Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good

Paul Newman

Thorndike Press, 2004 - Biography & Autobiography - 380 pages

""There are three rules for running a business; fortunately, we don't know any of them."
"

In 1978, Paul Newman and A. E. Hotchner decided that rather than just distribute Paul's own salad dressing at Christmas to neighbors, they would offer it to a few local stores. Freewheeling, irreverent entrepreneurs, they conceived of their venture as a great way to poke fun at the mundane method of traditional marketing. Much to their surprise, the dressing was enthusiastically received. What had started as a lark quickly escalated into a full-fledged business, the first company to place all-natural foods in supermarkets. From salad dressing to spaghetti sauce, to popcorn and lemonade, Newman's Own became a major player in the food business. The company's profits were originally donated to medical research, education, and the environment, and eventually went to the creation of the eight Hole in the Wall Gang camps for children with serious illnesses. In these pages Newman and Hotchner recount the picaresque saga of their own nonmanagement adventure. In alternating voices, playing off one another in classic "Odd Couple" style, they describe how they systematically disregarded the advice of experts and relied instead on instinct, imagination, and mostly luck. They write about how they hurdled obstacle after obstacle, share their hilarious misadventures, and reveal their offbeat solutions to conventional problems. Even their approach to charity is decidedly different: every year they give away all the company's profits, empty the coffers, and start over again. The results of this amazing generosity are brought to life in heartwarming stories about the children at their camps. With rareglimpses into their zany style and their compassion for those less fortunate, Newman and Hotchner have written the perfect nonmanagement book, at once playful, informative, and inspirational.

Contents

• Foreword: 9
• PART: 95
• PART THREE: 165

About the author

Actor Paul Newman was born in Shaker Heights, Ohio on January 26, 1925. During World War II, he served in the Navy. He graduated from Kenyon College in 1949 and later studied acting at Yale University and at the Actors' Studio in New York City. He made his Broadway debut in 1953 in Picnic and his film debut in The Silver Chalice in 1954. His film roles include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, and Road to Perdition. In 1987, he won an Oscar for The Color of Money. He also won two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and an Emmy Award. One of his last roles was the voice of Doc Hudson in the 2006 animated movie Cars. In 1982, he founded Newman's Own, a line of food products, with writer A. E. Hotchner. He established a policy that all proceeds from the sale of Newman's Own products, after taxes, would be donated to charity. He and Hotchner co-wrote a memoir entitled Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good about this subject. He also established the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which is a residential summer camp for seriously ill children.He died after a long battle with lung cancer on September 26, 2008 at the age of 83.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good; Thorndike Press large print Americana series
• Author: Paul Newman
• Edition: reprint, large print
• Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0786262303, 9780786262304
• Length: 380 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Business; Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts; Business & Economics / Business Ethics; Business & Economics / Industries / Hospitality, Travel & Tourism; Nature / Ecology