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Succession plan? Logan Roy’s formulas for family firm survival

Good advice is invaluable so we’ve chosen some standout words of wisdom from one of TV’s best-known bosses

Actor Brian Cox as Logan Roy, head of Succession's fictional family business Waystar RoyCo

John Daly
Fri Mar 31 2023 - 05:00

Hear ‘family business’ these days – certainly in relation to the idea of succession – and chances are you’ll think with relish and distaste of a fictional character: Logan Roy. As the patriarch of the dysfunctional Roy family, owners of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo, Logan is part villain, part visionary in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning, hugely popular television series Succession.

Intensely protective of his media empire, even in the face of declining health and the efforts of his children to dethrone him, he is complex and profane – and expresses some of the most cutting and quick-witted business one-liners ever heard on television.

HBO’s Succession features a global media business that might have resonance some smaller family concerns

“He’s a great character to play,” Cox said in a recent interview. “He has a beautiful spareness and I love the fact that you don’t always know what he’s thinking – the rise of an eyebrow can do as much as anything else.”

And, of course, his frequent obscenities come as part of the package...

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Mantras for success: Logan’s one-liners

“Make them an offer they’ll get excited about. Make them an offer they want to tell their wives about at night.”

“Life’s not knights on horseback. It’s a number on a piece of paper. It’s a fight for a knife in the mud.”

“Nothing is a line. Everything everywhere is always moving. Forever. Get used to it.”

“He’s selling me things I want at a fair price. So what’s next? Fellatio?”

“You wanna do good things? Be a f***ing nurse.”

“Would you like to hear my favourite passage from Shakespeare? Take the f***ing money.”

“The law is people. And people is politics.”

“Safety briefing? Here’s the safety briefing: if you move against me, I’ll put a hole in the back of your f***ing head.”

“Most things don’t exist. The Ford Motor Company hardly exists. It’s just a time-saving expression for a collection of financial interests.”

“I’m going to grind his f***ing bones to make my bread.”

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