Ted Turner has done a lot of memorable things. One that stands out to Tom Johnson, former president of CNN, is Turner walking down Luckie Street in downtown Atlanta with “an arm full of garbage.”
“He was walking down the street picking up litter until he could make it to the next trash can,” he said. “How many billionaires do you know that pick up trash?”
As Johnson recalled it, there were no cameras around, and it was not part of a publicity stunt.
“He was doing it because he felt deeply that we should not scatter our trash along the sidewalks or highways of life,” said Johnson, who joined CNN in 1990.
Core to Turner’s character is a notion to get involved and “inspire others to take action if they see a problem, rather than wait for somebody else to fix it,” said his daughter, Laura Seydel.
Turner’s approach to seizing opportunities in life and business has made him an icon in communications, philanthropy and conservation. Turner is the lifetime achievement honoree for the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 2022 Most Admired CEOs award.
