CEO’s childhood: ‘I was always getting spanked’

Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy Enterprises
Being the daughter of the original playboy had little influence on Christie Hefner growing up in Chicago and then Wilmette, Ill., in the 1950s. She was raised primarily by her mother, Millie, after the two parents divorced when Christie was four years old, and she saw her famous father Hugh only four or five times a year on special occasions such as holidays and birthdays. It was her mother’s influence that she believes made her the leader she is today, specifically when it comes to her selfconfidence.

Christie downplays the influence of her stepfather, who came on the scene when she was seven, saying only that “it wasn’t a happy marriage.” The core of her values and ideals, she says, came directly from her mother. “I got both my sense of confidence that I could go out in the world and do whatever I wanted and be successful and the tempering of that self-confidence with a set of manners and sensitivity from my mother.”

No matter the situation, she observed her mother being kind to the people around her and garnering respect from others as a result. And given that her mother was an English major in college who became an English teacher, she had a great love of reading and engendered that in her young daughter. Often Christie Hefner would be encouraged by her mother to read books way beyond her grade level and that gave her the confidence to read, absorb, and understand all sorts of materials.

Dave Allocca / AP Playboy Enterprises CEO Christie Hefner rarely saw her famous father, Hugh, when she was growing up.

“I remember I was in fifth grade and the teacher asked us to read a book and do a report. She had suggested 'The Yearling' by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, but we were also given the option to choose a different book if we wanted,” she explains. Hefner chose "The Child Buyer" by John Hersey, a science fiction novel and biting social commentary on a clone-producing education system. “It was a book my mother had given me to read, and it took my teacher aback when I told her my choice. I had to get permission to use the book for the report, and I think she may have even called my mother about it. I ended up getting an A.”

It was her mother’s belief in Hefner’s ability, that she could read or do anything, that shaped her self-pride. “It wasn’t about any seminal moments, but rather a lifetime of making me feel I could do anything I wanted,” she says. However, she maintains, “I never felt pushed in the sense of the proverbial stage mother syndrome, but I always felt supported and encouraged. Whether I was thinking about going to law school or going into politics or journalism, I never felt I had to choose a particular field to please either of my parents. It was all about finding what I wanted to do.”

Leader lowdown Christie Hefner — Date of birth: Nov. 8, 1952 — Dream job: Chief justice of the Supreme Court — Childhood hero: Sen. Paul Douglas — First job: Wrapping gifts at Saks Fifth Avenue

Hefner made Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year and graduated from Brandeis University summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in English and American literature in 1974. As for her relationship with her famous father, “In many ways my father and I didn’t have a typical relationship, not the least because I saw him rarely. But our mutual love of games brought us together, and the competitive streak that I inherited from my father is, in my view, a strength.”

Hugh Hefner, she says, was extremely competitive and did not subscribe to the notion that you let children win at games. The two loved games, everything from pinball to backgammon, and they both loved to win. “When I beat my father, which was rare, I knew I really beat him,” she recalls.

Excerpted from “From the Sandbox to the Corner Office: Lessons Learned on the Way to the Top" by Eve Tahmincioglu. Copyright ©2006 by Eve Tahmincioglu.  Excerpted by permission of John Wiley & Sons. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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