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Billionaire John Morgan once fired his son for showing up late to work: ‘Get a new job’
John Morgan, a billionaire and founder of Morgan & Morgan, once fired his son Daniel for tardiness.
John Morgan, the billionaire founder of Morgan & Morgan, says the grit that defined his own childhood is the same grit he tried to instill in his four children — even when it meant firing one of them.
Who is John Morgan?
John Morgan, 69, is an American attorney based in Florida, best known as founder of personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.5 billion.
The eldest of five, Morgan began working at a young age to support his financially struggling family. Decades later, his personal-injury law firm has grown into one of the largest in the United States, with more than 1,000 lawyers and offices across all 50 states.
Beyond his legal empire, Morgan owns science museums, malls, billboard companies and even a crime-and-punishment attraction featuring the original white Ford Bronco from OJ Simpson’s infamous police chase.
John Morgan has three sons and one daughter.
Billionaire fires son
The founder of Morgan & Morgan says he once dismissed his son Daniel from a job at WonderWorks — the family’s chain of science-focused entertainment centres — after hearing he had been showing up late and slacking off.
“I had to fire Dan once,” Morgan recalled in an interview with Business Insider. “I said, ‘Hey man, you're fired. And you're not going out until you get a new job.’”
Daniel later described the experience as humiliating but transformative, telling Business Insider that getting fired for tardiness “turned out to be one of the most important lessons of my life.” He added: “The golden rule in our house was that you always had to have a job.”
The episode reflected Morgan’s approach to parenting: his children were expected to work, earn their own way, and understand that their surname alone wasn’t a ticket to easy treatment. For Morgan, perspective mattered — and so did humility.
The value of humility
After being dismissed from WonderWorks, Daniel took a job at Boston Market, only to quit within a week. Morgan said his son found himself washing dishes, a task that made him vomit. “I said, think about that, Dan. They got you doing the worst job in the place. That's what they think of you,” he told BI.
Daniel later moved to Firehouse Subs, where he “excelled”, and eventually pursued a law degree like his two brothers. “Working in the fast-food industry taught me the value of humility and hard work (and showing up on time),” he wrote.
"When I eventually joined Morgan & Morgan, I started in the call center and had to work my way up, earning every opportunity," wrote Daniel. He is now a managing partner at Morgan & Morgan.
Despite that wealth, John Morgan insists luck played a significant role in his rise. “I think when people start making money, they think they're a lot smarter than they actually are, and that arrogance is how they lose,” he told Business Insider. “And so I believe luck has had an incredible amount to do with what happened to me.”
That belief shaped the way he raised his children. “These rich people buy their kids great cars, I never did,” he said. “I gave them like an 8-year-old Navigator, and they had to work, and they had to pay for their insurance.”
