Noah Berkson

In the 1960s, TIME and The New York Times imagined that by the year 2000, machines would make us independently wealthy, working 4-day weeks with 218 days off each year. They got the technology right. They got the systems around it wrong. Instead of working less, we increased expectations. Instead of shared abundance, we concentrated the gains. Instead of a leisure crisis, we ended up with a burnout crisis. Now AI puts us at that crossroads again. In this era will we use technology to free people? Or repeat the same playbook with even more powerful tools shaping the AI future ?

You’ve likely never come across his name, yet his net worth sits just shy of $2B. Red McCombs didn’t grow up wealthy. He had no powerful network. No family empire waiting for him. He began his journey as a car salesman in a small Texas town. Table of Contents Humble Beginnings Building an Empire Beyond Cars The Mindset Key Takeaways Two Paths Conclusion Humble Beginnings Where most people misjudge him is here: he didn’t settle for being a top-performing salesman. He thought beyond that. He purchased the dealership. Then expanded to another. And then another. Building an Empire Before long, he had quietly built one of the largest automotive groups in the country. But his biggest move came next: co-founding Clear Channel Communications, which eventually became the largest radio network in the world. He helped take it public—and later private—in a deal worth nearly $19B. Beyond Cars His ambitions didn’t stop there. He bought the Minnesota Vikings. Owned and later sold the San Antonio Spur...