Business Roundtable with Jonathan Stewart

side side no a d D side note. I was in Atlanta and there's this dude who is who is uh? Just Carmel brother with uh. He was ballheaded and he was like he had he had a Michael Jersey. You call another brother Corble. When I tell you who it was, you see why I'm I'm I'm building up so right, so I'm looking. I'm like, he's like, what up, smitty bro? It was big Tigo. You could have just told us it was a big you just didn't say the Caramel.

I was on the field doing our thing and he was like, yo, Smithy, you know what I want someone look at me and be like, oh the butter Scott to dude over there. It was the point of right, did you ask him what was his favorite freestyle from the basement? You did not take advantage of opportunity. I took advantage of the opportunity in which this podcast will benefit from later. All right. We text there and I was like, well, I ask when he base Smith? Right, yo, Yo,

it was just awesome. So I haven't come on the show absolutely in Atlanta, like he was like, it was so awesome. I don't know why I went there, but it just made it triggered it. Yeah, but then we've got something. You've got some special. We got something special. Oh yeah, because in the building blah blah, and just talking about you've been retiring now how long three years you play? You had a great professional career. You're also

now in business. You've realized and you've seen some businesses they're still gentlemen worked in corporate America on their own businesses as well. What do you think about corporate America? I mean, that's such a broad question, and I love asking a broad question because how you answer tells me to taste that corporate America, Paul's has left in your mouth, right, and and and some of it is good worked with you, so I know, really good. Some of it you'd be like, straight, yeah, good.

I mean I've I've been. And again it's it's such a multifaceted question because I've been, to your point, I've worked in corporate America. I've worked for Fortune five companies. I worked for Lows, I work for Dick sport and Goods and marketing. I worked in pro sports, so I worked for the Hornets, worked in nonprofit you know, rand your foundation, and and and now I'm mental entrepreneurship. And so I've been able to look at in a broad

stroke business in a very wide lens. But then when you say specifically corporate America, corporate America just makes me go to the to the retail stuff that I did, And it is that's your perspective. So that's what I love. Yeah, it is because everything everything isn't corporate America. Right. Pro sports isn't necessarily corporate America. Their corporate America influences when

you talk about sponsorships and all of that. But specifically when you think about corporate America, there's a lot of good, right, there's a lot of being able to climb that corporate ladder and deal with the office politics and be able to have the nice come to bull four oh one K plan and the pension plan and the benefits and which which you absolutely need. Um. And but then there's the the rat race, so to speak, to get there

and um. For me, one of the things that always struggled with in in corporate America was seeing a path to navigate in which to aspire to attain and and even if I really want to do that, do I want to be a CEO, A c CEO, uh, you know, whatever the title you put on that is that what I want to do. And so that's always been one of those things for me. So, I mean there's so many different ways that I can do it. In a broad perspective, Um, you know, you learn a lot, you

get a ton of experience. But then there are also the struggles in in in which being um, you know, being being a black man working in corporate America has his own struggles. Um, being just you know, having so many different h like I said before, like different avenues in which I've worked. So it's there's a lot. So

for if you just asked me. On a broad spectrum, um very much a learning opportunity that I think for anyone, but also think it comes with its fair share of of challenges that I can see a lot of people as you transition into whatever it is that you deem your career that you gotta go through. You took a long route. I'm gonna take this, I'm gonna hit this Cadillac term corporate America is sometimes a mirage. And I think also corporate America does they define corporate America your

what's your perspective of corporate America. I mean, I'm I've never been in corporate America, so what do you But what do you know that I've never been in corporate America. But when I say mirage, I mean in this regard of when I look at what I've experienced in sports and when I look at you know, now, business wise, I see how they are, they're not even close to being the same. Because here's why, and then that's where we can take a hunter ago a hundred miles an hour.

Here's why. In football you have halftime, you have time outs. In basketball, you have a full time out, a you know, twenty second time out. Now you got halftime. What I'm saying is why I say corporate America, why I struggle with it is sometimes corporate America lacks accountability. Sometimes corporate America. When you make adjustments in sports and football over a time period, not as long as corporate America, but almost unrealistic life. In sports, you you take a time out,

you make adjustment. Your supervisor. So if offensive alignment is the district manager, the regional manager is the is the players right and you're going there and they tell you, hey, they're blitzing, So this is how we're gonna block it. Hey, you're you're losing because you keep taking your right foot over here. We're gonna make adjustment with our with with

our information. We're gonna do it. And at some point, either throughout that game, throughout that quarter, throughout that practice, or throughout that seventeen week season, you know immediately is the game plan we have prepared for good enough? And if it's not, let's make some adjustments. But you know that you have an answer. You have immediate answer. It may not be the answer that you like. It may say, yes, good job on this, but improve this, this, this, don't

change that or hell, no, none of that works. Let's do him else and either through, especially in the game, you'll figure it out, and then if you keep it up in the next game, you'll figure out, well, the last two games, we've done this and that doesn't work. Un less change it up, and then you're getting this forking road near the end of the season. You go, it just isn't working. Our general manager, our CFO, our CEO, our district manager, our regional manager. Somewhere there's a miss now.

In business or corporate America, you sometimes make these adjustments and you see no benefit, You see no answer, good or bad, for sometimes three months or three years. First you're gonna have a meeting about what you're gonna do, and then you're gonna have a meeting about that meeting about the meeting. You just have none of those meet Those meetings are gonna follow through, But at the end of the day, everybody's gonna go on about their own

business anyway. UM. Corporate or mayor America is a monster ship to turn. It takes a long time because of from HR to all the different levels of management to senior leadership. Everything has to flow to the same tune and at the end of the day, Corporate America, like it or not, really cares about one thing, and one thing only what those shareholders get at the end of the year and what their stock looks like. There's no minor wins, there's no it's how much money did you

make me? And where is our company going from here? Um. I worked in corporate Anca for a long time. My personal experience with it is they took care of my family for many, many years. Um. You know, I was set up nicely, and they've taught me the things that I've taken into my own personal business. But I'll even back up a step before that. Um. We always say on this podcast, I can meet an individual man or

woman and know if they played sports. I can know within five minutes how you act adversity, UM, how you work under pressure, how you work with others and being results driven. Um. So corporate America, someone is always gonna wear the issue. It's there. You know, it trickles down. It gets to a level where we get to these linemen or you get to the supervisor and you say, oh, hey, Zoe and so has gotta wear this. You get let

go and then they move another person in. I think that's a little bit in a correlation to sports, because you are a number. In sports, there's a number on your back and there's a team on your front. In corporate America, it's so security number, right that that's really what you are to them. You're not really Gerard or Jonathan or Steve or Joe. You're a number, um. And I've been the luxury of being in those meetings and

seeing those charts and analytics and sports. Well, in corporate America, you have these boxes, and every individual in a company has to fit in a box. And that box correlates to Jonathan is gonna be in this position for ten years. He's not gonna go any higher, and they want to get rid of them, and they put you in that box. And so I'm glad you said that no matter how well Jonathan performs, he will never get out of that box.

If if the people that make the decisions in corporate America believe Jonathan is that he will never get out of that box, right or wrong, he will never get out of that box. And that's why sports is such a different animal compared to corporate America business. A lot of people in business say, it's not what you know is who you know. I think it's what you know, who you know, what people know you as, and what

people know you to be. It's all of those and and it reinforces what Joe says to where if at the C suite, you know, the corporated, the senior level, if they determine that you are that, then you'll never

make it up. It's almost like they it's what they believe you to be, though not necessarily what they know, because don't matter if and it doesn't matter how much work you put in, no matter how many numbers you tossing, no matter how much how many successful reviews you've had, right and and but that's what bugs me about corporate

America because we limit people. We limit people and justify it by saying, well, I I know how that person, I know their capability, and they can never change and I'm not going to give them an opportunity to And then even when they do, they look for the next opportunity for you, not to you to perform average, to go see That's what I'm talking about. So what I struggle, what what I really struggle with, is there is no

accountability in business like it is in sports. Is it fair to say to some degree earlier in your career, no matter how smart you are, no matter how well dress you are, no matter how well you did your job, even when you outperformed it, they didn't undermine you, but they didn't treat you and congratulate you the way you would if you scored a touchdown against press coverage and you weren't supposed to in your underside. Yeah, yeah, that's a that's a that's a great that's a great analogy.

Oftentimes you'll see some people get promoted because sometimes the accountability out here exactly what you're saying, But sometimes that accountability is arbitrary. Sometimes it is dependent on That's why I go back to who you know, because oftentimes, yeah, I can outperform someone to the to the cowstom home, but am I going to be up for that promotion as opposed to person X over here? And it's not

always the same thing. Because if it was up to XS and oh it's just like it was on the box score, then by absolutely then not then I should get a promotion. But some times that it doesn't happen because of well, maybe this person over here has a relationship with the hiring manager. And so that takes into play or or or the head hunter, you know, grab that person from another company, and they're being that person

to be successful. Even though you should have got I'm just using you and you should have got they should have hired you and put you in that position because you were underlink for the person that they've replaced. So that's why I want, I say as arbitruary and two I would say if I had to give like a

couple of points. This ain't a sermon, stee, but if I had to give a point, one of the points would be, like I think, one of the most important things you can do as you've entered into business, corporate America, entrepreneurship is find a mentor health find a few mentors, because that mentor can one sit you down and give you constructive criticism where you want to hear it or not.

Um Two they can give you the ins and outs and kind of the particulars about whatever um land you want to get in or where you want to go.

And then three they can advocate for you. And that's one of the biggest things you need to in whatever whether you were in whether you're working at a at a at a beverage company, whether you're working in a in a retail component, like having that mentor or that advocate or that someone who can go when you're not in that room, like Joe was talking about, that can advocate on your behalf. The separation of In sports, if you make a mistake, it's you, right, you you fumble

a ball and it gets recovered, is you? You know you miss a blot? Is you? In the corporate world, just because of the sheer masses and the amount of people, you can hide things that you may not be mask mask Right, if you out there on the corner, you're supposed to block that dude, you didn't. It's guess what and guess when there's no game, film and corporate America, Right, we're not zero when you and we gotta tell ustrator. Unless you really messed up on an email. Yeah, that's

different if you hang yourself with that email. Right, there are similarities in sports. In corporate you will get a play by baiting play from the HR. Right, it's called the I T department. Even when you go to Gerard said the term C suite, that's the corporate level, right, So when you get up to certain levels inside organizations. There's a few outliers about what I'm about to say.

I ventured the guests plus percent of senior leaders and organizations that we would dub successful are all finance people. And here's why shareholders believe if you're a good steward of money, that means they equate that to being smart. They equate that to me you making me money on my dividends. Check. Now, there's a whole lot of folks that may but went to a smaller level school or been a fifth or sixth round draft pick and was successful.

In corporate America, there's very few people that make it to the top without coming from what we'll call one of those top names schools, or or having a finance degree or having somebody so. So what you're telling me is in corporate America to some degree, there is no rookie free agents here. Here's the only rookie free agent there is entry level employee. If if if the CEO's cousins, brothers, nephews, best friend needs a job, he's probably gonna get a

job just because he's there. Johnath could be the best guy in the world, but guess what, just because he's a friend with coach X. They ain't putting him on the field. They're just not. You might get a try out, but then when you go out and get rolled up in a trial like, yo, this dude is really gonna ain't put him on. No, you're not, You're not doing But you might be in the warehouse, right, you might

you you Now, there's some outliers. We all know are the people that started the ground level, but that those are the special folks. Those are the people who have when they get to the top, most of the time they try to change that narrative, but they're less between and all those things have converged in order for that person.

There's always outliers. What do you what do you You've been retired, you're doing real estate, You're working, you know, working with the Panthers in corporate in their corporate office, sponsors and all that stuff. What are you learning? And how is football helped you and how has it hurt you? For me, at times, I've learned even with g through through the stuff we've done that he's told me, bro

it takes time. I was just about to say that's the first thing where especially now in today's society, everything is oh I want we need dippers tomorrow Boom, Amazon day now, instant day, and you got that prime. I ain't got pride, get the same day. I don't. I don't have pride, but I know it's pride, but it's it's it's instant gratification. Right playing sports, playing professionally, it's either what it's what have you done for me lately? Literally,

like Sunday was the game Monday? What did you do yesterday? Let's let's cut on the film. Let's see, Oh, dropped the ball, you missed the block. Oh, you should have cut back three strikes already. Better tighten up. I'm typing up. And so the difference for me right now with working with the Panthers is how slow? What are you doing with the Panthers? And so I am working in development, So I'm essentially under Mark Hart and he's mentoring me um in the development process as far as what the

Panthers are doing with rock Hill and quarters. Um. So the commercial development of real estate is really my passion. Um. You know, through my later years of playing, uh you know, started investing in real estate and started to really understand

and grasp you know what that meant. You know what I'm saying, like you're talking to a guy that played monopoly when he wasn't you know, a little jit going through high school, through him going through college and get married to his wife, and his wife explains monopoly is real estate. Oh my god, I've never really put two and two together, you know what I'm saying, But like it would have. But but that's the that's how I was raised, you know what I'm saying, with no one

with no one there just saying, hey, that's legit. Boardwalk is a real place. Like you can own a boardwalk. You can don't like it, but there's a way to get there, you know what I'm saying. So in pass and gold collect two is not efficient enough. Man, I'm just saying, but like you spending two hundred dollars and then all of a sudden you got eight hundred dollar bill. You don't land on somebody with a house or two

on their property. But like the the time that it takes to get things done, in the time that people get to screw up is what I put it in football terms. Football. You know, in football, I'm realizing as we do we do the these interviews more and more playing football is like being a dog. It's like it's like twelve years in the league is like a fifty six year old in terms of agents. In terms of

agent it's ridiculous. So you have someone that screws up and you give them they've been screwing up something for three months. In football, that's equivalent of like what a game, bro, but like for real though, like depending on the like what that screw up? What coach kip you? So always say a minor air but a major funk up. Okay, if you take off on that plane and you forget to feel the plane, that's a minor air. Well you that's believed that plane, if it takes off, it's the

only one way it's going down. Okay. And I don't care what you did. You know you're a brain surgery. You had three thousand successful brain surgeries. You got all the accolades in the world. I don't care what you did with them other surgeries. The most important surgery is that next one. And if you if I die, that is a major funk up. All that to say, the timing of things are slower um and I feel like

the enforcing of things happening. I find myself trying to figure out the problem immediately and then having to deal with the time that passes while I feel like I might have the answer, but waiting for people to just kind of figure it out on their own too, right, because I just I have I'm I'm I'm a newcomer, you know what I'm saying. Fresh. Everybody isn't responsible for every certain thing. So that person probably has x amount of control. That person has x amountic You have to

talk to someone. So we're songing soup. Well, so and SO is down here. Okay, how did I get on song and so schedule? Well, you gotta go talk to something. So what does the song so look like? And also just kind of managing your own expectations because you've had an expectation just that that it happens. So I'm gonna say this and you'll be okay, I'll tell this story. I remember telling Smithy one time. I was like, bro, sometimes you will plant a tomato seat in the morning

and expect to eat a bot that afternoon. It don't work like that. It don't work like that. And he and he finally got it when I gave him that analogy, like, it doesn't work like that. Like in the business work and yeah, and in the business world don't work like that. I love cut to It and I love it even more when you download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on social media too, Smithie, where where at? That's at? Cut to It on Instagram? What about Twitter? At?

Cut to It Facebook? Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? And you can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got all my answers questions, Um, yeah, I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, cut to a podcast dot Com. When you look at athletes,

doesn't matter really what sport. A lot of them, male and female, tend to go into entrepreneurship or smaller businesses and they fail. Would would you say you guys and girls steer away from corporate America just because of the frustration level that you see. What would you say is good for athletes? You've worked with one for one that sometimes it is good for athletes are steer away from I think anybody, and I'm not trying to steer away

from of question. I think anyone has to challenge, anyone has to enter into something to do because they're passionate about it. So I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't make a process. The process can can because for some people can debunk your passion too. Though some athletes have going to corporate American had amazing career, some haven't. Some some have gone. So it really depends on the individual, it

really does. I'm not yea, but here's what I'm not saying. No, I'm just saying as far as the athletes assessment of results, like I do think the results the lack of results in business sometimes because you can have blame sharing or blame shifting or sometimes lack of you know. So I'm

interested too. I mean, even even if I'm watching a twenty four hours so if I'm watching NFL network, I'm watching ESPN, they lay around content all day of let's just use you know, let's use whatever organization go bears right. Who is it? Is it? Matt Naggi is it? The GM is it? Is it? The assistant coaches it, the offensive coordinator? So there's still that finger pointing sometimes of whose fault was it? You're trying to go through it.

It wasn't the quarterback, was it offensive line? So even some of those still things, those those things are still permanating through an organization. So it's like you're not you can lift that into football or NBA or what take take your pick of whatever organ of sport. And the I see a lot of similarities too, because I mean, you're still covering like, all right, who's who's who's responsible? Who's responsible for this team going on? But I think, well,

I think ownership says the responsibilities on them. That's why they're going to replace someone with someone else, right, or attempt to replace on with someone else, right. But I do think and see in business that sometimes people can hide behind the process. And I think the process of

business compared in sports with with athletes. I think when you have enough athletes around you in the business aspect, a lot more gets done because there is accountability that athletes have where corporate America go, you know what that well you're gonna have You're gonna go talk to Jim. Why don't you go talk to him? You're talking about this that we've been waiting on a car for three weeks.

We've been waiting for this answer. For three weeks three weeks and going by you say time is money, but it ain't that. I'm just saying, I just see like that's from my personal experience of seeing both sides. I can see now business wise, like when I first started why it was frustrating. Now I expect it now. I'm kind of like, I think your expectations, yes, yes, expectations, absolutely, you gotta. But I think you in because I play

sports where you can have high expectations and everybody around you. Okay. I think sometimes in business having high expectations that puts the onus on people. They're like, man, I don't want to do that. You ain't gonna blame me if it goes wrong because we're coming here on Saturday. Because they they didn't develop the business plan, the senior level folks did, so if it fails, right, almost like a game plan in sports, like O c DC develops a game plan.

But again, you can see flaws and you cannot mask things on a sporting field like you can in an office. So that corner get burnt. Well, I'll share this quick story. You said it like somebody told you not that didn't happened.

Like I'm just saying like I'm just I'm reinforcing this point of Unfortunately, when you all have a deficiency, it's seen you don't tell vision, and people want to hold you accountable for that, whether or not it was your fault, whether or not or whether it was right that's a contribute or just jumped right right, or whether or whether you got put in an uncompromised situation because of an

offensive coordinate. There's always so many different factors. So I'm just only reiterating their point because you can you can see when there's a deficiency in corporate America. Now, the same thing happens alluded to this before a shareholder at some point in time. We're just talking about publicly traded companies. A shareholder, it's gonna hold that CEO responsible, gonna say you got burned, though I know I know what's in

but in corporate America, man, you got burned. Like every you got burned five times, and it wasn't five times a game. And it may not necessarily have been his it may not have been his fault, but it was on your watch. You talk, you're talking about high behind folks. I know this is a non indictment podcast, but I'm

a self. I'm a self indict myself. I worked for a pretty major company in the United States, and I knew I was walking away to go do my own thing, and that I myself and go out there and be an entrepreneur. And I'd made a bet with some folks that I worked with that my final two weeks of work, the only thing I was gonna do. I was walking around my office, to walk around the office office building, and I would wait for people to gather in offices. I'd walk in and go, I took care of that

thing for you, Jonathan, and I'd walk away. I hadn't. I wasn't doing anything, and so folks in this room would be like, yo, Joe's on top of things, like he's taking care of it, and the dude you said it to we wasn't gonna ask. So I did this for weeks. Hold on, hold on. That's another thing about corporate weeks. Bro Right, Look he just he knocked in there, said Jonathan. I took care of that and trying to go appreciate it. But in this my are they going talking about look bad? So I mean I did this

for weeks, like I go to break rooms. Hey, man, that thing the other day I got it. I'd walk off like people come in my office. I would furrow my brow and like god, man, I was doing nothing like Amazon shopping, and folks thought I was getting after it. For two straight weeks, I was able to hide. Now take that to a football field, and for two straight games,

you ain't doing nothing. How Hey, coach defense corner, Hey I got I got like, No, you didn't did, But no one would say that a year you've been on our staff. But then it's still to pay where you are still because because best Tom Brady can make a mistake for two games in a row, but the player over here may not have that same marginal error well one because his file cabinet is long of problem. So, my boy, it ain't just because Tom Brady is what

he's got building up to be Tom Brady. Yeah. I think one of the frustrating things that sounds like it is the accountability piece for corporate amount corporate America. Right. Maybe maybe I'm using the wrong word because they're still accountabilit Here's what I'm saying. There is in corporate America. I think there is a there is an asterisk or a I believe a little bit of rose colored glasses

of what is considered completed. You know you've won, You know you've accomplished something on the on the sports field, you'll know about by the by halftime. At some point in the game, you you will look up and go, I was either good enough I wasn't. Today in corporate America, sometimes like you, you were successful and for the last two weeks you kept up the mirage of you were still doing the same thing or what got you there to be able to quit and be able to move on.

But you were able to I wouldn't say cheat the system, but you were able to manipulate the system. By the time they called on it was too late. So does that beg the like? Was I not a major player? If I was able to do nothing and the business still thrive? Well, you you had to be successful to get to the left? Was that number one? And absolute? And then two? You had a role in which you achieved whatever whatever success within your role based on your

job description. Right, so you're working in that company, you had X amount of things you had to do, but also those X amount of things you had to do, I didn't have anything to do with and I'm just making something up accounting or I T because that's not where you worked, right. So it also depends on I think your role, you know, as Steve or Jonathan. You know you have success Steve as a wide receiver because

you know I'm supposed to do these are things. Something knows he has success as a running back because he's supposed to do x amount of things. But just like you said before, like if a corner messes up, is that on you? No? But here's what I say, is it varies offensive lignement must block. Well, the problem our process that we have in sports and the processing business is different because you actually get the call out those people because if you don't, those people don't continue to

do it. Like if the someone doesn't hook up the head said, right, and I keep calling it to play, but the quarterbacks not getting it. There's a problem. I keep calling it out. Man, John on the sideline with me. Don't you hear me? Yeah? Don't you hear me? Of course? Well, if I'm in court, Maria, I said, Man, I sent

that email to Jonathan. Didn't you get it? No? Well, I'm not sure why you didn't get it, but here, look I sent it, right, there's really no you know that there's no there is a measuring stick, but I'm just saying that there's a lot of room. There's a lot of room for clunkiness or I don't know what happened, So you got almost like started investigation to know when

the mistake happened. And sports you don't start no investigation unless But I also think that's how like you were a season vet right, and the only reason why you were able to sit at your office desk and do nothing towards the end of your career, it was because you were seasoned and you did things to get yourself to that position, and you were telling people as you were on your way out that yes, I did this,

I did that, mean did nothing right. That's the mentality that carries to your experience as someone that's trying to make it. You have a guy sitting in that desk that's portraying like he's doing something when he's not. When you are totally capable and hungry and willing to be in that chair, but he's sitting there wasting the seat, right, not saying that you're a wasting a seat because your intentions were I'm about to get up out of here

because I'm tired of this. There's guys that have that that, you know, recognition or that I guess, uh, what do you want to call it? They built up the credibility to be able to do or not do the things they do, but they're not being honest about their situation of saying, I should probably step away and allow for this young man an do that. Nobody. Christian mc affric

gets to the Carolina Panthers Jonathan Stewart Christian McCaffrey. Okay, Jonathan, you are moving a lot slower than Christian, so we're gonna let you go, sir. All right, I get it, I'm out, but you don't give up a spot. I'm not giving it up, but I get it that I am not capable of performing at a high level anymore. And there is a system in place for a guy to come into grips with that, which is called you

gotta go. You ain't done nothing for it's late. There's no protocol for not being able to perform your duties. But you kind of have a little bit more life in corporate matter. And the other thing it's funny, is y'all going down that path. The thing in corporate America is it's so hr driven and making sure you treat

everybody eat Willie. Not saying that's always a bad thing, but for an example, every everybody and everybody don't get treated gull to Jonathan's point, like he's a damn good running back, but he's not as good as this guy. So if they choose to, they can cut ties with you.

Doesn't matter contract, no contract in corporate America. If Gerard takes a snack cake out of the break room, if we wanted a fire Gerard for taking that snack cake, what we would have to do is go back and look in history and see if anybody has ever stolen a snack cake. Because whatever that person did, that's what

you have to do to him. So if someone else stole a snack cake and they got suspended for one day, you got to suspend him from one day because if you fire him, now he's got a lawsuit because he was treated unfairly as this other person. That's the thing in corporate America. Everybody, everybody, I gotta be the brothers w brother what I mean, like a honey bun or like yeah twigs, I mean, you go anything, Rice crispy like. Look, if I'm getting fined, they gotta be something delicious, famous

Amos cookies. I keep going. But but that's the whole point is not everybody is equal on a sports field or in a job period period. But if I'm really bad at my job today times out of ninety nine, they're not gonna walk up and say, yo, you need

you can't go supervise unless you give them. You gotta give them a documented history of it, and and and bring your key fop, yeah, and even but even to your point, even to your point before Stewey though, like when you do start looking at some of the season, you start looking at people who have been there years and years and years and years and years, and then you do see the people who were maybe on the front line, whereas there are a lot more disposable than

the ones up top. Good do good do it. Let's getting down to do it. Hey, Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes, I got it from cut to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I struggled with where do I see myself in this process? It's very tough when you don't see someone And I don't hate to make it about race, but let's just let's

just be honest. When you see what there's uh Fortune companies, there's five black CEOs um. When you look at the numbers, I think less than five percent of black people are in manager or above positions of any company. Right, so it's really hard to say, like, all right, how am I gonna make it here? When when we go back and we talk about the c suite level and you don't see people who are in that position and you

don't know how to get there. So that's why I brought up even before, like you have to have some sort of a mentor or someone who will guide you and help open up those doors. Because I can. It goes back to everything we're saying. I can perform all day, but if someone's in that chair that either has the network, that has the cloud, that has then it's really going to be hard for me to get in that seat until you can do and there's nothing I can do to get in to get fired, but not get hired.

I will be fired in a minute. Like, there are certain things that I know that I can't say, right, there are certain things you just can't And that's just that's that's the truth of the matter. Like, because you don't want to fall into different stereotypes. You don't want to fall into the stereo type of being the angry black man, so you can't. There as certain things you don't want to say it this way. But then you

also don't want to be a pushover. So sometimes you're like, all right, well then what do I really need to do? A right? So to your point, sometimes it's like, all right, well where am I going to? What seat am I going to get? And how do and how do I navigate or try to path to get? So how do you, as it, educated strong black man who knows how to navigate through, how do you when you're working there not feel like you didn't have a chance. Oh that's tough.

I mean, if I'm being real, then that's something that's something you you you wrestle with every single day, right, Like, because you guys work your tails off to get where you were and and to establish that and then you start getting to where where do I choose for me, it is like, it's my livelihood, right, so I've got I gotta work right, Like I'm I'm not a professional athlete. I didn't go to I didn't go to college to

play ball. I didn't. I didn't clearly I did not play ball in professional So all right, after college, it is, well, what you're gonna do with your life? Right, So you gotta figure that stuff out at you know one, right, what am I going to do with the rest of

my life? So the decisions the job I choose to take or the business that I choose to start, this that in the third that is depending on And still we alluded to when we were doing our regular podcasts, like when you start off, the expectation maybe a little bit different because all right, it's just me, like, all right, I can I can afford to take a risk, you know, pack up myself and go to Oklahoma City and work for the thunder Um. So you can. You can take

those kind of risks. But then when you get married, then you have kids, like it's no longer about you, it's about and it impacts them. And so everything that I do has a direct or indirect impact on them. So there's always like like I said, I have to weigh in the risk reward of what am I gonna say, what am I gonna do, How am I gonna approach the situation? Who am I going to talk with? Um? So? And for me, it's it is you have to build

those allies. You know. I've been sitting on this story for a little while, but I'll tell a great conversation. I was talking to Joe. This was a couple of years ago, and I said, Joe, man like I don't understand the stock market. I want to invest, I want to get better into all that, and so hey, so this dude dropped everything and came over to the office and we sat down for what I want to have two hours and he walked me through everything. Joe didn't

have to do that by any means. But it's also someone saying like, hey, I don't understand this, help me navigate through this. And you and I have had plenty conversations about real estate and all these different things investing, just like I know you have with Stewart. But I would say, like with anyone, you you've got to surround yourself with like minded people or people who have information that is that that is hard any other way for

you to to obtain that information. Right, So, like I said, Joe sat down with me for two hours just so I could understanding, Like, oh, now now I get it. Now I can go onto my when I ain't gonna name my app, but now I can go into my investment app and I can go in and I say, all right, now I know what that basis point is.

Now I know, all right, well I want to invest in this, I want to take or I can have a fractional share of this, and I'm going So it's it's different, right, Like, so you really really do have to I hate to sound like a broken record, but

I think that's one of the most important things. And I would even offer to y'all is as you're going through those respective paths, and I would never think it's too late either to find those real voices that say, hey, here's how I would navigate through this, here's maybe what I would do in this situation, and then they can open up those doors for you, you know, to to whatever path you decide you want the car about. And for any of our listeners who's going through the same thing.

The results in the sports business is such has it's tangible, has results that you can not also see, but you actually feel in business sometimes just like you don't know there's a there's a there's like this. That's why I said it's like a mirage. You don't really did it ever make you feel disposable? I mean you always know you're disposable, right for me? You know that you so you do you have that mindset going in or that something I knew I was disposal because you you here's

how you learn. Think about it. When you play college, when you play high school ball? What number corner were you on the depth chart too? Who was behind you? I can't remember who's in front of here? Jemmy Brown. Okay, there's someone that you either gonna take his spot. You're gonna wait, or somebody's gonna they somebody's knocking on the door. And there's always gonna be a number twenty one unless

right right, But there's a next year. There's a depth chart, there is there's there's a depth chart, but that depth chart really doesn't mean anything. In corporate America. You can't get leap frog, like you can't see it. You can, you could get leap frog, but it's in business you can. I mean, you gotta be naive to not see it coming, but you can see it coming because the person to

some degree they're there. In the NFL, you can literally have okay game, wake up the next day and realize you just got replaced like that, You got replaced overnight from a dude they don't even know if he can actually play. And so I guess that's why I say it depends on your experience because I know for sure I've never had the luxury of I can just I can just go true this day over Like I'm just saying that over Here's what I'm saying. I don't walk

into the building my key file going. Man if they cut me, if they fired me today, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm over here, like, man, we fired. But for some people, some people, for some people in there, that is a thing like if they get fired, like, how am I gonna feed my family? How am I gonna pay this mortgage? How am I gonna like? But when I'm sayings gonna come, well, what I'm saying is

difference in sports is you have to literally lee. You can't in corporate America, you white knuckle in sports, you're you actually chopped wood and there is you can see. They can say, man, you know you didn't chop that good enough. You can say, I probably didn't chop as much as you want it, but I chopped in corporate MAGA like that wasn't enough, and I don't see nothing there.

And then all of a sudden, you leave, come out and it's gone, like the security took the wood, took the and they say, no, you didn't try to beat like bro I did, because there's no replay of it, Like there's no way to replay in the accountability of saying now I was there. I think there's a lot of a lot of value, um, you know, taking an athlete and putting him in corporate America. Though because he's

a he' he would do it. He understands the task, he understands the end goal, he understands the team oriented side to everything, because to get things done, you need everyone to be working on the same page. And to be working on the same page, you kind of have to understand what the receiver's route is. You have to understand what the offensive line protection is, you have to understand you know where you're what your fullbacks looking for. So you understand other people's task and you are not

overly concerned about their about their task. And yet you know what's the word, um, micromanaging or whatever, but you are holding a piece of accountability of letting that person know that, Hey, last week you said you were gonna check on so and so or this right, where's that at? And so? From the athletes mind is we need you to do your job so that way we don't fall behind, So that way I don't get hit in the mouth, so that way we are not missing the boat, you know.

And I think that's one of the things that an act as an athlete. You take them into anything, and he's going to be successful if he believes in the task at hand. Would you say most football players have an inkling or understanding if they're about to get cut or they're about to get released, so they can smell it. Yeah. What about those nine folks at that company who was on a zoom call and lost their job. I think they saw it coming, right, they just jumped on. Here's

what I would think. I would think. I personally think you got nine people. A few people knew it was coming, But I would I would agree with that just but like you said, like you just getting beat in practice and you're getting killed in the game, like you know every time, like the coach goes, hey Smith, are You're like, damn, I want to win there today, right. I mean, so you think about they jumped on and that's that's the difference.

But you can't look at it. But I think you yourself, what company we also can't reduce We also just can't reduce it in those scenarios to where it's just performance space. They might be they may be numbers that balance. That's what I was That's what I was about to say. Here's the thing, no matter if they knew it or not. In corporate America, you you know, I know he's getting there getting backlash, Internet wash, Corporate America. You can do that, right,

I don't. I don't approve of it. I think it's cowardly. Man. Try to put a zoom call on about ten or fifteen dudes in a football team, and that's how you're gonna cut him before you hang up that zoe, And it goes back to your accountability. Yes, there's gonna be ramifications to me cutting fifteen of y'all off the team and but and talking about business, there'd be ramifications. But your PNL can't be a justification either, like that how he did that, and that hen't how I did it.

That In sports, that's cowardly, unexcept aftable that that that's like in baseball. That's in baseball, man, that's an unridden rule. Right, Golf, that's a gentleman's sport. Mean for long, Yes, for the community. And the fact that he set the email to try to like justify it. Yeah, alright, let me tell you

why I cut all these people. Yeah, in sports, you can't hide it as much because of the rawness of how you interact with a with a with sports guys like you and to you down to you see a man cry when you get injured, and see you a man, and you see y'all literally or button net to go shower or your semi neeket to get treatment or you know some of that, or you're in all of that.

Or you see a guy that's in his in his swimming trunks after tearings, after tearing a muscle or is, and he's in a swim and wait list and you see that man grind and you see him to his bear bare body you see you're vulnerable man, Corporate America. You don't want to see that. So you can't really get a sense and a judgment of out of six hundreds like who are those people who made that company?

Who who they are? You know? But see that's that's the mistake, and that's problem, and that's the mistake, and that's the reason why sometimes those companies can never get out of it. Because you talk about the Colts Lucas Old Stadium, who built that house Peyton. But when Peyton gets going to Hall of Fame retirement, look at all the people that come now was a part of that who he acknowledges. And so even though it's Peyton's house, all the people who have helped build Peyton and build

Peyton's house reap the benefit of the reward. That's unshakable. Where people are like, we want to be the next group of people that built the next whether it's Carson Wentz's house or whoever is house it is in business, like, you don't want to build Johnny or Jonathan Stewart's house because you don't believe that when it's done and finished, that you'll still be part of it. On the long way he'll cut you. Let's say, let's let's get rid of him. Because I think what we can all take

from this. I think everybody says one or two things, right because they all have, um, they all have played sports at different levels, right, And if they can grab, if you can grab something from the level of athleticism that you've achieved, then subconsciously you're you're applying that to your business, right, Um, whether it's you know, you know, rise and grind right or or or you know. Um. For me, that I've always done is I've been okay

with being uncomfortable. I will allow a situation to make me uncomfortable. Now I will try to process through that situation instead of when I was a player. Is bulldoze and bullet be a bull in the China closet? Because that that that arena allowed it, right, you know that arena allowed to me for me to only have a hammer in my toolbox, now I have to have a screwdriver, hammer,

duct tape. And then also sometimes just having a belt on with nothing in it just to say, hey, I come to work, I have no tools, but I'm at work, And just that mindset of switching from work mode to non work mode. I would say, Mom, would be here what people say and watch what they do, because a lot of companies say they're gonna do something, but I'm paying attention to what my supervisor says, what's coming top down, from the senior, from the senior level, what's coming from HR.

So I I would say, Mom, was that I would carry around both is here what people say, but watch what they do. Person shows them who you are who they are the first time. Believable, you know, Like that's one of the things that I actually heard Oprah I say. I was like, okay, I'll take that and that. But that's true to what we were talking about as far as how hard how difficult it is to have authenticity

in the workplace, right. Um. One of the other things I would say is, you know, one of the things I picked up in life is a thing called TC two choices. Do it now or you do it later. Either way, it's got to get done. And so part two of that is, Um, discipline hurts less than regret. So there's two choices. You just gotta do it right now. It's might as well if you gotta fold the close

folding out, so we gotta do them later. Because you're gonna have to do it and you're gonna wish you would have just did it when you got in the house. It's that way. It's nine o'clock. You can just sit down. Mine is just mine's dealing with adversity. Just you know, whether you're in the sporting field, arena park, whatever you're at, there's always gonna be adversity, whether that guy is better than you, um, whether you can't get this play done,

whatever it is. Um, just going through business because thinking on the fly, being able to overcome and every business deal that comes your way is not always gonna be handed to you on a on a silver platter. So trying to navigate through that space and using determination and using you know, everything that I've learned through my sporting

life to be able to get through the hard times. Um, if you can get those hard times or whatever you do, UM, hopefully they're less and less and they become all easy times. But you just gotta be able to get through it. Yeah, I said, probably I got one more. Uh. I heard someone say this long time ago, but bloom where your planet? So wherever you're at, you make the most of it. You know, you do your best and you literally just do that. You bloom, why you planet? Yeah, that's pretty good.

This was fun. Yeah, we gotta cut to this a lot more of it was just good. We talked about a lot of stuff. Yeah, I like that. Yeah we should we should do a podcast. So jump into the theme music. Yeah we should have Johnathan Right, you are a unique person. You are well worth it, you are competent, and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Senior, I'm Gerard Little John and this is cut to It. Cut to It was Steve Smith Senior. That is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC, Balto Creative Media,

The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith, singer co host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production

coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson. Lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it, then we're about to let you know. It's all