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My friend, I am such a big believer that your mindset is everything.
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It can really dictate if your life has meaning, has value, and you feel fulfilled, or if you feel exhausted, drained, and like you re never going to be enough.
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Our brand new book, The Greatness Mindset, just hit the New York Times Bestseller back-to-back weeks.
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And I m so excited to hear from so many of you who ve bought the book, who ve read it, and have finished it already, and are getting incredible results from the lessons in the book.
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If you haven t got a copy yet,
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You ll learn how to build a plan for greatness through powerful exercises and toolkits designed to propel your life forward.
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This is the book I wish I had when I was 20, struggling, trying to figure out life.
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10 years ago at 30, trying to figure out transitions in my life and the book I m glad I have today for myself.
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Make sure to get a copy at lewishouse.com slash 2023 mindset to get your copy today.
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Again, lewishouse.com slash 2023 mindset to get a copy today.
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Also, the book is on audible now, so you can get it on audio book as well.
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And don t forget to follow the show.
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So you never miss an episode.
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In my environment, we weren t allowed to be vulnerable because
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I have to be macho.
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I have to be tough.
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I can t be vulnerable, right?
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And then when you talk about the pitfalls of the streets, you definitely can t be vulnerable because... Welcome to the school of greatness.
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My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur.
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And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness.
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Thanks for spending some time with me today.
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Now let the class begin.
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Welcome back, everyone at the School of Greatness.
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Very excited about our guest.
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We have the inspiring Rich Paul in the house.
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My man, so great to see you.
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Great to see you as well, my fellow Ohioans.
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Thanks for having me.
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Let s go, baby.
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I love this.
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I just want to do a quick little bio about you for people that don t know who you are.
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But Rich Paul, you started Clutch Sports Group, one of the most influential sports representation companies in the world.
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You represent some of the biggest pro athletes
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and you ve done billions in negotiated deals.
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Obviously, you work with LeBron James.
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You are UTA s head of sports, from what I read.
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You are also on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
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They called you the kingmaker.
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GQ called you the power broker of the year and time.
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called your company 100 of the most influential companies.
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And it s amazing to watch your journey from behind the scenes as a fellow Ohioan watching these things over the last 10 plus years when I started to be aware of you.
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And I m really grateful for how I ve heard about your reputation.
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This is our first time meeting.
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But the way I ve heard about you, the things I ve seen about you, and how you respect people.
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And how you do business differently in the sports world, which is not about, I ve heard you say this multiple times, it s not about the money, it s about the meaning behind the relationships.
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It s about the connections you create with people.
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and valuing relationships first.
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And I really respect and appreciate that about you.
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And the story, the mythology goes, LeBron James wrote the foreword to your book that you guys met in an airport.
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Yes.
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And he talked about, I m paraphrasing what he mentioned in your book, but he talked about how you gave him and you give people
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things that most people in your community don t do, which is giving people vulnerability, the ability to be vulnerable.
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And that s something I talk a lot about on the School of Greatness.
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And I think it s really the essence of connection, allowing for space for vulnerability.
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And I m curious,
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How did you learn about vulnerability early on?
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Or were you not a vulnerable child?
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Where did you learn that lesson, and have you always kept it consistent?
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You hit it right on the head.
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I think in my environment, we weren t allowed to be vulnerable, right?
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And so I had to learn that
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through emotion, right?
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And so it s kind of like wavelengths of humans, right?
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I can stand next to you and I can feel that wavelength and I can feel that emotion through that wavelength and I can look in your eyes and understand that you and I, we share some of the same issues, we share some of the same interests, we share and oftentimes,
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Young, especially men, all men.
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And then when you break it down to young men in the black community, communication is one of the hardest things there is to do, right?
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Because I have to be macho.
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I have to be tough.
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I can t be vulnerable, right?
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And then when you talk about the pitfalls of the streets, you definitely can t be vulnerable because the mindset has to
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forget, but not really ever forgive.
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It s a difference.
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Most people say forgive and forget, but when you re in the streets, it s a different mentality.
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You have to forget in terms of not in its existence, but for that moment to get through, but you don t never really forgive, right?
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And so when I started to
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interact with people and be around people just in my community, I started to see a consistent behavior across the board of belittling people, just being mean to someone just because that s what made people laugh, right?
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Being cool or funny, yeah.
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So you thought that, right?
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What it was, I started to realize is these people are deflecting pain, right?
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They re deflecting that pain.
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Their body s a mirror.
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And when they look at themselves, they re looking in the mirror of themselves.
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All they see and all they feel is pain.
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And so their behavior causes them to deflect that.
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That s not who they really are.
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but they also don t know who they really are.
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And the person that they think they are, they re not happy with that person.
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But there s no therapist to talk to.
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There s no parental.
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structure in place that I can, you know, bounce things off the wall with.
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And so my mom was struggling with her addiction, and I decided to take a different approach at a very young age.
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And over time, that consistent behavior allowed people to gravitate towards me, right?
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And- What was that change that you had early on then?
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I think the change was in conversation or in that playful, we called it ranking.
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In St.
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Louis they called it joning.
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In other places they called it different.
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Playing the dozens back in the day, the older things.
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It got to a level to where people would start to say a hurtful thing or what they thought was hurtful to you.
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And it was hurtful in some aspects.
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but I processed it different.
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And so at a very young age, when you read inside the book, Lucky Me, I talk about, I had to bottle this up and then I had to decide, okay, how am I going to react?
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And if more people in the world did this, there would be less people dead, there d be less people in jail, there would be less, you know, it s just, and so, as a young man, I m sitting there and I m laying on the floor and I m saying, okay, the next time this person says this, I m gonna have to do one of two things.
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Either I m gonna have to fight, or one of three things, fight, walk away, or figure out a way to where
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I don t exude violence, but I m killing them with kindness and then ultimately having the ability to befriend that person because I understand and help them understand that you and I are one in the same.
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And so that s what I did.
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When the guy said to me, that s why your mom smokes crack.
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My comment back to him was, yeah, but who looks as if their mom smoke crack, me or you?
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And so that causes the crowd to now have a different response.
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Right?
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There s no fighting words.
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There s no, you know, no physicality.
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It s just a simple thing.
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But then that caused me to also, you know, cause everyone has
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observer s paradox.
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Social media today is observer s paradox at its highest form, right?
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Kids are reacting based upon a social media response and feels as if I have to kill this person now because they embarrass me and everybody s seen it.
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But if me and you get into an altercation, and we re the only one that know about the altercation, you have your story, I have mine.
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No one else seen it.
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It s only based upon the crowd of people around to where you, and there s been so many instances like that growing up.
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And it s inside this book of Lucky Me that I had to navigate through to get to the point that I am today.
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So this was a learned behavior.
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I mean, emotional intelligence, I feel like, is one of the most powerful things that any leader or entrepreneur or agent can have to truly be successful for the long term.
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I ve seen a lot of people make money or build a business or become successful in something, but fall quickly without emotional intelligence.
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What do you feel like is the biggest skill you ve learned in the last decade plus, it s 11 years of Clutch Sports Group now, I think it s 11.
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In the last decade, what have you, the biggest skill you ve learned to take your leadership skills to the next level, to take your connection to the next level, to take, that s allowed your business to grow so much?
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I think it starts with not sitting your success.
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You can t sit there.
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I think the next thing I would say would be,
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Be a willing listener because it s important to listen to the people that s helping you get there.
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Also, third would be know what you don t know.
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One of the first things I did was I went and I got a guy who was very helpful to me.
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named Mark Termini.
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And Mark Termini was an agent prior to, never had the success that I had as an agent, but also focused on something very specific.
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And the one thing I knew that people would say about me was that I lacked
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I lacked negotiation experience.
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Because they would just need something to say.
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And so that was one of the first things I did.
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And then I would say, so know what you don t know.
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And then the fourth thing I would say is be willing to invest in others.
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What does that look like for you?
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I have people that s in my company that came off the street pretty much.
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They didn t need a resume prior to.
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I believe in our platform.
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I believe in our infrastructure.
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I believe in our brand.
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I believe in our culture.
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So anyone that s coming in, the first thing you need to be willing to be is a teammate.
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A good teammate, you can start there.
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Everything else, you can be developed, just like a basketball player, just like a football player.
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If you re a receiver, understanding how to run routes, if you re a basketball player, understanding what you need to work on, coming off a pick and roll, coming off a screen, reading the pick and roll, throwing the pocket pass or seeing the man in the corner, those different reads, it s the same thing in our business.
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If you fall in love with the headlines, if you fall in love with what s in it for me and this is what most athletes do and then most people around the athlete, they re not helping them make the best decisions because it s on the basis of what s in it for them.
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So now in the sports business, you get this…
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this pyramid of entitlement or this infrastructure of entitlement around the athlete and it stunts their growth.
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I m curious about this because I want to make sure I get the story right, so correct me if I m wrong, but you met LeBron early on at an airport in Akron and then
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But you didn t start your agency until 2012.
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Was that a decade later or 12 years later?
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10 years later, pretty much.
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10 years later, right?
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Yeah.
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So you became friends with LeBron 10 years before you launched your business.
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But you decide not to launch a business sooner than that.
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You wait a decade, even though you potentially could have launched something with him or around him or in connection to him sooner.
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Correct me if I m wrong.
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Probably not.
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I think if I would have tried to do that then it would have failed.
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And I think that s what people have to understand.
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I wasn t able to feel that entitlement because I was next to him.
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Nor did I want to.
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You have to allow things to evolve.
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People count the years, but don t count the years.
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You have to count the minutes within the hour, the hour within the day, the day within the week, and the weeks within the months, and then the months within the year, and then the years.
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You get what I m saying?
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And so for me, I was already somebody when we met.
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I was,
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what people would deem to be the LeBron of my neighborhood.
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Really?
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Already.
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Why is that?
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You know, because I was the chosen one, no pun intended, you know?
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And through all my journeys, you know, all my ups and downs, the roller coaster of life, everything I did, the good, bad, and the ugly, I did it best in class.
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Interesting.
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Right?
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And so- So you were the go-to guy in your neighborhood.
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Yeah, for sure.
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And everyone knew that, right?
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It was like a secret thing, but everyone knew that.
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But I was also, when I say the go-to guy, not just for bad things, I m talking about for like, I help kids with their homework if I see them doing math, you know, just my friend has a child early and don t really know how to handle it, so we talk about it, right?
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I was the young man coming home from school and I m seeing my brother, his older siblings, I mean his older friends and his friends are doing something and I m talking to my brother and I just had this conversation the other day.
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And my brother is somebody that I really respect wholeheartedly and I appreciate him because he sacrificed a lot for me, a whole lot, and was willing to do anything
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to make sure that I was successful.
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And so that s why the title was Lucky Me.
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There s so many different components to the luck.
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The average person in America would think, oh, of course you re lucky.
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You met LeBron and you went on to do this and you wouldn t be able to get in these rooms if it wasn t for LeBron, blah, blah, blah.
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And they re partly correct as it pertains to, yes,
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I did meet LeBron prior to him becoming LeBron, but I also had the ability to understand my position and my role at that time.
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Roles change.
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There s a chapter in the book, there s a rule in the book that s called star in your role.
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There s a rule in the book, right?
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And when you think about the evolution of a person, and you think about the evolution of positioning, allow yourself to be a part of that evolution by managing the transitions within.
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Like you said, when we first started, LeBron didn t need, what does he need?
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He s a rookie, right?
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His exact words to me when I was hired is, I have nothing for you to do.
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I don t have a title, I don t have anything for you to do.
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And at that time, I wasn t looking to be an agent.
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You weren t?
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No, not at that time.
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So you re what, 22?
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22, yeah.
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At that time, I m looking to make it out of the ghetto.
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I m looking to be on the side of the mountain.
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that there are no sirens, there are no deaths at young ages, there are no every time I get in my car I have to look in my rearview mirror to see if it s the police, if it s the jackers and robbers, whoever it may be, if it s a rival, whatever the case may be.
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People don t understand how much pressure you grow up under in the black community.
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And I say black community predominantly, but today it s in these minority, poverty stricken communities.
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There was no such thing as planning ahead.
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Survival mode.
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Yeah.
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And people, and I think sometimes people get it misconstrued because
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it like, well, you have a choice.
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Well, this is the school of greatness, right?
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But you take this young kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio who has the same capabilities of any student
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at the Stanford Business School, at the Harvard Business School.
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Now I said capabilities, but the opportunities aren t there.
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And that s the difference.
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My brain works just as good as anybody s in the world.
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But if I m sitting in sanitation,
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then how do you expect me to evolve?
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Because I m dealing with two things.
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I m dealing with the lack thereof opportunity and the lack thereof discovery to even obtain an opportunity.
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So this is some deep stuff if you wanna get into it.
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And so when you read the book, these are all the things that I m explaining to you.
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Despite all of this, I ve been able to land across from
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Lewis and we re having this conversation.
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But when LeBron was first drafted, I m a part of the crew.
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At that moment
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I could be totally satisfied.
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I get to hang, we re going here, we re going there.
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It s this, it s that, it s bright lights, things is popping, so on and so forth.
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But you got to remember, that s not who I am.
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And you ll see from the first chapter,
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I m a natural born hustler.
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Right.
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You weren t just trying to latch on or just hang out and just... Latch nowhere.
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Yeah, you were trying to... You were the chosen one in your own right.
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I m trying to live.
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I m trying to survive.
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Like you said, you sold your company.
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You had enough money to last you a couple of years.
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Well, I also had enough money to last me a couple of years.
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And then some.
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Based upon my lifestyle at that moment.
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The thing I was able to give him was like he said, we would have these conversations and through my dialogue he understood that I understood him and there was no judgment.
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At the time, growing up in Ohio, LeBron was
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well known in Ohio, I think at 14 or 15 at that point.
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But then it was like 16, it was like, oh, nationally, it s like, okay, now he s starting, who is this high school kid or people that show up to this game, now, oh, it s on TV?
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So I remember growing up being like, oh, LeBron, because it was Maurice Claret, you know, and then LeBron, right?
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Well, if you really think about it, and if you talk to Maurice Claret,
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I used to talk to Maurice Courette when he was incarcerated.
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I would send Maurice Courette money to his girl that he had called when he was incarcerated.
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Maurice Courette was a great guy.
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I went down to Maurice Courette s mom s house.
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She had a townhouse down in Columbus.
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When that happened to Reese, it was just upsetting.
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But you got to remember, think about the pressure.
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He is trying to align himself with LeBron, because LeBron can go right out of high school.
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Why can t I do?
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Why do I have to play him?
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You understand what I m saying?
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And in a lot of ways, he was not wrong.
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In a lot of ways, he was not wrong.
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But at the same time, here s where that understanding
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and there was no social media back then.
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It was very little player empowerment back then.
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No NIL back then.
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No NIL back then.
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Everyone s monetizing off of him, except for him.
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Exactly, and so now you have this frustrated young man, and rightfully so.
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Now, we understand why the limit is what it is.
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I actually think it should be a year less, but we understand it because of the physicality of the game and things like that.
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But that s not the only reason.
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Now there s NIL, so you can, you know, you... Can develop more and make money and in college a little more.
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Yeah, but we have to fix that too.
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Because NIL s broken, right?
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SPEAKER_00
It s fixed on the front end, but it s broken on the back end.
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Right, right.
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And so... But it was only LeBron and... I mean, they were both from Ohio.
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I mean, it was unbelievable.
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It was an unbelievable time in sports.
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It was unreal.
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I remember being so proud of being from Ohio.
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and big Ohio State fan and just like, this is amazing.
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Yeah, we re huge Ohio State fans.
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Huge, man, it s like, I was at the Michigan-Ohio State game last year, I was so sad to watch the news, but seeing Maurice and then LeBron take over the country was so inspiring to watch.
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And I can only imagine the amount of... Imagine if we had social media.
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Oh my gosh.
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But I can only imagine the pressure both of those guys had.
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A ton of pressure.
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16, 17, 19.
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A ton of pressure.
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SPEAKER_01
And trying to break all these rules, I mean, in a good way, breaking the different rules of sports and business and all these things, trying to do new things, trying to build their brands in certain ways, but just the pressure of everyone wanting something from them and everyone trying to put them in a box at the same time.
2
SPEAKER_01
All these different things.
2
SPEAKER_01
But you were able to be there for LeBron, and it sounds like Maurice, I didn t know this, as well, in ways that others weren t.
2
SPEAKER_01
You were able to give, you know, console, you were able to be vulnerable with them, is what it sounds like to me.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and again, I think that when you look at the dynamic, we all were pretty
2
SPEAKER_00
mild manner, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
We were all raised a certain way.
2
SPEAKER_00
It didn t matter what we didn t have.
2
SPEAKER_00
We were raised a certain way.
2
SPEAKER_00
So that foundation as a human being and its character mattered.
2
SPEAKER_00
So when we started to push forward, I think the one thing that he knew was
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t have anybody around me that s gonna make a decision for them.
2
SPEAKER_00
I mean, seen it, it s very clear.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the one thing that I knew was, this isn t my brother.
2
SPEAKER_00
This isn t my, you know, it s just like when I was in my neighborhood, you get, you know, whether you re in the streets doing what you do, whether you re running with people that can cost you your life or freedom, et cetera, you get one time.
2
SPEAKER_00
And for me, it was the same thing.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like I had zero entitlement.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so I also had zero ego because I know who I am and I know what my capabilities are.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I don t mind doing the grunt work, what people would think would be the grunt work.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s not really grunt work though.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s what shapes you and molds you.
2
SPEAKER_00
I worked in my dad s store from 6 a.m.
2
SPEAKER_00
starting at 6 a.m.
2
SPEAKER_00
My dad never took a holiday.
2
SPEAKER_00
There was no such thing as Thanksgiving and Christmas and the stores closed.
2
SPEAKER_00
You gotta make money.
2
SPEAKER_00
We re open 24-7, 365, rain, sleet, hail, or snow.
2
SPEAKER_00
School s out, we re open.
2
SPEAKER_00
So Blizzard, we re open.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s like all those things.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so watching, I had the best example in front of me.
2
SPEAKER_00
Hence why I m so lucky.
2
SPEAKER_00
I learned math and marketing from
2
SPEAKER_00
cash register and products within the store and how people bought it.
2
SPEAKER_00
I learned customer service, dealing with people.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m dealing with all types of people.
2
SPEAKER_00
Older men and women, younger men and women, drunks, drug addicts to people who work in jobs, teachers, mechanics, everything.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so I had this world around me and I m this young kid that my dad has thrown into the fire
2
SPEAKER_00
with an expectation of you know what to do and what not to do.
2
SPEAKER_00
And that s how we lived.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so it wasn t, I didn t grow up in a world where my dad had to say something more than once.
2
SPEAKER_00
You heard it, you did it.
2
SPEAKER_00
You heard it, you did it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Being back here at such time, there was no iPhone.
2
SPEAKER_00
There was no FaceTime.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, but you re on time.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you re there.
2
SPEAKER_01
But the thing is, you know, I would think that most 21, 22 year olds today, if they met some up-and-coming influencer on social media or some superstar or whatever, and they became friends with them, I would think that most of them would be thinking, how do I get the most from this person?
2
SPEAKER_01
Maybe I m wrong.
2
SPEAKER_01
Maybe people aren t thinking that way.
3
SPEAKER_01
think, okay, I m in the friend group, I m in a circle, I m getting a building relationship.
3
SPEAKER_01
What can I do to build with this person and monetize or financially grow as well?
3
SPEAKER_01
But it sounds like you just said, I just want to be here as a friend and contribute and add value.
3
SPEAKER_01
I got my own thing and I m not trying to monetize anything right now.
3
SPEAKER_01
That wasn t something that was on your mind.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, the thing was is my own thing came on the back of
3
SPEAKER_00
dead or in jail.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I don t even want that.
3
SPEAKER_00
But what I have is, what s the opportunity cost of me not staying in the fray?
3
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, we re boys, we re friends, we re enjoying it, you know.
3
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes people just need support without you gouging to try to get something all the time, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
Sometimes it s okay for the athlete to be able to just do for themselves and not have to do for everybody else and not feel entitled to have to support everybody else.
3
SPEAKER_00
See, there s only in the black community where that, I m not gonna say only, majority
3
SPEAKER_00
of this transpires within the black community because if one person make it, then nobody else is really doing anything.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so now your mentality becomes what?
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I m good.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m good.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, no, no, no.
3
SPEAKER_00
He s good.
3
SPEAKER_00
We have the ability to be okay given that we
3
SPEAKER_00
value him to the point to where we re not gonna do anything detrimental to his career.
3
SPEAKER_00
And while doing so, hopefully we make relationships that allows us to then detach ourselves from this person.
3
SPEAKER_00
And no, I m not gonna get rich, but what I am gonna do is get in position.
3
SPEAKER_00
And if I can get in position and I value that position,
3
SPEAKER_00
then I can manage the transition.
3
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
3
SPEAKER_00
And if I manage that transition and I m able to evolve, then I can do what?
3
SPEAKER_00
Become repositioned.
3
SPEAKER_00
Interesting.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that s how my mind worked.
3
SPEAKER_00
My mind didn t work.
3
SPEAKER_00
Let me jump in front and let me show my song and dance.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s not what I m into.
3
SPEAKER_00
And the only reason why I was able to think that way is because of this silly line that I was raised up on.
3
SPEAKER_00
The average person can t get here and think that way.
3
SPEAKER_00
It just doesn t work like that.
3
SPEAKER_00
And even today, right now today, I talk to young men and women all the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
I talk to young people trying to start companies next to athletes.
3
SPEAKER_00
And you know what they re saying consistently?
3
SPEAKER_00
The bag, the bag, the bag.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s all about the bag, the bag.
3
SPEAKER_00
Well, there s a lot of bags with a hole in the bottom of it, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
And your guy that you re standing next to,
3
SPEAKER_00
It s only gonna be able to do what they do for the next 10 to 12 years, max.
3
SPEAKER_00
You gotta hope they last that long.
3
SPEAKER_00
Very few is gonna get to year 21.
3
SPEAKER_00
You can forget that.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so... Very few make it past two or three years.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is my point.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so, what I try to explain to them is, no, you re looking at this all wrong.
3
SPEAKER_00
Don t use your position next to the player
3
SPEAKER_00
to gouge and get the most for you.
3
SPEAKER_00
Use your position next to the player to evaluate and understand where you can fit in.
3
SPEAKER_00
And when you get to that, when you get there,
3
SPEAKER_00
Then try to continue to add value so that you can stay there.
3
SPEAKER_01
Man, this is the most important thing I think people need to hear right now.
3
SPEAKER_01
And it s about starring in your role.
3
SPEAKER_01
You have to star in it, man.
3
SPEAKER_01
And your role may evolve over time in whatever position.
3
SPEAKER_00
It will evolve over time.
3
SPEAKER_00
It will.
3
SPEAKER_00
And it, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
But if you, but if I m a role player and I jump out and I try to, the coach didn t call the play.
3
SPEAKER_00
You come out the huddle.
3
SPEAKER_00
And you doing your thing, that s not what the coach drew up, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
And you have to understand the importance of executing out of a timeout.
3
SPEAKER_00
That is what separates great coaches from good coaches from bad coaches.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s not the full 48 minutes of the game because half the time they re not even coaching.
3
SPEAKER_00
When you have the top talent,
3
SPEAKER_00
But what do you do after a timeout?
3
SPEAKER_00
It s the same way in life.
3
SPEAKER_00
If I see something transpire, let me go in, readjust, drop a different play, and then I come out of that timeout, it s important for me to execute.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s in a relationship, that s in a personal or business, that s in planning,
3
SPEAKER_00
That s in anything you do in life.
3
SPEAKER_00
But these young people today, between social media and the bag.
3
SPEAKER_00
They re called no man s land.
3
SPEAKER_00
And you know what happened when you re called no man s land.
3
SPEAKER_00
What happened?
3
SPEAKER_00
It s a backdoor cut and layup.
3
SPEAKER_00
You know?
3
SPEAKER_01
You get beat.
3
SPEAKER_01
You get beat.
3
SPEAKER_01
You get beat.
3
SPEAKER_01
When you play the game.
3
SPEAKER_01
This is fascinating though, though.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because, I mean, I remember watching the, I think it was the documentary or it was a series, More Than An Athlete.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_01
With you and Maverick, you know, and who s the one other guy in that, right?
3
SPEAKER_01
Randy.
3
SPEAKER_01
Randy, yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
But it just seems like you guys had a level of wisdom and
3
SPEAKER_01
forward thinking that most don t in that type of dynamics in relationship when you have a friend, family member, whoever that you re close to, who is making it.
3
SPEAKER_01
When I think about, you know, Mike Vick and this, you know, his friends kind of taking from him and what happened there.
3
SPEAKER_01
And you think about someone like Tyson who had to learn his lessons from giving money to people that weren t adding value and certain things like that.
3
SPEAKER_01
Most people seems like they re trying to get without adding value or knowing their role.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yes.
3
SPEAKER_01
But you and Maverick, you guys were like, no, we re just going to be friends and help our friend make it and know our role.
3
SPEAKER_01
You know why?
3
SPEAKER_00
Because we also would challenge each other.
3
SPEAKER_00
Really?
3
SPEAKER_00
Oh yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
And that s the thing I think that
3
SPEAKER_00
made it become what it has become today because there was no such thing as us being in a room and happened to be and just shut up.
3
SPEAKER_00
That didn t exist, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, we had challenging times amongst each other for the right reason.
3
SPEAKER_00
We inspire and motivate each other for the right reason.
3
SPEAKER_00
We listen to each other for the right reason.
3
SPEAKER_00
And when you think about all these things, I remember plain as day, when we first started LRMR, there was a conversation, well, who s going to lead it?
3
SPEAKER_00
There was no certain qualifications from nobody to be able to lead it, but this decision made the most sense.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so that s what we re going with.
3
SPEAKER_00
And at that time, the decision was for Maverick to lead it, which is fine.
3
SPEAKER_00
That made the most sense.
3
SPEAKER_01
Great.
3
SPEAKER_01
Did that hurt your ego or were you trying to push and say, I should lead this?
3
SPEAKER_01
No, not at all.
3
SPEAKER_00
Right?
3
SPEAKER_00
Because you don t push, you support.
3
SPEAKER_00
So now when it was my time, because again, the only one that ever had a real opportunity was, I mean not a real opportunity, out the gate, was LeBron.
3
SPEAKER_00
LeBron, and then Randy, who was LeBron.
3
SPEAKER_00
So Randy had a job to do 24-7, 365.
3
SPEAKER_01
You guys didn t have jobs from LeBron.
3
SPEAKER_01
He was like, you re my boys, well hang.
3
SPEAKER_01
I want you guys to hang out with me.
3
SPEAKER_00
But that also didn t feel good for us either.
3
SPEAKER_01
Because you re like, we don t want to just hang out and not contribute.
3
SPEAKER_00
We wanted to make sure that we came up with things to where LeBron supported, but we didn t
3
SPEAKER_00
necessarily want to be totally dependent.
3
SPEAKER_00
You understand what I m saying?
3
SPEAKER_00
And it s a different time now.
3
SPEAKER_00
And the problem is, and I used to not say this, but today everyone wants to duplicate that and you can t do it.
3
SPEAKER_00
You can t duplicate.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because number one, timing.
3
SPEAKER_00
Timing is so important.
3
SPEAKER_00
Timing is so important.
3
SPEAKER_00
Number two, the stars have to align.
3
SPEAKER_00
They just do.
3
SPEAKER_00
Number three.
4
SPEAKER_01
Those people, if you come with the entitlement, then you better come with the capabilities.
4
SPEAKER_01
Better back it up.
4
SPEAKER_01
You have to come with the capabilities.
4
SPEAKER_01
And it has to be a two-way street.
4
SPEAKER_01
The athlete and the supporting cast have to be aligned.
4
SPEAKER_01
That athlete has to be able to become a business
4
SPEAKER_01
Most athletes aren t businesses.
4
SPEAKER_01
They re just talent.
4
SPEAKER_01
They re getting a talent feed, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
Very few athletes actually become businesses.
4
SPEAKER_01
But to most people around the athlete, what do you mean?
4
SPEAKER_01
He makes a lot of money.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yes, he makes a lot of money, but that doesn t make him a business to where you can make a lot of money.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yes, his contract, his marketing deal is in the LLC.
4
SPEAKER_01
He s a walking corporation, he is.
4
SPEAKER_01
But for that walking corporation to have an infrastructure to where the CEO and the CMO and the CFO and the this and the that can actually make money, that don t exist.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and if he gets injured or gets cut or doesn t perform, there s no more money coming in.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right, but it just doesn t exist.
4
SPEAKER_01
And the problem is, everyone thinks that because this person makes a lot of money,
4
SPEAKER_01
that they should be making a lot of money without a business to support you making a lot of money.
4
SPEAKER_00
And without contributing or adding value.
4
SPEAKER_00
Just being someone s friend doesn t mean they should pay you.
4
SPEAKER_00
No.
4
SPEAKER_01
But again, if they chose to do that, great.
4
SPEAKER_01
For the moment, not forever.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because when you talk about evolution, this person has to evolve too.
4
SPEAKER_01
Today they can hang out with the boys and play the video game all day and it s all good.
4
SPEAKER_01
What happens when they get a girl?
4
SPEAKER_01
Now you upset.
4
SPEAKER_01
What happens when you get a family?
4
SPEAKER_01
What happens when you get married?
4
SPEAKER_01
These are all things that myself and Maverick, we were thinking about this when I was
4
SPEAKER_01
in our apartment that we shared, that we flipped a coin for who got the master bedroom or not.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I was a homeowner when I did this.
4
SPEAKER_01
Really?
4
SPEAKER_01
What city was this in?
4
SPEAKER_01
Cleveland.
4
SPEAKER_01
Cleveland, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
But it was important to be there and to be present and to have these conversations because, again, nobody thought we would be in the position that we re in today.
4
SPEAKER_01
Nobody thought that I would be standing here in front of you today, you right off that list.
4
SPEAKER_01
Nobody thought that.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right?
4
SPEAKER_01
The NBA world didn t think it.
4
SPEAKER_01
The Asian world definitely didn t think, well, that is the NBA world.
4
SPEAKER_01
Society didn t think that.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, who are you?
4
SPEAKER_01
You re just this 22 year old, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right, and that s why some of the articles that came forth, what they were, but I didn t use that to exude the hate back.
4
SPEAKER_01
Those articles is just like the kid saying that your mom smoked crack.
4
SPEAKER_01
Interesting.
4
SPEAKER_01
Okay, great.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ll digest that.
4
SPEAKER_01
and we move on.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ll use that for fuel to keep driving my journey.
4
SPEAKER_01
Gotta keep driving your journey.
4
SPEAKER_00
Wow, man, this is fascinating.
4
SPEAKER_00
But I mean, again, for you to know timing and to be living in Cleveland during that time, just to be close,
4
SPEAKER_00
and to be available in essentially a supporting role at that time, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
A supporting role but not scared to speak the truth.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
Did you ever get pushed back?
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, but there was no such thing as being late to something.
4
SPEAKER_01
Or there was no such thing as, oh, we re going to do this just for the sake of doing it.
4
SPEAKER_01
There was no such thing as, we re going to close the club down.
4
SPEAKER_01
There was no such thing.
4
SPEAKER_01
We had things within our inner circle to where this is what it was, and this is non-negotiable.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
Really?
4
SPEAKER_00
And we respected each other to know that.
4
SPEAKER_00
Oh, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
Absolutely.
4
SPEAKER_00
So you guys really thought about this like a business, even though it wasn t at that time.
4
SPEAKER_00
It sounds like we got to show up on time.
4
SPEAKER_00
We got to make sure we re being responsible.
4
SPEAKER_00
And everybody followed the lead.
4
SPEAKER_01
When you think about it, when you when you think about the impact and influence that not just us, that LeBron, but also us have had, has had on the entire ecosystem of sport.
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, there s a
4
SPEAKER_01
There s a line in a Jay-Z record called, I Did It My Way.
4
SPEAKER_01
It s a Frank Sinatra song.
4
SPEAKER_01
But it was a sample.
4
SPEAKER_01
But he says, we came in this game demanding our respect.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s what it was.
4
SPEAKER_01
And people seen that as, our peers seen that as,
4
SPEAKER_01
who they think they are type of thing.
4
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, it was all the chitter chatter and et cetera.
4
SPEAKER_01
And society seen it as the entourage that s going to fail.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so you hearing all this.
4
SPEAKER_01
But the reality of it was.
4
SPEAKER_01
We just really wanted to support somebody and also be dependent, independent enough to where
4
SPEAKER_01
We maintain a relationship from a place of truth and never put anybody in harm s way to benefit for yourself.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s fascinating.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because that s what takes down the family.
4
SPEAKER_01
It does.
4
SPEAKER_01
In most cases, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
That s fascinating.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s why Michael got so mad at Fredo.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right, it wasn t that he made the mistake talking to Johnny Ola and Johnny Ola gave the information to Hyman Roth.
4
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t just that.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was that, that thing you thinking about yourself is gonna take down everything that our father built and then some, goofball.
4
SPEAKER_01
And this is what transpires all the time.
4
SPEAKER_01
So now, today, Louis, around the athlete,
4
SPEAKER_01
You got the guy next to the athlete, that guy is not looking to do anything but make the best deal for himself.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s not good.
4
SPEAKER_01
No.
4
SPEAKER_01
When I lost a player, well, I m not going to say I, our company,
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, we separated from a player this year, but it wasn t because of anything that we done wrong or anything.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was strictly because there was a guy next to him that wanted to make the best decision for him, not the player, because it wasn t the best decision for the player, but for him and disguise of.
4
SPEAKER_01
this is what s best for you, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
And this is going to be our thing, and they re going to do this for you, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
4
SPEAKER_01
And they did the same thing they did for them, they re going to do for you.
4
SPEAKER_01
But what they don t know is they haven t really done anything for us, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
Despite being on a client list, they ain t really done nothing for us.
4
SPEAKER_01
And so they were able to sell that.
4
SPEAKER_01
And quite naturally, you know, when there s not, I mean, there s, I can t sit here and say there was just great relationship because it wasn t, it was kind of inherited, but that s the mentality versus that person coming and saying, hey, we want, this is how we envision things.
4
SPEAKER_01
We re willing to listen and hear the truth because coming from somebody who built it and done it,
4
SPEAKER_01
And if there s a shortfall, where do we fall short at, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
And it s just a conversation to have, but that never works when that person wants to be you.
4
SPEAKER_01
See, that s a whole nother element that people don t understand that lies under the belly of the beast, right?
4
SPEAKER_01
People don t understand that.
4
SPEAKER_01
So when you talk about
4
SPEAKER_01
You know, just business and the school of greatness and all these different things, you cannot have that without collaboration and without communication.
4
SPEAKER_01
You cannot have that without a willingness to check your ego at the door, whether you re the talent or the person entitled to the talent or next to the talent.
4
SPEAKER_01
That s very important.
4
SPEAKER_01
And this whole, you know what we deal with?
4
SPEAKER_01
We deal with the, there s a master s or there s a course called Outdoing.
4
SPEAKER_01
I can guarantee you there s more people taking the course of outdoing than there is of macroeconomics.
4
SPEAKER_01
Because they don t want to understand that part.
4
SPEAKER_01
They just want to outdo.
4
SPEAKER_01
How do I outdo the next person?
4
SPEAKER_01
How do I outdo him?
4
SPEAKER_01
And you know who s teaching it?
4
SPEAKER_01
Nobody.
4
SPEAKER_01
You in class.
4
SPEAKER_01
Right.
5
SPEAKER_00
So, in your mind, this is just how you think it s supposed to go.
5
SPEAKER_00
And you also don t get no credit for that.
5
SPEAKER_01
You don t get credit for that, man.
5
SPEAKER_01
So you re around 29, I think, 29 or 30 when you launch Clutch, I believe.
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2012, September, I m 31.
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31, OK.
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So what was the biggest lesson in the decade of your 30s then?
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As you re now launching this sports agency, and no one really wants you to do it in the industry.
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They re kind of against you.
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They re like, oh.
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Not kind of against me.
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They were really against me.
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They re against you.
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They re creating rules that you can t read.
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Fake articles.
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All this stuff.
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Well, that came later.
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Right.
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The rule actually came after I ve had a little bit of success.
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Yeah.
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Previously, and still currently, but previously even more so then,
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The agency I left from, those people were just putting out all type of nonsense.
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So when you had, you know, it s hard to launch a business.
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Even if you have access and opportunities, it s still hard to launch a business.
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But I believed.
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I believed.
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Super thankful for the guys that believed in me.
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Tristan Thompson, Corey Joseph, Eric Bledsoe, and LeBron.
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Because those guys I started the company with first.
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Those were your first four athletes?
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Those were my first four athletes.
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And I made no money.
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Because all those contracts were at a previous agency.
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Now the good thing is, wow.
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Three of those guys were a rookie deal, so it didn t matter anyway.
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And their next deals were coming up, right?
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Their next deals were coming up in a couple of years.
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Their next deals were coming up, and they would come to me.
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And, wow, I didn t have it planned.
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This wasn t a plan of mine.
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Really?
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No.
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They would say, oh, he had this all planned out to save face for themselves, of my previous agency that I had left.
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But I didn t have it planned at all.
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I had a falling out with somebody.
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At the previous place?
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Yeah, and I m like, you know what?
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I m already, I know, I m being an ultimate team player while there because I know what my capabilities are and I m doing it despite all the BS that s going on.
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I m like, okay, if that s how it s gonna be, great.
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I ll leave.
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Wow.
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So you weren t even thinking about launching your own thing.
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No.
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There was no thought.
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But I m an impulsive guy.
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There was no thought of like, oh, this is all going to be planned out.
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I m going to do just like this.
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No.
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I was actually recruiting at that time.
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I was recruiting Kevin Durant to where I was at.
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Come to that agency.
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Yeah.
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Wow.
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Yeah.
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So you were there thinking, hey, I m going to go learn this business, work in this agency, and build with this agency.
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And I was doing all this without even being a registered agent.
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I was getting all this talent without even being around.
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I didn t care about the business card.
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I didn t have the office.
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I barely had meetings, right?
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It was mano-a-mano.
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And they believed in me.
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And another guy who really believed in me was a guy named Johnny Flynn.
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And Johnny Flynn, he was the six pick in the draft.
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Today, he s known for going ahead of Steph.
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But when Johnny Flynn came out,
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You know, I think all of his, at that time, it was a great guard class.
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It was Drew Holiday, Johnny, Brandon Jennings, Steph.
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And I want to say Ricky Rubio was in that class, and Tyreek Evans was in that class.
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And it was just a great, Ty Lawson was in that class, too.
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It s a great group of guards, great group of guards.
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I was able to recruit Johnny and bring it home.
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But you were never thinking, I m going to recruit these guys and go launch my own thing?
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Never.
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You were just trying to support him.
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I never thought that.
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So it was more of an impulsive thing because you had a falling out?
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Because going back to the lucky me, respect matters more than anything.
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I don t give a shit about your Hollywood agency.
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I care about respect.
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And when I felt disrespected, it was time for me to go.
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Right?
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And that should be any situation.
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If you re in a relationship, male or female, at the point you feel disrespected, it s time to go.
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It don t matter what the guy has or what he s purchasing you.
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I tell my daughter, it doesn t matter.
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And I would tell my son the same thing.
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My son s the same thing.
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And it s the same way for me.
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That s why I give people the ultimate respect.
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There s nobody in my business
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that can never say, oh, Rich is disrespectful to me.
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There s no one in this business that can ever say, Rich is disrespectful to me.
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That s never gonna be there.
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And when I had the, the point I was trying to make when I made the point on Gil s podcast, when they was asking me about the situation with Stephen A, the point I was trying to explain
5
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to them and I should explain it this way in addition to how I explained it because I was truthful with that, that s all cap.
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But what I m saying is it s cap because of when you read Lucky Me, the one thing you re going to take away from it is I dealt with an environment that every day this energy that existed
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Man, that s a different type of energy.
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And if I, the kid on the cover of that book, can navigate through that to get to this point, you think I m getting here with that energy from there?
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So I m never gonna put myself in a position for you to ever tell me to get the out your face.
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That s never gonna happen.
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I m for peace, I m for profit.
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That s never gonna happen, right?
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And so that s what my point was.
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It s not about playing a tough role or that, no.
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It s about understanding my role, starring in my role, knowing my position, and knowing that I m not getting to this place that I m at today with that energy.
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When I was in that environment, I had to carry that energy with me because it was on site.
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Right.
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And so, but today I don t live that life today.
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So I m never going to have that.
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I come with respectful.
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Hey, how you doing?
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Nice to see you.
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Blah, blah, blah.
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To my enemies.
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The same way I did when I was running the streets of Cleveland and I m in a neighborhood that I know may not like us or like somebody around me.
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And, you know, in that situation,
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You know, you guilty as charged.
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You know, that s how it comes.
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You with them, then you ain t with us.
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That s how it works.
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And so that s just always been my mentality.
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And so that s what really, it wasn t, that s what made me lead.
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And I ve always been a confident person.
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So it wasn t a matter of if.
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It was a matter of when.
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But when you left, and you knew you had four guys, but you weren t making any money for it.
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It sounds like a year or two.
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Yes.
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So how did you have the faith that, hey, this is going to work out, even though I m not bringing in a lot right now?
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Because I made something out of nothing.
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The same faith you have when you haven t seen your mother in six months.
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That faith is built within.
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That same faith you have when it s dark outside and you don t know who s coming down the street in that black hoodie and you have to know someone s silhouette.
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That s the difference between you being here today and going tomorrow.
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How I grew up.
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Or that s the worst case scenario.
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The best case scenario is your pocket has rabbit ears.
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You know what I m saying?
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But that s why I m so lucky.
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And most people would think I m talking about
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You have to read it to understand it.
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And when you read this book, because I know you re going to read it, when you do read it, you re going to call me and you re going to say, Rich, I get it now.
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And so everything I ve ever done in life is based upon principle.
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And that s why when I was able to get around LeBron,
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Everything was about principle for me.
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I didn t need nothing per se, but what he gave me, and that was an opportunity, which going back to how we started this conversation, when you re sitting in sanitation, you don t get that.
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It just so happened that
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He was also in sanitation too, and he understood that it s okay, you know, to give this person an opportunity because he felt that emotional connection, the ability to trust me, and to know, look in my eyes and to know, oh, this guy has built off something different, right?
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So this is more of me putting this wall around myself of protection.
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between these guys that I got around me.
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I mean, think about it.
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Talk about a lucky guy.
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I mean, obviously he created his own luck, but how do you pick Rich and Maverick?
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Yeah.
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I mean, it s pretty great.
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And Randy doesn t get the accolades, but it don t happen without him.
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He holds it all together.
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He can t be us without him.
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And so our ability to be one and to be separate.
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I have my own separate business.
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Maverick has his own separate business.
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LeBron is a player.
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Randy works LeBron every day on his stuff and we collaborate on things that we can and things that we can t, we don t.
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And I m not always in something that they do.
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And they re not always in something that I do.
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But that s the maturity amongst us all.
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We ve grown to that place in our lives to where it s okay.
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And we understand business more now than ever before.
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Yeah.
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And so, Clutch was a thing in which it was very impulsive.
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I believed in it.
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You got, you know, Jay-Z left an amazing review on the back of your book.
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What did he say?
6
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He said,
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One of the greatest stories of growing up in America s ghettos and overcoming adversity is what Jay-Z said on the back of your book, Lucky Me.
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I m curious, you ve built a relationship with Jay-Z.
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What s the biggest lesson he s taught you?
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Jay, I mean, again, I think he...
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He s one of the better examples of someone who continued to evolve and managed to transition and reposition himself, right?
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And Jay s birthday is December 4th, mine s December 16th.
6
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We re both Sages and we both come from similar backgrounds.
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And similar to LeBron and I, Jay and I have a different relationship, but where we share the same
6
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Journeys, different times, same journey.
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We align, same principles, same morals.
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We call it a G code.
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It s just certain things that, despite what, you ve got to stand on that business.
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You have to stand on that decision.
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You have to hold yourself accountable.
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And I think it s important
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that we continue to collaborate with each other, unite with each other.
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I didn t have to do this book with Rock Lit.
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I was actually down the road with a totally different company.
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I didn t know that Jay was launching this arm.
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I happened to see it on Twitter and I called him.
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And I said, yo, I just saw something.
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He s like, yeah.
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I was like, well, you know I m doing a book.
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He s like, no, I didn t know you was doing a book.
6
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And I said to him, I said, well, look, the book is called Lucky Me, hence my favorite Jay-Z song, too, as well.
6
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Because it s my favorite Jay-Z song because it s something that hit home to me from the beginning to end.
6
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If you listen to that song, you ll understand the hook is powerful.
6
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And the third verse is, forget about it.
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But what I said to him was, but I m down the road, this deal, here s where the deal is at.
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I m more than willing to do the deal with you, but you have to be able to match the deal.
6
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Now, think about that.
6
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We re friends.
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We re brothers.
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He said, let me call you right back.
6
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Call me back, it s done.
6
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But that respect for each other, simple.
6
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My respect for him, because I don t want my book to come out on a publishing company.
6
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It s not like we have one.
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If we had one,
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then great, I ll do it on our publishing.
6
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But we don t have that, so who does?
6
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Oh, my man has it.
6
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Okay, great, I ll do it on yours.
6
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I have no problem with that. 
6
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And so it s been great and the book is…
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It s a lot of emotion, man.
6
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I haven t been able to make it through the forward.
6
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Forward is powerful, man.
6
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Forward is extremely powerful, man.
6
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What LeBron says about you?
6
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It s extremely powerful.
6
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And when I was reading, it took me four times.
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I had to stop.
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And it s not just what he s saying about me.
6
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Because as he s talking, I m thinking about us.
6
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And when I say us, I m thinking about that young kid in the community that
6
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You know, it s just, it take a lot to get here, bro, like it does, you know?
6
SPEAKER_00
I don t have, I didn t have a, my uncles were my heroes as well, but for different reasons.
6
SPEAKER_00
They taught me how to box, take taekwondo, tumble, you know, gave me $30 if I was $30 short on a new shoe or whatever the case may be and taught me how to hustle and so on and so forth.
6
SPEAKER_00
But imagine if they were, you know, the COO of this company, how,
6
SPEAKER_00
easier your path becomes, right?
6
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Yeah.
6
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That don t exist in our world.
6
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I know.
6
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And not just in my world.
6
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Yeah.
6
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Nowhere.
6
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Right.
6
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I love what he says about you in the forward, and I want people to get the book called Lucky Me, a memoir of changing the odds, extremely powerful.
6
SPEAKER_01
LeBron says about Rich, he didn t care whether I was a future pro or the kid across the street.
6
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He just knew I needed help and he gave me what I needed the most, the space to be vulnerable.
6
SPEAKER_01
And that is a beautiful thing.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m curious, what is the thing you, you ve spent a lot of time with LeBron from before he was pro to where he s at now and everything in between.
6
SPEAKER_01
What s the thing you love and appreciate the most about him that maybe a lot of people don t know about?
6
SPEAKER_00
I think the thing I love and appreciate most about LeBron is his willingness and his ability to empower.
6
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Because let s be frank, you don t have to.
6
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Everyone was telling him why would you do that?
6
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Even the people that we put in positions that never would have been in that position if it wasn t for us.
6
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We allowed them to play a role.
6
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They wasn t gonna be his agent.
6
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We gave him, we gave them that.
6
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You understand what I m saying?
6
SPEAKER_00
And so then for you to turn around and have the audacity to ask him, why would he, after being, giving something yourself, that just shows you about us as a whole, America.
6
SPEAKER_00
Like this is crazy, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
And despite all of that, and again, it s so hard.
6
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Right?
6
SPEAKER_00
And they were just hoping that we fail because if we fail, then forget anybody else trying to do it.
6
SPEAKER_00
If we fail, it s not even a thought for the other athletes.
6
SPEAKER_00
The only reason why today other athletes even consider it s because of us, which is great, but the likeliness is very unlikely.
6
SPEAKER_00
due to all these different things.
6
SPEAKER_00
But that doesn t mean…you don t have to duplicate it, but you can take a page out of the book and do it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Maybe you collaborate with somebody.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s more than one way to skin a cat is what I ve been trying to explain to everyone.
6
SPEAKER_00
I wish I could make the next Instagram.
6
SPEAKER_00
I probably won t.
6
SPEAKER_00
But when you talk about duplicating things, you don t think I want to duplicate the model that Coca-Cola had?
6
SPEAKER_00
How about Microsoft Windows?
6
SPEAKER_00
You want to duplicate that?
6
SPEAKER_00
We can duplicate that.
6
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It s all these different things that I wish I could duplicate.
6
SPEAKER_00
And it s okay that I can t, but at the same time, it s okay to take a page.
6
SPEAKER_00
And for me, and we ll end it here, if people can just take a page out of this book and apply it to their everyday life, and if that helps them not take a step forward,
6
SPEAKER_00
take an inch of a step forward in life, I d be so happy.
6
SPEAKER_01
I d be so happy.
6
SPEAKER_01
I ve got two final questions, but I want people to get the book.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s called Lucky Me.
6
SPEAKER_01
Make sure you guys get this.
6
SPEAKER_01
A lot of wisdom, a lot of lessons, and incredible stories about how you ve overcome so much.
6
SPEAKER_01
And to get inside the mind of one of the most powerful business leaders in sports today, to learn about the lessons is extremely valuable.
6
SPEAKER_01
So I want people to get this book.
6
SPEAKER_01
Before I ask the two final questions, I want to acknowledge you, Rich, for everything you ve done, everything you ve overcome, and the value system that you ve had your entire life, and how you continue to show up for people in a relationship to serve them.
6
SPEAKER_01
Not always thinking about you and what you can get from the relationship.
6
SPEAKER_01
So I really want to acknowledge you for that.
7
SPEAKER_00
because I just think so many people try to get quickly and you really did everything you talk about in this book and you talked about today which is I was a star in my role then I learned that I repositioned then I set myself up for the next thing and it s really cool what you ve done so I acknowledge you
7
SPEAKER_00
Appreciate that.
7
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I love seeing people from Ohio crushing it and making a big impact.
7
SPEAKER_00
OH, baby.
7
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IO, let s go.
7
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I love this.
7
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So I want to acknowledge you for that.
7
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These two questions, I ll keep them quick.
7
SPEAKER_00
This is a question I ask everyone at the end of my conversations.
7
SPEAKER_00
It s a hypothetical scenario.
7
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OK.
7
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So imagine you get to live as long as you want to live, but it s your last day on earth.
7
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And you get to accomplish and create everything you want to create in your life.
7
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But for whatever reason on this last day, you ve got to take all of your content with you.
7
SPEAKER_00
So this book is gone.
7
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This interview is gone.
7
SPEAKER_00
No one has access to the words you ve said or written ever.
7
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It s gone for whatever reason.
7
SPEAKER_00
But on this last day, you get to leave behind three truths to the world, three lessons that you ve learned, and this is all we would have to remember you by.
7
SPEAKER_00
What would be those three truths for you that you would leave behind?
7
SPEAKER_00
Oh man, this is a tough one.
7
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I know, sorry.
7
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Especially on the spot.
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, I don t know if it s three, but what I will say is I would just value, I think, valuing family,
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, throughout life as you become older you start to understand how important that is, right?
7
SPEAKER_02
I would say, you know, just pouring out and really, really, really making a huge investment in others.
7
SPEAKER_02
Really making a huge investment in others.
7
SPEAKER_02
I would probably say it s not my last thing, but another thing for me, just really having a better understanding of the value of time.
7
SPEAKER_01
Good truth, man.
7
SPEAKER_01
Final question.
7
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What is your definition of greatness?
7
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
7
SPEAKER_01
I think my definition of greatness, honestly, is
7
SPEAKER_02
You know, consistency and development of habits that allows you to better position yourself and others.
7
SPEAKER_02
Because I just think it s hard to be great without having consistent habits.
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And I think people put, you know, I m great because I did these things and because I got this accolade.
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But they never talk about what allowed them to be great at its core.
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And when you go back to every great person, whether it was an inventor, an athlete,
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you know, I think it starts with their, you know, just that consistency of habits.
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It s very important, right?
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And I don t know, I don t know anyone great at doing anything that doesn t have the consistency of habits.
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Amen, man.
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You know.
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Lucky me.
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Lucky me, baby.
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Yes, sir.
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Thank you, man.
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I hope today s episode inspired you on your journey towards greatness.
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Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a rundown of today s show with all the important links.
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And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me as well as ad free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel on Apple podcast.
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I really love hearing the feedback from you and it helps us continue to make the show better.
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And if you want more inspiration from our world-class guests and content to learn how to improve the quality of your life, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness Newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.
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And if no one has told you today, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.
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And now it s time to go out there and do something great.