스티븐 A. 스미스: 미디어 슈퍼스타가 되기까지의 여정

역경을 딛고 성공에 이른 스티븐 스미스는 비즈니스의 대가이며, 진정성을 중시하고 탁월함을 지향하며 공평한 보상을 추구합니다.

### 스티븐  A. 스미스: 미디어 스타덤과 비즈니스 마스터가 되기까지의 여정
* 📺  스티븐  A. 스미스가 **자신의 커리어와 진정성, 그리고 미디어 인사이자 사업가로서의 성장**에 대해 이야기합니다.
* 💼  그는 비즈니스에 대한 초기 무지와 해고를 당한 겸허한 경험을 통해 **업계의 비즈니스 측면을 마스터**하게 되었다고 이야기합니다.
* 🤝  알렉스 로드리게스와 스티븐  A. **스미스가 서로에 대한 존경심과 경력 좌절에서 얻은 교훈**을 공유합니다.
* 📈  스티븐  A. 스미스가 **미디어의 수치와 비즈니스 측면을 이해하는 것의 중요성**과 **스킵 베이리스와의 파트너십, 시청률 전쟁에서 거둔 성공**에 대해 이야기합니다.
* 🌐  그는 변화하는 미디어 환경에 대해 언급하고 **자신의 쇼를 직접 소유하고 운영**한다고 밝히며 **진화하는 비즈니스 모델에 적응**하는 모습을 보여줍니다.

### 스티븐  A. 스미스: 미디어 업계에서 성공으로 가는 여정과 멘토링
* 📺  스티븐  A. 스미스가 업계에서 쌓은 경험과 성공을 바탕으로 **선형 텔레비전과 스트리밍 플랫폼에 대한 다양한 콘텐츠 제작 목표**에 대해 이야기합니다.
* 🎙️  그는 팟캐스트를 하지 않기로 한 결정과  TV와 스트리밍의 진화하는 환경에 대해 설명하며 두 영역 모두에서 성공하기 위한 노력을 강조합니다.
* 🤝  스티븐  A. 스미스는 자신의 멘토인 마크 샤피로와 두 사람의 관계가 자신의 커리어에 미친 영향을 되돌아보며 **지도와 멘토링의 중요성**을 강조합니다.
* 👥  그는 **존 톰슨과 알 샤프턴 같은 흑인 멘토들의 영향력**에 대해 이야기하며 **성공에 따르는 책임과 의무**를 강조합니다.
* 💡  스티븐  A. 스미스가 멘토인 밥 아이거로부터 받은 소중한 조언을 공유하며 **멘토링이 자신의 커리어에 미친 영향**을 소개합니다.
* 🏀  코비 브라이언트, 마이클 조던과 같은 스포츠 전설들과의 교류를 회상하며 **그들의 성공과 직업윤리에서 얻은 소중한 교훈과 영감**을 공유합니다.
* 📰  그는 미디어 업계에서 **실체와 노력의 중요성**을 강조하며 작가로서의 경험을 자신의 **성공 요인**으로 꼽았습니다.
* 🎯  스티븐  A. 스미스는 미디어 업계에서 성공하기 위해서는 **헌신과 겸손, 그리고 자신의 기술을 습득**하는 것이 중요하다는 점을 강조하며 미디어 전문가를 꿈꾸는 사람들에게 조언을 전합니다.

Stephen A. Smith. Holy smokes, man. Like, that's one where I felt the bar is very high. We watch him on TV literally every day. Listen to his podcast. My only trepidation about it is like, well, what does he have left to say? Turns out a lot. What did you take away from it? I just resonated with him talking about, you know, his mother, his father, when he talked about opening the fridge and not having any food there. There's so much there, but he's so authentic and he's so confident. And he's 56, Jason, and I really do think that he's entering his prime. Yeah. This is a guy who basically says, I didn't understand business. I got fired. And I realized I did not understand what was going on behind the scenes. And then he resets and sets about learning that. And now he's unstoppable in part because now he gets it.

Well, that part resonates big time with me. 'Cause him getting fired and my suspension. But the way I see it'd be fast forward now, 15 years for him is probably the number one most influential voice in sports, is a trifecta of lessons learned. Great relationships, amazing work ethic. Yeah. And supreme confidence. Right. We talked about this notion of where the media's going and how he reacts to it. And I loved his answer when I asked that, which is basically like, I've already, I've already figured it out. He's a pop culture hero. I know that. He came to one of the Timberwolves games, he sat next to me and I thought I was sitting with like Muhammad Ali. And he's leveraging that. He's, you know, making a million bucks a year, a little bit more gets fired from ESPN basically has to go away, come back only on the radio, not on tv.

Making $400,000 a year. Fast forward to now, 20 plus million dollars
annually is most likely what he's going to get.
Is that mind-blowing to you? It's mind-blowing
until you understand the data. He's earning every part of whatever that
$20 million plus ends up. He's earned every dollar,
and he now knows it. Alright, so we like to start the show, having people introduce
themselves. Tell us who you are, Stephen A. Smith, ESPN,
Stephen A. Smith Show, New York Times bestselling author. I like that one. Yeah, that. That's a good one. That works. That works - For me today.
And a Yankee fan. Yes, yes, Yes. I love the way they've
started off this far. So though I'm very, very
pleased. Yes, I'm very pleased. Alright, so well, let's
actually start there because you two obviously
know each other now.

Yeah. I believe you're
friends. Yes, we are. But I dare say that before you knew each other,
you knew of each other. Yeah. What did you know of him? What'd you think of him? Well, Obviously his baseball
career spoke for itself. Obviously he's had his
trials and tribulations, but I always considered him
a good, good, a good dude, somebody that would get in
front of the camera, talk to people, was personable,
very relatable, tried to be fair minded and whatever, and was just an outstanding, great player. And so that was the guy that
I knew on the baseball field, and I didn't know him
in any other capacity at that particular moment in time. And if I don't know you at all,
I'm going to be incredibly, incredibly objective. When I get to know you, I'm going to still be objective in terms of pursuing truth and what have you.

But if you're my guy, you're my guy, and I'm gonna go out publicly, and I'm gonna be unapologetic about the fact that this is my guy. And it's not just about being friendly, it's about looking at a person and looking at them for who they are and saying, that's a person I want to be friends with because they're a really good person. And that's how I feel about Alex Rodriguez. What'd you know about him? Well, obviously I knew he was someone that was very respected in my circles, and especially in New York, being a Yankee, one of the things that was endearing was that he was a Yankee fan. So immediately that was a great connection. Yeah. But I, I really, really liked him from afar and respected him once I got to know his story. One thing about Stephen a and this is kind of when we got to know each other, I went

through my tough time in 2014 when I served my suspension. And he was critical about me. So once I talked to him, I asked for his advice. And one thing about Stephen A, if you don't wanna hear the truth, don't ask for his advice. And he gave me some tough love. And that kind of started what I, what I call a very, very good relationship, is very respectful. And then watching him over the last 10 years, I mean, he had his downtime when ESPN let you go and you came back, I had my downturn on my suspension in the last decade for both of us has been a lot better. But I think the common theme is we come from the bottom. We don't forget where we came from. But more importantly, I think we've learned from some of our, I at least I know you have as well, Stephen, and it's just been great to watch him develop

to this mega media superstar. If you think back to your early days, how did those early
experiences with your family decisions you made, decisions
that were made for you, how did it affect you
as a businessman? First of all, I was incredibly
ignorant to business. But I think for me, if
I had to crystallize where business came to
the forefront of my mind, it was when I got fired in 2009. You see, there's a difference
between making money and learning business. When you're trying to make money, what you're doing is
you're going out there, you're performing, you
are praying that some sort of a meritocracy will be in existence. You'll be recognized
for your attributes and, and your production. And ultimately, you'll be
fairly compensated for it. When you think about business, now you're looking at the entire landscape and you're monitoring
what's transpiring, not just

before your very eyes, but around you. And you are looking at the stratosphere that you're venturing into or
that you're in the midst of, and you're paying attention
to the tea leaves. You're paying attention to what's going on, et cetera, et cetera. Because when I got let go by
ESPN due to a contract dispute, it was an incredibly humbling experience. I went from having four jobs to zero in one in one meeting. Mm. Just like that. I
didn't think it was fair. I didn't think it was right.
I thought I got hosed. I thought I got screwed over big time. And I was very, very upset. But I was overwhelmed, not just
with sorrow, but with fear. Because as I was driving
home from Connecticut back to Hollis, Queens, New
York, to my mom's house, I pulled over on the side of the road.

and I just put my head in my hands because I was like, I've lost everything. And I had no game plan, I
had no plan B. I had walked around thinking that
folks yelling my name, screaming my name,
seeing me in commercials. I'm on TV, I'm popular,
boom. This is who I am. This is what I'm worth.
I had no knowledge, no clue whatsoever of
what my true worth was because I wasn't attached to
anything that was perceived as being a revenue generator. Right. And if I didn't have
knowledge about my business, then they got to define my worth, not me. And so as a result, when I
wanted X amount of dollars and they said I wasn't
worth it, I couldn't prove to them that they were wrong. 'Cause I had no platform or no evidence, no data
whatsoever that validated that. And I didn't know that
until they let me go.

And when they let me go, and I went about the business of licking my wounds, and then ultimately trying to resurrect my career, what I zeroed in on was mastering the business that I was in. Mm. And ultimately positioning myself where I would be able to define my worth. And lo and behold, I've had three contracts since. And I think it's fair to say that I've kind of figured stuff out a little. And another one coming by the way, and another one coming, my contract ends in June of 2025. I'm sure we'll be talking before then, and hopefully things will work out. But if it doesn't, it doesn't. And that's business. And that's something that I, I, I believe I'm gonna be prepared to handle. Let's just say this, this ain't 2009, right? Stephen? I do want to go back because we do share a lot in common.

Yeah, more than the pinstripes. Yes, the fact that we both fell, and my suspension, you're firing. But what lessons did you learn? I don't think I'd be where I am today. I was arrogant, and I was the worst kind of arrogant because I was stupid while I was arrogant. And I was, when I say I was arrogant, I never mistreated people. I'm never inhumane. What I'm talking about is just an overwhelming level of confidence in who I am, in what I do in this business. And I just, I'm one of those guys. For better or worse, I apologize for people that's gonna be offended by it. When I'm in front of the camera, I just don't know how to put it. I believe I'm the best on the planet. I am not worried about anything or anybody. You put the camera in front of me, you put the lights on,

I believe I will be a dominant presence in front of anyone's camera. That's just how I feel because I'm that comfortable with it. And so, for me, having that attitude, I thought that was all I needed because people knew me and they screamed my name in the streets. But you gotta be educated about your business, about the business at hand. Do you generate revenue? That's what business is about. And I realized that I was a victim of being a newspaper person because so many newspaper people paid no attention to business. They pay attention to the affinity they have with the audience and, and what's reciprocated. And they will let that speak for them. Because for years that's what it did. But the advent and, and, and the introduction of sports talk radio, and then ultimately television, of course, it was always there. But especially in this day and age, the debate format, ultimately the podcast stratosphere, there's

so many different avenues,
not to mention social media and how that could
potentially be monetized. Because I don't care how
good your product is, if people ain't buying it,
money ain't being generated. If money ain't being generated,
bodies are gonna fall because they don't have the revenue to pay the folks that are producing. And when you deduce things from
that simplistic perspective, it goes a long way towards humbling you. And then there's the black element. As a black man, it's very,
very important that I say this. The more knowledgeable I
became, the more I learned to depersonalize things. Hmm. When I was let go
in 2009, I'm a black man. I'm doing this, I'm doing
that. They gonna let me go. They wouldn't do this to the white guy. That was the mentality. Until my mother, as I wrote
in my book, Straight Shooter.

looked at me and put a gave me a tray with some bagels and eggs and some tea, and put a handheld mirror in front of me. And she said, I'm just wondering when you're gonna look at yourself. She said, this ain't about all of that. It's about you. You were the one complaining, you were the one talking about your bosses that way. You were the one lamenting the state of affairs at work and all that stuff. She said, I'm not saying you should have been fired, but would you have wanted you working for you at that time the way that you were? She said, I'm saying, it's time to look at yourself. If she hadn't told me that, I would've kept licking my wounds and thinking that it was them instead of me. Yeah. And I, I think that once I became more knowledgeable about the business, the biggest lesson I learned is that all

of a sudden, you depersonalize stuff because you can see why
certain decisions are made, and all of a sudden it makes sense. So if you're ESPN and you expect to generate
about 50 million in revenue, but you only generated 30, well, that would explain why I got less. But if you got more, it would also explain
why I'm asking for more. You see what I'm saying?
Yeah. And so, you know, what, what, what's it gonna be? And that's the mentality.
And that's what I've learned. The biggest lesson I
learned was the importance of mastering my business. Not just from a negotiating
standpoint, not just to empower myself as a,
as a talent, but as a man learning to separate emotion.
Yeah. From business. The Key thing that happens in
your sort of resurrection journey, as it were, as Dave Roberts
comes to you, right? Yes. What gave him such confidence in you?

Dave Roberts. Everybody knows, he and I are very, very close. Of course, I love him dearly. He is an absolute nightmare to work for. If you are not 1000% committed to winning, this man lives, eats, and breathes winning. He is not a pleasant person to be around if you are losing. Mm. He is dogged about it. And there's one talent he believes that is like him. And you're looking at him, you know, if I lose, I lose what? I'm not gonna sleep well. I'm not gonna rest. I'm not gonna drop in the ratings and stand still and accept that. I'm not gonna, you know, be near the top of the heat and not shoot for the top. I'm not gonna be at the top and settle. I'm not built like that. And he knows, and he always said, you're a machine. And you know, he got that from a story.

Mark Shapiro tells. Mark Shapiro is the president, you know, over there, the William Morrison endeavor. Mark Shapiro. He brought you into ESPN, He brought me in the ESPN in 2003. He was told at the time, A-Rod. He was like, who's this guy? Stephen A, I'm at Fox, I'm at Fox Sports at the time. Kevin Frazier, who's the host of Entertainment Tonight, who was once at ESPN, that's one, that's one of my buddies. He, and I've been friends for 30 years, and he was working on NBA Shoot Around is what it was called at the time. And he went to Mark, he said, this is what we need. Mark's like, who's this guy? Kevin said, the best you have to get him. And according to Shapiro, he had 25 direct reports. And he went into a meeting and asked what everybody thought about me.

And every single individual
in that room said, hell no. Don't bring him here.
He's not a cup of tea. We don't want him, he's
not for us. He's for them. Do not bring him here. Everyone
except Norby Williamson. He was indecisive. What do you want to do? I guess he's worth a chance.
I don't know what you want. But everybody else was an emphatic no. And Shapiro said, I've never seen anybody have such universal dissension against them
in a meeting like this. Get him here for an
audition. I want to see him. I go up there for an audition. And 18 different people
interviewed me. Wow. And the last was a guy by
the name of Mike McQuaid, who was an exceptional senior
coordinator producer at ESPN for years. And he looked at me and all he said to me was, you know,

you had Fox, and that's cool. But you know, essentially, compared to us in the world of sports radio, you know, they're the little fish, we're the big fish. He said, you the big fish in the little pond. How you gonna feel about being the little fish in a big pond? And I looked around and I said, and I mean, no disrespect to anybody, but I ain't gonna be in no little fish in anybody's pond. Turn the lights on, put on the camera, and watch me do what I do. And he said, all right, let's go. And he put me in the studio with Kevin Frazier. It was at 2:15 PM. At 2:45 PM, we finished. At three o'clock, I was on the road heading back to New York. At 3:30, my agent at the time called me and said, we just agreed to a three-year deal for ESPN.

Wow. Mark Shapiro and them were watching, and he called it the greatest audition he had ever seen. And that's how it started. Yeah. And so I do wanna go back to that moment where you come back because you start this rebuild. It's clear then, and you've described it in talking about Dave, it's clear that you had a much, I don't know if you had a better grasp, but you had more focus on the numbers and what you had to deliver. Is that fair? Yes. Absolutely. And so where does it go from there? How do you build that sort of business and sort of almost analytic foundation to take the next step? Well, first of all, you have to assign yourself. And I talked with A-Rod about this, you know, I was like, listen, man, you gonna do baseball? This is a beautiful thing because obviously this man is a savant when it comes to

to the diamond. And I'm looking at him, and I'm like, the games, live events, that's always a winner. You are a part of that. You are winning, right? If you're not a part of that, what do you do? You can make all the Sports Center appearances in the world to use ESPN as an example. But if you ain't hosting the show, nobody knows when you're coming on. One day is one analyst, another day is another analyst, another day is somebody else. So it's not appointment viewing. That means what happens is ultimately they could deduce what the number is, and they don't necessarily have to attribute it to you because you're not a consistent presence on the show. As a result, they get to dilute your impact, therefore dilute your worth. And as a result, say to you, hold your horses in terms of what you think you're worth.

This may not necessarily be so. So when Skip Bayless came to me, and Skip Bayless was like, Hey man, I need you on the show. I'm getting my ratings and what have you, but to do something with somebody every day, it needs to be somebody I know I can trust, et cetera, et cetera. One of the things that I had to pay attention to and ultimately had to heed was that, that's five days a week, every day, 10:00 AM. That means the audience knows exactly where to find me, which means that if these ratings jump up, there's no way they can deny the impact that I had because I'm right there. And so because of that, I went to the show. We skyrocketed to number one on ESPN2, we were doing the unthinkable. We were beating some of the Sports Centers in ratings, which is something that, you know, the

the elder statesmen in
the business were swearing we would never be able to do. And then from that point forward, it was just calculative measures that took place along the way. Skip Bayless was ultimately going to leave because he was gonna
get offered a boatload of money from Fox. I had a dreams of making sure
that we transitioned from ESPN 2 to ESPN one, because ESPN one always has more viewers. So if we're right there,
that's definitely going to facilitate us grasping
a larger audience as those larger numbers come in all of a sudden, here we are. And who's the constant? You've got Skip Bayless,
he's in, he's out. You got Max Kellerman, he's in, he's out. You've got Cari Champion,
you've got Molly Qerim, you've got all of these
contributors. Who's the one constant? Stephen A. Be that one constant. I don't want to get too
far away though, from

that initial decision, though, to pair with Skip. Because I think the three of us can agree that fundamentally changes sports media. You and Skip had a relationship. You had seemingly dissimilar backgrounds. But actually when you peel it back, you're both incredibly hardworking journalists at the core. 'Cause if we think about deals, that's probably one of the best deals you do, is getting into a partnership with Skip Bayless, fair? Skip Bayless is insane and I'm not. Yeah. Let's get that out the way. And I say that affectionately, and he knows what story I'm going to tell. It's 2005. Bob Ley is hosting Sports Center on Sunday morning, the great Bob Ley. And in hosting those Sport Centers, there was a segment, 'Old school, new school'. Bob Ley ultimately took a hold of it and had Skip and I on, and we're in separate rooms in a studio right here in

Midtown Manhattan. And Skip would say outlandish
things sometimes with what people thought were outlandish. And some athlete got in trouble and Skip Bayless goes
on national television on a Sunday morning at
11:00 AM to be exact. And this man says, no athlete
should be allowed outside after 11:00 PM. He said,
nothing good happens after, at nighttime, nothing
good happens at night. Every athlete in their
contract should have an 11:00 PM curfew. And I'm literally laughing
and I'm like, how old are you, Skip? How old are you? You
have lost your mind. You know? And so we finished the segment and we come out of our separate rooms and I was like, man,
that was hilarious, man. That was funny. Way to go, man. And he looked around, he's leaned into me. He said, I'm, I'm serious. He said, no athlete should be
allowed out after 11 o'clock.

There's nothing good that comes from being out after 11 o'clock at night. And that's when I knew if we ever paired, it's gonna be big time. Yeah. Because I naturally thought nothing like him. Naturally. He thought nothing like me. We were polar opposites. It wasn't something that had to be manufactured. You're crazy. Now you are completely over the edge on that one. Listen, listen, listen. No, no, no. It's not over the edge. So Stephen, that was then. Yes. This is now. Yes. You've had multiple co-hosts. Yeah. I love what you guys do on Mondays and Tuesdays during football and all of that. The question is the rating wars. Who's winning now? It was me, you know, Close? Not even close. And I don't say that with joy, believe it or not, because I wanna win. I wanna be number one.

But I think a couple of weeks ago, we won by a 10 to one margin. It's been very, very lopsided. I take no joy in saying that because I want Skip to be successful. I'm gonna always be grateful for what he did to me. Keyshawn Johnson's a friend of mine, Michael Irvin is a friend of mine. You know, Richard Sherman is a friend of mine. I'm not rooting against these guys. I just want to be number one. You know, First Take is definitely it. This is at a time when linear television, you know, this, this dwindling shows are getting canceled. We are going up in the ratings. I literally had a conversation with the boss's like, look, if I'm gonna continue to do this show, it can't be about that. Because now I'm competing against myself. I'm proud to say that I wake up every day with two thoughts in my mind.

How do I make my bosses more money? And how do I get some of it? I can say stuff like that about being at ESPN because I know I don't show up to work thinking about just myself. I show up to work thinking about facilitating success for the company. I want all of these guys to succeed. And these ladies, I see, you know 'em all. You see 'em all every day. Anything they need from me, I'm happy to do it. The bosses need something from me. I'm happy to do it. I'm here to win for all of us. So, but I'm not gonna apologize for wanting to win for me too. Right. And so that, that leads to, I think, a fascinating conversation about this moment that we're in, that you're addressing directly, Stephen, which is, you know, the ratings. Yes. The media landscape is radically changing.

Even the business model.
There at ESPN is changing. You think about, you know, Logan Paul. You think about Pat McAfee. You think about Dude Perfect
licensing content to ESPN. Right?
This world is gonna change. How do you ensure that you change your
business with it? I've already done it. The Stephen A. Smith Show
is owned and operated by me. It has nothing to do with ESPN. Welcome to the special edition of the Stephen A. Smith
Show over the digital airways of YouTube. You have people and respect
to everybody who does it because it's a moneymaking business. The podcast stratosphere that
we live in, props to you guys for doing what you're doing. I'm proud of everything that I see and I want everybody to succeed. But when you look at those
guys, they have podcast. I have show. What do I mean by that? I came outta my own pocket and
I built my own television set.

and my own television studio. I'm trying to produce
content for linear television and the streaming stratosphere. I can sit up there one minute, and I'm doing a 30-minute sports show. Another minute, and it's
an hour show on politics that can go up against Real Time with Bill Maher or The Daily
Show or something like that. You look at the set, you might peek at it and say, Man, this looks
like a late-night show. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon.
Jimmy Kimmel. Yes, it's true. Hell, I could do something
for Bloomberg News if I knew as much as y'all did about business. Okay. I'm just saying that
for me, that's what I'm after. Yeah.
I wasn't out to do a podcast. Everybody else was doing
a podcast, number one. And number two, I didn't need
to necessarily do that. Because even though the
landscape is changing, I'm still winning in linear television.

And by the way, it's winning and streaming. Because you have to remember there is such a thing called ESPN YouTube. People can talk all the stuff that they want about the, you know, ESPN's in less households and it was a hundred million, and then it dipped to 89 and then 82, and then down to 71. What they're leaving out is that the audience hasn't left ESPN. They're just watching it differently. iPads, smartphones, laptops, et cetera. And oh, by the way, in my first year doing the Stephen A. Smith Show on YouTube, which is separate and apart from all of that, I already have 614,000 subscribers averaging over 8 million views per month. Wow. So I'm just getting started. My attitude is I've already adjusted. Right. It's just a matter of what I'm going to be incentivized to do. And I'm not gonna be apologetic about this.

I want to, and I intend to get paid. Right. But in the same breath, I also want to be somebody that, whether it's ESPN and Disney or someone else, looks at and has faith in to help build, find different talents, scout and evaluate, create different shows, and different platforms for content. I want to be one of those guys as well. One of the things that we also have in common is our great friend and mutual mentor, Mark Shapiro. What did you learn from Mark Shapiro? Mark and I have a special relationship. You know, it's rare, and I'm just gonna say it plain to be a Black man from the streets of New York City. It is rare that you find yourself in a position to have the kind of relationships that I've been blessed and fortunate enough to have. And Mark Shapiro is certainly up there with some of the great relationships that I've had. He's a businessman. Make no mistake about it.

He does not always deliver me good news. We do not always agree,
and we will butt heads. And if you don't know us, you'll be like, What the
hell is wrong with them? Why do they talk to each other like that? What you don't understand
is that we could talk to each other like that
and be like, All right man, I'll meet you for dinner in an hour. All right, man. See you next Tuesday. We going to the Knicks
game together. All right. When you have somebody like
Mark Shapiro in your life, I just can't say enough of you.
He's alive, he's energized, he's constantly swinging
for the, for the fences. And he goes for it. And it's pretty impossible
to be in his presence and be somebody who's complacent, who doesn't wanna work hard, and who doesn't care about results. If you're trying to win, you don't mind being around him.

And I love Ari Emanuel as well. We've had a great relationship for years. But I unapologetically tell anybody I met William Morris Endeavor because Mark Shapiro is there. It's a personal relationship that I've had with him for over 20 years. He's the man that hired me when he was going to Six Flags, when he was going running Dick Clark Productions, when he was all of these years that he was away from me. He would still call and provide input and do what he could to protect me or to elevate me. Yeah. He's always, always had my back. And I've always appreciated that. And so, as we talk about sort of mentorship and, and guidance, you know, one very clear through line in your book are these series of, and they are mostly men in your life. And, and often they are men of color, Black men who, you know, whether it's big house, your

your Big House Gaines, your coach at Winston-Salem, you know, whether it's Dave Roberts. But even thinking about John Thompson. Thinking about John Chaney, what role did they play and how, how does that act differently from a mentorship perspective? I am notably asking this as the white guy. He's sitting here for you. Well, 'cause there's an activism thread there too, that I think comes into, or, or worldview. You could say activism and you wouldn't be far off. But it's really not about that. Instead of activism, I'll use another word with the letter, A, accountability. These are pioneers from the Black community that toiled through the terrain in a, in a very, very significant way, created and provoked change, made differences. And ultimately had to confront hardships that weren't given to the typical person out in this world. You John Thompson. You had to go through a lot to get to where you are.

You're John Chaney. You had to go through a lot to get to where you are. And for me to be in a position that I'm in, let's not forget Sonny Hill and Philadelphia. Can't forget him. Can't forget Rob King, the former editor at the Deputy Sports Editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, a guy that I still communicate with to this day. The Great Bryant Gumbel and the path that he paid. I grew up admiring Ed Bradley, although I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him. God rest the so former 60 Minutes reporter, you see iconic figures that come from your community. There's a standard they established. And when they come to you and they approach you, and they're talking to you about things, here's what you have to remember. They're talking to for a reason. 'cause they believe you have the potential to do and accomplish the things similar to what they did.

And they're letting you know, there's a responsibility
that comes with it. There's an expectation. You know, Reverend Jackson came
up to me with that one time. Al Sharpton came up to me
with that one time. I got a call from Barack Obama
one time that came, you know that throughout the years you
see people coming up to you. And it's something in my mind
that I appreciate greatly because it reminds me that
it's not just about me. Excuse me. You are
here, be mission-minded. You ain't here for just a check. You ain't here just to do
a good job and go home. You don't get to do that because you have the
power to influence lives. Therefore, you have a
responsibility to strive to do so in a very positive way. And if it's with a hard,
hard truth, so be it. But you're doing it for the right reasons.

And so, to me, that's the difference. And I've often said this because there are white
individuals that I've looked up to, that I've admired for many, many years, and that I've talked
to on a constant basis. That's given me advice, counsel,
tutelage. One of those people that I talk to religiously, that I love very dearly, is Bob Iger. I have never, nor will I ever ask Bob Iger for anything but advice. You do not leverage
relationships like that. This man and what he did
to take me under his wing, to care about me enough just to give me guidance, was a big thing. He didn't have to do that. I'm not going, I could leave ESPN this year. I got nothing. I got nothing
negative to say about that man. That's my guy said. What kind of advice did Bob give you? Bob gave me a boat, he
gave me a boatload of advice.

He also told you, he reminded me about the importance of business. Not to take things personal,
to educate yourself about what you need to educate yourself about, so you don't take things personally. So you don't personalize it in a fashion that compromises your ability to perform. And then also understanding
you don't always have to give into this need
to fight every battle and to come out swinging. You don't take relationships like that and leverage that for something more. You do what you do because other opportunities
will always be available to you when you're learning
from wise individuals. Stephen A. I know you've
interviewed everyone from like Michael to Magic. As a young
Black man coming up Yeah. Watching these guys from afar, writing about them in Philly and
Yeah Daily news. Who are some of
the people that you've admired that have given you advice and that you sound like Michael Jordan and Kobe when you're talking
about, I wanna be number one.

but how did they influence
you both from afar and now as friends or mentors? Well, when you're great, when you speak, folks have no choice but to listen if they wanna win. And you know, you're
sitting here doing this podcast. Here's the reality of
the situation. No matter all, no matter
what you've been through, there is no doubt that
greatness was in your career. So when you suited down, I'm
sitting in Minnesota with you, you got your black suit on, and you, I'm like, this brother's
an owner for the NBA team. You know what I'm saying? This brother gonna own an NBA team. I'm, I'm loving this right
now. Earned not given. You know, because you made
smart decisions along the way. Every decision wasn't wrong. You made a lot of wise decisions,
a lot of smart decisions. The Kobes of the world,
the MJs of the world.

I mean, people like that. You know, you just watch
guys, and you watch 'em work. And most of the time I'm
watching rather than asking, because I'm a
I'm a pretty keen observer. And so when I think about a guy like Kobe, 2005, 2006, Kobe Bryant
trial and stuff is over. He settles the case. He's
back, he's playing ball. He never stopped. And he's
doing interviews, you know, he's still talking to people after games and stuff like that. But he never sat down and
gave it one-on-one to anybody. And then he gave it to me. And he comes into the
Quite Frankly studios, that's the name of the show,
back in two on the ESPN2 from 2005 to 2007. And I was sitting there, I like, yo man, people like my interviews. They like the set. They,
they telling me, you know.

I'd be like, Oprah. And his exact words was F Oprah. Harpo. I don't want to hear Oprah again. You insult her when you
may, when you say Oprah Harpo, she owns the Oprah Winfrey show. She owns her own brand. That's
what I want for you one day. And that's what he said to me. Which is why, even though I
loved him so much, and we were pretty tight for
a media member to a player, it broke my heart when,
when he passed away in that helicopter accident, because I was with him three
weeks earlier on New Year's Eve, hugged one another,
talked with one another. We were partying together
at New Year's Eve, and we were talking about
doing something together for ESPN because he
knew that I was about to start my production company. And I was aiming
to make things happen. So he was a guy that I just
considered to be a savant.

Just a brilliant, brilliant mind. And then when it comes to
just elements of winning, what touched me about the last
dance where Michael Jordan was that Michael Jordan said
things in the last dance that Michael Jordan had
been telling me for years. And so I'm watching him, and he was like, you might have, and, and the part where he got
really, really emotional and he called for a break and he was like, you might
have a problem with me. That's 'cause you never want anything. You know, he was talking to
Yes Whoever he was talking to, the sacrifices that come with it. You didn't do this. You know,
you didn't know what it take. You didn't know what it
took to get to this point, the sacrifices that were made. I take all of that and I look at my life. I've got two daughters.
I got four older sisters. Both my parents passed away
in 2017 and '18 respectively.

And I've got 15 nieces and nephews. And there's a lot of
moments that I've missed. I don't have regrets about
that. It had to be done. We were on welfare, government cheese and bread. Didn't spend
long in it, but we starved. I know what rats and roaches
in the house look like. I know what it's like to
open the refrigerator and there be absolutely,
positively nothing in there. I know what it's like
to walk around starving. I know I've been there and I'm like, I'm never going back. And my daughters will
never experience that. And my sisters are
done experiencing that. And my nieces and nephews
ain't experienced that. Whatever I gotta do to
be great enough to ensure that we don't have those
concerns, I will do. And if that means that
they get to spend Christmas and Thanksgiving together.

but I gotta be on the road at work. I gotta be traveling.
I gotta be at a game. I gotta sacrifice time. That
family time, yes, it hurts. No, I don't like it. But I know what the
alternative is in my world. And the alternative has
always been something unacceptable for me. And I'm not, I'm just not going there. So it's a decision I made a long time ago, and I don't look back from that. Yeah. And, and to that end, you know,
as Alex has alluded to, you're on the verge of being
almost certainly the highest paid sports commentator in the business. In your book, you talk
about your late brother, he visualized that for you. Yeah. He manifested it two
months, or he visualized it two months before
he died. You manifested. So as
you think about that, I know you think about him a lot.

Yeah. And what's happened
in those intervening years, were you always confident
this is where it would end up? Oh no, I wasn't confident
that it would end up where I am today. I thought that I would be successful. I thought that I would be
pretty good, if not great. I thought that you would respect me. You would see me, you would know me. But I never thought I
would be in the position that I'm in right now. I'm in a position right now
where I literally, I mean, I, I, I, I tell him, I just, I
did. My pastor has a podcast, and he had me on the other day. And it's always nervous being around him because I'm trying
to get there. You know, I'm trying, I'm not, I'm
trying to get there, you know, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
like, Pastor, I'm trying.

I'm really trying, you know, and He's known me for 30 years and knows everything about
my life inside and out, because he's my spiritual father. And I confide in him
about a lot of things. Thinking about your question.
He asked me the same thing. And I said, I knew I'd be successful, but I didn't know this would happen. Yeah. We talk about I
could be the highest paid. Well, let's talk about that for a second. ESPN has done nothing
wrong to me in that regard. When I signed my contract years ago, I was the highest paid then. Yep. They treated me right.
Things just happened. You know, other folks came down the pike. Pat McAfee kicking tail
in the in the YouTube stratosphere. Over 2 million followers built
the show over seven years. He deserved what he got. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck are institutions. I can't even express to you
what it is to have them.

Troy Aikman. I, I, I
respect the hell outta Joe Buck, but I don't really know him. I love me some Troy Aikman.
That's my, that's my brother. I love Troy Aikman. You
know, and he's phenomenal. You know, you think Kirk Herbstreit's been there for years. You think all of these other guys, they've been there for years. It was their turn. The only reason I ever
asked any, I answered any questions about me being the highest paid. It was me saying, hello. It's my turn. You know, my contract's coming
up. I've been number one. I was number one then.
I'm still number one now. And ain't too many dudes.
It's 56 years of age. 20 years in the television business. That's number one for the last 12 years. And when I say number one,
I'm talking about every week

and every month and every year for 12 years. Yeah. Yeah. That's how I feel. But that doesn't mean that ESPN's wrong or Disney is wrong for feeling otherwise. If you feel otherwise, you feel otherwise, then I'll have to find somebody who does feel like I feel right. And, you know, we'll go from there. But the biggest thing for me is that people try to act and they'll try to pit it like it's gonna be some negotiating war. No, it's not. This is what I bring to the table. Do you value and appreciate me enough to give me what I think I deserve or not? If you don't, I respect that. I hope you respect the fact that somebody else might. Mm. And we go from there. But so many times people think that I'm talking about ESPN, I'm not talking about ESPN, I'm talking about the business. I'm talking about everybody. Hello. We live in America.

I thought this was capitalism. I thought we tried to inch as close to meritocracy as we possibly could. I thought we were about winners. If you are going to pay
folks, isn't it supposed to be people who would win for you? They didn't pay him to lose; they didn't pay Derek Jeter to lose; they didn't pay Michael Jordan to lose. I don't recall people
getting paid to lose. I don't recall that. You get paid to win. I've won. Now that doesn't
mean I can't, I don't have to keep winning; I
understand the responsibility that comes along with it. But what I'm saying to the industry, when I got let go in 2009,
y'all left me for dead. You thought I was done. I'm not talking about again, Disney. I'm talking about
contemporaries in the business, the articles they were writing, the smack. They were talking; they were
writing my epitaphs. Mm.

Talking major, major nonsense. And it's okay because
you were doing your job, and you have a right to your opinion. And that was your opinion.
And based on the facts at that particular moment in time, I gotta, I gotta give you credit for deducing that that was the situation,
and that was your opinion. Well, what you gonna say
now, because I'm here, and by the way, I'm 56, and I'm coming. I'm not done. I've lost 40 pounds. Cholesterol level dropped
by a hundred points. Insulin resistant levels from
27 to a two, body fat from 29.4 to 10.4. I'm not messing around. Mm. I'm, I'm on a mission.
I'm on a mission. You Look like you're 46, not 56. I appreciate that. I think
I look a little younger than that person, but, but I'll take it.

Stephen, one thing that, you know, like Nick, my nephew's an enormous fan of you. Like other millions of
appreciate young, young people. Right? But they forget
Stephen A. the writer in Philly that wasn't making millions
and millions of dollars. Right. My question to you is, how much did being a writer help you being so good on television? Everything. Because
it provided substance. It, it, it got me addicted
to having something to say. When you're a columnist, you
have to wake up every morning and you have to be about the business of what is the most attractive
story to write about today? What will compel and ingratiate
you with the reader? Okay. And do you have interesting content to provide in some cases,
3, 4, 5 times a week? Can you do that? When
they call me Screaming A, I listen carefully. I don't mind you saying I'm loud.

I don't mind you pointing
to me being bombastic and demonstrative on occasion. What I mind is if I sense
you're utilizing that stigma to evade or omit my career. That I will not tolerate.
I was in those press boxes. I was in those clubhouses.
I was in those locker rooms. I traveled on the road over
225 days a year covering the Philadelphia 76ers. I did that, and the NBA
playoffs and the NBA finals. And prior to that I was
covering college sports. And prior to that I was
covering high school sports. I was the one that
started out as an intern for the Winston-Salem Journal. And then I went over to the
Atlanta Journal Constitution. And then I went to the Greensboro News and Record where I'm
literally working from 8:30 to 6:00 PM every day
doing calendar items, school lunch menus, and
all of this other stuff. And then from 7:00 PM to
midnight, I worked for free.

covering prep sports in the Piedmont Triad area in North Carolina. They wouldn't pay me 'cause they had no money. So I used it because I wanted the experience to generate bylines, so I could build my portfolio, and ultimately get a job in this business. I'm the one that started out at the New York Daily News as a reporter. They wanted me. So from April of 1993 to August of 1993, I had to cover homicide. This is the stuff I've done. So when I'm sitting there and I'm, I'm looking at people, and they're talking like, you know, he's loud and he's bombastic. He's demonstrative. I I'm looking at them like, you, you can kiss my ass. Excuse my language. But you, you, you can do that because what you're trying to do is you're trying to ignore and erase that I did what you did to get here.

Alright, Stephen A. Smith from New York. There's so many young people
out there admire you, look after you watch your journey. If they wanna be the
next Stephen A. Smith, what advice would you give them? Be committed to the work and
the journey, not the results. Mm.
Forget the sizzle 'cause all that glitters ain't gold. You gotta be about the work. Mm. Because ultimately that's
gonna be your saving grace. The work that you're willing
to put in, the sacrifices that you're willing to make. The fact that you're not
addicted to the glitz and glamour. It ain't all it's cracked up to be. Keep in mind, when I got let
go in 2009, everybody knew. So being known and being a celebrity and you know, being this per
everybody knew when I fell flat on my face, when I failed, when my epitaph was being written.

And I was considered
done in this industry. Everybody knew my name, was
paraded all over the place. That wasn't fun. So don't be too high, don't get too low. Be as even keel as you possibly can. Exercise humility, have
that inner confidence because they're gonna
come to you, and they're gonna try to break you down. Because in, especially in this day and age, with the advent of social media and everybody feeling
like they have a voice, criticism is more
prevalent than ever before. We have to understand that in today's society, on far
too many occasions, folks' definition of success is
bringing you down to their level because they can't elevate
themselves to yours. And when you understand that, and then you be about the
business of doing your job, mastering your craft, and committing yourself to
being the best at what you do on an everyday basis,
every day is a new day.

You got to get up and do it again. When you commit yourself to that, you are on your way. If you are looking for shortcuts, just get out of the way now, 'cause you ain't going to, you ain't gonna win. If you looking for shortcuts, you ain't gonna win. You will fall. Love that. Thanks. My pleasure. That was fun. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Stephen. Appreciate it.

Stephen A. Smith’s Hot Take on Being Sports Media’s Biggest Name | The Deal

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Bloomberg Originals

스미스는 진정성, 자신감, 강한 직업 윤리를 바탕으로 성공 가도를 달리며 대중문화의 아이콘이자 스포츠 미디어에서 영향력 있는 목소리를 내고 있습니다.

해고와 힘든 시기를 겪는 등 좌절을 겪었지만 비즈니스에서 귀중한 교훈을 얻었으며 겸손하고 초심을 잃지 않았습니다.

ESPN에서 해고된 결정적인 순간은 겸손한 경험으로 이어져 업계의 비즈니스 측면을 배우는 데 관심을 갖게 되었고, 궁극적으로 그의 거침없는 성공에 기여했습니다.

자존감을 정의하고 비즈니스를 마스터하는 법 배우기

자신의 진정한 가치에 대한 이해 부족으로 인해 자신의 가치를 증명하고 협상하는 데 어려움을 겪었습니다.

비즈니스를 마스터하고 수익 창출을 이해하는 것이 계약 체결에 성공하는 열쇠가 되었습니다.

의사결정을 개인화하지 않고 감정과 비즈니스를 분리하는 것이 그의 여정에서 얻은 가장 중요한 교훈이었습니다.

스미스의 성공할 것 같지 않은 여정

스미스의 승리에 대한 끊임없는 노력은 처음에는 주변의 반발에도 불구하고 마크 샤피로에게 인정받았습니다.

일관되고 영향력 있는 존재가 되는 데 집중한 결과, 그는 스킵 베일리스와 함께 ESPN의 쇼에서 성공을 거두었습니다.

쇼에 꾸준히 출연함으로써 시청률을 끌어올리고 자신의 가치를 입증하여 궁극적으로 스포츠 미디어에서 최고의 인물이 될 수 있었습니다.

스미스의 경력과 스포츠 미디어에 미친 영향

스티븐 스미스와 스킵 베일리스가 파트너십을 맺은 것은 스포츠 미디어의 근본적인 변화로, 서로 다른 배경을 가진 두 명의 열심히 일하는 저널리스트가 한데 모였습니다.

시청률 전쟁에도 불구하고 스미스는 회사와 모든 기고자들의 성공을 촉진하는 데 집중하고 있습니다.

변화하는 미디어 환경에 대응하기 위해 Smith는 ESPN과 별도로 'The Stephen A.

Smith Show'를 운영하며 팟캐스트 분야에서 두각을 나타내고 있습니다.

텔레비전과 스트리밍에 대한 스티븐 A.

스미스는 자신의 일에 대한 충분한 보상을 받고자 하는 열망을 표현하며, 일반 텔레비전과 스트리밍 플랫폼 모두에서 콘텐츠를 제작하는 것을 목표로 하고 있습니다.

그는 멘토링의 중요성과 자신의 삶에서 흑인 남성의 영향력을 강조하며 변화를 만드는 데 있어 그들의 역할과 그들이 대표하는 책임감을 강조합니다.

스미스는 흑인 커뮤니티의 선구자들과 그들이 겪은 어려움을 인정하며, 상징적인 인물들이 자신에게 심어준 성공 가능성에 대한 믿음을 강조합니다.

잭슨 목사, 알 샤프턴, 버락 오바마 같은 저명한 인사들은 영향력을 긍정적인 방식으로 사용해야 할 책임을 강조했습니다.

스미스도 밥 아이거로부터 받은 지침과 조언을 강조하며 개인적인 이익을 위해 관계를 활용하지 않는 것이 중요하다고 강조합니다.

스미스는 마이클 조던과 코비 브라이언트의 영향력을 되돌아보며 그들의 조언이 자신의 커리어와 인생에 미친 영향에 대해 강조합니다.

역경을 극복하고 성공을 이루다

스티븐 스미스는 자신의 힘들었던 과거와 가족을 위한 희생을 되돌아보며 다시는 그런 고난을 되풀이하지 않겠다고 다짐합니다.

그는 자신의 기대를 뛰어넘는 스포츠 해설가로서의 현재 성공에 대해 감사를 표합니다.

또한 스미스는 업계에서 자신의 가치와 자신이 마땅히 받아야 한다고 생각하는 인정을 강조하며 자신의 꾸준한 우승 기록을 강조합니다.

스미스는 노력과 헌신의 중요성을 강조하며, 자신의 성공을 자신의 기술에 대한 헌신에서 기인한다고 말합니다.

작가로서 겸손하게 시작한 그는 콘텐츠의 가치와 매력적인 콘텐츠를 일관되게 제작하는 데 필요한 노력을 강조합니다.

또한 스미스는 전문가를 꿈꾸는 사람들에게 지름길을 찾지 말고 자신의 기술을 습득하는 데 집중할 것을 촉구합니다.