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Book Review
Alex Spanos' 2002 Autobiography Review by Kris Freeberg November 2018 |
Fave quote:
"You can't experience the ocean if you cling to the shore" (233).
"You can't experience the ocean if you cling to the shore" (233).
I have a very close and respectful relationship with the Orthodox Church.
On October 10, 2018, I received an email from Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco announcing the passing of Alexander Spanos. It was a glowing message praising Mr. Spanos for his generous philanthropy and successful marriage and family life.
He wrote, "This is truly the passing of an era. Alex's story proved that the American dream was a reality, and he was grateful for the opportunities given to his parents when they came to this country, as well as the vast experiences he had throughout his life . . . . While he had a successful career in real estate development, as the owner of an NFL franchise, and a renowned philanthropist, Alex was most comfortable surrounded by his loved ones. After nearly 70 years of marriage, his beloved Faye departed this world just two months ago, and his heart longed to be with her. They are now reunited in heaven and both are restored to wholeness and joy in the Lord's Heavenly Kingdom."
Seventy years of marriage: wow, I thought. That right there caught my interest, admiration, and respect, not to mention his professional and philanthropic feats. Here, I thought, is a man I'd like to emulate, a man worth knowing.
So I Googled around and discovered that he had written his autobiography in 2002. I bought and read it right away. Paging through the book from front to back, here are some noteworthy take-aways I found:
On October 10, 2018, I received an email from Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco announcing the passing of Alexander Spanos. It was a glowing message praising Mr. Spanos for his generous philanthropy and successful marriage and family life.
He wrote, "This is truly the passing of an era. Alex's story proved that the American dream was a reality, and he was grateful for the opportunities given to his parents when they came to this country, as well as the vast experiences he had throughout his life . . . . While he had a successful career in real estate development, as the owner of an NFL franchise, and a renowned philanthropist, Alex was most comfortable surrounded by his loved ones. After nearly 70 years of marriage, his beloved Faye departed this world just two months ago, and his heart longed to be with her. They are now reunited in heaven and both are restored to wholeness and joy in the Lord's Heavenly Kingdom."
Seventy years of marriage: wow, I thought. That right there caught my interest, admiration, and respect, not to mention his professional and philanthropic feats. Here, I thought, is a man I'd like to emulate, a man worth knowing.
So I Googled around and discovered that he had written his autobiography in 2002. I bought and read it right away. Paging through the book from front to back, here are some noteworthy take-aways I found:
- Stern Father. His childhood reminded me a lot of Peter G. Peterson's. Both had austere, stern, hard working fathers, first generation Greek immigrants whose experiences of extreme privation and migration shaped them in ways that, paradoxically, both alienated and benefited their sons.
- Amazing Start. His decision to quit his job working for his father with no money, no sure prospects, and a second baby on the way, amazed me. Necessity being the mother of invention, he was inspired to start a company that catered meals to migrant workers (66). Strictly on the strength of his word and his reputation, he cobbled together the resources necessary to feed bologna sandwiches to large numbers of people, and in four months netted $35,000, in 1951 dollars (73). With this money he paid cash for a house, a car, paid his father's debts, and gave generous gifts to his mother, as well as doubtlessly laying some of the cash aside for subsequent ventures.
- Reputation. Having a good reputation and keeping his word were paramount. He did multi-million dollar deals on a handshake, followed by the composition of formal written agreements by hired professionals.
- Patience. He was forgiving, patient, and circumspect, even though he did have a temper. In one case he waited three years to be paid a $4M debt when he could have foreclosed (123). Preserving goodwill was more valuable to him (financially) in the long run than collecting cash in the short run. By preserving the relationship, he made much more over time than the $4M he could have collected in a moment.
- Faye. I found his wife Faye's positive attitude throughout their lives truly remarkable and admirable. It was a key to his success. He always credited her for his success (61), and died of a broken heart two months after she did. She was his heart.
- Redeemed Family Life. Another thing that I found quite remarkable was how he managed to redeem family life. He didn't let history become destiny. His own family life was rather traumatic, but he managed to chew the meat, spit out the bones, and make his own family life idyllic.
- Proposal. His marriage proposal was pathetic: "Look, Faye, I'm really not good enough for you, and you'd be crazy if you accepted this ring" (53). She accepted anyway. Lucky him. Their marriage was hastily thrown together in a week after his own bout with cold feet (57-58).
- Family Greatest Asset. Although a billionaire, he says his greatest assets are his family members (61). Throughout his life, his motive for accumulating wealth was to provide for his family.
- Teachable. He was teachable. He learned apartment construction, golf, dancing, and singing off the cuff with no prior background or training. All these skills came together enabling him to form life long friendships with the likes of Bob Hope and Telly Savalas.
- Control Freak. He was an unapologetic control freak. He slashed overhead to the bone, avoided partnerships or minority ownership stakes in anything (95), and used debt carefully and sparingly. Interestingly, however, no matter how wealthy he became, he still financed portions of his deals over several years at interest. For example when he bought the Chargers he financed about 39% of the purchase price over five years (168).
- Fave Quotes: "Everything comes down to believing in yourself" (87). "If you take pride in the people who work for you, they eventually outdo themselves" (116).
- Gut. He trusted his gut, avoiding shady deals with the likes of the Teamsters (107).
- Everything is for sale. He learned the hard way not to fall in love with his properties and to be willing to sell any of them. "Sometimes I bought and sold properties before actually taking possession in a process I call Triple Escrow" (116).
- Syndication. Real Estate Syndication was a key to his business growth, especially public syndication (121-123).
- Jets. He belonged to the "jet set" but he used his jets to stay close to his family, allowing him to have dinner with them and sleep in his own bed (124).
- Leveraging Charitable Contributions. He got a great idea from a priest for leveraging charitable contributions: instead of giving them directly to the charity, use them as seed money to organize fundraising events. He called his events "An Evening of Elegance", often featuring Bob Hope as the entertainment. Bob performed at no charge (131).
- Contentment. Bob Hope taught him to dance while they were stranded at an airport. Among other things, from this experience he learned to be content in all situations and make his own fun (132).
- Living, Early Inheritance. "Most successful individuals wait until after their death to give their children their inheritance. I believe in a living inheritance, in building a life together - in passing on responsibility, and good fortune, early" (141).
- The Colosseum. Not being a sports fan, I couldn't relate to chapters 10-11 and I wasn't surprised by the depression he suffered in his 70s over his ownership of the Chargers. I was dismayed and grieved by the opportunity cost he suffered. It seems to me that he would have been more edified by focusing all that energy and effort on basking and luxuriating in his Greek heritage, especially Philosophy, and in his Orthodox Christianity, which the faithful Greek Orthodox understand to be the culmination, apex, and terminus of the philosophical journey that is uniquely Greek. Nevertheless, I found his obsession with sports instructive on several levels, in terms of pragmatism, learning to work with what is popular, and susceptibility to diversion and distraction; that is, the tendency of anyone to take their blessings for granted and succumb to the Grass-Is-Greener Syndrome. Back in the day, Saint John Chrysostom, author of the Greek Orthodox liturgy, had much to say about Greek fascination with the Colosseum. I wonder whether Mr. Spanos and his family have ever had occasion to review those writings. In his story and his suffering, I saw history repeating itself.
- Being Greek. From Chapter 12, "Giving Back to Greece" (203-226), I learned how confounded Greeks can be both in Greece and in the United States. Spanos was a Republican and, it turns out, as such he was a minority among his own people. According to him, most Greek Americans are Democrats. Personally I've never been sure, as I've met Greeks from both political parties. Pete Peterson was a moderate Conservative. If Greeks were a forest, so far I've only experienced one tree at a time now and then. Reading Spanos' book helped me understand the whole forest a little better. Regarding Greece he writes, "I've never liked Socialist governments. I don't trust their leaders" (210). And regarding Greek Americans, he writes, "The Greek-American lobby remains a fragmented effort whose sole strengths are in its drive and zeal, and its ability to mobilize large numbers of people, but only in times of crisis . . . . Individualism, a character trait of most Greeks, has hindered the effectiveness of the lobby, breeding turf wars and fragmentation in the ranks" (225).
- 15 Fundamentals of Success: 1) Solid family foundation; 2) Discover your purpose ("When work doesn't seem like work, when you do it purely because you derive pleasure from it, that's when you've found your purpose in life."); 3) Believe in yourself; 4) Vision; 5) Loyalty; 6) Steady achievement of reasonable goals; 7) Accept risk and trust your instincts; 8) Good timing; 9) Don't be defeated by failure; 10) Don't look to loans for salvation; 11) Don't make enemies; 12) Lead, don't follow; 13) Take your profits whenever you can; 14) Stay alert and plan ahead; 15) Recognize opportunities.
