Christie Hefner inherited far more than her father’s famous name. The daughter of Playboy magazine founder Hugh M. Hefner — idol of young hedonists everywhere — also acquired his sense of innovation, an ability to recognize where society is headed and the wherewithal to capitalize on those changes.
"As I started to read the magazine, I came to recognize how remarkable it was that my father was advocating philosophy and points of view that were in step with my generation and out of step with his own, whether that was the war in Vietnam, the environmental movement or changes in attitude about sexual behavior and birth control," says Hefner, chairman and CEO of Playboy Enterprises Inc. "As I grew up, I was able to appreciate and be extremely proud of what Playboy stands for, not so much as a business success but really as a philosophy of values about the world."
Coming of age in the 1970s, Hefner adopted that philosophy and followed in her father’s journalism footsteps, joining the staff of the Boston Phoenix, an alternative Village Voice-style publication. But she quickly learned she didn’t like that side of the notebook.
"It taught me I didn’t want to be a journalist because I didn’t get to write what I wanted to write about," she says. "(I) had visions of being an Ellen Goodman-style columnist, getting to offer my point of view on the world. And if that were ever going to be an option for me, it certainly wasn’t going to be in the early part of my career.
"At that point, I decided I would probably go to law school. But before I could do that, my father persuaded me to come back to Chicago and learn a little bit about the business. Once I got here, I never left."
With Hefner at the helm, Playboy has expanded the venerable men’s entertainment enterprise from a staid print publication into an entertainment powerhouse on television, the Internet and now the wireless world.
In 1988, Hefner was elected chairman and CEO of a company in financial distress. And while she has returned Playboy to profitability — the company reported a $10 million profit last year on revenue of $329 million — it was quite a struggle.
