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Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good
Paul Newman, A. E. Hotchner
The Madcap Business Adventure by the Truly Oddest Couple
Nan A. Talese
November 2003
272 pages
ISBN: 0385508026
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
“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 rare glimpses 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.
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