Alumnus gives tips to law students

SMU Board of Trustee member and former Turner Broadcasting Executive, William H. Grumbles, Jr. defined the qualities of a leader and what leadership means to a group of law students Friday.

“Leadership is having others do what you want them to do and feel good about it,” Grumbles said. “A leader should speak clearly and concisely, be optimistic, intelligent, compassionate and keep their sense of humor.”

Grumbles said that he found his former employer, Ted Turner, president of Turner Broadcasting Services, to be a wonderful example of a good leader.

He gave an example of this through a humorous anecdote.

CNN wished to broadcast in France, but the company was having difficulties with the government. It was decided that it would be better if Turner visited with Francois Mitterand, who was president of France at the time. It was also decided that Grumbles and Turner’s wife, Jane Fonda would travel with Turner to Paris.

As the limousine drove through the streets of Paris, Turner pinched the bridge of his nose closed his eyes and shook his head.

“I can see tomorrow’s headlines now,” Turner said. “Jane Fonda goes to Paris and takes her husband with her.”

Grumbles said this is typical of Turner’s wit, but Turner was serious when the situation called for it and could always be counted on to give directions in a way that was not misunderstood.

“This is the main characteristic of a good leader,” Grumbles said. “Another important trait is that they are able to keep their heads when everything around them is in chaos.”

According to Grumbles, Turner appreciates the skills of young people and had a 38-year-old chief attorney with a young legal staff. The attorneys at Turner Broadcasting had three main jobs.

“First they had to notify us if they thought we might be doing anything illegal,” Grumbles said. “Secondly they had to keep us out of jail and third they had to let us get the deals done. The real juice for any business is sales.”

Grumbles referred to the exploits of Sir Ernest Henry Shakleton, the Antarctic Explorer, as another great leader. Shakleton survived the wreck of his ship “The Endurance” with his crew during their two-year isolation in the Antarctic from 1914 to 1916. Not only were there no fatalities, but most of the crew was in good health because of the skills of Shakleton.

“The most important thing is to hire good people to do the job, support your people in their efforts, be able to create order from chaos, have optimism, humor, strength, and composure,” Grumbles said. “A good leader always puts his people first.”

Grumbles is known as a senior executive in the international sales and marketing branch of Turner Broadcasting, but his path from student to leader was not the one he had planned for his life.

“My grades were south of the Equator and perilously close to the pole when I attended SMU,” Grumbles said. “I attended the law school and wanted to be a lawyer. I took the LSAT and that ended that idea. However, there was one course that I took as a senior in business. It required me to invest make believe money in stocks and create a profitable portfolio. I invested in this new product called ‘cable television’. When I sent out resumes looking for work, this got out. I received a call from this company that had a new product called HBO, or Home Box Office, in 1982. Everything just took off from there.”

Grumbles said the main key to his success was his work ethic and some of the basic reasoning processes he learned as a student at SMU.

“I was successful because of my work efforts,” Grumbles said. “I dealt with clients from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. then did any other work that I could during the other hours of the day. I did the jobs that no one wanted, in the places no one wanted. I figured that I may not be as smart or have the right degrees that other guys in the business had, but I could sure out work them.”

When Grumbles retired from Turner Broadcasting, there were many fond tributes to him and his achievements.

“No one in our industry is more widely respected for his integrity, intellect and humanity,” says Terry McGuirk, company chairman and chief executive.

Now he serves on the Board of Trustees for SMU.