Murdoch: the Sun King of the executive suite

Sergo Beria thought 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.” Murdoch is not so different. Neil recalled that “during the 11 years I was editor, Rupert fired or eased out every chief executive of real talent or independent mind-set”. Murdoch does not want any potential competitors in his executive suite.

Both Stalin and Hitler were nervous, even fearful, about newcomers - about “new faces”. Sergo Beria wrote that “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.”

D’Arcy wrote that News Limited “was a closed shop and people never advanced in News Limited until loyalty to Murdoch and the company was proven”. “We are not sure of him yet” or “The jury is still out” were phrases he recalled hearing repeatedly when he wanted to promote someone. “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 organisation.”

Hitler Youth leader, Baldur Shirach recalled the limits of power: “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 the boss 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.”

At times, Murdoch also needs to take account of a lieutenant’s power. Neil thought Murdoch wanted him out of “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.”

Speer also highlighted the role the lieutenants play in contributing to the power imbalance that often increases, and eventually does them in. Referring to “every holder of power, whether the director of a company, the head of a state, or the ruler of a dictatorship”, Speer wrote: “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.”

Neil noted that Murdoch has “a weakness for courtiers who are fawning or obsequious. No matter how senior or talented or independent minded, courtiers must always remember two things vital to survival: they must never dare to outshine the Sun King; and they must always show regular obeisance to him to prove beyond peradventure that, no matter how powerful or important they are, they know who is boss.”

Not surprisingly, according to Neil, “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 judgment 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.”

General Guderian recalled the genre in “a spectacle” with which he “was later to become very familiar: all those present, nodded in agreement with every sentence that Hitler uttered”. And D’Arcy recalled a similar scene: “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.”

While servility brings favours from “the holder of power”, it comes at a price. Neil noted that “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.” He “ranted” at most of his lieutenants “because he knew he could get away with it - they were prepared to put up with it.”

Neil could have been talking about Stalin or Hitler, or any number of political and business leaders who have been able to achieve domination in their executive suite - and about others who will be able to do it in the future. History does have lessons for the present and future for people who have open minds.