Our annual Special Report on the Wealthiest Angelenos is always interesting. Just flip to page 35 and scan the profiles in this year’s report, and most of the myths about wealth in America will be quickly dispelled.
For example, there’s a common belief that most rich people were born that way. But look at the profiles and you’ll see that exactly the opposite is true. Only a handful are living off a huge inheritance; most of the Wealthiest Angelenos are self-made.
A corollary belief that only the privileged few – those with generations-long connections, European ancestors and the advantages of an Ivy League education – have a realistic crack at making huge money. But again, scan the profiles and you’ll see that’s also not true. Lots of gazillionaires on the list came from ordinary backgrounds and more than a few came from other countries. Notably, L.A.’s wealthiest resident, Patrick Soon-Shiong, emigrated from apartheid South Africa.
Another myth: The rich always get richer. Well, look and you’ll see some usual residents on our list have done a belly flop – despite the economic recovery. A couple have fallen off the list.
CEOs? You’ll find only a couple who made a killing as a hired gun for a big company. Luck? You’ll find no lottery winners on the list. (Granted, you will find a divorcee.)
Actually, most of this I’ve noted before. I’ve written in past years how the good fortune of being born to a well-do-to family gives folks a head start, to be sure. But when it comes to creating great wealth, it’s more important to be entrepreneurial, to have a dogged work ethic and to possess a willingness to bet the farm when the moment is right.
But something I haven’t noticed before is this: A lot of folks on the list are extremely successful not because they did something spectacular or mysterious but simply because they took something ordinary and made it much better.
Examples abound. Making and retailing fashionable apparel is a pretty ordinary enterprise, but Do Won and Jin Sook Chang deliver the latest fashions arguably faster and cheaper to the mass market than anyone through their Forever 21 empire. They made it much better.
Likewise, it may seem like a simple commodity transaction to sell nuts, bottled water and pomegranate juice. But Stewart and Lynda Resnick have elevated what otherwise would be ordinary snacks and drinks into fashionable treats through brilliant (and controversial) marketing. I mean, Psy prancing with man-size pistachios on a Super Bowl ad? That’s great.
One more: shopping malls. I loathe them. I think of big banal boxes on asphalt. But Rick Caruso makes malls with cobblestones, trees and curving walkways. I think of fountains, a dinging trolley car and turtles in the pond. He transforms shopping from a common chore to a pleasant venture.
Like the Changs and the Resnicks, and so many others on our list, Caruso took something ordinary and transformed it something much better.
Scan the profiles and you’ll see. Wealth is not preordained. It is not reserved for the privileged few. It is dynamic. And it is largely the reward of entrepreneurship and hard work. Wealth is attainable in America. That’s what the list tells us. That list is interesting.
Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
