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This is Shaq O Neal, and you re listening to one of the biggest podcasts around, The Art of Charm.
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Don t you hear it in my voice?
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Alright everybody, today we re talking with the Big Aristotle, the Hobomaster, the Diesel, Shaq-Fu, Big Daddy, Superman, the Big Agave, the Big Cactus, the Big Shaqtus, the Big Galactus, Wilt Chamber Neezy, the Big Baryshnikov, the Real Deal, the Big Shamrock, the Big Leprechaun, Shaqovich,
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the big conductor, Shaquille O Neal.
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We re gonna talk about how he s assembled a panel to help him manage not only his career, but all his important life decisions and how you can do the same, how he manages his emotions so he stays non-reactive on and off the court, and life is one of the most visible people on the planet, and is the Earth flat?
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Enjoy this episode with Shaquille O Neal, but first, if you re new to the show, we d love to send you some top episodes and the AOC Toolbox, where we study the science of people,
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We discuss things like reading body language and having charismatic nonverbal communication, the science of attraction, negotiation techniques, social engineering, networking and influence strategies, mentorship, persuasion tactics, and everything else that we teach here at The Art of Charm.
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Check that out at theartofcharm.com slash toolbox or in the iPhone app at theartofcharm.com slash iPhone.
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Also, at theartofcharm.com, you can find the full show notes for this and all previous episodes of the show.
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We re glad to have you with us here today at AOC.
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Enjoy this episode with Shaquille O Neal.
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You re getting a statue.
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You seen it yet?
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I haven t.
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You haven t seen it at all yet?
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No, I ve seen drawings of it.
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I haven t seen the actual statue yet.
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You ve only seen drawings of it, and I hope it s not life-size.
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There s going to be a bronze shortage if they use it all.
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You re a Marvel fan then, I m guessing?
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Superman.
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Superman.
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I like growing up as a medium, juvenile, delinquent, always on punishment.
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At least had the opportunity to watch TV and just see superheroes.
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get entrenched inside the stories that they were telling.
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Superman was always one.
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Six Million Dollar Man was another one.
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I always wanted to be him.
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Hulk was another one.
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I got in trouble for being the Hulk one time.
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One time we saw a car that we thought was abandoned, but it wasn t.
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It was just stolen.
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It was just sitting there.
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So me and my friend, I play the Hulk and I ripped out the mirrors.
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I just ripped out the doors.
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I ripped off everything.
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I got in really big trouble for that one.
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How did they know it was you that did all the damage instead of the person who stole the car?
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Because everybody was out there watching me, and I was going, look, and I took a break and bought some windows.
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And then when the guy found his car, he was like, who did this?
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I was like, Shaquille O Neal, he did it.
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And he came right to my house.
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You re like, but some other guy, he scratched up your lock really good when he stole the car.
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Exactly.
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Yeah.
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So Marvel and Superman appealed to you.
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It seems weird punishment to put you in a place where you can watch TV and read comics and hang out and watch Six Million Dollar Man.
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You accomplished that goal.
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You got a lot more than $6 million out of it.
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It actually changed my life.
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It helped me put down on paper what I wanted to become.
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So just say I m flicking the channels and I see LL Cool J. I want to be a rapper.
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Say I flick the channel again and I see a guy doing a great sitcom.
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I want to be an actor.
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Then of course I m a sports guy.
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I want to be Frank O Harris, the Immaculate Conception.
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Reggie Jackson hit a home run.
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So it enabled me to put down on paper all these things I wanted to be.
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And then my father taught me the way and said, okay, you want to be all these things?
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This how you do it?
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Go out and get it done.
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And I ve accomplished everything that I set my mind to.
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So wait, you wrote down all your goals when you were younger?
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Yes, yes.
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My father made me write from A to Z what I wanted to be.
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So A was a basketball player, B was a basketball player.
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I actually got in trouble for that.
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You just put basketball player for all the five?
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No, no.
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And then C was a cop, and then D was a detective, E was an entrepreneur, and F was a fireman.
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So I just did a whole bunch of things that I thought I wanted to do.
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And you ve gone through and tried to knock all that stuff off the bucket list?
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Yes.
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Because I made a list of things that you were doing before, but I figured I would ask now, because it seems like there s a lot of things that you ve done.
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I mean, why now law enforcement?
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What s going on there?
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Why that?
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Two guys that are on my panel, what I mean by my panel, my panel is a group of five men and women, consists of a total of five, but men and women.
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Two of the guys that are on my panel are my uncles from the law enforcement.
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My panel consists of Lucille O Neal,
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Mike Paris, Jerome Crawford, Dale Brown, and Perry Rogers.
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That s my panel.
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They re the only ones that can call me and check me, and I know not to say anything back.
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Because I know they love me and they care for me.
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And you know, when you respect somebody, see, a lot of people in my position think they know it all.
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They don t have anybody they can respect.
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I have a panel.
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It s like me being the president, but I answer to Congress.
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So that s my panel.
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But two guys on the panel are my uncles and they re law enforcement officers.
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I said to myself one day, and this was on my list as a youngster, I said, one day I want to be a cop.
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But I don t think with me being Shaq, me being a cop probably wouldn t be too good.
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But I think I can lead a force.
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I want to run for sheriff.
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So when I started pursuing that here in Los Angeles,
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Like a lot of people would give me badges and I was like, you know what?
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If you give me a badge, when I go out on the street, the officer s not going to respect me.
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So I made them put me through two different police academies.
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Sheriff Leroy Baca was the sheriff at the time and he approved it and I had to go through.
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through two different academies, and I became a full-fledged reserve officer, level one.
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Level three is security guard status.
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Level two is you have to ride with another officer.
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Level one, you can ride by yourself.
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You have full-fledged police officer duties.
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I studied to a level one and I did that because when I do run for sheriff, I know I could probably get a lot of votes just from being shot.
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But I really want my people that s working for me to know and understand.
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I know my laws.
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I know what it, you know, what you go through.
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I know what it takes.
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I want them to know and understand that.
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And I ve been a lot of places around the country with a lot of police, police officers names like, you know, we really, really appreciate it because I appreciate them.
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You know, teachers and police officers are definitely underpaid.
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Yeah, my mom was a teacher.
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So I heard all about that.
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Yeah, they re underpaid.
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Yeah.
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I mean, well, you re, you re underpaid for every taking $1 a year, right?
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Yep, dollar a year.
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I guess.
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You know what s crazy?
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They tax that.
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Of course.
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Yeah.
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So you get 46 cents.
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Really?
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What have you learned on the job that you ve been able to use?
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Or what did you learn on the team anyway, maybe that you ve been able to use as a police officer, like de-escalation techniques and get along with people and stuff like that?
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Well, I always come in at zero.
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And, you know, a lot of times when you re dealing with people, you just listen first instead of react.
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And a lot of situations are dangerous, so you have to come in high.
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But in a lot of situations where it s just people there talking and arguing, you just try to de-escalate the situation.
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You know how.
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The fortunate thing for me is when I show up, people just calm down automatically.
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So that s a fortunate thing for me.
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But, you know, for me, it was just about
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learning it, mastering it, so when I do run for sheriff,
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The guys know I m not just a celebrity figure that wants a badge and a gun.
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So I ve been, let s see, I went to L.A.
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Academy, did a Florida Academy, did a Phoenix Academy, getting ready to go to a Georgia Academy, because I plan on running for sheriff in either Georgia or Florida in 2020.
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I had a dream that I saw a bunch of stickers on the cars, Shaq s vision for 2020.
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Shaq for sheriff 2020.
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Nice.
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So you re actually going to run for office?
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I m thinking about it.
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Yeah, I m really thinking about it.
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And what sort of policy do you think you ll put in place as the elected sheriff?
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It ll be paramilitary.
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Martial law all around?
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No, not martial law.
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Just, you know, discipline.
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There s a friend of mine in Clayton County, Sheriff Victor Hill, and I met him a couple months ago.
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He has the cleanest, most disciplined jail I ve ever seen in my life.
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So I m definitely gonna get to know him a little better, study his tactics, because that s how I grew up.
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And, you know, teaches the young men and women that are in there, teaches them how to be responsible, teaches them honor.
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And, you know, he does it in a polite way.
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There s nothing crazy in there, but it s just so much like his floors were shining and the pods in the cells, the clothes were folded.
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When he walks in, the guys stand at attention and they salute.
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It was really awesome to see.
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So I ve been to jails where people, you know, seven, eight guys in a cell, they re in there fighting and doing this and doing that, but his jail was very disciplined.
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So I m definitely going to be studying his techniques.
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I think a lot of people would definitely vote for you because of the celebrity, but it s good that you re trying to earn the same respect as the other officers.
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Otherwise you end up with the same problem that people have now.
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We have a lack of real authority.
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What happens when people show up to – or when you show up to a call with other people there?
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I mean do they just go, holy crap, a check, right?
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Are there people who don t know who you are, and they re just like, dang.
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At first, when I was on patrol in LA, it got to be sort of like a TV sitcom.
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I d pull up in my suit, and everybody, hey, is that Shaq?
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And you d see guys across the street and calling on the phone.
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And I got promoted to detective.
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So a lot of time when I show up as a detective,
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people think it s a joke or not.
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So what I started doing was, as a detective, when we go on four or five detectives, I would come in last.
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I let all the, you know, the real cops go on first, let everybody know what s going on, so everybody knows it s a serious moment, and then I would come in.
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Because if I come in first, people, Shaq, hello, hey, I saw you at the game.
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Where s the cameras?
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Yes, exactly.
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How often do you hear comments about your height?
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And I assume all the time, right?
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All the time.
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But you know what?
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I learned at an early age not to take things so seriously.
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I hear jokes, how s the weather up there?
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I hear it all.
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I m at the point in my life now, I ve actually been here a long time, nothing really hurt my feelings.
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I think the times we re living in, people are very sensitive.
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Like, I don t know you, but I m sure if we just have a good conversation, and again, when having a conversation, we don t have to agree on everything, but I respect you, you respect me, I guarantee we have something in common.
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See, a lot of people these days,
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You think a certain way and you try to influence me to think that way.
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The world wasn t built like that.
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Every fingerprint is different.
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Every DNA is different.
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And everybody s opinion is different.
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And a lot of times we react to people s opinions without listening.
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True story.
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There s a guy, a famous guy, his name was Jimmy Goldstein, I think is his name.
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He told me one day during a game, I hate you.
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What?
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Oh, that s rude.
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Yeah.
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No, he said, I hate you.
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So I m boom, boom, boom, boom.
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But I was seeing him at all the parties with us.
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Boom, boom, boom.
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So I finally, I said, he s a, he s a small guy.
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So usually when a guy say, I hate you, I want to, okay, well, I hate you too.
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Let s fight about it.
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He s a real skinny guy.
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So I asked him, I said, why do you hate me?
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He said, cause you re so dominant.
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It s unfair.
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I want to see you lose.
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So rather than reacting to what he said, by me having a conversation with him, I understood that.
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And I can understand, you re a fan, you want your team to win, but you re going up against this guy Shaq that s throwing people around.
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I can understand the hatred.
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So that was a valuable lesson for me, because when people say something, my reaction button is off.
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My intelligence button is on.
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Okay, what did you say?
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What do you mean?
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And I analyze it, and I analyze it in a nice way before I react.
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How do you do that, especially when you did you do that when you were 22, 23 years old?
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No, no.
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When I was 22, 23, I tried to answer everybody s criticism.
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And I realized that it s more than a full time job.
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It becomes stressful.
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You start getting anxiety.
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And then I realized that you can t please everyone.
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Yeah.
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And, you know, this is the same thing I tell my children now.
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So you see your hands, five fingers on your head.
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Try to impress the five most important people in your life.
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That s my panel.
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So as long as they re happy, I m happy.
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Like whenever I start doing something crazy.
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One, two, three, four, five will let me know, and then I have to switch it back up.
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How did you pick the panel?
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I mean, one is your mother.
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One s my mother.
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Two are my uncles.
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They always kept me out of trouble.
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Yeah.
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And Perry is my agent, business manager.
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Been that for a long time.
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And Perry is brutally honest.
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He s not one of those KYA type agents.
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I don t know if I can say kiss your ass on your podcast.
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Yeah, you can, sure.
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Yeah, but he s not one of those agents.
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So like, he ll tell you like,
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What you said last night was uncalled for.
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Boom, boom, boom.
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He s very, very intelligent.
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He s a lawyer.
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You know, lawyers think very different.
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So, you know, he, you know, he wants the best for me.
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And it s something that I appreciate and respect.
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Crazy thing about Perry, we re, we re similar ages.
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So like, he s probably the youngest guy on the panel.
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He s around my age, but very intelligent.
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Come from very intelligent family.
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Father was a brilliant businessman.
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Mother was a brilliant businesswoman.
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So, you know, when you respect people, you listen to them, especially people that help you get to where you are.
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How did you pick, when did you pick that panel, I should say?
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Because you, did you pick it before your career started?
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No, never, never.
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I had to go through a lot of trials and tribulations before I figured all this stuff out.
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And, you know, experience is the best teacher.
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I had my basic core principles, stay true to myself, have fun, never take advantage of people, never disrespect people.
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And then as I started getting older, I started adding more business, practical things inside that formula.
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And then I realized a movie that changed my life was The Fan, Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes.
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So Wesley, Robert De Niro asked Wesley, he said, hey, you re a great player.
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You do this, you do that, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
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And Wesley Snipes said, I don t care.
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So I had to stop caring, not caring to the sense to where it would affect my profession, but just stop caring about what people said.
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Once I started doing that, it blossomed.
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Nice.
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So you actually went through a phase where you just went, it doesn t matter.
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I care about everything.
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The only thing Shaq can do is dunk.
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He can t shoot jumpers.
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So the next game I go three for 25 trying to shoot jumpers.
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Oh man.
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You know?
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So you re just always challenging yourself to figure out.
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Yes, always, always.
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And you ve been successful for a long time.
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How come you didn t fall into those same traps that a lot of other athletes did?
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Is it the panel?
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Was that early enough?
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The panel and before the panel, a lot of children don t do this today, but when I see tragic stories, I don t want to go that route.
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One tragic story, when Ben, Lin Bias passed away from using cocaine, my father came in the house furious.
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Furious.
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If you ever do this, I ll kill you.
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You ain t gonna have time to overdose.
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I ll kill you.
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So I always say, you know what?
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No drugs for me.
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One time, true story, in Germany, West Germany, friends.
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This is around, you know, when you re a teenager and you get to go to parties and the parents are asleep when you come home.
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All the friends were into beer drinking.
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Hey, let s drink some beer.
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So one night, true story, Perry, you never heard the story.
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So one night, snowstorm, because I lived in Wildflick and the school was in Fulda, so it was about a 50 minute ride.
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So one time we go to the dance and
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You know, the guys had a beer and, you know, one of the guys had his license.
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His dad was out of town.
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He took his car and was like, hey, let s ride home.
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And the guys was drinking.
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And I was like, you know what?
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SPEAKER_00
No, no.
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You know, I heard a lot of stories about what happened and tragic ending.
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SPEAKER_00
They died.
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Oh my gosh.
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SPEAKER_00
Wow.
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So that could have been you.
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Real easy.
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Yeah, it could have been me.
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So like a lot of, a lot of things I ve seen before they happened.
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And I don t want to go down that rope.
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My father used to always come in and say, all right, you had 30 points, but what are you going to do when you hurt your knee?
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SPEAKER_00
Because it s an astonishing percentage of athletes that after they re done playing, they have nothing.
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SPEAKER_00
And we didn t want to be part of that statistic.
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Yeah, 60% are broke.
1
SPEAKER_01
I think within five years of retirement or something like that.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, it s it s a it s really sad.
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, you don t have that problem.
1
SPEAKER_01
You re still working probably because you got six kids.
1
SPEAKER_01
You got to work.
1
SPEAKER_01
How did you deal with not only becoming the most valuable player or visible player in the league, but also a celebrity at the same time?
1
SPEAKER_01
I mean, a lot of guys are going through the same visibility role, but you had all kinds of things going on.
1
SPEAKER_01
How come it didn t get out of control?
1
SPEAKER_00
I think it just never got out of control, because even to this day, I don t consider myself a celebrity.
1
SPEAKER_00
My story is like a Rocky story.
1
SPEAKER_00
A guy from the neighborhood that s loved and respected in the neighborhood, had an opportunity to do something for a community, or do something for a state, or do something for a nation.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s my story.
1
SPEAKER_00
superstar, entourage, 50 agents, 100 diamond chains.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s my story as a regular guy.
1
SPEAKER_00
See me, I m in the car by myself today.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m in LA by myself.
1
SPEAKER_00
I go to a lot of cities.
1
SPEAKER_00
I go to countries by myself.
1
SPEAKER_00
I don t consider myself a superstar.
1
SPEAKER_00
And when people come up to me, especially children, I always got to take care of the children.
1
SPEAKER_00
I just try to accommodate them, unless I m eating.
1
SPEAKER_00
When I m in the middle of the meal, I d rather not be interrupted.
1
SPEAKER_00
But if I m out and I see a little baby and they want my autograph, of course, I always oblige them.
1
SPEAKER_00
But I think what s made me
1
SPEAKER_00
What s made me relevant in all these situations is that I don t consider myself a superstar.
1
SPEAKER_00
I m just a regular guy from the neighborhood that did something astonishing and won three champions in L.A.
1
SPEAKER_00
and one in Miami.
1
SPEAKER_00
He was a guy, he was always in trouble.
1
SPEAKER_00
He was a juvenile delinquent.
1
SPEAKER_00
We knew he could be somebody.
1
SPEAKER_00
That s more of my story.
1
SPEAKER_01
That s, yeah, that s great.
1
SPEAKER_01
Especially if you re not thinking of yourself as somebody extra special all the time.
1
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, no, I don t do that.
1
SPEAKER_01
It manages the expectations pretty well, I think, too.
1
SPEAKER_01
And you ve always approached even basketball as a business.
1
SPEAKER_01
And so was your panel advising you on that?
1
SPEAKER_01
And I m sticking with the panel thing because I think it s such a great idea.
1
SPEAKER_01
And most people are not doing this.
1
SPEAKER_01
Clearly the athletes that are going broke are not doing this.
1
SPEAKER_00
When I first came in, I was upset before I came in because I got an F in marketing.
2
SPEAKER_00
Marketing teacher at LSU said, give me something, product, something that you can see sold in the future.
2
SPEAKER_00
Not now, 2000, 2001, all that.
2
SPEAKER_00
So you know me, I came with Shaq hats, Shaq shoes, Shaq shirts.
2
SPEAKER_00
And he embarrassed me in class.
2
SPEAKER_00
He said, oh, I see you put a lot of originality in this and gave me an F in front of everybody.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I asked him, so what d you do?
2
SPEAKER_00
He said, if you look at
2
SPEAKER_00
If you look at the nature of marketing at NBA, big guys never sell.
2
SPEAKER_00
I was like, you know what?
2
SPEAKER_00
Don t sell.
2
SPEAKER_00
So when I first got in, you hear a lot of stories that the number one pick can
2
SPEAKER_00
name, whatever he wants.
2
SPEAKER_00
So when I first got in, I was like, you know, let me, let me try this theory.
2
SPEAKER_00
I want this.
2
SPEAKER_00
I want this.
2
SPEAKER_00
I want to be able to have creative control of all my commercials.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m not doing it.
2
SPEAKER_00
So my agent at the time, he got it done.
2
SPEAKER_00
So every commercial that we shot, my thought process is, okay, this is how I want people to see me.
2
SPEAKER_00
This is the message I want to send.
2
SPEAKER_00
And at the end of all these commercials, I want to add a fun aspect to it.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I derived that mentality because I m looking at all the commercials, like big guys don t sell.
2
SPEAKER_00
My favorite commercial was the Spuds McKenzie commercials.
2
SPEAKER_00
Never talk.
2
SPEAKER_00
Dog never said anything, but why did people, why did this dog have shirts, mugs, hats, everything, book bags?
2
SPEAKER_00
Because he always added a fun element in his commercials.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I was like, you know what?
2
SPEAKER_00
Every commercial I m doing has got to have a fun element in it.
2
SPEAKER_00
Product is a product, but after that, I m going to give them like this and a Buick or a Man Up or, you know, something.
2
SPEAKER_01
How are you gonna teach your kids some of the same values that you had with your panel growing up?
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, do your kids have panels and stuff like that?
2
SPEAKER_00
They don t have panels.
2
SPEAKER_00
I try to do lead by example.
2
SPEAKER_00
I tried to teach him the same life lessons that I was taught.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yesterday, we were at the mall, and my son said, I want to get some Jordans.
2
SPEAKER_00
I said, well, you re going to have to donate 10 pairs of your old shoes.
2
SPEAKER_00
I already did that.
2
SPEAKER_00
I said, well, you need to prove to me.
2
SPEAKER_00
And he actually did.
2
SPEAKER_00
Him and my other son, they went down to the Goodwill.
2
SPEAKER_00
They just donated their stuff, and we used to do that as a youngster.
2
SPEAKER_00
My father, we used to go to Goodwill and pick up some stuff and take it to all the other troop families that were less fortunate.
2
SPEAKER_00
My father always loved homeless people.
2
SPEAKER_00
I love homeless people.
2
SPEAKER_00
My grandmother was a nurse, so my mother and I started a foundation.
2
SPEAKER_00
We ve sent over 100 nurses to college, four-year scholarships, so I just try to lead by example.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t put pressure on them.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, I got a couple sons that play ball.
2
SPEAKER_00
We don t even talk basketball.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s not important to me.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s important to me that...
2
SPEAKER_00
that they build, but I started.
2
SPEAKER_00
One of my favorite nepotism stories is Nick and Mickey Arison.
2
SPEAKER_00
So an article comes out in the paper that Nick Arison s grandmother left him hunting 200 men.
2
SPEAKER_00
This guy s 19, went to college at Duke and graduated.
2
SPEAKER_00
So he comes back and joined the team.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s a guy in there worth $200 million cleaning up the locker room.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I m looking, I m like, this kid s worth two, he should be up hanging out with his dad.
2
SPEAKER_00
Cause here, that s what you see.
2
SPEAKER_00
You see a lot of kids that hanging out with dad and dad does everything for them.
2
SPEAKER_00
But he had a kid worth 200 million, his document, his grandmother left him 150 million plus 20% of the team.
2
SPEAKER_00
He s down in the locker room cleaning up.
2
SPEAKER_00
Next year, you see him in marketing and then you see him doing, you see him outside, boom, boom, boom, handing out flyers.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then finally, about five, six years, his father, you know, after he went to school and graduated and learned the business from the bottom, then his father said, OK, boom.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I think he made him vice president.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s one of my favorite Nepperton stories.
2
SPEAKER_00
I have to do the same thing, rather than just give it to them.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like I tell my kids all the time, you get no degrees, then you get none of my cheese.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s my slogan around my house.
2
SPEAKER_00
No degrees, no cheese.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re all looking forward to college.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they gotta be.
2
SPEAKER_01
You mentioned shoes earlier.
2
SPEAKER_01
You got the biggest pair of Tom s shoes that I ve ever seen.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I thought, all right, where do you get shoes that big?
2
SPEAKER_01
You have to have things custom made.
2
SPEAKER_00
I fell in love with Tom about three years ago.
2
SPEAKER_00
People were like, what is that?
2
SPEAKER_00
And his story is incredible.
2
SPEAKER_00
You buy a pair, we ll donate a pair.
2
SPEAKER_00
Love that story.
2
SPEAKER_00
So every person that I, how can I get to Tom?
2
SPEAKER_00
They give me a number, didn t work.
2
SPEAKER_00
Give me a number, didn t work.
2
SPEAKER_00
But finally, about two years later, I seen the owner of Tom, him and his wife.
2
SPEAKER_00
We met in Westwood.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I said, listen, I love your product.
2
SPEAKER_00
How can I get a pair?
2
SPEAKER_00
He s like, Shaq, be honest with you.
2
SPEAKER_00
We don t have the 22 mold.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m like, I can t slow production down.
2
SPEAKER_00
to make one shoe.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I said, well, what s a good production there?
2
SPEAKER_00
He said, about a thousand pair.
2
SPEAKER_00
I said, well, make me a thousand pair then.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I got a thousand pair that I ordered.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m only into my first hundred.
2
SPEAKER_00
And we re in discussions.
2
SPEAKER_00
We want to go to like one of these third world countries and, you know, hand out some shoes.
2
SPEAKER_00
And find people with huge feet who need shoes?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, not huge feet, just whoever.
2
SPEAKER_00
Kids, old ladies, babies, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, Tom s is the right company to do that.
2
SPEAKER_01
It sounds like in the past you ve been competitive with pretty much everything, not just basketball.
2
SPEAKER_01
I read an article online, I think it might have been on Reddit, so articles using it loosely, but you had the biggest bed in the world and then someone challenged you and said, no, I think my bed s bigger, so you doubled the size of your bed.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yes, that s true.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m very, very competitive.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s all about having fun.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s all about having fun.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m the doctor, the ambassador, the emperor of fun.
2
SPEAKER_00
Nobody has more fun than me.
2
SPEAKER_00
And our fun is genuine.
2
SPEAKER_00
I ve been a class clown since elementary school.
2
SPEAKER_00
The fun that I m having now, I used to get in trouble for it as a youngster.
2
SPEAKER_00
But it s called having a sense of humor.
2
SPEAKER_00
I don t take myself too seriously.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s just interacting with people.
2
SPEAKER_00
Some guy, he tried to make a bed, and then I just had to double my bed.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I have more space, so if I have to make my whole room a bed, I will.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s why they call it a bedroom, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, exactly.
2
SPEAKER_01
You had some beefs in the past from that competitive spirit.
2
SPEAKER_01
When there s a conflict on a team, how do you address that?
2
SPEAKER_00
It s never beefs.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s never beefs.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, my whole concept was it could only be one leader.
2
SPEAKER_00
And you can t be a good leader if your followers don t trust and respect you, right?
2
SPEAKER_00
So I always had to make sure I was doing everything right before I challenged anybody.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then a lot of times, for example, the Kobe situation, I knew Kobe could take it.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I knew that if you upset him, he s sort of like me.
2
SPEAKER_00
He ll try to prove you wrong.
2
SPEAKER_00
And the crazy thing about it is people always say, oh, well, don t you wish you and Kobe could have worked out?
2
SPEAKER_00
We did work out.
2
SPEAKER_00
We won three out of four.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, I don t understand.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, I don t understand your question.
2
SPEAKER_00
It d be a better story if we played together for eight years and have no championships.
2
SPEAKER_01
Would you like that story better?
2
SPEAKER_00
No, I wouldn t like that story.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it d be a better story.
2
SPEAKER_00
But, you know, you can always have, always have,
2
SPEAKER_00
The key word is respect.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, me and you can have a respectful disagreement.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m not gonna beat you up.
2
SPEAKER_00
Like, I was never gonna beat him up.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m like, do this, do that.
2
SPEAKER_00
No, you do this, and we have a conversation, and then you just move on.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you regret at all hazing Yao Ming so hard and stuff like that?
2
SPEAKER_00
I wasn t hazing him.
2
SPEAKER_00
You know, I kind of got in trouble for doing something one time, but I wasn t making fun of him as a youngster.
2
SPEAKER_00
That s what we saw.
2
SPEAKER_01
Sure.
2
SPEAKER_00
We saw that.
2
SPEAKER_00
So Chinese.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
So I was just trying to, you know, I was just trying to, just trying to be cute and cool.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, and somebody took it and you re racist.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m like, what are you, what are you talking like?
2
SPEAKER_00
But there s not a racist bone in my body.
2
SPEAKER_01
He didn t seem to mind.
2
SPEAKER_01
Everybody else cared.
2
SPEAKER_00
But you know what, where I m from,
2
SPEAKER_00
Every Saturday we watch Chinese theater.
2
SPEAKER_00
And they making fun of us, I have to show them respect.
2
SPEAKER_00
You want to fight like that?
2
SPEAKER_00
The Kung Fu movies?
2
SPEAKER_00
That s why I came up with the name Shaq Fu.
2
SPEAKER_00
I used to be in the house practicing that stuff.
2
SPEAKER_00
And like, I would get a white towel, act like I had a white beard.
2
SPEAKER_00
I love Chinese people.
2
SPEAKER_00
So, you know, sometimes you have to be careful.
2
SPEAKER_00
And, you know, I understand like, you know, some people are very, very sensitive and you just have to be careful with how you word things sometimes.
2
SPEAKER_01
You just mentioned that you could not get in Hakeem s head.
2
SPEAKER_01
Why do you think that is?
2
SPEAKER_01
Why could you not?
2
SPEAKER_00
I think I showed him too much respect.
2
SPEAKER_00
We had the same agent at one time and he was just a nice guy.
2
SPEAKER_00
I didn t want to and I didn t want to hurt my friend.
2
SPEAKER_01
Gotcha.
2
SPEAKER_00
And he kind of set me up because during the regular season, I was having my way with him.
2
SPEAKER_00
So when we got to the finals that year in Orlando, I was real arrogant.
2
SPEAKER_00
We had 10 days off.
2
SPEAKER_00
We was doing things all wrong.
2
SPEAKER_00
We were
2
SPEAKER_00
flying to Atlanta, partying, flying, it was out of control.
2
SPEAKER_00
We had a mini parade, because we thought he was going to win, because I thought I was going to win it.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then he just turned that switch on me, and I couldn t get him to turn it off.
2
SPEAKER_01
It seems like he didn t have any Hakeem fool or anything, you were just nicer to him.
2
SPEAKER_00
I was just nice to him.
2
SPEAKER_00
Usually a guy like that, I would first play the game, try to commit an offensive foul.
2
SPEAKER_00
That was my thing.
3
SPEAKER_00
Take three steps to the middle and swing the elbow around.
3
SPEAKER_00
If your face is there, you get hit.
3
SPEAKER_00
Three things will happen.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m going to either score, I m going to either miss or the ref is going to call offensive foul, every time.
3
SPEAKER_00
So, the first play of the game, I m letting you know that I m coming with nothing but force.
3
SPEAKER_00
So, if your face is in the way, that s not my problem.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I didn t do that with him.
3
SPEAKER_00
With him I was real finessed and trying to be cool and cute and it cost him.
3
SPEAKER_00
But it also taught me a valuable lesson.
3
SPEAKER_00
I said to myself, if I ever make it back to the finals again, I m gonna throw a dominant performance, so dominant, it ll guarantee a win.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I think that s why I got three finals MVPs, because I didn t want to have that feeling of letting everybody down, the panel, the family, the kids, the city.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because when you win, you get the praise.
3
SPEAKER_00
But when you lose, you get the finger.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I understand that, and I respect that, and I accept that.
3
SPEAKER_03
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And don t miss President Obama sharing how he deals with pressure by projecting confidence, believing in your team, and taking criticism.
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Listen to Ways to Win wherever you get your podcasts.
3
SPEAKER_02
How do you turn up the heat and get more physically aggressive on the court or more aggressive in the game without getting angry or losing your shit a little bit?
3
SPEAKER_00
Because NBA stands for nothing but actors.
3
SPEAKER_00
In real life, I m a nice guy.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m Terminator body with a Bambi heart.
3
SPEAKER_00
That s what I am.
3
SPEAKER_00
So on the court, this is my persona.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m Shaq.
3
SPEAKER_00
Not only that, I m trying to win.
3
SPEAKER_00
17,000 fans in here relying on me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I got kids relying on me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I got millions of fans relying on me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I got kids that want to be like me.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m going to do the same thing for them that Dr. J did for me.
3
SPEAKER_00
Dr. J changed my life.
3
SPEAKER_00
Dr. J was the guy that said, okay, now I know what I want to be when I grow up.
3
SPEAKER_00
I had some good grades and my father took me to a game.
3
SPEAKER_00
We re way up in Madison Square Garden, probably the top row.
3
SPEAKER_00
Boring game.
3
SPEAKER_00
Dr. J goes baseline, throw it down.
3
SPEAKER_00
The whole arena stands up.
3
SPEAKER_00
It actually scared me because I thought something was happening.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I look at my dad s like,
3
SPEAKER_00
I know what I want to be when I grow up, Dad.
3
SPEAKER_00
I want to be down there. 
3
SPEAKER_00
He s like, well, this is what you got to do, son.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I want to be that person to a kid that s trying to do something with his life now.
3
SPEAKER_02
So you and your dad outlined a plan to get all the way to the NBA?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yes, we did.
3
SPEAKER_02
How did that look back then?
3
SPEAKER_02
I mean, it seems like a lot of people do that now, but there s too much white space where you kind of don t really know what goes in between.
3
SPEAKER_00
He taught me how to play the right way.
3
SPEAKER_00
Taught me how to work hard.
3
SPEAKER_00
Told me to expect not being as good as I wanted to be when I was early, but that s okay, to keep working.
3
SPEAKER_00
Told me to take criticism and use it as motivation.
3
SPEAKER_00
And told me to compete at a high level.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like I ve won on every level except college.
3
SPEAKER_00
Little League, AAU, Olympics, Junior Olympics, won on every level except college.
3
SPEAKER_00
So as a youngster, when I used to play and win,
3
SPEAKER_00
he would let me celebrate the trophy one day.
3
SPEAKER_00
I d come home after school and be gone.
3
SPEAKER_00
And he was the type, you never asked him, where s the trophy at?
3
SPEAKER_00
So I finally asked him when I got older and he said, I did it because I never want you to be satisfied.
3
SPEAKER_00
I want you to always want more as a player.
3
SPEAKER_00
So even as a youngster, when I was a player and I wasn t that good, that wasn t stopping me.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because I knew that because of my work ethic,
3
SPEAKER_00
I was gonna be somebody.
3
SPEAKER_00
And with him being a drill sergeant, I would have to get up at 5.30 with him and his troops, and his troops would go through the quarter first, and I d be right behind him.
3
SPEAKER_02
He was literally a drill sergeant.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yes.
3
SPEAKER_02
And he made you get up early with all the troops and go work out?
3
SPEAKER_00
And I had to fold the bed, and he d drop a quarter on it, and the pillows had to be creased, all that stuff.
3
SPEAKER_00
If not, he d mess it up, and I d have to do it again.
3
SPEAKER_00
He d be like, you only got five minutes.
3
SPEAKER_00
If you don t get it done in five minutes, you re gonna be on that track double time.
3
SPEAKER_00
Move it, move it.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Best thing that happened to me.
3
SPEAKER_02
Your dad was pretty good at balancing being a nurturing, caring father with being a real hard-ass from the sound of it.
3
SPEAKER_00
No, he was hard-ass 70% of the time.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah?
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
Military life, family, marriage, he was really hard-ass.
3
SPEAKER_00
But he taught me, don t listen to how I say it, listen to what I say.
3
SPEAKER_00
Because when you re a drill sergeant, you got to be like this at all times.
3
SPEAKER_00
So he was like that all the time.
3
SPEAKER_00
But he could be really nice.
3
SPEAKER_00
He d be like, what s up, Perry?
3
SPEAKER_00
How you doing?
3
SPEAKER_00
He d be yelling, but he d be talking.
3
SPEAKER_00
That was just who he was.
3
SPEAKER_00
And again, he told me, he said, don t listen to how I say it, just listen to what I say.
3
SPEAKER_00
And so even with him yelling all the time, it wasn t a real yell, it was just how he was.
3
SPEAKER_02
What balance do you take with your own kids between being tough on them and being nurturing when appropriate?
3
SPEAKER_00
I m one of the luckiest guys in the world.
3
SPEAKER_00
I have six awesome children.
3
SPEAKER_00
They know and understand.
3
SPEAKER_00
I have face discipline with them.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, all I gotta do is make a face.
3
SPEAKER_00
And they know.
3
SPEAKER_00
And the face sometimes get me in trouble with the girls, because they ll just start shedding tears immediately.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I have to limit, I have to loosen up the face muscles with the girl.
3
SPEAKER_00
But the guys, I just, like, really?
3
SPEAKER_00
Say it again, I dare you.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I ve never had to spank them or never do anything.
3
SPEAKER_00
So that s good for me.
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, so they know what might be coming just from the look and that s enough.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, they know.
3
SPEAKER_02
I think most parents probably have that.
3
SPEAKER_02
If you don t have face discipline, you got problems.
3
SPEAKER_00
All I gotta do is just look at them.
3
SPEAKER_02
How do you separate the game and fame from your personal life and not let one interfere with the other?
3
SPEAKER_02
Because you re really good at that.
3
SPEAKER_00
It is what it is.
3
SPEAKER_00
What you see is what you get.
3
SPEAKER_00
A lot of people like to use the word, and Barry hates when I break it down like this, but this is how I break it down.
3
SPEAKER_00
Role model to me is you re playing a role, right?
3
SPEAKER_00
I m a real model.
3
SPEAKER_00
What you see is what you get.
3
SPEAKER_00
I don t want to be one of those guys that acts a certain way when the camera s around, when the marketing team is around.
3
SPEAKER_00
and then get behind closed doors and do that because that s how one day you get caught and people will realize that you re a fraud and it ll be all over.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s happened.
3
SPEAKER_00
So I try to keep it real but in a respectful manner.
3
SPEAKER_00
With me, what you see is what you get.
3
SPEAKER_00
I m a funny guy in real life.
3
SPEAKER_00
I talk to people in real life.
3
SPEAKER_00
I love kids in real life.
3
SPEAKER_00
I love rims and I love hanging out.
3
SPEAKER_00
This is what I do.
3
SPEAKER_00
Very professional, I m also educated.
3
SPEAKER_00
I speak the language, and I think that s why I m running for sheriff.
3
SPEAKER_00
I think I ll do a good job, because I speak all types of languages.
3
SPEAKER_00
I can go on the corner and, what up, bro?
3
SPEAKER_00
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
3
SPEAKER_00
I can throw on a three-piece suit and have a conversation with Warren Buffett, and boom, I can go.
3
SPEAKER_00
and go military, I speak all those languages, but I just try to be myself.
3
SPEAKER_00
I can t put on a facade just for this, because that will catch up with you eventually.
3
SPEAKER_02
I think a lot of people in your position do put on that facade, otherwise we wouldn t be having this conversation.
3
SPEAKER_02
What do you think is the difference between the confidence to just keep it real, just be yourself all the time, and the cockiness that a lot of these other guys exhibit all the time?
3
SPEAKER_00
I can t speak for anybody else, but I m in a position in my life where it s all about having fun.
3
SPEAKER_00
I hate seeing people talk about how much money they got.
3
SPEAKER_00
Who cares?
3
SPEAKER_00
You know what I love?
3
SPEAKER_00
I live in the neighborhood, and listen to me closely.
4
SPEAKER_00
I live in the neighborhood in Orlando.
4
SPEAKER_00
My house is 70,000 square feet.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m not bragging.
4
SPEAKER_00
70,000 square feet?
4
SPEAKER_00
70,000 square feet.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s not the best house in the neighborhood.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s a guy that has one for 90.
4
SPEAKER_00
And guess what?
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t know who he is or what he does.
4
SPEAKER_00
I ve been trying for years to just like, who is this guy?
4
SPEAKER_00
It s another house down at the 50,000.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s one that has a yacht in the back.
4
SPEAKER_00
Those are people I really respect, because they just do their work, and they just come home.
4
SPEAKER_00
They re not on Instagram, look, I m living next to Jack, I got a yacht.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, I hate people like that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I would never do that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, like, every now and then I say, OK, I got this, just to know that, but I don t like people like that.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, you talk more about Icy Hot than your car collection.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, exactly.
4
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
4
SPEAKER_01
Actually, I looked at your car collection online, and I noticed you have a smart car.
4
SPEAKER_01
And I got it.
4
SPEAKER_01
That was a long time ago.
4
SPEAKER_01
OK, because I was thinking.
4
SPEAKER_01
I bought it as a bet.
4
SPEAKER_01
What was the bet?
4
SPEAKER_00
I bet you can t fit in the spot car or I bet you can t get out?
4
SPEAKER_00
I bet me $30,000 to my favorite charity that I couldn t fit in the spot car.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I bought the car, got in the car, and then I gave the car to his daughter.
4
SPEAKER_01
Really?
4
SPEAKER_01
So you didn t seat mod the car?
4
SPEAKER_01
No, no.
4
SPEAKER_01
So you really pulled that seat all the way back and used that as a parking lot?
4
SPEAKER_00
All the way back, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
My knees were touching the steering wheel a little bit, but I fit.
4
SPEAKER_00
Even with the Buick, people are like, oh, you adjust the seat.
4
SPEAKER_00
The people at Buick wouldn t allow us to adjust the seat.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I actually really fit.
4
SPEAKER_00
I got tired of being asked, do I fit in the Buick so much, I went out and bought a Buick.
4
SPEAKER_00
And one time I was speeding on the highway, I apologize to all the police officers,
4
SPEAKER_00
and a cop stopped me.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he comes up to the window, license and registration, and he sees me and you should see the joy in his face.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he says, oh shit, you really do fit in the Buick.
4
SPEAKER_00
Go, be careful.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it was a great story.
4
SPEAKER_01
That is funny.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, because I would imagine like the Ferraris, you got them out of the seats, all these little cars, you got them out of the seats.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yep.
4
SPEAKER_01
But what are the things you have to have custom-made?
4
SPEAKER_01
Shoes, beds, car seats occasionally?
4
SPEAKER_01
A lot of people ask me that.
4
SPEAKER_00
It s close, but I m a t-shirt, jeans, Tom s type of guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
I still got my Shaq shoes that I wear every day, but I m just a normal basic guy these days.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I will buy them bulk because
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t like shopping.
4
SPEAKER_00
So like these jeans I have on today, I guarantee I got 40 pairs of each color.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they re just in my house.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I don t want to be able to, like three years from now, go buy jeans.
4
SPEAKER_00
I want to have like 200, 300 pair of jeans in each house.
4
SPEAKER_01
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_01
So you just and do you buy the clothes yourself or you have somebody who s like, hey, get him.
4
SPEAKER_01
He likes these get a hundred.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m a regular guy.
4
SPEAKER_00
I do stuff myself.
4
SPEAKER_00
I go to Walmart by myself.
4
SPEAKER_00
I go to CVS by myself.
4
SPEAKER_00
I go to Waffle House.
4
SPEAKER_00
I go to Krispy Kreme all by myself.
4
SPEAKER_01
Do you own a Krispy Kreme?
4
SPEAKER_00
I feel like- Yes, yes, in Atlanta.
4
SPEAKER_00
A legendary spot in Atlanta.
4
SPEAKER_01
You own a lot of different franchise businesses and things like that.
4
SPEAKER_01
How do you decide what to invest in?
4
SPEAKER_01
I mean, who do you even trust to advise you in that kind of thing?
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, first I trust my panel, of course, and then myself.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, for example, if I don t like this water, and you being the CEO of this company, there s no amount of money you can offer me to drink this.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then I ll tell my panel, OK, if they re interested, I m sure somebody else will be interested.
4
SPEAKER_00
This is what I like to drink.
4
SPEAKER_00
That s the story I tell everybody.
4
SPEAKER_00
After we won the championship, Wheaties contacted us.
4
SPEAKER_00
But as a youngster, I d seen the great Wheaties commercials, but we couldn t afford Wheaties.
4
SPEAKER_00
For us, it was froth to flakes, through loops, dig them smacks.
4
SPEAKER_00
So Wheaties contacted us and said, hey, why don t you be on the cover?
4
SPEAKER_00
And I told my agent, I said, I can t do it.
4
SPEAKER_00
He said, what do you mean you can t do it?
4
SPEAKER_00
Breakfast champion.
4
SPEAKER_00
I said, I never ate Wheaties, and I m not going to try it right now.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, if I m eating cereal, it s going to be Fartaflakes one, Fruity Pebbles, and then Dig Em Snacks.
4
SPEAKER_00
So, second championship, Wheaties come back again, I m like.
4
SPEAKER_00
Can t do it, bro.
4
SPEAKER_00
Third championship.
4
SPEAKER_00
Can t do it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then the fourth championship, I think they just deal with the NBA, and D-Wade and myself was on it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then finally my dream came true.
4
SPEAKER_00
About three years ago, Perry came to me and said, I got some good news, got some bad news.
4
SPEAKER_00
I said, okay, what s the bad news?
4
SPEAKER_00
He said, Frosted Flakes still not interested.
4
SPEAKER_00
Because I actually told him, I said, call Frosted Flakes and tell them I ll be on the cover with Tony for free.
4
SPEAKER_00
You ain t even got to pay me.
4
SPEAKER_00
They didn t buy it.
4
SPEAKER_00
So he said, Frosted Flakes, they re not interested.
4
SPEAKER_00
But Fruity Pebbles is.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he said, they want to put you on 13 million boxes.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I said, let me think about it.
4
SPEAKER_00
Hell yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I was on the cover of 13 million boxes of Fruity Pebbles, which was awesome.
4
SPEAKER_00
Because growing up, that s what I ate.
4
SPEAKER_00
And in college, I really used Icy Hot and it really worked.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, this stuff really works.
4
SPEAKER_00
So when they approached me, I was like, you know what?
4
SPEAKER_00
I know about this product firsthand.
4
SPEAKER_00
Let s do it.
4
SPEAKER_00
You know, I have to be comfortable with the product.
4
SPEAKER_00
And then if I m not comfortable with the product, it has to be something new and innovative.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m really into technology.
4
SPEAKER_00
So we meet with a lot of people that try to show off stuff.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m a geek.
4
SPEAKER_00
A geek saved my high school career.
4
SPEAKER_00
Really?
4
SPEAKER_00
I had a 69.2 in government class.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like a D minus or something?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, D minus.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it was around playoff time.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wasn t a bad student, I just wasn t getting it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And the teacher s like, you know what?
4
SPEAKER_00
I m going to give you a chance to retake this test.
4
SPEAKER_00
because we were like 33 and all at the time.
4
SPEAKER_00
She s like, I m not going to pass you just because you re an athlete, but you work hard, I respect your work, you re not a troublemaking class.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m going to give you an opportunity to retake this test.
4
SPEAKER_00
You got to study with McDougal.
4
SPEAKER_00
McDougal was a geek in school that everybody used to bully and I used to just stick up for him.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like they d be messing with him because he was a smart kid.
4
SPEAKER_00
He had the computer back in the day where you had to press space bar
4
SPEAKER_00
ESC and delete and he had the big, you know, he had that computer back in the day.
4
SPEAKER_00
Everybody used to mess with him and I was the only one be like, yo man, leave him alone.
4
SPEAKER_00
Just leave him alone.
4
SPEAKER_00
So he was my tutor and he was the coolest guy ever.
4
SPEAKER_00
And he broke it down.
4
SPEAKER_00
So the way he broke it down,
4
SPEAKER_00
I made a B on the test, boom, won the state championship.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I was like, you know what?
4
SPEAKER_00
I respect geeks and how they think.
4
SPEAKER_00
I want to be a geek.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I ve been a geek ever since.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I m proud to say it.
4
SPEAKER_00
And if you see me in the streets, you can call me Big Geek and it won t hurt my feelings.
4
SPEAKER_01
Nice.
4
SPEAKER_01
You ever keep in touch with McDougal?
4
SPEAKER_00
No.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wish I, I wish I, you know, crazy thing is I don t even really know his name.
4
SPEAKER_00
People just, just call him McDougal.
4
SPEAKER_01
Okay, so that could be anybody.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I actually have to look at my yearbook and see his name, but he was a nice kid.
4
SPEAKER_00
And my school was 9 through 12, 269 kids, 9 through 12.
4
SPEAKER_00
And my senior class was 39 students.
4
SPEAKER_00
So it was a small school.
4
SPEAKER_00
Everybody knew everybody.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, if you were an athlete and you was picking on this guy, I didn t really play that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m like, yo, man, leave him alone.
4
SPEAKER_00
Just like, people be messing with him.
4
SPEAKER_00
Because he just kept to himself and didn t say anything.
4
SPEAKER_00
But this dude had a 4.9.
4
SPEAKER_00
He was one of the smartest guys in school.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like, I could see people, like, when they re taking tests, I could see people looking over, what does McDougal say?
4
SPEAKER_00
OCC.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I always used to just stick up for him because I don t like people just messing with people for no reason.
4
SPEAKER_01
So you were always like that, you always had a good sense of humor, always?
4
SPEAKER_00
No.
4
SPEAKER_00
No?
4
SPEAKER_00
I was a bully at first.
4
SPEAKER_00
Really?
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and this happened in Hinesville, Georgia.
4
SPEAKER_00
I wanna say fifth grade.
4
SPEAKER_00
So previous before I got to school, my father said, if you get suspended one more time, you already know what s gonna go down when you get home.
4
SPEAKER_00
The paddle.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the paddle.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I m in class and I have a water bottle.
4
SPEAKER_00
I don t even know what I got it for.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I got some tissue and I m making this gigantic spit wire and I m just lubing it up.
4
SPEAKER_00
Boom.
4
SPEAKER_00
And it s the wettest thing ever.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I throw it on the chalkboard and splat.
4
SPEAKER_00
Everybody, the kids going crazy.
4
SPEAKER_00
Teacher turns around.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m silent.
4
SPEAKER_00
And at this point, all the students know, don t mess with Shaq, because he will do something to you, take your lunch, whatever, whatever.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I m sitting there and the teacher goes, who did that?
4
SPEAKER_00
And the guy rats me out.
4
SPEAKER_00
Go through the thing, suspended five days.
4
SPEAKER_00
So now I get to go back to class with the little slippers that got suspended.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m just sitting like, man, man, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
And finally around 2.50, we get out at three o clock.
4
SPEAKER_00
I look at the kids and say, I m getting you today.
4
SPEAKER_00
And if I m gonna get ass whooping, you are too.
4
SPEAKER_00
So I wait about an hour and I see him sneaking behind, I get him.
4
SPEAKER_00
And I just start touching him up and he starts having an epileptic season.
4
SPEAKER_01
Oh, man.
4
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_00
And some guy, an innocent bystander came, put a pencil in his mouth.
4
SPEAKER_00
So the cops came to the house and they knew my father.
4
SPEAKER_00
And the guy s family didn t want to press charges, but what my father did, he allowed the MPs to take me to jail.
4
SPEAKER_00
He said, this is what would have happened if you would have killed this kid.
4
SPEAKER_00
And they put me through the whole process.
4
SPEAKER_00
Charging me, handcuffing me, put me in a cell, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
4
SPEAKER_00
It was sort of like, it was sort of like an uncut Gone Straight.
4
SPEAKER_00
Like you ever see the show?
4
SPEAKER_00
But it was uncut because it was like a military prison.
4
SPEAKER_00
These guys in there, they were tough.
4
SPEAKER_00
And after that day, I was like, you know, I m not going to do that anymore.
4
SPEAKER_00
I m done with that.
4
SPEAKER_00
I mean, because it would have been a whole different, if that kid would have passed away, it would have been a whole different story.
4
SPEAKER_01
You didn t know that that was going to happen?
4
SPEAKER_00
No, I was just, you know, I was just trying to...
5
SPEAKER_00
I m just trying to show off for no reason.
5
SPEAKER_00
Where do you think you d be today if you didn t become a basketball player?
5
SPEAKER_00
Be a cop?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you come full circle now.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I remember asking my father that.
5
SPEAKER_01
He said he would be a somebody.
5
SPEAKER_01
Doesn t matter.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t brag to the fact that I did this and I did that because we re all human beings.
5
SPEAKER_01
All put on this earth.
5
SPEAKER_01
All males and females put their clothes on the same way.
5
SPEAKER_01
All the same people.
5
SPEAKER_01
Some people just have different circumstances.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I try not to flash my circumstances in people s face.
5
SPEAKER_01
Unfortunate thing is they know all my circumstances anyway, so I don t have to put it in their face.
5
SPEAKER_00
Is it strange to you not being able to have like a private life that people will just leave you the hell alone if you wanted it?
5
SPEAKER_01
I mean, I don t look at it like that.
5
SPEAKER_01
If I want to be unseen, I know how to get away.
5
SPEAKER_01
My go-to place to get away is Turks and Caicos in the Bahama.
5
SPEAKER_01
Rent me a little boat and just look at the blue water and just relax.
5
SPEAKER_01
If I m having a bad day, I ll stay in the house.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t want to go out and be all, get out of my face.
5
SPEAKER_01
I don t want that story to be out.
5
SPEAKER_01
So I know how to navigate my way through.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you manage your emotions really well, it seems like.
5
SPEAKER_00
You re self-aware enough to know... I m 80-20.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m 80% humorous, 20% serious, and I don t really have to get serious a lot.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s good that three people on my panel handle 90% of my business affairs, which is a good thing to have.
5
SPEAKER_01
They are the left side of my brain.
5
SPEAKER_01
So then I let them do all the intelligent thinking and we have conversations and then I ll help them make a decision at the end, which is good.
5
SPEAKER_01
Because I think if I had to do all this stuff by myself, I d probably go crazy.
5
SPEAKER_01
So it s nice to have teammates around you to help you win championships.
5
SPEAKER_00
Were you always the biggest kid in the class growing up?
5
SPEAKER_01
Yes, I was always the biggest kid.
5
SPEAKER_01
And after I became a bully, I was like, how can I get these people to like me and respect me?
5
SPEAKER_01
Bam, I m going to be silly.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m a funny guy.
5
SPEAKER_01
I watch Good Times, Saffron and Son, Brady Bunch, Tom and Jerry.
5
SPEAKER_01
I like to laugh, I like to make people laugh, I like to dance, this is what I m gonna do to get people to like me.
5
SPEAKER_01
And it worked.
5
SPEAKER_00
So I m curious, the social impact of people always looking up at you and commenting on your height and asking, hey, do you play basketball?
5
SPEAKER_00
Because you weren t really a basket, you weren t good at basketball when you were young because you were too big, right?
5
SPEAKER_00
When you were really young?
5
SPEAKER_01
I was just, it wasn t I was too big, I was uncoordinated.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s what I meant, yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
I didn t have the belief.
5
SPEAKER_01
And once I saw Dr. J, it s all about believing.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like a thought can just turn up your whole internal structure.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was crazy.
5
SPEAKER_01
I thought I was a terrible player, so I actually was a terrible player.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then one time, I could do that.
5
SPEAKER_01
It felt like a movie.
5
SPEAKER_01
As soon as I said I could do that, it felt like it just entered my body.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I just took off from there.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you just kind of... I just thought about it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Thought about it and let it program yourself.
5
SPEAKER_01
Because for so long, you know, with being 6 3 , 6 4 , not being able to play, and people whispering, it s going to be terrible.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like, you hear that stuff and you see it, you start to believe it.
5
SPEAKER_01
I m like, maybe I am terrible.
5
SPEAKER_01
You know what?
5
SPEAKER_01
Let me go to this local ROTC program and look at these pamphlets and see what the military life is really about.
5
SPEAKER_01
Get 18 and get in, boom, bam, bam, bam.
5
SPEAKER_01
I might be in the military. 
5
SPEAKER_01
And I just changed my thought process and then... What age did that happen?
5
15.
5
SPEAKER_00
15, wow.
5
SPEAKER_00
So you were pretty young still at that point.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I saw Dr. J at 14, and then at 15 I was like, now it s time to go do something about it.
5
SPEAKER_00
Is your mom coming out for the statue unveiling?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yes, yes.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you d still turn to her for advice from the sound of it.
5
SPEAKER_00
She s on the panel.
5
SPEAKER_00
I mean, she even had you sort of... She s the head of the panel.
5
SPEAKER_00
The head of the panel?
5
SPEAKER_01
She gets upset with me sometimes, like during the whatchacallem beef, I m not gonna say his name, I don t want her to get sensitive.
5
SPEAKER_00
I was about to bring that up, but I won t do it.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ain t gonna bring it up, I m not gonna say his name.
5
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
5
SPEAKER_01
She got out of hand, and when she called, she said, squash it, and got a squash it.
5
SPEAKER_01
President of the panel, mama, she just said, leave it alone.
5
SPEAKER_01
And I was having fun with it, but you know, mama said, hey, leave it alone, I gotta leave it alone.
5
SPEAKER_01
You don t question your mother.
5
SPEAKER_01
A man that questions his mother, not a true man.
5
SPEAKER_00
Why did she get involved in that?
5
SPEAKER_01
Because, no, I ain t got nothing to do with that.
5
SPEAKER_01
My mother is 1,000% corporate.
5
SPEAKER_01
And she became that way.
5
SPEAKER_01
Well, she s always been that way, but she tells a story that she had me at a young age.
5
SPEAKER_01
She sacrificed a lot.
5
SPEAKER_01
But because she invested her time in me, it s paying back.
5
SPEAKER_01
Her ROI, it hit.
5
SPEAKER_01
It s like Google.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, the IPO.
5
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s hit.
5
SPEAKER_01
So it enabled her to go back to school and get her bachelor s, her master s, and her doctorate.
5
SPEAKER_01
So my mother is a sharp corporate businesswoman and she knows it s just bad for business.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like me with my whole man ego thing, you say you want to fight, we gonna fight.
5
SPEAKER_01
That s just how I am.
5
SPEAKER_01
And she s like, son, like, you know, she ll break it up.
5
SPEAKER_01
He got babies looking up to you, boom, boom.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then it was me to stop.
5
SPEAKER_01
And like, she s right.
5
SPEAKER_01
Shut it down.
5
SPEAKER_01
Boom, boom, boom.
5
SPEAKER_01
But again, when you re a man and you re competitive and you re, you know, people challenge you like,
5
SPEAKER_01
Like, if you challenge me now, I m gonna just get like this and like, I m gonna be in challenge mode.
5
SPEAKER_01
So, but, you know, she called me and just had to let it go.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, it seems like that s one of the most powerful things around you is having other brains doing the thinking, as self-aware as you are, as willing and able as you are to manage your own emotions.
5
SPEAKER_00
Having five other brains that go, well, hang on, let s take a breath here, has been your saving grace for a long time.
5
SPEAKER_01
General Dwight Eisenhower said, the greatest leaders are the ones smart enough to hire people smarter than you around you.
5
SPEAKER_01
Best quote I ve ever read in my life.
5
SPEAKER_00
If someone s listening to this right now and they think, I should do a panel, I should get my own panel, where do you recommend they start looking for that?
5
SPEAKER_01
Family and friends and people that you trust.
5
SPEAKER_00
How do you know who you can trust if you already have a measure of success, right?
5
SPEAKER_00
Because those people then could have, not your family necessarily, but a lot of people around you will have an agenda by that point.
5
SPEAKER_01
Good point.
5
SPEAKER_01
And you just have to, you know, you just have to, it s like a, I don t have a blueprint for it, just like a gut feeling thing.
5
SPEAKER_01
One thing about Perry and my relationship is Perry didn t come looking for me.
5
SPEAKER_01
I found him.
5
SPEAKER_01
Uncle Mike and Uncle Jerome have been there since I ve been a youngster.
5
SPEAKER_01
When I get caught stealing gum and the people call the cops, the cops say, hey, Uncle Jerome, Uncle Shad, we got your nephew again.
5
SPEAKER_01
We ll go get him.
5
SPEAKER_01
They come down.
5
SPEAKER_01
Instead of, you know, hit me with the book, they would explain, yo, man, you can t do this, boom, boom, boom.
5
SPEAKER_01
And my mother, you know, you gotta love my mother.
5
SPEAKER_01
And Coach Brown was the guy that offered me a scholarship when I was the worst player on the Army base.
5
SPEAKER_01
He came in there and said, hey, I want to offer you a scholarship anyway, because, you know, you re saying you re not a good player, and I know this Army life, your dad probably can t afford college.
5
SPEAKER_01
You can come to LSU anyway.
5
SPEAKER_01
So that s why
5
SPEAKER_01
decided to go to LSU, but that s why he s on the panel.
5
SPEAKER_01
So, it s just like a gut feeling.
5
SPEAKER_01
One, you can t have yes people.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like, they just gotta tell you, you know, somebody you respect, they just gotta tell you like it is.
5
SPEAKER_01
And the good thing for me is I don t know everything.
5
SPEAKER_01
And if I don t know, I ll ask a question, and I can figure it out.
5
SPEAKER_01
But, you know, you have to be able to have someone that you love and respect be honest with you by keeping it real.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like when you do something wrong and they say you shouldn t have did that, you gotta fix it.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like, I m not the guy, whoa, no, no, no, no.
5
SPEAKER_01
No, you shouldn t have did that.
5
SPEAKER_01
You shouldn t have said that, boom, bam, bang.
5
SPEAKER_01
I ll talk to you later.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then, you know, I listen to him, think about it, and then we move on.
5
SPEAKER_01
Respect is the key word.
5
SPEAKER_01
Like Kobe, we had our ups and downs, but we always respected each other.
5
SPEAKER_01
Wanna know how I know we respected each other?
5
SPEAKER_01
In game seven, who did Kobe throw the lob to?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that was you.
5
SPEAKER_01
Okay, and after the championship in Indiana, who did Kobe run and jump into his arms?
5
SPEAKER_00
It must have been you.
5
SPEAKER_01
It must have been me.
5
SPEAKER_01
So, you know, after the game in Indiana, when Kobe sprained his ankle and couldn t walk, who said, jump on my back and I ll walk you to the bus?
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that was you.
5
SPEAKER_01
Exactly.
5
SPEAKER_01
So the respect is there.
5
SPEAKER_01
Forget the little tits and the tats.
5
SPEAKER_01
You can have that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Brothers have that.
5
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
5
SPEAKER_01
Sisters have that.
5
SPEAKER_01
Married people have that.
5
SPEAKER_01
But as long as you got the respect there, it ll work.
5
SPEAKER_01
And that s what it s all about, especially when deciding your panel.
5
SPEAKER_00
When you first signed, you spent your first paycheck, I think, and was it 45 minutes or part of your first paycheck anyway?
5
SPEAKER_01
It wasn t my first paycheck.
5
SPEAKER_01
It was my first big check from Classic Cars.
5
SPEAKER_01
I did a car signing deal for a game and it was a million dollars.
5
SPEAKER_01
And, you know, when you re a young kid and you have no business etiquette or you don t know anything about business, a million is a million.
5
SPEAKER_01
But, you know, every man that works and every man that has to pay a mortgage, you know that.
5
SPEAKER_01
FICA, sales tax, state s tax, you know, all those people are going to get their money first before you see that.
5
SPEAKER_01
So my check was about $750 and I didn t even know, like my guy said, Hey, you signed for a million.
5
SPEAKER_01
And then I didn t even factor in his 15%, which is $150.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then boom and bam.
6
SPEAKER_00
So by the time I bought three cars, I bought a car and my father said, I want one.
6
SPEAKER_00
I was like, in my mind, I was like, okay, 150 minus a million.
6
SPEAKER_00
Oh, I got 850 left.
6
SPEAKER_00
Cool.
6
SPEAKER_00
Buy another one.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then my mom said, uh, Hey, I want one.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay, boom, 700, yeah, let s do it, boom.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then I got a call from the bank guy the next day.
6
SPEAKER_00
He said, you re 30,000 in the holes.
6
SPEAKER_00
I bought rims and suits and baggy pants and Versace shirts and chains.
6
SPEAKER_00
It was wild.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s when my father came in and said, see, see, let s go, you need to get a business manager.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then that s when I started looking for people.
6
SPEAKER_01
The lesson to take away from that is, one, get a business manager, and two, don t go to the car dealership with your parents.
6
SPEAKER_00
No, it just wasn t.
6
SPEAKER_00
No, hey, you just have to be smart.
6
SPEAKER_00
Like, I wish I would have knew about leasing back then.
6
SPEAKER_00
I probably would have just leased the thing.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, rather than just spend, I could have just put like $5,000 and paid, you know, $700 a month for three years rather than just give,
6
SPEAKER_00
Write a guy a check for 153 times.
6
SPEAKER_00
Expensive lessons, man.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it is.
6
SPEAKER_01
What did you do before you had Doe, though?
6
SPEAKER_01
I mean, in college you must have had to sleep sideways on beds or stack beds together.
6
SPEAKER_01
I mean, what was that like?
6
SPEAKER_00
I tried to get all the free stuff.
6
SPEAKER_00
And when I mean free stuff, from LSU I could.
6
SPEAKER_00
So, I had about 20, 30 basketball Reebok sweatsuits.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s all I wore.
6
SPEAKER_00
Just tracksuits?
6
SPEAKER_00
Tracksuits and LSU football shirt, LSU t-shirt.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then I got a Pell Grant.
6
SPEAKER_00
So the Pell Grant, I got like $1,500.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I go to the bank and I put $300 bills, three $100 bills and the rest in one.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I like walk on campus like I had a big wad of money.
6
SPEAKER_01
Just to feel like, all right, I still got something in my pocket.
6
SPEAKER_01
Nice, nice.
6
SPEAKER_01
Just to feel rich.
6
SPEAKER_01
I guess that makes sense.
6
SPEAKER_01
I guess that makes sense, to make sure you got something to show for it.
6
SPEAKER_01
Why the rap career, being in movies?
6
SPEAKER_01
I mean, you went platinum, so not bad, but what was the value add there?
6
SPEAKER_00
Because for me, it wasn t about doing those things, it was about following my dream.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m in a studio with Notorious B.I.G.
6
SPEAKER_00
How many people can say that?
6
SPEAKER_01
Not many.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m in the studio with Jay-Z, Nas, Peter Gunz, Lord Tariq, Eric Sermon, Wu-Tang Clan.
6
SPEAKER_00
Those are guys that I grew up listening to.
6
SPEAKER_00
Tribe Called Quest.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s making it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Forget Hot Sounds and Boom and Bam and Cell Albums.
6
SPEAKER_00
I told a rapper this one time, rap money is nothing to me.
6
SPEAKER_00
Nothing.
6
SPEAKER_00
You can sell a mean album, two mean albums, you ain t getting a lot of that back.
6
SPEAKER_00
You gotta recoup, and a lot of people don t understand that.
6
SPEAKER_00
So for me it was just fun.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then the movie thing, it s all about opportunity.
6
SPEAKER_00
I got blue chips from sitting in Jerry s deli.
6
SPEAKER_00
The guy that wrote White Man Can t Jump was coming up with a script, Blue Chips, and he saw me and he s like, hey, you re Shaquille O Neal, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
Boom, boom, boom.
6
SPEAKER_00
I m doing a movie, would you like to be in it?
6
SPEAKER_00
What you think I m gonna say?
6
SPEAKER_00
No, no, I gotta concentrate on my basketball, forget that.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I do it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Had to play me, it was one of my better movies.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then, you know, out here meeting people and shaking hands, like we get offered stuff all the time that we have to turn down, but it s all about opportunity.
6
SPEAKER_01
And so you seize on those opportunities.
6
SPEAKER_01
As soon as you smell a good one, there s no hesitation.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, and then, you know, it s all about having fun.
6
SPEAKER_00
It s not like we re out there like, you know, like, you know, like, hey, we want you to do this.
6
SPEAKER_00
That seems cool.
6
SPEAKER_00
Let s do it.
6
SPEAKER_01
I think the, the rat money doesn t mean anything to me as something that only a professional basketball player can say.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, because I was making 20, 30 million a year for basketball.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
And another 10, 15 from Pepsi and Reebok and, you know, another from the Shaq, like we were,
6
SPEAKER_00
Like, I could ve sold two, three million albums and got three million back, that s nothing.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, in a way that s the most hip-hop thing you could possibly say, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
Like, you know, this ain t enough money for me, like when you re talking about Shaq money, but, you know, to be able to tell your kids or to have people know that you were friends with Notorious B.I.G.
6
SPEAKER_00
and did a song with Jay-Z, that s classic right there.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, you got the legendary status.
6
SPEAKER_00
Because again, you know, the thing is,
6
SPEAKER_00
If those people didn t like what I was doing, they probably would ve said no.
6
SPEAKER_00
But they knew that we all come from the same place.
6
SPEAKER_00
We all from the inner city.
6
SPEAKER_00
So on the way to the court, I got my Kangol on, I got my fake rope chain on, I m LL Cool J. As soon as I get there, I open my bag, I pull out my Chuck Taylors, and I m Dr. J. So when I call all these people up, who a lot of them didn t charge me, by the way, it s like, yeah, man, we would love to do it.
6
SPEAKER_00
And they saw my passion, and they saw that I really respected the craft.
6
SPEAKER_01
Is there anything else on your bucket list that you haven t ticked off yet?
6
SPEAKER_01
Any plans to do anything?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, we actually talked about it today.
6
SPEAKER_00
I have a dangerous bucket list that, if it don t go right, you could probably never hear from me again.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I m only let the world know about two of those things.
6
SPEAKER_00
I would like to skydive.
6
SPEAKER_00
And I would like to have, I would build a contraption that could survive Niagara Falls.
6
SPEAKER_01
What does the panel think about that one?
6
SPEAKER_00
They don t like it, but I want to do that, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
Because I like to have fun.
6
SPEAKER_00
I think if we design in a certain way, especially to where if I bounce around, nothing will hurt.
6
SPEAKER_00
Sure.
6
SPEAKER_00
And it has to be strong enough to withstand in case you hit a rock or something.
6
SPEAKER_00
But I would like to do that and then put cameras in and let people tune in and see if I make it or not.
6
SPEAKER_00
You could stream it live, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Either way, it ll be a good show.
6
SPEAKER_00
And then I want to climb the Himalayans.
6
SPEAKER_00
I hear that s tough.
6
SPEAKER_01
Oh, yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, that s very, very tough.
6
SPEAKER_00
I want to do that.
6
SPEAKER_00
I went out with Bear Grylls and that was tough.
6
SPEAKER_00
So, yeah, I have a lot of things to do on my bucket list.
6
SPEAKER_01
No MMA anymore, huh?
6
SPEAKER_01
Nah, nah.
6
SPEAKER_01
Because I know that you and Charles Barkley were both kind of into that at one point.
6
SPEAKER_00
If I fought in the MMA, it would only be one guy I would fight.
6
SPEAKER_00
Who would you fight?
6
SPEAKER_00
His name is Hung Man Choi.
6
SPEAKER_00
He s a 7 4 guy from South Korea, I think.
6
SPEAKER_00
Wow.
6
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_01
7 foot 4.
6
SPEAKER_00
I ve never fought anybody my size.
6
SPEAKER_00
I would like to see how I would fare out against that.
6
SPEAKER_00
That would be the only one I d do.
6
SPEAKER_01
He might do it.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah.
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I don t want these problems.
6
SPEAKER_01
All right, right on.
6
SPEAKER_01
So I love that, and you re not gonna wrestle the big show?
6
SPEAKER_01
Probably not.
6
SPEAKER_01
Nah, doesn t seem like a good use of your lower back either.
6
SPEAKER_01
I gotta ask, or people are gonna get mad as we wrap up here, what s going on with the flat Earth thing?
6
SPEAKER_01
Are you just messing with everybody with that?
6
SPEAKER_00
Well, the Earth is flat.
6
SPEAKER_00
Would you like to hear my theory?
6
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, tell me about it.
6
SPEAKER_00
The first part of the theory is I m joking, you idiots.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s the first part of the theory.
6
SPEAKER_00
The second part is, I said jokingly that when I m in my bus and I drive from Florida to California, which I do every summer, it seems to be flat.
6
SPEAKER_00
When I m in my plane and we re getting ready to land and I open up the window and I m looking at all the land that we fly over, it seems to be flat.
6
SPEAKER_00
But this world we live in, people take things too seriously.
6
SPEAKER_00
But I m going to give the people answers to my tests.
6
SPEAKER_00
Knowing that I m a funny guy, if something seems controversial or boom, boom, boom, you gotta add my funny points on, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
So now once you add my funny points on, that should eradicate and get rid of all your negative thoughts, right?
6
SPEAKER_00
That s what you should do when you hear Shaquille O Neal s statement, okay?
6
SPEAKER_00
You should know that he has funny points right over here, and what did he say?
6
SPEAKER_00
The guy had boom, boom, boom, boom?
6
SPEAKER_00
Add the funny points, you either laugh or you don t laugh, but...
6
SPEAKER_00
Don t take me seriously, because when I want you to take me seriously, you will know by the tone of my voice that I m being serious.
6
SPEAKER_00
So we live in a world today, and Denzel Washington said it best.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s too much information right now.
6
SPEAKER_00
There s too much going on, so.
6
SPEAKER_00
Like if somebody says something and they tile it and they send it out, by the time it gets to another guy, another guy, it s all messed up.
6
SPEAKER_00
So people actually really believe that I was serious when I said that.
6
SPEAKER_00
We actually had people call in the office a long time.
6
SPEAKER_00
The Shaq really, no, I don t think that was a joke.
6
SPEAKER_00
Okay, so know that once you kill them, they ll say something 80% of the time, because 80% of the time I m being humorous.
6
SPEAKER_00
It is a joke.
6
SPEAKER_00
And 20% of the time I m being serious.
6
SPEAKER_00
But when I m being seriously, you ll know you won t want to see me seriously.
6
SPEAKER_00
See me and Charles Barkley going back and forth on tnt.
6
SPEAKER_00
That s when I m mad when I m serious.
6
SPEAKER_00
Other than that,
6
SPEAKER_00
You re not going to get that out of me.
6
SPEAKER_00
So I was just joking, people.
6
SPEAKER_00
The earth is not round, it s flat.
6
SPEAKER_00
I mean, the earth is not flat, it s round.
6
SPEAKER_00
Shaq, thank you so much, man.
6
SPEAKER_00
Thank you, buddy.
6
SPEAKER_00
Appreciate it.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s been awesome.
6
SPEAKER_00
All right, thank you.
6
SPEAKER_01
Wow, there was so much here.
6
SPEAKER_01
Really great.
6
SPEAKER_01
Shaq hasn t given anybody an hour of time since I want to say ESPN and I think 60 minutes a long time ago, because you kind of have to do that for 60 minutes.
6
SPEAKER_01
It s part of the show.
6
SPEAKER_01
So a great big thank you to Shaq, to him and his whole team.
6
SPEAKER_01
If you enjoyed this one, don t forget to thank Shaq on Twitter.
6
SPEAKER_01
We ll have that linked in the show notes as well.
6
SPEAKER_01
Tweet me your number one takeaway from Shaq.
6
SPEAKER_01
I m at the
7
SPEAKER_00
of Charm on Twitter.
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And remember, if you want the show notes for this, you can tap the album art in most mobile podcast players to see the show notes for this episode.
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We ll link to the show notes right on your phone.
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Our boot camps are live program details here at theartofcharm.com slash bootcamp.
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Look, we re all each art projects.
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We can curate our input and curate those around us and shape our future selves.
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The Art of Charm is the study of how this is done and how to do it for ourselves, and that s what you re going to learn here at Boot Camp.
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Join thousands of other guys who ve been through the program who will become your network for life.
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But look, if this is your first episode of AOC, I hope you re blown away and you join us on the rest of the podcast here.
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And if you want to dip your toes in the water, you can join our AOC challenge at theartofcharm.com slash challenge.
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You can text the word CHARMED, C-H-A-R-M-E-D to 33444 in the United States or you can just go to theartofcharm.com slash challenge.
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The challenge is about improving your networking and connection skills and inspiring those around you to develop a personal and professional relationship with you.
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We ll also email you our Fundamentals Toolbox that I mentioned earlier on the show, which includes some great practical stuff ready to apply right out of the box on reading body language, having charismatic nonverbal communication, the science of attraction, negotiation techniques, networking and influence strategies, mentorship, persuasion tactics, and everything else that we teach here at The Art of Charm.
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This will make you a better networker, it ll make you a better connector, and last but not least, it ll make you a better thinker.
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That s theartofcharm.com slash challenge or text charmed in the US to 33444.
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For the full show notes for this and all previous episodes, head on over to theartofcharm.com slash podcast.
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This episode of AOC was produced by Jason DeFillipo.
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Jason Sanderson is our audio engineer and editor.
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Show notes on the website are by Robert Fogerty.
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The theme music is by Little People and the transcriptions by transcriptionoutsourcing.net.
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I m your host, Jordan Harbinger.
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Go ahead, tell your friends, because the greatest compliment you can give us is a referral to someone else, either in person or shared on the web.
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Word of mouth really is everything, so stay charming and leave everything and everyone better than you found them.