all out at a stroke – and X would be doomed.

‘So, you’ve betrayed me’, some inner demon would whisper. ‘I don’t know you any more’.”

In 1940, uncertain about German intentions, Stalin freed over 11,000 purged military officers. He asked about one of these:

Stalin: “Where’s your Serdich?” “Executed!” came the reply. Stalin: “Pity! I wanted to make him Ambassador to Yugoslavia.”


• “Murdoch doesn’t care about any people except his own family.” (D’Arcy)

• Bruce Matthews said to Neil in 1987:

“Don’t fall in love with Rupert. He turns on lovers and chops them off.” (Neil)

• Richard Searby, one of Murdoch’s “longest serving lieutenants”, was eventually sacked by fax despite an

association which went back to their school days”. (Neil)


The Daily Lives of the Lieutenants

• An Independent Life? Surrendered lives At the whim of the dictatorial CEO• Reacting to the Dictatorial CEO Trying to influence the dictatorial CEO Passivity and giving up Serving up servility and words that please Disobedience and lies ‘New faces’ Fighting back• Competition between Lieutenants Taking aim at the competition and proving you are the best Taking the cue from the dictatorial CEO Acting in the name of dictatorial CEO

Surrender ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Molotov later said of Stalin’s lieutenants: “We were like teenagers in his presence.” “He guided, he was the leader.”

General Halder wrote of Field Marshal Keitel: “It was given to him to build bridges, to alleviate sources of friction, to reconcile enemies or at least to bring them closer … He was … a person of extreme diligence, literally a workaholic, of the highest conscientiousness in his field – but always in a way that kept his personality out of it, so that he himself never stood out in a leading way.”

“… Soft and accommodating, he increasingly adapted himself to avoiding any conflict with Hitler at all.”


• “It can be strangely oppressive, even when you agree with him: the man is never far from your mind.”

“Rupert dominates the lives of all of his senior executives.” (Neil)

• “Rupert ranted at Kelvin MacKenzie and others because he knew he could get away with it – -- they were prepared to put up with it.” (Neil)

• “Wendy Henry and Patsy Chapman used to live in fear and trembling of his calls when they were editors of the News of the World; they would call me almost every Saturday afternoon to ask if I knew where Rupert was, if he had called – and what kind of mood he was in.” (Neil)

Lives of Lieutenants © Jeff Schubert 2007

Denis Decres: Napoleon “enslaved us all”: “He held our imagination in his hand, sometimes a hand of steel, sometimes a hand of velvet; one never knew how it was going to be from day to day, so that there was no means of escaping.”

Tallyrand: Napoleon “thought that those who belonged to him must cease to belong to themselves”.


• Murdoch can be benign or ruthless, depending on his mood or the requirements of his empire. You never know which: the element of surprise is part of the means by which he makes his presence felt in every corner of his domain. He may intervene in matters great or small: you never know when or where, which is what keeps you on your toes and the King constantly on your mind. ‘I wonder how the King is today?’ is the first question that springs to a good courtier’s mind when he waked up every day.” (Neil)

• “He had an all-or-nothing attitude towards those who worked with him, the better to control them.” (Neil)

Nodding ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Guderian: “I saw here for the first time a spectacle with which I was later to become very familiar: all those present – Keitel, Jodl and others – nodded in agreement with every sentence that Hitler uttered.”

Speer: “At headquarters, where everyone lived under tremendous pressure of responsibility, probably nothing was more welcome than a dictate from above. That meant being freed of a decision and simultaneously being provided with an excuse for failure.”

Lin Biao: “If the Chairman circles (a document), I circle.”


• “From the top table, the News Limited group looked like cows chewing on cud, with their heads nodding up and down every time Rupert gave a message.” (D’Arcy)

• When D’Arcy took issue with one of Murdoch’s directives, “there was deadly silence in the room, with most of the News Limited people staring at me as though I was either a traitor or a fool or both, and, in fact, after the conference finished, one of the more senior people from News took me aside and kindly suggested that I should never challenge Rupert.”

D’Arcy was told: “You don’t correct Rupert, because he is never wrong.” (D’Arcy)

Disobedience © Jeff Schubert 2007

Stalin’s response to some difficulties at Thirtieth Aviation Factory: “The good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews at the end of the working day.”

Khrushchev: “I knew that if something like what he suggested were done and if it were to become public knowledge, a commission would no doubt be appointed and the culprits would be severely punished. There were many conversations like the one about the Thirtieth Aviation Factory, and we became accustomed to them.”

“We listened to what Stalin told us and then put it out of our heads right away.”


• “Sometimes the best reaction was to nod in agreement then do nothing in the hope that he would forget it; it usually worked. He once instructed me to redesign The Sunday Times so that it looked exactly like The Times. I saw no reason to revamp the paper to make it look like one with a third of our circulation.

A few months later he asked angrily why I had not done the redesign; I explained why I thought it would be a mistake. He insisted on doing it. I did nothing. He forgot or perhaps even deferred; the matter was never raised again.” (Neil)

Fighting-back ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Sergo Beria: “In 1951 Bulganin, Malenkov, Khrushchev and my father, began to appreciate that they were all in the same boat and it mattered littlewhether one of them was thrown overboard a few days before the others. They felt a sense of solidarity once they faced the fact that

none of them would be Stalin’s successor – he intended to choose an heirfrom among the younger generation.

They therefore agreed among themselves not to allow Stalin to set one

against the other.”


• “Political gossip is Rupert’s stock-in-trade – give him some good inside information and he will go away happy, even if you haven’t a very good paper to tell him about.” (Neil)

• “I remember one call when he seemed to have nothing to say – certainly nothing nice – and I just let the silence run. It became a test of wills. Just as I was about to crack he finally said,

‘Are you still there?’ ‘Yes, Rupert’, I replied. ‘Sorry, I have to go now’, he said. ‘Thanks for everything.’ I never got the silent treatment again.” (Neil)


One day in 1993, “Kelvin MacKenzie finally snapped: in the middle of a particularly bruising encounter with Rupert in his office, Kelvin simply stood up, put on his jacket and walked out”, and later faxed in his resignation. ‘I’ve gone too far this time’, Rupert confessed to Gus Fischer. ‘Will you intercede on my behalf?’

It took Gus several days to talk Kelvin round to returning, with Rupert even promising,

‘I’ll change.’ Rupert got his way and treated Kelvin with more respect after this. But things were never quite the same again: the whipping-boy had finally stood up to his boss – and the boss was unsettled by it.

Kelvin was soon moved from his beloved Sun to Sky Television.” (Neil)

Suspicious neighbours © Jeff Schubert 2007

Speer wrote of 1943: “The world in which we lived forced upon us dissimulation and hypocrisy. Among rivals an honest word was rarely spoken, for fear it would be carried back to Hitler in a distorted version. Everyone conspired, took Hitler’s capriciousness into his reckonings, and won or lost in the course of this cryptic game.”


“Ken Cowley was almost obsessive in regard to his

relationship with Rupert Murdoch. He guarded his position

jealously as Murdock’s right hand man in Australia and felt

he was the only real confidant.” (D’Arcy)

Attack your neighbour © Jeff Schubert 2007

Sergo Beria: With Stalin, “the first one to strike a blow was the winner”.

Goering retorted: “Yes – but the trouble is, they know Ribbentrop.”

General Jodl: Goering “vented his spleen because he was not consulted beforehand. He dominates the discussion and tries to prove that all previous preparations are good for nothing.”


• “A courier is at his most vulnerable when he does not have the Sun King’s ear, for rival courtiers can do him in. Rupert is highly susceptible to poison being poured in his ear about someone.” (Neil)

• The Sunday Times’ circulation fell and Bill Gillespie gave his view of the reason:

“Gillespie rambled again then came to the point he

wanted to make: ‘I guess the feeling is that the paper is just not good enough’, he said, avoiding my gaze.

‘Don’t turn your back on Gillespie’, Bruce Mathews had

warned me recently.” (Neil)

Taking the cue from the Boss © Jeff Schubert 2007

Hitler to Speer:

“I will approve sight unseen all the measures you think necessary.”

Speer had “come out victorious in the power struggle with Goering, Himmler and Bormann”: “I had letters and phone calls from men I hadn’t talked to in many months; my wife got flowers from people she had barely met, and Bormann invited me to his house where I had never been.”


• “Murdoch retains the complete and undivided blind loyalty of all his executives. It became apparent that there was obviously an unwritten fear of having any association with D’Arcy after December 1988.

In 1987 Jill and I received 38 Christmas cards from associates in the

News group.

In 1988 we received two!” (D’Arcy)

• Neil wrote of 1990:

“I could tell my position was being eroded by the gossip that was drifting back to me. Wapping executives had started to characterise me as a semi-detached editor who was losing interest in the paper. They were merely mouthing what Rupert was saying and reinforcing his view.” (Neil)


Time and Tides • Time and the Mind of the Dictatorial CEO

• Dictatorial CEO Acts Against a Lieutenant

Sickleave

Big reshuffle as smokescreen

Abolish the position

Pretending it’s a ‘management committee’

decision

It’s a game of cat and mouse!

Marched out of the office• The Dangerous Life of the Heir

Time & Tides © Jeff Schubert 2007

Chen Yuan, an early colleague of Mao: “Had Mao died in 1956, his achievements would have been immortal.

Had he died in 1966, he would still have been a great man. But he died in 1976. Alas, what can one say?”

Ciano, 1941: “The Duce is exasperated by the publication in the magazine Minerva, published in Turin, of a motto by some Greek philosopher or other.” The motto read:

“No greater misfortune can befall a country than to be governed by an old tyrant.”


1994:

“Rupert had become increasingly unpredictable, even whimsical, moving people about for no very good reason (‘spinning wheels’ was how one executive put it), except to satisfy his latest wheeze. He was even doing it to himself.

Now over sixty, with intimations of mortality but still so much to do, he had become even more of a man in a hurry. He was moving executives around like pieces on a chessboard to suit whatever purpose obsessed him at that particular moment; regardless of the disruption in their lives they were expected to fit in, even if fundamental decisions risked being reversed only weeks after they were taken.” (Neil)


Gate-keeper ! © Jeff Schubert 2007

Dr Li: “As Mao’s doctor, I was allowed unimpeded access, but everyone else had to go through Zhang Yufeng to get to Mao. After 1974, even Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, and rankingmembers of the Politburo had to go through Zhang, and she treated even the highest leaders with distain.

One day in June 1976, when Hua Guofeng had come to see Mao, Zhang had been napping and the attendants on duty were afraid to rouse her.

Two hours later, when Zhang had still not gotten up, Hua, second in command only to Mao, finally left without seeing his superior.”

CEO acts against lieutenant © Jeff Schubert 2007

Baldur Shirach: “If there had been differences between Hitler and myself in the period from 1933 to 1936, Hitler could not simply have said, ‘I’m getting rid of him.’ Even in a totalitarian movement it is not the case that theboss just says, ‘That man no longer suits me, I’ll send him into the wilderness.’ Each person brings into movements like that the people he has convinced and won over.

They are his private source of power.”


“Rupert had had enough of me at The Sunday Times but he had yet to decide if he had finished with me altogether. Moving me to America dispensed with an immediate cause of aggravation for him and placed me in alien territory

where I had no power base

and could be more easily controlled. If the American TV venture worked out well, it would be on his terms; if not, then he would deal with my future come the time.” (Neil)

The Heir! © Jeff Schubert 2007

After the 1802 plebiscite which made him Life Consul, Napoleon said: “No one likes to name his successor while he himself is alive; it is a thankless task, in face of jealousies and factions which such a nomination would cause.”


In 1989 Murdoch appointed Andrew Knight CEO atWapping. “For a while Andrew stoked Rupert’s ego and Rupert regarded his as a genius: he would make a point of deferring exaggeratedly to him in meetings.

When investors grumbled that Rupert had no heir apparent, Andrew was wheeled out before the Financial Times as his natural successor. … all Rupert’s talk about relinquishing power was just so much hot air – something everyone but Rupert and Andrew were pretty sure about from day one.” (Neil)

rupert murdoch as dictatorial ceo

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