WEBVTT - Stephen A. Smith Full Interview 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.080 Listening makes us smarter, more connected people. It makes us 0:00:03.080 --> 0:00:06.240 better partners, parents, and leaders, and there's no better place 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:09.280 to start listening than Audible. Audible is where so many 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:12.600 inspiring voices and compelling stories open listeners up to new 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.760 experiences in ways of thinking. Audible members now get more 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.880 than ever before. Members choose three titles every month, one 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.000 audiobook plus two Audible originals that you can't hear anywhere else. 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:24.760 Members also have unlimited access to more than a hundred 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:29.280 audio guided fitness and meditation programs. 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Explore all the ways listening on Audible 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.360 can help improve mind, body, and soul with entertainment, information 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:08.800 and inspiration. You can get titles from your favorite I 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:12.000 Heeart talent such as Chelsea Handler, Danny Shapiro, Charlemagne the God, 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:14.399 and Bobby Bones on Audible. Start listening now with a 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.360 thirty day Audible trial and your first audiobook plus two 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.880 Audible originals are free. Visit audible dot com, slash I 0:01:21.040 --> 0:01:24.280 heart or text I Heeart to five hundred five hundred. 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:28.000 But next guest is truly successful. Let me give you 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.600 some quotes some some recent um newspaper and magazines in 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.280 USA Today dated January. He was called the most powerful 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.959 talent in the sports business just a year ago, and 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.440 he followed it up with his best years of professional 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.240 First Take had his highest rated ever ratings ever since. 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.160 It's this is large nearly a decade ago after making 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:52.120 the move to ESPN, combining his quest to annihilate the 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:55.240 competition along with management showing more belief in him than 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.040 ever before, There's no reason to believe the face of 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.000 ESPN will not ain't soon. Here's another quote from The 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:06.960 New Yorker magazine Dy did June how the star first 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:11.919 take became ESPN's most recognizable face. Here's another quote from 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:18.320 another article recently in USA Today dated September September. He 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.359 would do anything for ESPN, but his ambitions don't stop there. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:26.280 I love it, please working the money, making conversations, sports 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:32.720 and General hospital soap opera star stephen A. Smith. What's 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:35.680 going on, man? How are you doing? I'm doing fantastic, Steven. 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.720 I wish, I wish I was a star in General Hospital. 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:40.960 I gotta work on my active shot. What's going on? 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.320 I'm going good man? Uh? First of all, um, just 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:46.720 just how did that start? I wouldn't just get that 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.480 out real quick because a lot of people know about it. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:50.320 A lot of people don't know about it. But you 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.000 really enjoy appearing on General Hospital as the character Brick. 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.600 I love it, Um. You know, it's a lot of 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:00.600 fun because I grew up watching The Soul coming to 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:03.760 home from school. We had a couple of TVs in 0:03:03.880 --> 0:03:07.880 my house and I had four older sisters and they 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:10.560 were all watching General Hospital. You know, we were an 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:13.600 ABC family. That's why I so ironic that I'm with 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.200 ESPN and the part of the Walt did me an 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.480 ABC Family because that's the main channel we grew up watching. 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:22.680 And um, if you wanted to watch TV after you 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:24.519 came home from school, you had to watch in the 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.160 hospital because the two TVs we had in my house, 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.600 that's what the TV was on. And if you didn't 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:31.040 want to do that, then you're gonna have to go 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:34.360 and do your homework. So, you know, usually usually we 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.840 ended up watching General Hospital. And I've been watching General 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:42.360 Hospital since I was about seven years old and I've 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:45.080 never stopped ever since I'm fifty, It's been about forty 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.240 years and I have been watching General Hospital. And I 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.600 remember one time I showed up at General Hospital and 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.400 the cast there, uh, you know, trying to test me. 0:03:55.440 --> 0:03:58.400 They're like, we here that you're this guy that's watched 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.040 this and they would ask me about a see and 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.240 I said, actually, note that wasn't deceived. This was and 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:05.840 it was before they had even appeared on the show, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:09.160 and they were there for like twenty years, so it 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.760 was I knew more about it than some of them did. 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.720 That's awesome, hey, Steven, and I outlined some quotes from 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.360 recent magazines and interviews. That was the featured you one 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:22.840 of the quotes from that you say today article were 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.520 actually the headlines they just September sevent it said you 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.240 would do anything for it but for ESPN, but your 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.560 ambitions don't stop there. Explain that quote the headlines? But 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:37.360 what what? What? What I mean? I you know, they 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:41.240 put that headline in there, but it's not entirely inaccurate. 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.400 I believe that any employer UH that shows the faith 0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:49.039 and the confidence in me UH to to hire me, 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.839 I have an inherent obligation to give them my very best, 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:55.920 and not just in terms of performance, but in terms 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.720 of effort. I'm the kind of person that I think 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.359 it's incredibly important that an employer looks at me and 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:06.000 knows that, you know, if this man ever came to 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:10.120 us and said something can't be done, it's because it 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.919 can't be done, because this man has exhausted every option 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.960 and every angle imaginable to be successful. If he can 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:22.760 possibly be on behalf of our company and of himself. 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:24.640 And I don't get lost in the chef. I mean, 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.440 obviously I have an entrepreneurial spirit to some degree. There's 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:28.760 a lot of things that I want to do, and 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.960 there's a lot of things that I have done on 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.200 my own. But at the end of the day, even 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:37.080 if you're an entrepreneur and and you're a business owner, 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:39.520 you're gonna answer to somebody, even if his uncle saying, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:43.040 You're gonna answer the so my so, my mentality has 0:05:43.080 --> 0:05:46.640 always been make sure that the people who show faith 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.200 in you, you honor the faith that they've showed in 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.520 you by giving max effort and doing everything that you 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.599 can uh to produce max performance. And that's really what 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.799 I'm about. And that's where that quote, that quote eminates. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.680 I always want UM, whether it's ESPN or you know, 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:05.800 I used to work for Fox before, I used to 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.960 work for CNN before. I was the Philadelphia Inquiry before 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.640 works for the New York The News before UM. And 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.520 the one thing that they have in common, and you know, 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.080 even for my days as an internal with the Winston 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:19.839 Sale of Journal when I was in college, the one 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.080 thing that everybody has in common when it comes to 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.279 me is they say the same thing. The man doesn't 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:29.920 get out work, he will do whatever it takes uh 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:33.480 in striving to succeed. And that's my mentality. I had 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.039 a good fortune of watching you do a speaking engagement 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.640 in front of college students, and I was it was 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.040 like a rock star. It was like it was like 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.880 watching Aids, you know. Um, it was so into your brand. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.320 How do you you say you're fifty. How does your 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:55.159 brand resonate so well with that millennial group, of that 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.240 college group. Why do you feel that such an amazing 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.240 high level appeal for you. I don't care whether you're 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.120 two years old, you're twelve years old, you're twenty two year, 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:07.679 thirty two year, forty two year, fifty two or sixty 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:12.679 two years old. UM, I've never met anyone that gets 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.200 tired of hearing truth. And that's what it really comes 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.280 down to. When you look at when you look at me, 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.160 you know that I mean what I say, and I 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.960 say what I mean. I'm not playing and you know 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.200 if I'm gonna put if I'm gonna put myself in 0:07:28.240 --> 0:07:32.040 a line of fire, so be it. Um, It's about 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.480 delivering the goods that it pertains to. Uh, someone looking 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.680 at me and knowing that I'm real and I'm authentic 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.080 in that regard, and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:44.840 go out of my way to sugarcoat things. I'm not 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.040 trying to be disrespectful. I'm not trying to hurt anybody. 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:50.200 I'm not trying to do anything. But you know, when 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.720 I was a kid, I grew up idolizing one of 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:55.400 the people I grew up idolizing anyway, with Howard Coastell. 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.960 Howard Coas tells a former of a sports broadcaster, uh 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.160 ain't famous for Wide World of Sports and Monday Night 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:08.240 Football and various other things. I remember, I remember, that's right. 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.679 I remember looking at him, but also looking at various 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.600 other folks on television, and I remember the authenticity of 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.320 his words. You just never got the impression that he 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.720 didn't mean what he said. Put On so many other occasions, 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.880 watching so many people, so many other people, you could 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:30.800 see people making a conservatives not strenuous effort uh to 0:08:30.920 --> 0:08:35.040 sugarcoat things, to come across as a big soft pedal 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.240 into for lack of a better word or phrase, And 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.439 I always felt like those people are holding back, they're 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:43.960 cheating me, because they're not. I just want to know 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:46.800 the truth. And so as a result of that, I 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.600 had always promised myself if I were ever in that position, 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.920 people would know I meant what the hell I said, 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:54.840 and I and I say what I mean, UM and 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:58.840 I think that that level of realness. Uh, it breathed 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:02.400 a level of authentic city that not only an audience trust, 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.680 but it truly appreciates because it knows it's not getting 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.000 from everybody. And as a result, they can rely on 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:13.520 you at least touching a certain perspective that they may 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:16.800 have in tinckling and tinkling their thoughts just a little 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.840 bit and giving them food for thoughts. And that's what 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.520 I strived to do every day. Now with that being said, 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.200 and we know that your popularity in many platforms is 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.080 pretty strong, especially social media, but you're also commented on 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:34.480 a group of athletes that are very sensitive and thin skin. 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.480 How does that affect Does that affect you? Does that 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.920 matter to you? Do you want to have that relationship? 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:42.839 How does that? How does that balance happen there? Steven Ame? 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.720 What one? It affects you to some degree because obviously 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.400 you know they're not they're not prone, you know, key 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:52.680 to sit down with you're doing interview sometimes or whatever 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.040 the case may be. Um, you know where it affects 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.719 me personally is if they feel that I was on 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.240 fair or wrong. Those are the ways that it affects me. 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:06.959 If they feel if they feel that I was unfair 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:09.600 or I was wrong, because I always want to be 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:11.880 fair and I always want to be as right as 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.520 I possibly can be. Outside of that, we don't have 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.760 thanks Giving dinner together, were exchangeing Christmas gifts. They don't 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.600 pay my bills, um, and I'm gonna do my job. 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:27.199 My obligation is to my audience, my viewers, my listeners, 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:30.640 my readers, uh and the folks that that that follow 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.240 me on social media to a degree as well. My 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.400 my obligation is to them. It is not to the athletes. 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:40.560 My only obligation to the athletes is to be as 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:44.440 fair and the strivers to be as accurate as I 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.520 possibly can be. And a lot of times even when 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.800 they you know, sometimes when they say that that I'm wrong, 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:53.760 I actually laugh at them. And the reason why I 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.160 laugh at them is that, Okay, Well, then why didn't 0:10:56.160 --> 0:11:00.000 you return my call? Why didn't you return my text message? 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.000 You can see that I made a concerted effort to 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:05.960 try to speak to you, to get to the truth 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:11.400 before I said anything. So you avoiding me and being 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:18.040 inaccessible doesn't insulate you from me. That's not gonna work. 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.720 The athletes, the athletes that I have dealt with, and 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:24.079 I've dealt with many, as you well know. The athletes 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.400 that I've dealt with throughout my career, the one who 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:30.840 really is ever had any issue with me are the 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:35.800 ones who who remain in contact and are accessible. You 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.160 don't owe that to me, But you have to understand 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.200 doing my job, I don't owe you what you think 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:42.560 I owe you. I think we both have a job 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:44.720 to do. And if I'm in pursuit of the truth 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.800 and I call you and I text you, why confront you. 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.959 I reach out to you, and I see you face 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.760 to face, and you have an opportunity to give me 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.560 the truth, and you pass. Don't want and moan about 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.560 what my perspective is when you see me on national 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:06.160 television speaking the millions upon millions of people because you 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:10.080 had an opportunity to address that and you refused. That 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.000 is your prerogative. And a lot of occasions, by the way, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.040 a lot of the times I've been accused of not 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:18.079 telling the truth, they've been patently false. But you will 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:21.160 see it on the thirties and thirty documentary or feature 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.800 or something along those lines, with the exact thing that 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.880 I said is exactly what they admitted to they just 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:29.600 didn't want it out publicly. Well, guess what, you might 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:31.480 have had a better chance of that happening had you 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.720 communicated with me when I reached out to you. And 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.040 that's important that you know. When I do the show, 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:39.000 money making conversation of it, it's just it's lawyers, stephen A. 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:42.520 It's about layers from a business perspective, from a brand perspective, 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:45.640 and also give your message out there. What who is 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.520 Stephen A Sman? In the in the quick nutshell? Who 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:55.160 is Stephen asmaan Um? I'm a god faring man who 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.640 loved my mother daily with all my heart before she 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.880 passed away. She's the greatest woman I've ever known, who 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.880 lives every day trying to work hard to be the 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.840 very very best that I can be and to do 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.840 the kind of things that would make her proud. That's 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:15.200 basically me. Everything else falls in line with that kind 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.360 of thinking. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes, Um. I've 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.960 done things over the years that may have upset or 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:27.040 disappointed her, but it's human far between because I've lived 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.160 in my life under those principles pretty much all of 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.720 my life. Because there's nobody that I loved more and 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:37.240 so you know, for me, I try to be somebody 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.920 that's not a phony, that tries to be as real 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:44.920 and other and as authentic as I possibly cut Uh, 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.760 that recognizes the obligation that I have, not just to myself, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.920 but to others who placed their trust and their faith 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:55.160 in me. Whether it be my employer, whether it be 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:59.000 the public, whether it be my family and my loved 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:04.360 ones matter. I try to live up to their expectations 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.160 are of me, because their expectations breathe from what I 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.640 purported myself to be. I want to hold you for 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:13.520 five more minutes. Can give me five more minutes of 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:15.640 your time. We'll be back with more. Stephen A Smith, 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.280 and don't go nowhere. Stephen A Smith is the main Hi, 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:23.200 just Rashan McDonald, I am here money making conversations on 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.040 the phoneus the one and only stephen A Smith. I 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.160 can see them. My friend. He calls me a big brother. 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:30.760 I love it when he does that because I like 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.480 him being my younger brother. Um, stephen A doing the 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:40.680 NBA playoffs. Um. Social media was crazy for you in 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:45.440 a good way. Explained how why you resonate so powerful 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.720 and so well, especially your Instagram account has been off 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.360 the chain. Explain to us about the importance of social 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.560 media to your brand. Well, social media is the new age. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:57.920 I mean you have uh, you know as much as 0:14:58.000 --> 0:14:59.840 we some of us may not like it or what 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.320 have you. The reality is is that people, uh, we 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.760 live in an age with smartphones and other things, and 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:11.040 technology is clearly advanced, and the advent of social media 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.760 is huge because it's it's given a folks a voice, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.440 which is something our society has been addicted to for 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.600 quite some time. We've always clamored for and had an 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.200 insatiable appetite to have a voice. It's just that the 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.160 mechanisms who are an out there for that to transpire, 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.400 and obviously social media has changed that. But I would 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.000 give most credit um as it pertains directly to your question. 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:37.160 To my journalistic background. People don't realize it's not just 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.360 about writing, and it's not just about reporting. It's about 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.840 having the pulse of what people want to hear about 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.480 and read about, and talk about and see on television. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.560 You have to know this As a journalist. I would 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.520 wake up every single day I had to write a column, 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.800 sometimes three, four or five times a week. And so 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.920 you're waking up thinking, Okay, what's on the public's mind, 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.720 what would be the most interesting and compelling topic to 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.960 broach to touch on on this particular day. Those are 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.560 the common things that when you wake up thinking about that, 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.840 you have an idea of the post of the people, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.120 and when that transpires, it positions you to be even 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.920 better at what you do. And so when I look 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.560 at social media, I'm also looking at the news wise, 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.720 I'm looking at the kind of things that are percolating. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.280 The things that are trending are the things that are 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.880 taking place in the minds eye of the folks, and 0:16:32.920 --> 0:16:35.120 that's what I talk about. I don't talk about what 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.520 I want to talk about. I talk about what they 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:40.200 want to talk about. You're doing your show money making 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:42.760 conversations and the people that you're interviewing. Who are the 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.320 people that you're interviewing. You're interviewing the kind of people 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.400 that you believe in your research has showing you folks 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:52.280 are interested in knowing about. You didn't wake up instead 0:16:52.320 --> 0:16:54.160 of being say well, I'm gonna talk about what Richad 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:56.080 wants to talk about, you said, I'm going to talk 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.560 about what the people want to talk about. And that's 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.920 my approach to every thing, whether I'm doing television, radio, 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.480 or anything else. I don't get into what I want 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.120 to talk about. I don't get into what I want 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:13.320 to do. I get into delivering what I believe people 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.560 want to talk about, want to know about, want to 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.199 get engaging dialogue about. Those are the common things that 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.399 I talked to, that I talked about, and those are 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.760 the kind of things that I do because I'm nothing 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.760 without the people supporting me in terms of what I 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:31.399 do for a living. Which slides over to radio. And 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.320 you know, I'm a big fan of yours and radio. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.440 And if we get we can get personal about that 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.679 because of the fact that you are not should I 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:43.600 say it was not didn't see the value of the 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.919 radio initially, but you do see it now. Explain the 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:51.399 importance of radio in your brain. I don't want to 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.280 do television without radio. I don't want to do radio 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:57.680 about television. I like the combination of both being seen 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.520 and heard. But radio is incredibly powerful because it gives 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:07.160 you the license aid to speak. Except din't you gonna 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:12.760 give me credit? Oh? You know you d excuse me. 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.480 Aren't you gonna give me credit for a point? You 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.760 in that direction? Of radio. I don't recall being finished 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.919 with my answer. I recall it. I thought I was talking. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:23.879 I was in the middle of a conversation. You know 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.479 what I'm saying. I was gonna get to all of that, um, 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:28.560 you know, I was going to talk about how you 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:32.480 know radio is Radio is incredibly important because it gives 0:18:32.480 --> 0:18:35.879 you an opportunity not only to speak except radeously, but 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.360 to elaborate extensively on the point you might make everywhere 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.720 else you're writing a newspaper article of eight undrewords, you're 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.080 talking on television, but you got a two to three 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:50.480 minute window to do that. Talking for radio is yours 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:55.520 and Rashawn McDonald played in the pivotal role in getting 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:59.359 me to realize and recognize the importance and value in that, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.600 because I just didn't feel that way. My attitude is 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.200 that it was just an extension of what I already do. 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:10.000 I'm just regurgitating what I said on television or whatever 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.280 the case may be. But then when you go back 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.960 and you listen to yourself in both mediums, you see 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:19.600 the difference. There's more of my personality that comes out 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.720 in radio. I get an opportunity to elaborate extensively more 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.040 on radio than I do on television, and it augments 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.720 my points even more so. And so to me, that 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:33.760 elevates the level of power that I am, potency that 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:36.440 I may have as it pertains to what I do. 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.200 And that was the value that I did not appreciate 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.240 years ago that I learned to appreciate a large part 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:45.680 because of you, your success with the Steve Harvey Morning Show, 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:48.439 the way that I would see you do things behind 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:51.240 the scenes and what have you, and and and the 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.720 reason why I give you so much credit is because 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.400 you know I would do radio because I was good 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:02.480 at it. I was told do radio eventually, because those 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:06.600 things came about in terms of me recognizing its potency. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.280 But where you really came in is that you taught 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.720 me to enjoy it as well. I actually have fun 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:17.359 doing radio. Now that wasn't always the case. Who My 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.760 last question is your book is that you know people? 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:24.520 All people I've seen the college students asking I've seen. 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:26.199 I mean, I was in the l a with You're 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.360 walking around people where the book at? When you're gonna 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.080 put out the book? When is the book go to happen? 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:34.639 Stephen A. Smith? And what will the book be about. 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.280 The book will be written by the end of the year. 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:43.760 I've already written a couple of chapters, um, you know, 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.200 and it's a motivation of book, you know, essentially through 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.680 the lens of my life, my story and what got 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:53.199 me here today. You know, as I said on on 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.439 First Take one day a couple of years ago, that 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.600 really resonated virally. Um, I said, you know what, people 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:05.240 look at the Kobe Bryant, the Shaquille O'Neil or Jay 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.879 z and others, and they call them the American dream. 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.040 And I say, no, I'm the American dream. They're in 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:16.320 American They're in American fantasy turned reality. But it's a 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:19.520 one and a billion shot that you can be them. 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.360 But guess what you could be Stephen A. Smith, who 0:21:23.359 --> 0:21:27.320 all I did was bust my tail, work hard and 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:34.119 climb the ladder um and do do nothing but sheer, hard, work, determination, Uh, 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.159 And I guess some modicum of intelligence or whatever the 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.840 case may be. The bottom line is that it's not 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.840 a fantasy to become me. You can do it. A 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.080 lot of people can do it because I did it 0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:49.560 the older you know, the old fashioned way. I just 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:52.960 worked hard at it. That's not to imply that those 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:55.960 guys that I mentioned it and work very hard. I'm 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.359 simply saying, look at the you know, the the talent 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.400 that they had, the gifts that they have been blessed with, 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:06.080 and ultimately the wealth they were able to accumulate because 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:10.879 of it. Am I wealthy? Hell No, I ain't broke, okay, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:14.040 And I came from a historically black institution after getting 0:22:14.119 --> 0:22:16.720