Page 40 - Investment Advisor July/August 2023

Broker-Dealer/rIa ConferenCe Beat

increasingly successful early basketball impressed by his prowess and notoriety like to go to the movies, too.”
career. There was work to be done. as a sportsman but even more for his The key to success, Johnson said, was
“When I was old enough, he had honest eagerness to learn and be taught realizing how he could tailor the movie
me working on that trash truck every about a totally new field. theater experience to meet the wants and
day in the summer and every Saturday “The other players actually thought this expectations of a more diverse communi-
during the winter,” Johnson explained. was inappropriate, and do you know what? ty, one that had traditionally been ignored
“There were no exceptions, and it wasn’t They actually called a meeting at one by the big, established industry players.
allowed to be an excuse to miss my point and sat me down and said I should One of his biggest insights, he said,
homework or my basketball practice.” stop fraternizing with the ownership and was understanding that people living
One weekend, Johnson recalled, there all these business people,” Johnson said. in these communities were often liv-
was a huge blizzard in Michigan, and “They told me it didn’t look right, and that ing in poverty. That didn’t mean they
he expected to get the day off — only to it just wasn’t how things were done. wouldn’t want to pay for movie tickets,
find his father waiting for him he explained, but it did mean
in the truck. During the frigid “If you are willing to do one hard they probably weren’t going to
shift, Johnson’s father didn’t job halfway, you’ll probably end be able to afford a fancy dinner
let him cut any corners or take before or after the movie.
an extra break in the cab of up doing everything in life that The innovation? Why not
the truck to warm up, and it all pivot from the traditional
sent a clear message. way. That’s true whether you are approach of just offering
“If you are willing to do practicing basketball, studying in candy and snack foods at the
one hard job halfway, you’ll concession stand and instead
probably end up doing every- college or running a business.” provide affordable, dinner-
thing in life that way,” he said. style food that allows people
“That’s true whether you are —Earvin “Magic” Johnson to enjoy their dinner while
practicing basketball, study- watching their movie?
ing in college or running a business. My “Well, you know what I told them? “It was a big success,” Johnson said. “My
dad helped me to see that, and I try to I said, ‘Look, you guys might be good first theater quickly climbed into the top
do everything the right way — based on basketball players, and some of you are 10 highest-grossing theaters in the nation,
the life lessons that my father gave me.” millionaires. But these guys are all bil- and this was happening in an inner-city
Johnson explained that another key lionaires, and I want to be a billionaire, community. I can tell you, we shocked the
element of great leadership is a will- so I’m going to hang with them!’” he whole industry, and we eventually built six
ingness to defy convention — to have explained with a laugh. “They saw that I theaters before AMC came in and bought
enough resilience to weather the skepti- wasn’t going to back down, and that was us outright, which was very cool.”
cism of those who are more focused on that.” Johnson mentioned that it was To cement the point, he shared a similar
being comfortable and maintaining the uncomfortable at times to buck conven- story about collaborating with the leader-
status quo than in pushing for progress. tion in this way, but it was work that has ship of the Starbucks corporation to bring
Even during his time with the Lakers, clearly paid off in the long run. more coffee shops to underserved urban
he said, he already knew he wanted Thinking back over his many busi- communities. “I was in a conversation
to be a business executive after he left ness ventures, he said some of the most with [former Starbucks CEO] Howard
basketball. It only seemed natural to try rewarding and informative experiences Schultz at one point, because he was real-
to make connections with the team’s came during the establishment of a suc- ly impressed by what we had done with
ownership and the dozens of majorly cessful chain of movie theaters and coffee the movie theaters,” Johnson recalled.
successful business executives who sat shops in inner cities during the 1990s and “I remember telling him that Black folks
courtside at home games. early 2000s. “To make a long story short, and Latinos, we like coffee too, and we’ll
As such, he started cold-calling lead- everybody thought it would never work,” pay $3 for a great cup just like anyone
ing Los Angeles business figures and Johnson recalled. “Back then, people just else, but we should probably replace the
asked to take them out to lunch and didn’t think a movie theater in an inner- scones with pecan pie.” By the time the
learn from them about business. He city setting would survive, let alone be collaboration ended, Johnson had helped
asked many of them to be his mentors, highly successful. But I knew they were to build 125 Starbucks in over 40 inner-
and many took him up on the offer, wrong, because of course Black people city markets.

38 InvesTmenT ADvIsor July/August 2023 | thinkAdvisor.com