flâneur

Founders: #116 Sam Bronfman (Seagram's and the Bronfman family dynasty)

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What I learned from reading Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram’s Mr. Sam by Michael R. Marrus. ---- The story of Sam’s rise to fame and fortune from a hard life on the Canadian frontier is inherently dramatic and yet touches a familiar nerve in a broad spectrum of the population. There is something in Sam’s response to his disappointments that most people recognize in their themselves. [0:01] I found out about the Bronfman family on Founders #53 Mike Ovitz when Mike Ovitz brokered a deal that led to Seagram buying MCA Universal for $5.7 billion. [2:58] Generational Inflection Point: A single individual that changes the trajectory of his entire family for generations to come [3:35] Why did his family have to flee Russia? [6:42] Sam was ashamed of the poverty is family endured and NEVER forgot it [10:45] Sam starts running his own hotel at 23 [14:35] Sam figures out a new plan to overcome the powerful temperance movement / The good ones know more. — David Ogilvy [18:00] The advantages of Sam’s mail order strategy + Copying and improving on his competitors [20:12] Some people just want it more [22:23] Sam would tell you to focus on the long term [24:26] Sam would tell you

[00:00:00] Sam is a Canadian tale of rags to riches. The son of a laboring Jewish pioneer from Tsarist Russia, he built a gigantic worldwide company, renowned for the quality of its products and its business acumen. The story of Sam's rise to fame and fortune from a hard life on the Canadian frontier is inherently dramatic, and yet touches a familiar nerve in a broad spectrum of the population. There is something in Sam's response to his disappointments [00:00:28] that most people recognize in themselves. Seagram's whiskey empire rose spectacularly by taking advantage of the huge American…

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