He was just another dropout -- until he got the measles and a goal.
By Maria Bartiromo
Gumption and Guts
Ron Meyer was 14 when a friend gave him his first tattoo, a crude design done with ink and a needle. Like many of the guys he hung out with in West Los Angeles, Meyer was a high school dropout, a kid quick with his fists who seemed to get into fights somewhat regularly.
Today, Meyer is the president and COO of Universal Studios. As one of the most successful business leaders in Hollywood, he heads up Universal Pictures and Universal Parks & Resorts. He's the guy who oversees the production of multimillion-dollar extravaganzas like King Kong and Cinderella Man.
Even though Meyer could easily afford it, he has no interest in getting his tattoos removed. They symbolize just how far he has come, and they remind him of the choices he made -- good and bad -- along the way.
In looking back, Ron Meyer allows that he's never forgotten his humble beginnings.
Meyer's story sounds like the plot of one of his motion pictures. The son of German immigrants, he grew up in a modest home where there was little disposable income. It was a big deal to go to a restaurant.
At 15, he quit high school and spent his time shooting pool, boxing at a nearby gym and hanging out with the neighborhood toughs. With little education or direction and few options, he figured he'd be drafted. So when he heard about a boxing program in the Marine Corps, he signed up.
At one point, he was quarantined with the measles, with no TV and nothing to do. His mother sent him two books. One was The Amboy Dukes, a novel about kids in street gangs. The other was The Flesh Peddlers, now out of print, about a guy in the talent-agency business who was living a glamorous life. "I realized," he says, "that I was no longer that idiot kid I had been, and I wanted to change my life."
Meyer knew he was up against considerable odds, but he finally had a goal: to become an agent and live the sort of lifestyle described in The Flesh Peddlers. He says he must have interviewed at all of the major talent agencies. "Everyone said no to me. I didn't have a formal education. I came from no influence, no money. There was no obvious reason to give me a job."
But the gumption and guts that helped him to excel as a boxer in the Marines kicked in. "I was afraid to fail," he says. "Also, I couldn't afford to fail. I had to make a living -- I needed to make money." Meyer took any job he could get. He worked as a busboy and short-order cook. He cleaned grease off duplicating machines. He sold shoes. "Once I got a job, I put all I had into it," says Meyer. "When I was a busboy, I wanted to be the best busboy."
That attitude made an impression on people. While he was working at a clothing store, the Paul Kohner Agency called. Their messenger had quit, and they remembered the guy named Ron who was willing to take whatever job they offered. At the clothing store, he was making $35 a week. Kohner was going to pay him $75. That was on a Friday. He started the next Monday.
Luck and a Winning Attitude
Meyer's messenger job included chauffeuring Paul Kohner, a successful agent who represented stars like John Huston, Billy Wilder, Charles Bronson and Lana Turner. Meyer kept his eyes on the road -- and his ears on the conversations in the backseat. "Paul would have meetings in his car and talk about deals. I learned the business, and got to know a lot of people."
Meyer was lucky to work with a good boss -- and he had the brains to make the most of that experience. In nearly six years of driving for Kohner, Meyer became his right-hand man. By that time, though he knew the business, he still had to learn a lot about the process.
He pretended he was an agent and landed a job at über agency William Morris in the TV talent department. After everyone left at night, he would analyze his mentor's deals and figure out how to do them.
By the 1970s, Meyer had built a lot of relationships in the business. His clients included Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner. Clearly, Meyer was becoming a leader in his industry.
He stayed at William Morris for over five years and would happily have stayed longer, but fate intervened when his mentor was fired. That presented an opportunity to start his own operation, Creative Artists Agency.
Founded in 1975 with four colleagues from William Morris, CAA became a huge success, representing Hollywood legends like Barbra Streisand, Cher, Madonna, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. In the beginning, though, the staff of five struggled -- 18-hour days, seven days a week. They didn't draw any money out of the company for the first two years.
But Meyer had an advantage: Few people knew the business as well as he did, and few were as good with people. He built CAA client by client. He was always networking, attending anything he could get invited to -- parties, dinners, screenings, tapings.
His first major clients included Charlie's Angels Farrah Fawcett and Kate Jackson. But his big break came when he signed Sylvester Stallone during his Rocky and Rambo years. "Everyone wanted Sly," says Meyer. "It was a big deal to be his agent. That became my entrée to representing people like Michael Douglas, Goldie Hawn and Jessica Lange."
Twenty years later, Meyer was tapped to run Universal Studios, a position far beyond his youthful dream. But once he saw success was possible, he was driven to achieve it. It was important to him, though, that he was trusted and well-thought-of. In looking back, Meyer allows that he's never forgotten his humble beginnings.
Today, colleagues regularly attribute his success -- and theirs -- to his humility and perseverance. It's a level of success that takes a certain tenacity, a certain personality, a certain kind of intelligence, whether it comes from a college education or from the street.
It takes guts to make a choice -- and gumption to stick with it.
译文:
面对机会【读者文摘】
他只是又一个辍学者——直到他得了麻疹并找到了人生的目标
Maria Bartiromo供稿
进取心和勇气
当朋友带Ron Meyer（罗恩·梅耶尔）第一次纹身的时候他14岁，一个用墨水和针完成的粗糙设计。像很多和他一样混迹在西部洛杉矶的孩子，Meyer是高中辍学生，一个似乎随时都会迅速握紧拳头面对打斗的孩子。
今天，Meyer是环球电影的总裁和运营总监。作为好莱坞的杰出商业领导人之一，他统领着环球动画和环球公园及旅游业。他负责像King Kong（金刚）和Cinderella Man（铁拳男人）那样几百万美元投入制作大片的监制工作。
尽管Meyer能轻易支付清除纹身的费用，但他并没有那么做。他们时刻告诉Meyer他走了多远，同时也提醒他他一路走来所做的选择，不管好坏。
回顾过去，Meyer始终铭记他最初那段卑微的时光。
Meyer的故事听起来像他人生旅途上已经安排好的情节。作为德国移民的儿子，他生长在中等水平家庭，收入刚刚好够花，没有结余。去餐馆吃饭就是很大的奢侈了。
在他15岁那年，他高中辍学，他把时间都花费在射击馆、附近的拳击运动场以及和一些附近的小混混闲混。没受过太多教育，也没有目标和别的选择，他觉得他的人生也就这样了。所以当听说海军陆战队有拳击项目，他报名了。
有一次，他因为得麻疹被隔离，没有电视看也没什么可做。他母亲给他带了两本书去，一本是The Amboy Dukes，一本关于街头暴力下的孩子们的小说。另一本是The Flesh Peddlers，关于一个有着天才代理才能，过着精彩生活的人，不过现在这本书已经不再出版了。“我发现，”他说，“我不能再像以前那么愚蠢了，我要改变我的生活。”
Meyer知道他面临很多可能的机会，但他最终确定了一个目标：成为一个经纪人，过上The Flesh Peddlers里面描述的那种生活。他说他一定要见一下所有著名的优秀代理人。“每个人都对我说不，我没受过正规的教育，我也没什么影响力，更没钱。没有任何理由我能得到一份工作。”
但他的上进和他的勇气助他顺利进入海军成为一名拳击手。“我怕我会失败，”他说，“我也没法接受失败，我得生活——我需要赚钱。”
Meyer接受任何他能找到的工作，他在餐馆打过工，也做过快餐店的工作。他擦过机器上的油，他卖过鞋。“一旦我得到一份工作，我全身心地投入，”Meyer说。“我做餐馆工的时候我希望成为最好的。”这种态度使他给人留下了深刻的印象。他在一家服装店工作的时候，保罗科赫纳代理给他打来电话。他们那跑腿送信的辞职了，他们想起了名叫Ron的人愿意做任何工作。在服装店，他的收入是每周35美元，Kohner会给他75美元，那天是周五，周一他就开始这份新的工作了。
运气和成功的态度
Meyer做跑腿送信的那份工作也包括接送一位成功的经纪人Paul Kohne，像John Huston（约翰·休斯顿）、Billy Wilder（比利·怀尔德）、Charles Bronson（查尔斯·布朗森）和Lana Turner（拉娜·特纳）都是他代理的明星。Meyer双眼专注地面——双耳就留意后座的谈话。“Paul在他车里会开会，并会讨论细节，我学到了生意上很多东西，并且了解了很多人。”
Meyer很幸运与一个不错的老板共事——同时他也很机灵地充分利用了那段经历。在为Kohner开车近六年的时间里，Meyer成了他的得力助手。到那时，尽管Meyer已经了解了商务上的往来，他仍要学很多关于过程、细节方面的内容。
他佯装成一个代理人并在电视精英工作间的über代理William Morris那找了份工作。等大家晚上都离开后，他就分析他师傅的生意并研究应该怎么做。
到了20世纪70年代，Meyer在生意上建立了很多人际关系。他的客户包括有Sally Struthers（莎莉·史特瑟斯）和Rob Reiner（罗布·赖纳）。显然Meyer在他的行业里已经是一位领军人物了。
他在William Morris代理行待了5年多并很乐意待更长的时间，但命运弄人，他的师傅被开除了。那也使他有机会开始他自己的运作，创立创新精英文化经纪有限公司（CAA）。1975年成立初期，只有四个从William Morris代理行出来的同事，但CAA获得了巨大的成功，它成就了好莱坞的神话，像Barbra Streisand（芭芭拉·史翠珊）、Cher（雪儿）、Madonna（麦当娜）、Tom Hanks（汤姆·汉克斯）和Tom Cruise（汤姆·克鲁斯）。在最开始，只有五个员工共同努力，一天18个小时，一周7天的工作量坚持下来。他们在头两年里向公司要一分钱。
但Meyer有一个优势：很少人能像他一样了解生意，很少人能与人为善。他渐渐成立了CAA客户群，他总是利用网络工作，参加他所被邀请的任何活动——聚会、会餐、电影上映、磁带录音。
他第一次主要的客户有Charlie's Angels Farrah Fawcett和Kate Jackson。但他的重大转折点是他签了Sylvester Stallone拍第一滴血和洛奇的那几年。“每个人都想得到Sly，”Meyer表示。“作为他的经纪人实在是很棒。那成了我能够代理像Michael Douglas、oldie Hawn 和Jessica Lange的开始。”
二十年以后，Meyer被指定去经营环球电影，一个远超出他年轻时梦想的职位。但一旦他看到成功变得有可能，就感觉到有一种力量驱使他去获得成功。这一点对他很重要，尽管他是已经是一位受大家信赖和尊重的人了。回顾过去，Meyer始终铭记他最初那段卑微的时光。
直到今天，同事都一致将他的和他们的成功归结于Meyer的谦恭和坚定。这是一种需要些坚韧，需要某一种品质，某一类的天赋才能取得的成功，不管你是大学毕业还是来自街头的混混。
做一个选择需要勇气——坚持下去需要毅力。