May 7, 2026
John Quelch
“The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated.” The words in 1991 of African American CNN news anchor Bernard Shaw brought the start of the Iraq war live into our homes through the power of 24/7 cable news. Non-stop coverage of the Iraq War cemented the importance of CNN on the world stage. Now there’s hardly a decent hotel in any country that doesn’t include CNN (Cable News Network) as an option on its guest bedroom televisions. This was all thanks to the vision of one man, Ted Turner.
I never really knew Ted Turner but on three occasions, I learnt an important lesson from him.
In 1983, as a young Harvard Business School professor, I wanted to write a case on the recently launched Cable News Network. All the top professors were calling Ted but being rebuffed, so what chance did I have? One day, I saw CNN’s VP of advertising quoted in the New York Times. I called him and proposed a case which went up to Ted for approval which he then gave. From this, I learnt that, if you want something, it’s not always smart to go to the top guy. A good boss, Ted let someone down the organization take the initiative and draw the limelight.
Seventeen years later, I was one of a hundred people invited to a Deloitte reception at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Ted and Jane Fonda were the guests of honor. I managed to introduce myself to Ted and mentioned the case and my friendship with his old VP. When Ted started his remarks, he introduced me to the Davos elite as “the most important person here, who wrote the first Harvard case study on CNN.” You can’t buy that kind of endorsement. Ted had an ego but he was also nice to mice.
In 1988, Ted was the guest of honor at the annual Reebok human rights award ceremony in Boston. It was the 40th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and I was a Reebok board member at the time. A thousand people were looking forward to being entertained with some salty remarks and juicy anecdotes. Ted, who had then pledged $ 1 billion to support the United Nations Foundation, started with a question: “How many of you here have read the UN Declaration of Human Rights?” Only around six hands were raised. Ted then spent the next fifteen minutes reading word for word the thirty articles in the Declaration. That was his speech. Ted despised hypocrisy and stuck it to the audience. That was another good lesson.
It seems paradoxical – though it shouldn’t – that a man so quintessentially American, dedicated to preserving lands in Montana and restoring the bison population, could also be a global visionary, inventing CNN, championing the UN and launching both the Goodwill Games and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
Being American versus being global is a false dichotomy. For America to continue to lead abroad, we need more patriots like Ted Turner who see bringing harmony to a diverse world as their responsibility.
