How does one become chairman and CEO of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, one of the world's largest media conglomerates? If you ask Anthea Disney, she'd advise opting for the offbeat.

For Disney, the road to News Corp. was anything but a cautious climb up the corporate ladder. She began her career in 1969 "fetching tea" for a now-defunct tabloid newspaper on London's Fleet Street. Whereas others would have been afraid of tainting their career by working for such a racy rag, the then 22-year-old woman saw it as a way of jump starting a career in journalism.

She was right. Hard work and the right attitude prompted her boss to start assigning her stories to write. Soon her prowess with a pen won her an overseas assignment for the London Daily Mail in New York. By her thirtieth birthday, she was appointed bureau chief of the Daily Mail, a position she held for three years.

Then things started to zigzag. Burned out from working 16-hour days, Disney took a four-year "sanity check," spending her time on free-lance assignments as well as on her therapist's couch. For others, this break might have been a damaging career digression; for Disney, it was a much-needed opportunity to recharge her batteries.

~ A rejuvenated Disney returned to the working world in 1984 as features editor of the New York Daily News. There, she broadened her knowledge by learning how to manage a staff of reporters. In 1987, she brought her management skills to Self magazine, where she served a one-year stint as editor. Despite her short-lived tenure, she caught the attention of News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch, who admired her flamboyance and versatility.

Murdoch decided to give Disney the reins of News Corp.'s TV tabloid A Current Affair. She stayed with the show until 1991, when she jumped ship to head up Murdoch's TV Guide magazine. In 1996, the guiding hand of Murdoch again brought another exciting opportunity in yet another field: book publishing. With no background in publishing but more than enough verve, the 49-year-old Disney took control of News Corp.'s HarperCollins in March 1996. Her short-lived tenure there was marked by controversy; she fired 13 percent of HarperCollins' workforce and cancelled contracts with over 100 writers. Her actions - which she termed essential cost-cutting measures - angered the publishing world and alienated much of her staff.

Replaced in the fall of 1997, Disney accepted a position as chairman and CEO of News Corp.'s publishing group, a subsidiary that oversees TV Guide magazine, HarperCollins, News America Digital Publishing, and the Weekly Standard. In March 1999, she was anointed chairman and CEO of the entire corporation, following a merger of News Corp.'s TV Guide properties and United Video.