April 19, 2022 • 45 mins
This week, Louis Carr speaks with Larry Miller, Chairman of the Michael Jordan brand at Nike and author of “Jump: My Secret Journey From the Streets to the Boardroom.”
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm Louis Carr, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast. The
Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men South,
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
(00:23):
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, health and wellness, and
even relationships. Today's guests is chairman of Brand Jordan's, Larry Miller,
who also has just penned the book Jump My Secret
Journey from the Streets to the board Room. Welcome Larry,
(00:47):
Thank you, Louis. It's it's a pleasure to be here.
I appreciate having the opportunity to come on and and
talk with you a little bit. Well, Larry, it is
our pleasure because you're one of the most success for
corporate executives in modern history. And I didn't say Larry
Black corporate executives, corporate executives period. You have had an
(01:10):
amazing career and you've taken Brand Jordans to a four
billion dollar brand. Larry, how did you do that? We
know you had the gold, but you had to do
something different to really sort of make a stand out
and continue to live today. Well, you know when we um,
when we were first uh considering starting the Jordan brand
(01:34):
as a separate entity within Nike, UM, Michael was about
to retire from the Bulls, and there was a lot
of uh doubt among a lot of people, both internally
and externally, UM that we wouldn't be able to make
it happen because the formula was, MJ, we create this
(01:55):
cool shoe, UM, we do some cool advertising, and then MJ,
where's the shoe? Into the season and into the playoffs?
And that was a formula. Now he was about to
retire and you're taking a big part of that formula out.
And so we had a lot of challenges internally. But UM,
the thing that we really focused on was you know,
(02:18):
identifying and communicating and connecting with who we defined as
our core consumer. And I think that was really the
key for us. We identified who that core consumer was,
and everything we did was focused on that core consumer
and making sure that you know, all of our communication,
all of our products, everything was targeted to that core consumer.
(02:41):
Because our belief was if we get our core consumer,
who was kids, you know, black brown kid in the hood,
who was the leader on his team, who you know,
was the style leader, the baldly. That was the guy
that we targeted and we believed that if we targeted
that consumer, we would get other people would follow that consumer.
(03:03):
And basically that's what happened, and we uh we were
able to add players who were not who were not
we went outside of basketball. We had a number of
basketball players who wore our brand, but we also went
outside of basketball. We had Derek Jeter, Roy Jones Jr.
Brandy Moss. Those were all guys that were also a
(03:27):
part of the brand early on and helped us to
really solidify Jordan as kind of a separate brand from Nike.
And I think the connection that we've had to the street,
the connection that we've had to the community, Black community,
brown community, the connections we've had there really have driven
our business and that built the core that allowed us
(03:51):
to grow it beyond where it is today. You know,
one of the tough things that we had we built
our business on uh strategy g of scarcity, so you know,
putting product out there people knowing that if they don't
get it now, it's gonna be gone. The challenge was
how do you do that and still grow the business
(04:11):
at the same time. And um. Then we were able
to figure that out. I think it was continue to
take care of that core consumer that came with us,
but also make product that everybody could have access to.
And um And this year when we started Jordan business
was about about a hundred forty million dollars. This year
(04:31):
it will be five billion dollars, a little over five
billion dollars. So we we figured out how to do it.
So so Marry, So Mike has been retired for a
long time, been out of the linelight. But every time
you guys released the shoe, there's this craving for it.
I mean, I mean people go crazy and doing those
(04:53):
first few days for this shoe. How have you been
able to do that? We know the scarcity part of it,
but the demand just when it says brand Jordan's, people
say I got ahead. I think Jordan's. The Jordan brand
now has become a part of the culture. It's a
part of the culture now not you know, and it's
(05:15):
part of culture not just in the black communities now,
it's a part of culture everywhere now pretty much and globally.
That was the other thing that we uh, you know,
we focused on how do we grow the brand not
just here in the US, but outside of the US
as well, and uh, and we've been having a lot
of success with that also. But I think it's still
it's just the brand has now become a part of
(05:37):
culture and people, um know what to expect from the
Jordan brand. They expect that we're gonna, you know, come
with some heat every so often. And uh, and it's still, uh,
it's still scarcity. That's that's driving it. It's still if
I don't get it now, I'm not going to be
able to get it, or I'm gonna have to pay
five times what it was worth in order to get it.
(05:59):
Because basically what our scarcity model did was create a
aftermarket for sneakers that is pretty lucrative act aftermarket. So UM,
I think we've been we've been really fortunate to uh,
you know, to be able to um, you know, build
this business while while again maintaining that premium level for
(06:22):
the brand. How many shoes do you make for in
particular launch, It depends every season. We come with a
whole new line of product every season, and within that
some are what we would call high heat product, which
is the stuff that we know is going to sell
out in a day, and then other things are things
(06:44):
that you know, people can still go in and buy
if they don't get the one that launched that that's
sold out. So so that that's how we've been able
to kind of maintain. But we we do a whole
line of product every season and it runs everything from
retro our retro product to our basketball product to our
(07:05):
lifestyle products. So every season we come with a new
line of footwear and apparel. Actually we are a pail
businesses uh is well over a billion dollars now, So
it's uh, it's it's it's been been a great you know, great, great,
great runner and I've been blessed and fortunate to have
worked with some amazing people over the years. Um. You know,
(07:28):
to me, uh, you never can do anything by yourself.
It takes a team of people. It takes uh, you know,
everybody pulling in the same direction, everybody believing in, uh,
what the vision is. And I think early on we
were able to establish that we got you know, we
put together a great team of people. I got Um,
(07:49):
I got accused by Phil Knight of cherry picking the
organization with that first Jordan team. And uh, and and
you know I kind of did. I've tried to get
the best possible people. Um. And and again I think
at the end of the day, great team. UM. Having
a great team that that believes in the vision is
(08:09):
really what got us established from the beginning. So that
that leads me to the next question. Larry, you left
for a while and you went to be the president
of the Portland Trailblazers, all right, and uh, that's a
different type of team. Uh that that's a team of
(08:29):
truly rich, rich, rich, wealthy guys. What did that experience
of being the president of the Portland's trail but just
teach you about teamwork and building, you know. You know, Um,
one of one of the things when I when I
first got to the Trailblazers, one of the things I realized,
and I think this is this was at the time
kind of a lot of the teams operated this way.
(08:51):
But um, you have basketball, the basketball division or basketball,
which covers all the players, trades, drafts, all that, and
then you have the business side, selling advertising, selling tickets,
and and with the Trailblazers, there wasn't good communication between
those two and one of the things that I believe is, um,
(09:12):
we needed to bridge that gap. So that was one
of my first efforts when I got there, was to
try to create one team as opposed to there's a
basketball team and then there's the business team. It was
really to try to create one team, UM. And my
thinking was if the basketball people understood more about the
(09:32):
objectives from a business perspective, they'd be much more willing
to get involved and do things, and vice versa. The
business people had more of an understanding of what basketball
was trying to accomplish, they would be more willing to
work around the basketball schedule. And it actually worked out.
I took took the whole team or the leadership team
(09:53):
on the outside, and the coach, the GM and the
assistant GM didn't want to go. They're like, I was
like no, When you remember Nate McMillan walked in my
office and said, Hey, BOS, do you do you really
want need me to come out as I yet, Nate,
I need you to be there because to me, it
was a whole idea was to bridge that gap. And
I think we made some real progress on on on
(10:15):
doing that. But but you're right, it's it's it was
a whole different vibe when you're talking about players who
are making tons of money. But I think what one
of the things I realized is that money is important,
but for a lot of these guys, the motivator is
being successful. It's winning, it's the excellence, it's improving their game,
(10:37):
it's their love of the game. And to me, um,
you know that that that makes a difference when you
see players who are yeah, they want the money. I'm
not gonna say nobody people don't want and they deserve
they should earn the money. But I think for you know,
for MJ for instance, it was more about the love
of the game. It was more about um, you know,
excellence and trying to be the best she could possibly be.
(10:59):
And I think most to the players, a lot of
the players feel that way about it. Yeah. Yeah, I
want to get paid, but I also want to make
my name and I want to prove to post who
I am and what I bring to this game. Larry,
I read they said you have one of the most
enviable ROM indexes in the NBA, that you've got everybody's
(11:20):
cell phone number, whether they were a part of the
Trail Blazers or whether they were part of brand Jordan
or Nike. How did you develop a roller des like that? Well,
I think, um, you know, to me, I've always approached UM,
and I believe this that uh, in business in life period,
(11:44):
I think relationships are extremely important. I think, um, people
want to do business or work with people that they like.
If they can't, I mean, they'll do business with whoever
to make money. But if they have a choice between
somebody that they like and have a relationship with and
somebody they don't, they're gonna generally go with the person
that they have a relationship with. And UM, I think
(12:06):
over the years as I've always approached it as uh,
you know, building relationships with people, and a lot of
that comes from uh like people knowing that you don't
necessarily want anything from that. I remember I was having
a conversation with one athlete. Now I won't say who
(12:27):
it was, but I was having a conversation with a
football player and we were talking business and I was
giving him, you know, it's kind of sharing some of
my insights with them, and finally he said, so, so
what can I do for you? Man? I said, you know,
I'm good. I don't need anything. I'm just sharing information
with you, and I think that's how I've been able
(12:47):
to build these relationships over the years. It's been about, um,
you know, just developing a relationship and not necessarily being hey,
I want something from you, or I need this from you,
I want this from you. Um, it's more about, hey,
is there something mutual here that we can both benefit problem?
And I think that's how relationships get built, and I
(13:09):
think that's probably what's led to me being able to
have these connections with so many people. We'll be right
back with more of my interview after this quick break. Well, well, Larry,
(13:30):
as you were climbing the rough and tough corporate ladder,
whether at Craft or Campbell's or Nike brand Jordan's Portland Trailblazers,
you were carrying what we call a dirty little secret,
and uh that secret was that you murdered a team
(13:50):
at sixteen years old. And you've just released a book
called Jump My Secret From the Streets to the Boardroom.
Tell our audience who you were as a young team
growing up in Philadelphia and the hood. Who who was
that person at that time, because there's a totally different
person is what we're talking to the day. So, so,
(14:13):
when I was growing up from uh, you know, all
through elementary school, I was a straight a student, you know,
teachers pet kind of kid, and I was doing everything
to impress parents and teachers. And I was just, you know,
that good kid that was on the track to you know,
build something out of my life. But somewhere along the line,
(14:35):
the lore of the streets started to pull me in
and I started, um really like feeling drawn into street
life and the gang life. And at a certain point, uh,
that changed for me in terms of instead of trying
to impress parents and teachers, it was more about impressing
(14:58):
people in the street. And I ended up joined the
gang when I was thirteen twelve, thirteen years old. UM
was in and out of trouble all throughout that time.
And then when I was sixteen, I uh, I actually UM,
myself and a few other guys were drunk, drinking cheap wine,
(15:19):
and I had a gun and we were a friend
of mine. One of my gang members had been killed
not too long before that, and we went out looking
for someone and unfortunately ran into someone who I found
out later had no gang affiliation. UM, but it was
just an uncalled for situation. I shot him and he died.
(15:43):
I was arrested later that night. UM I was sixteen,
but I was charged as an adult. UH. I was
sitting to four and a half to twenty years. Unfortunately,
my parents and family were able to pull together some
money to get me an attorney and UH And like
I said, I was sitting four and a half to
twenty years, did the four and a half, got out,
(16:07):
knocked around, did a bunch of stuff, and ended up
back in jail. UM And I was back in jail
for a number of armed robberies and UH. At that
time when I went back, I UM they had a
program there. It was called Education Release Program where you
could live outside the jail and these trailers and leave
(16:30):
every day and go to school and just come back
in the evening. And when I found out about that program,
I was like, man, that's how I want to do
my time. So I got into the program with the
idea that that it would be an easier way to
do time. But once I got into it and started
taking the classes and you know, really kind of getting
support from people, I started to believe that UM, I
(16:52):
could really change my life. And I think for a
lot of folks in that situation, That's really what it
comes down to. Can you really, UM, change your perception
of yourself and believe that you can really do something
other than the things that you you were doing. And
so I got into that program, and I got my
(17:13):
associate's degree while I was in that program, transferred UM
all my credits to Temple University and moved to a
halfway house and uh and got my bachelor's degree from
Temple and started my career at Campbell suit UM. But
you know, for me that the whole process of that
(17:33):
program is what really allowed me to change my life.
The sad thing is that program doesn't exist anymore. So
if I was there today, I couldn't come out and
do what I've been able to do because the program
that allowed me to UM just doesn't exist anymore. But
but yeah, I at that time, you know, through up
(17:54):
until uh the age of or thirty when I got arrested,
when I was arrested, the last time, I was just
you know, I was a street thug and you know,
into all kinds of criminal activity and UM unfortunately was
able to change my life. That that whole situation is
(18:15):
a it's a vicious cycle and it's hard to you know,
it's hard to break out of that cycle. I was
caught up in it, um, you know, growing up, tell
tell so somebody this the other day. Uh, growing up
from like thirteen fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and and once I
went to jail at sixteen, the same people are there.
(18:36):
Every time you go back. It's the same people because
we're all caught up in this cycle where you go
to jail, you don't do anything to change your mentality.
You get back out and you do the same thing,
and you end up back in jail again. And I am, unfortunately,
was able to break that cycle. And that program was
(18:57):
what allowed me to do it. So was that a
federal program that you were under. It wasn't. It was
a state program. It was. It was a state program. Um.
But the federal part was that you uh, inmates were
allowed to use pell grats back then to to get
take college classes. They cut that out. I think they've
(19:18):
just reinstituted it, which is great, But that was so
the federal part was that you could have access to
the money, but it was really a state program. I
was in a state penitentiary and it was a state
program that I was and I was a part of
so so, Larry, as I'm listening to your talking, you
used a couple of words you use hope. Another word
(19:39):
that I use is vision. When we look at our
major A county cities today, whether that's Chicago, New York,
we they're they're filled with similar stories as yours. How
do you think we get young people today to be
(19:59):
hopeful and have a different type of vision? Is it?
Is it part the responsibility of people like myself and
yours too, sort of saying hey, I came from that
sort of neighborhood background understanding and look where I'm at today.
If I can do it, you can do it. What
(20:20):
what do you think? I'm sure there are a lot
of people now reaching out to you to try to
get answers because you broke a side. Well. I do think,
um that it is uh showing young people in that
environment that they can do something other than just what
they see going on around them or or what what's
(20:42):
going on in their their their neighborhood. I think people
like yourself absolutely setting an example as you know, hey,
I came from your neighborhood, but I was able to
do this because I think, um, for a lot of
those young people in that environment, they don't have that
vision to say I can do something other than what
(21:02):
I've been doing or what's going on in my neighborhood.
And I think things that we can try to do,
we need to try to do as much as we
can to change that that perception, to let them know that, um,
there are opportunities out there, and I think we need
to look at providing more opportunities. UM. I think let
them know that there are people that are willing to
(21:23):
support their efforts in terms of changing their life or
improving their life. But I do think a lot of
it does kind of that. That's one of the that's
one of the main reasons why I decided to tell
my story is that hopefully, you know, some young person
out there will uh, some sixteen year old Larry Miller
out there that's headed down the path that I went,
(21:45):
might hear my story and realize that, um, you know,
they don't have to go that route, that they can
go a different route and they can have a better
life than what they believe they can now. But your
your right vision is the key. And I think, you know,
one of the one of the things that I've been
talking about with this is changing people's perception of formally
(22:08):
incarcerated people. But I also think it's about changing the
perception of yourself, changing yourself perception to say I can
do something different. I do believe I can do something different,
And I think things like your story, my story, other
stories of success can help um to motivate and show
(22:28):
people that they can do it. Well. Larry, you know
you carried around this this secret for over fifty years.
I can't imagine the type of stress that was on
you in your day to day job. Then in the
book you talk about going to the White House and
all of the uh sort of v I p s
(22:49):
and important people in the country that you've been around
this time. I can't imagine the stress that you carry. Uh.
People who know me and have come to my con friends. Uh,
you know, my father and other members of my family
have been incarcerated. My father's passed on now, but he
served like thirteen years and in the fellow penitentiary. And
(23:13):
you know, I don't totally say that this is probably
the biggest public form Larry, that I've said that, And
if you can, if you can reveal that, I can
reveal that about my father and my family. But I
can't imagine the stress that was on you from day
to day because people do look at you differently. And
you tell that story when you first got out and
(23:34):
applying for jobs that people looked at differently. So the
young men who are out now, who served their time,
who've done some things wrong, what type of encouragement do
you have for them? And they sort of looked at
the future and try to figure it out. And that's difficult.
Once you get that record, that's difficult. It is very difficult.
(23:58):
And I think, UM, you know what what I would
say and what I'm I'm and again one of the
reasons for writing this book and telling this story is
to say you can, you can achieve. You can't overcome
the your past. You don't have to be UM defined
by the things that you did in the past. But also,
(24:20):
to me, it's also about UM providing and identifying opportunities
for people who are coming out and who are trying
to do the right thing and want to move in
the right direction. It's about UM, you know, giving opportunities
to people. And I think what I'm what I'm hoping
is that this book can and the story can UM
(24:43):
make people who are in decision making roles have much
more of or be willing to give people opportunities just because, um,
you know, they've had issues in their past. I think
that's really really what it comes out to it. And
I would say to someone who's struggling coming out, Um,
(25:06):
you know, don't don't give up on yourself. Don't don't
allow yourself to end up back in that situation, because
you know, if you put forth the work and the
effort and you you know, look for opportunities, there are
people that will help you. Their organizations out there out here,
Like I'm I was on a call not too long
ago with an organization called Concordance and they're in St.
(25:29):
Louis actually, and they they based specifically work with folks
who are currently incarcerated, but then when they get out,
they trans transition to work with them to help them
find work and get acclimated. Um. And so to me,
I think, you know, looking for where there's help and
(25:49):
support out there and people that are willing to help
and support. I think that's one of the big things
that can can help help folks to figure out how
to survive coming out of that out of that situation,
because you know, the majority of people are going to
get out at some point. The majority of people in jail,
the majority are going to get out. And I was
talking to a brother named Dr Boyce Watkins. I don't
(26:13):
know if you know voice and that, but he was
talking about the fact that his uncle, who was he
was really close to his uncle, went to jail, and
he said his uncle was a different person when he
came out, not for the better he was. He said,
uncle was never able to kind of get it together.
And the thing that Um boys said, and I agree
(26:33):
with this, he said, you know, the goal should be
that people come out of prison a better person than
they were when they went in. And in order for
that to happen, we've got to provide tools and opportunities
to help people improve who they are while they're incarcerated,
and then provide that help once they get out as well,
(26:55):
because it's it's challenging. I'm a friend of mine, UM
who I met when I was in jail last time. UH.
For forty years, I went up and visited him whenever
I was on the East Coast, spent time with his
mother before she passed away. UM. Finally he got out
about a year and a half ago after fifty two
(27:17):
years of incarceration. And the crazy thing about it, he
was arrested with three other people. Two of them did
a year, one did five years, and he did fifty
two years. I mean, where where's the justice in that? Right?
Where's the fairness in that? But but you know, fortunately
for him, he's got a great support system. He's got family. UM,
(27:40):
he's got people who are you know, working with him
and helping him to acclimate and adjust to UH, to
being out. But it's not it's not an easy thing
to make that adjustment. And I think, Um, one of
the keys I would say is, you know, look for
places to get help for people who are willing to
help you, whether it's with ad you cation or skills
(28:01):
or whatever. Because um, there are organizations and people out
that will help. Not enough, and we need a lot
more of it. But I think trying to take advantage
of what does exist is UH is a good route. Larry,
how difficult was it to tell folks life m J
and Phil nine and Adam Silver, people you had been
(28:23):
around forever and they thought they really knew you. How
how difficult was that? It was really difficult? Um? My daughter,
so my daughter is the one who actually convinced me
to do this. Um. She worked on me for years, Dad,
you need to tell the story. And you know, her
thing was, look, you know, your story is motivational for
me and for the family, and I think it could
(28:45):
be motivational for other people as well. So she she
worked on me and UH and basically convinced me to
do this. So her and I started working on it,
and we got to a certain point where it was like, Okay,
I think we're really gonna do this. And at that point,
I was like, you know, there's some people that I
need to talk to and share this with before they
(29:06):
hear about it some other way. And so Phil Knight
and MJ were the two first people that I um
decided to reach out to, and because my goal was
to sit down and have a face to face conversation,
but COVID stopped that from happening, so it had to
be virtual. UM. But with m J, I, uh, you know,
(29:28):
I kind of shared the story of my daughter pushing
me to do this, and then I kind of started
to tell him some of my background and go over
some of the stuff with him and UH, and his
first comment to me was, I agree with your daughter,
you need to tell this story and I'll support I'll
support you, and you know, and the same with Phil Knight,
exactly the same thing. And I think if either one
(29:51):
of those guys would have been like, well, maybe you
shouldn't do this right now, or maybe you should, I
would have probably been reluctant to do it. But not
only were they supported, but they were encouraging. And the
same with Adam, and the same with you know, people
that I've talked to, uh, you know that that I
considered to be friends as well as business associates, um.
(30:11):
And the response has been incredible. Everybody, for the most part,
has been supportive and encouraging. But it was it was tough.
I mean there were many times I m J and
I would be together just kind of the tour, was
hanging out and I would be like, man, I should
I should tell him J about my path, but I
just couldn't bring myself to do it because I was
(30:31):
so you know, I had locked in so hard on
like this can't come out, people can't find out about it.
It will ruin everything that I built if if this
comes out, And um, yeah, I mean I had for
years I had nightmares and migraines, and UM, the interesting
thing is once I started sharing with my daughter, Once
(30:52):
I started telling her the story, the nightmares stopped, the
migraines stopped, and I think just getting it out was
was cathartic for me. Really, There's been some controversy with
the young man's family, UH tell us about that. So
you know, I take um full responsibility for the fact
(31:15):
that I should have done a much better job of
reaching out to them before this all went public. I
had intentions of doing it. Um. I knew I had
to do it, but I was nervous since uh you know,
anxious about about not knowing how they were going to
respond or how they were going to react. Had started
(31:37):
connected with a private investigator to try to find him
because I had no idea where they were. Um. Unfortunately,
the story got out, they saw it, and then they
responded because again they this was a surprise to them.
This brought back some pain that they had uh you know,
(31:57):
had been had dealt with and probably had tried to
get past. UM. And I absolutely should have done a
better job of trying to connect with them before this
one public. I have connected with them, I've met with
them a couple of Times. Um. And you know, they're
(32:17):
incredible people. Uh. And they have forgiven me for what happened.
And that's the most I could ask for. I mean,
to me, if nothing else comes out of this book,
out of this story, the fact that they were willing
to forgive me for what happened, UM, that that's the
best I could have asked for coming coming out of
this story. And UM, we've agreed that we're gonna try
(32:41):
to work together to figure out a way to memorialize Mr. White. Um.
We're looking at a scholarship fund or something along those lines.
But but again, to me, UM, I should have done
a better job of trying to connect with them. Unfortunately,
the New York Times beat me to it and the
story came out um and the way it did. But
(33:03):
I have connected with them since, and I think, like
I said, we're we're in the process of healing on
both sides of the table. Um. But you know, it
was great. I mean, at the end of the meeting, Um,
we hugged, and that to me was just like I
couldn't have asked for anything more than that. We'll be
(33:26):
right back with more of my interview after this quick break. Well,
Larry The way Maker community believes that every successful person
has had way makers in their life, and the waymaker
someone who sees something in you sort of before you
(33:48):
sees it in yourself, and intentionally does something to help you.
Name a few of the way makers that have been
in Larry Miller's life. I've had a lot of them
over the years. I mean, there's been a lot of
people who have seen in me what I didn't see
in myself over the years. Uh. You know, there there's
there's just been, like I said, tons of people who
(34:11):
have been encouraging, who have um really supported and pushed me. Uh.
I wouldn't be in I wouldn't have been in the
Jordan brand uh job if it wasn't for a guy
named Howard White. I know you know h White. H Um.
I got to know H when I started working in Nike.
My first job here was I was ahead of apparel
(34:32):
in the U in the US for Nike when I
started and uh when when um the decision was made
to start the Jordan brand, Uh, and they were trying
to decide who should who should be the person to
head it up? H was the one that said, I know,
just the guy you know what I mean, And he
said that to m J. He said that to Phil Knight. Uh,
(34:55):
he said that to a few other people, and they
reached out to me and said, hey, you know, we
think this would be grateful you. So if H, you know,
if it was, and maybe it would have happened without AH,
but H was the Um. He was a catalyst that
that really put my name in the mix at that point. Um.
There have been other folks. My friend that I was
talking about that was that just got out after fifty
(35:18):
two years. He when I was there, he was encouraging
for me to you know, because I was into the books,
going to school, trying to get into this program. Always
encouraged and pushed me to do the right thing, and hey,
you know you need to stay on this course. Um.
And even when when he was still in cross Rate
(35:38):
and I would go up to visit him, I would
always weird because I'd leave there like inspired and fired up,
and he's in jail, but I would leave I would
be the one leaving the jail inspired and fired up
and motivated to keep moving. Because I think him and
a lot of the other guys they are kind of
lived vicariously through me. They saw me making these moves
(36:01):
and you know, doing the things that I was doing,
but staying connected to them, never you know, really losing
that connection. And I think that uh you know, that
was like I said, it was it was inspiring for
them and they were they were living vicariously through me.
So but but again, I mean I could go on
and on and on and on about the people that
have encouraged me and been there for me. Phil Knight,
(36:23):
Michael Jordan's I mean, those those are obvious ones that uh,
you know, you would you know obviously you know mj
has definitely uh been been huge in my career. And
without him and without the support and without him trusting
in me to do what I was able to do, um,
I wouldn't wouldn't been able to do it. So I mean, again,
(36:43):
I could the list goes on and on and on
and on, but I am just grateful and uh you know,
thankful that I've had the opportunity to do the things
that I've been able to do, and um to you
know support now the people that I've been able to
help and to get the support and help from people
(37:04):
that I have. Well, Larry, before we leave, like I
gotta ask you to do this. There are a lot
of young men in the streets today who have the
ability to go on to lead an extremely successful life
and something happens, and like with you, they turn in
the wrong direction. Uh. Talk to these young men out
(37:28):
there today who may be listening to this to encourage
them not to pick up a gun or to put
down a gun. As we hear headlines every single day
in every major city about someone being killed senseless. League
talked to those young men before. I would say to him, UM,
(37:50):
you know, listen, I know the mentality that you're functioning
off of because I had that same mentality. The reality is, um,
it led me to do something that I regret every
single day in my life. Every day, I regret the
fact that I took the life of a young black man. Um.
(38:10):
You know, which to me is uh something like I
said that I I live with every day and I
regret every day. And I would just say to you,
you know, don't just think about the things that you're
doing and just believe that you can change your life,
because at the end of the day, I think that's
really what it's about. It's about believing that you can change,
(38:32):
and you can. There there are people out here who
will support you, their organizations that will be there to
help you out. Um. And it's not easy. It's not
easy to pull up out of that lifestyle in that
world and do something different. But the rewards are much
much greater than you know what you can have access
(38:53):
to living that street life and that you know, gangs
of thug life. That's not there's no future in that.
I mean, you know, I fortunately was able to break
out of that lifestyle, but I'm not I'm not the
only one. I know a lot of people who have
gone through that process and gone through that situation, but
I've been able to change their life. One of my
(39:16):
guy I was in jail with when I was sixteen
years old was my barber. He learned how to cut
hair when he was in the penitentiary as a juvenile,
got out, opened up a shop, has employed people. I mean,
so there there, there are other There are ways that
you can change your life. You just have to believe
(39:37):
that you can. And I think at the end of
the day, you know, stories like mine can maybe help
young people to believe that they can change their life
because you know, it's not like I, um, you know,
grew up in really nice neighborhood and you know, so
respoon all that that's not this case. I grew up.
You know, I had my mother and father there, which
(39:59):
was great. Had you know, both my parents were there. Uh,
you know, my household was was great, was fun, all good.
But when I stepped outside, it was it was that
environment and um, I unfortunately got caught up in it.
But I was able to pull myself out of it.
And I think, uh, you know, just it's not an
(40:21):
easy thing to do, but it can be done. And
I'm an example proof, living proof that you can change
your life, you can move forward. And you know, I
think that every every person deserves a second chance. Every
person deserves an opportunity to change their life if they
(40:41):
really want to. And I think there are I mean,
I meet people all the time now, especially since this
went out. I'm I'm getting um emails and letters from
people saying, hey, you know I went through that, or
I was incarcerated and I was able to get out
and do this, or while your story has really kind
of motivated me to, you know, to to try to
(41:04):
change my life. So again that that was the whole
purpose of doing this, that hopefully it will motivate and
inspire some people, UM to look at how they're living
and what they're doing with their life and uh start
to believe that they can change. Final question, Laria, looking back,
I'm going to your corporate career. Now, give our audience
(41:29):
three things that every successful person has to have as
part of their blueprint towards their successful journey. UM. I
think the first one I would say is, UM is
be dependable. You know, have people need to be able
to depend on you if you're you know, if you
(41:50):
commit to doing something, you have to do it because
you build your reputation. I think in business and whatever environment,
a year in by people knowing that they can depend
on you, I think that's that's a key element of
of success. If you if I you know, and I'm
sure you feel the same way. Loads if it's somebody's
(42:10):
like now I messed with that person, but yeah, yeah,
this person, I know they're gonna get it done, and
I think that's to me. UM, you know, one of
the key elements I would think is is uh, you know,
is being dependable. The second one would be, UM, understand
the value of relationships. Understand and cultivate relationships because that
(42:36):
will make a major difference. Like I feel like, um,
I don't think i've ever actually or since early on
applied for a job, they've all like people have come
to me and said hey, with the Trailblazers, someone came
to me and said, hey, you need to you need
to And it was because of relationships that I had
with people. So I think, you know, cultivating relationships is uh,
(42:59):
it is key to me as well. And I guess
the third one I would think is, um, you know,
be a good teammate, Be a good team player, because
everybody wants good team players on their team. You know
what I mean. If you're if you're putting a team
team together, are you're looking to hire somebody and you
know that this person is gonna be a great teammate,
(43:20):
that they're gonna understand and support division, and that they're
gonna work with other people. From the perspective of being
you know, a good teammate, I think, UM, to me,
those are some things that have have I think worked
in my advantage and I think would be helpful. Well, Larry,
thank you so much for this man. Uh. I've known
(43:40):
you for a number of years and you've have been dependable.
You have built relationships and you've been a great team player.
So thank you so much for sharing your story and
your journey with the Waymaker audience and tell people how
(44:01):
they can get this great book, JOHNP. So Um. The
book is available in bookstores also on Amazon. You can
order it on Amazon and also um we uh we
have uh Instagram, Uh Facebook has jumped the book all
one word jump the book. Um. And you know, please
(44:23):
come and make comments and folks, I would love to
hear people's feedback on the book once they get a
chance to read it. Um. But that's that's how you
know you can you can buy the book and also,
like I said, stay connected with what we're trying to
accomplish through this book. Larry, thank you, and I'm gonna
(44:45):
reach out and say anything that Waymaker or Lewis Carr
can do for you to do, not ever hesitate to ask. Um.
You have been such a friend and you have always
been a person that uh we can count on. So
thank you so much. Well. I appreciate that, Lucien, and
(45:06):
uh and thank you so much for having me on
appreciate the opportunity to share you know, my story, uh
some insights with with your audience and you know, definitely
look forward to seeing you in person sometime soon. And
uh and again, if there's anything that I can do
to help your efforts, don't hesitate to reach out as well.
(45:27):
Thank you, my brother. I appreciate you. Take take care well.
Thank you,
I'm Louis Carr, host of the Blueprint Connect podcast. The
Blueprint Connect podcast is an extension of the Blueprint Men South,
where we have consistently given men a prescription for growth,
not just for themselves, but also for their families and
their communities. During these podcasts, we will educate and motivate
(00:23):
our listeners about entrepreneurship, careers, finance, health and wellness, and
even relationships. Today's guests is chairman of Brand Jordan's, Larry Miller,
who also has just penned the book Jump My Secret
Journey from the Streets to the board Room. Welcome Larry,
(00:47):
Thank you, Louis. It's it's a pleasure to be here.
I appreciate having the opportunity to come on and and
talk with you a little bit. Well, Larry, it is
our pleasure because you're one of the most success for
corporate executives in modern history. And I didn't say Larry
Black corporate executives, corporate executives period. You have had an
(01:10):
amazing career and you've taken Brand Jordans to a four
billion dollar brand. Larry, how did you do that? We
know you had the gold, but you had to do
something different to really sort of make a stand out
and continue to live today. Well, you know when we um,
when we were first uh considering starting the Jordan brand
(01:34):
as a separate entity within Nike, UM, Michael was about
to retire from the Bulls, and there was a lot
of uh doubt among a lot of people, both internally
and externally, UM that we wouldn't be able to make
it happen because the formula was, MJ, we create this
(01:55):
cool shoe, UM, we do some cool advertising, and then MJ,
where's the shoe? Into the season and into the playoffs?
And that was a formula. Now he was about to
retire and you're taking a big part of that formula out.
And so we had a lot of challenges internally. But UM,
the thing that we really focused on was you know,
(02:18):
identifying and communicating and connecting with who we defined as
our core consumer. And I think that was really the
key for us. We identified who that core consumer was,
and everything we did was focused on that core consumer
and making sure that you know, all of our communication,
all of our products, everything was targeted to that core consumer.
(02:41):
Because our belief was if we get our core consumer,
who was kids, you know, black brown kid in the hood,
who was the leader on his team, who you know,
was the style leader, the baldly. That was the guy
that we targeted and we believed that if we targeted
that consumer, we would get other people would follow that consumer.
(03:03):
And basically that's what happened, and we uh we were
able to add players who were not who were not
we went outside of basketball. We had a number of
basketball players who wore our brand, but we also went
outside of basketball. We had Derek Jeter, Roy Jones Jr.
Brandy Moss. Those were all guys that were also a
(03:27):
part of the brand early on and helped us to
really solidify Jordan as kind of a separate brand from Nike.
And I think the connection that we've had to the street,
the connection that we've had to the community, Black community,
brown community, the connections we've had there really have driven
our business and that built the core that allowed us
(03:51):
to grow it beyond where it is today. You know,
one of the tough things that we had we built
our business on uh strategy g of scarcity, so you know,
putting product out there people knowing that if they don't
get it now, it's gonna be gone. The challenge was
how do you do that and still grow the business
(04:11):
at the same time. And um. Then we were able
to figure that out. I think it was continue to
take care of that core consumer that came with us,
but also make product that everybody could have access to.
And um And this year when we started Jordan business
was about about a hundred forty million dollars. This year
(04:31):
it will be five billion dollars, a little over five
billion dollars. So we we figured out how to do it.
So so Marry, So Mike has been retired for a
long time, been out of the linelight. But every time
you guys released the shoe, there's this craving for it.
I mean, I mean people go crazy and doing those
(04:53):
first few days for this shoe. How have you been
able to do that? We know the scarcity part of it,
but the demand just when it says brand Jordan's, people
say I got ahead. I think Jordan's. The Jordan brand
now has become a part of the culture. It's a
part of the culture now not you know, and it's
(05:15):
part of culture not just in the black communities now,
it's a part of culture everywhere now pretty much and globally.
That was the other thing that we uh, you know,
we focused on how do we grow the brand not
just here in the US, but outside of the US
as well, and uh, and we've been having a lot
of success with that also. But I think it's still
it's just the brand has now become a part of
(05:37):
culture and people, um know what to expect from the
Jordan brand. They expect that we're gonna, you know, come
with some heat every so often. And uh, and it's still, uh,
it's still scarcity. That's that's driving it. It's still if
I don't get it now, I'm not going to be
able to get it, or I'm gonna have to pay
five times what it was worth in order to get it.
(05:59):
Because basically what our scarcity model did was create a
aftermarket for sneakers that is pretty lucrative act aftermarket. So UM,
I think we've been we've been really fortunate to uh,
you know, to be able to um, you know, build
this business while while again maintaining that premium level for
(06:22):
the brand. How many shoes do you make for in
particular launch, It depends every season. We come with a
whole new line of product every season, and within that
some are what we would call high heat product, which
is the stuff that we know is going to sell
out in a day, and then other things are things
(06:44):
that you know, people can still go in and buy
if they don't get the one that launched that that's
sold out. So so that that's how we've been able
to kind of maintain. But we we do a whole
line of product every season and it runs everything from
retro our retro product to our basketball product to our
(07:05):
lifestyle products. So every season we come with a new
line of footwear and apparel. Actually we are a pail
businesses uh is well over a billion dollars now, So
it's uh, it's it's it's been been a great you know, great, great,
great runner and I've been blessed and fortunate to have
worked with some amazing people over the years. Um. You know,
(07:28):
to me, uh, you never can do anything by yourself.
It takes a team of people. It takes uh, you know,
everybody pulling in the same direction, everybody believing in, uh,
what the vision is. And I think early on we
were able to establish that we got you know, we
put together a great team of people. I got Um,
(07:49):
I got accused by Phil Knight of cherry picking the
organization with that first Jordan team. And uh, and and
you know I kind of did. I've tried to get
the best possible people. Um. And and again I think
at the end of the day, great team. UM. Having
a great team that that believes in the vision is
(08:09):
really what got us established from the beginning. So that
that leads me to the next question. Larry, you left
for a while and you went to be the president
of the Portland Trailblazers, all right, and uh, that's a
different type of team. Uh that that's a team of
(08:29):
truly rich, rich, rich, wealthy guys. What did that experience
of being the president of the Portland's trail but just
teach you about teamwork and building, you know. You know, Um,
one of one of the things when I when I
first got to the Trailblazers, one of the things I realized,
and I think this is this was at the time
kind of a lot of the teams operated this way.
(08:51):
But um, you have basketball, the basketball division or basketball,
which covers all the players, trades, drafts, all that, and
then you have the business side, selling advertising, selling tickets,
and and with the Trailblazers, there wasn't good communication between
those two and one of the things that I believe is, um,
(09:12):
we needed to bridge that gap. So that was one
of my first efforts when I got there, was to
try to create one team as opposed to there's a
basketball team and then there's the business team. It was
really to try to create one team, UM. And my
thinking was if the basketball people understood more about the
(09:32):
objectives from a business perspective, they'd be much more willing
to get involved and do things, and vice versa. The
business people had more of an understanding of what basketball
was trying to accomplish, they would be more willing to
work around the basketball schedule. And it actually worked out.
I took took the whole team or the leadership team
(09:53):
on the outside, and the coach, the GM and the
assistant GM didn't want to go. They're like, I was
like no, When you remember Nate McMillan walked in my
office and said, Hey, BOS, do you do you really
want need me to come out as I yet, Nate,
I need you to be there because to me, it
was a whole idea was to bridge that gap. And
I think we made some real progress on on on
(10:15):
doing that. But but you're right, it's it's it was
a whole different vibe when you're talking about players who
are making tons of money. But I think what one
of the things I realized is that money is important,
but for a lot of these guys, the motivator is
being successful. It's winning, it's the excellence, it's improving their game,
(10:37):
it's their love of the game. And to me, um,
you know that that that makes a difference when you
see players who are yeah, they want the money. I'm
not gonna say nobody people don't want and they deserve
they should earn the money. But I think for you know,
for MJ for instance, it was more about the love
of the game. It was more about um, you know,
excellence and trying to be the best she could possibly be.
(10:59):
And I think most to the players, a lot of
the players feel that way about it. Yeah. Yeah, I
want to get paid, but I also want to make
my name and I want to prove to post who
I am and what I bring to this game. Larry,
I read they said you have one of the most
enviable ROM indexes in the NBA, that you've got everybody's
(11:20):
cell phone number, whether they were a part of the
Trail Blazers or whether they were part of brand Jordan
or Nike. How did you develop a roller des like that? Well,
I think, um, you know, to me, I've always approached UM,
and I believe this that uh, in business in life period,
(11:44):
I think relationships are extremely important. I think, um, people
want to do business or work with people that they like.
If they can't, I mean, they'll do business with whoever
to make money. But if they have a choice between
somebody that they like and have a relationship with and
somebody they don't, they're gonna generally go with the person
that they have a relationship with. And UM, I think
(12:06):
over the years as I've always approached it as uh,
you know, building relationships with people, and a lot of
that comes from uh like people knowing that you don't
necessarily want anything from that. I remember I was having
a conversation with one athlete. Now I won't say who
(12:27):
it was, but I was having a conversation with a
football player and we were talking business and I was
giving him, you know, it's kind of sharing some of
my insights with them, and finally he said, so, so
what can I do for you? Man? I said, you know,
I'm good. I don't need anything. I'm just sharing information
with you, and I think that's how I've been able
(12:47):
to build these relationships over the years. It's been about, um,
you know, just developing a relationship and not necessarily being hey,
I want something from you, or I need this from you,
I want this from you. Um, it's more about, hey,
is there something mutual here that we can both benefit problem?
And I think that's how relationships get built, and I
(13:09):
think that's probably what's led to me being able to
have these connections with so many people. We'll be right
back with more of my interview after this quick break. Well, well, Larry,
(13:30):
as you were climbing the rough and tough corporate ladder,
whether at Craft or Campbell's or Nike brand Jordan's Portland Trailblazers,
you were carrying what we call a dirty little secret,
and uh that secret was that you murdered a team
(13:50):
at sixteen years old. And you've just released a book
called Jump My Secret From the Streets to the Boardroom.
Tell our audience who you were as a young team
growing up in Philadelphia and the hood. Who who was
that person at that time, because there's a totally different
person is what we're talking to the day. So, so,
(14:13):
when I was growing up from uh, you know, all
through elementary school, I was a straight a student, you know,
teachers pet kind of kid, and I was doing everything
to impress parents and teachers. And I was just, you know,
that good kid that was on the track to you know,
build something out of my life. But somewhere along the line,
(14:35):
the lore of the streets started to pull me in
and I started, um really like feeling drawn into street
life and the gang life. And at a certain point, uh,
that changed for me in terms of instead of trying
to impress parents and teachers, it was more about impressing
(14:58):
people in the street. And I ended up joined the
gang when I was thirteen twelve, thirteen years old. UM
was in and out of trouble all throughout that time.
And then when I was sixteen, I uh, I actually UM,
myself and a few other guys were drunk, drinking cheap wine,
(15:19):
and I had a gun and we were a friend
of mine. One of my gang members had been killed
not too long before that, and we went out looking
for someone and unfortunately ran into someone who I found
out later had no gang affiliation. UM, but it was
just an uncalled for situation. I shot him and he died.
(15:43):
I was arrested later that night. UM I was sixteen,
but I was charged as an adult. UH. I was
sitting to four and a half to twenty years. Unfortunately,
my parents and family were able to pull together some
money to get me an attorney and UH And like
I said, I was sitting four and a half to
twenty years, did the four and a half, got out,
(16:07):
knocked around, did a bunch of stuff, and ended up
back in jail. UM And I was back in jail
for a number of armed robberies and UH. At that
time when I went back, I UM they had a
program there. It was called Education Release Program where you
could live outside the jail and these trailers and leave
(16:30):
every day and go to school and just come back
in the evening. And when I found out about that program,
I was like, man, that's how I want to do
my time. So I got into the program with the
idea that that it would be an easier way to
do time. But once I got into it and started
taking the classes and you know, really kind of getting
support from people, I started to believe that UM, I
(16:52):
could really change my life. And I think for a
lot of folks in that situation, That's really what it
comes down to. Can you really, UM, change your perception
of yourself and believe that you can really do something
other than the things that you you were doing. And
so I got into that program, and I got my
(17:13):
associate's degree while I was in that program, transferred UM
all my credits to Temple University and moved to a
halfway house and uh and got my bachelor's degree from
Temple and started my career at Campbell suit UM. But
you know, for me that the whole process of that
(17:33):
program is what really allowed me to change my life.
The sad thing is that program doesn't exist anymore. So
if I was there today, I couldn't come out and
do what I've been able to do because the program
that allowed me to UM just doesn't exist anymore. But
but yeah, I at that time, you know, through up
(17:54):
until uh the age of or thirty when I got arrested,
when I was arrested, the last time, I was just
you know, I was a street thug and you know,
into all kinds of criminal activity and UM unfortunately was
able to change my life. That that whole situation is
(18:15):
a it's a vicious cycle and it's hard to you know,
it's hard to break out of that cycle. I was
caught up in it, um, you know, growing up, tell
tell so somebody this the other day. Uh, growing up
from like thirteen fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, and and once I
went to jail at sixteen, the same people are there.
(18:36):
Every time you go back. It's the same people because
we're all caught up in this cycle where you go
to jail, you don't do anything to change your mentality.
You get back out and you do the same thing,
and you end up back in jail again. And I am, unfortunately,
was able to break that cycle. And that program was
(18:57):
what allowed me to do it. So was that a
federal program that you were under. It wasn't. It was
a state program. It was. It was a state program. Um.
But the federal part was that you uh, inmates were
allowed to use pell grats back then to to get
take college classes. They cut that out. I think they've
(19:18):
just reinstituted it, which is great, But that was so
the federal part was that you could have access to
the money, but it was really a state program. I
was in a state penitentiary and it was a state
program that I was and I was a part of
so so, Larry, as I'm listening to your talking, you
used a couple of words you use hope. Another word
(19:39):
that I use is vision. When we look at our
major A county cities today, whether that's Chicago, New York,
we they're they're filled with similar stories as yours. How
do you think we get young people today to be
(19:59):
hopeful and have a different type of vision? Is it?
Is it part the responsibility of people like myself and
yours too, sort of saying hey, I came from that
sort of neighborhood background understanding and look where I'm at today.
If I can do it, you can do it. What
(20:20):
what do you think? I'm sure there are a lot
of people now reaching out to you to try to
get answers because you broke a side. Well. I do think,
um that it is uh showing young people in that
environment that they can do something other than just what
they see going on around them or or what what's
(20:42):
going on in their their their neighborhood. I think people
like yourself absolutely setting an example as you know, hey,
I came from your neighborhood, but I was able to
do this because I think, um, for a lot of
those young people in that environment, they don't have that
vision to say I can do something other than what
(21:02):
I've been doing or what's going on in my neighborhood.
And I think things that we can try to do,
we need to try to do as much as we
can to change that that perception, to let them know that, um,
there are opportunities out there, and I think we need
to look at providing more opportunities. UM. I think let
them know that there are people that are willing to
(21:23):
support their efforts in terms of changing their life or
improving their life. But I do think a lot of
it does kind of that. That's one of the that's
one of the main reasons why I decided to tell
my story is that hopefully, you know, some young person
out there will uh, some sixteen year old Larry Miller
out there that's headed down the path that I went,
(21:45):
might hear my story and realize that, um, you know,
they don't have to go that route, that they can
go a different route and they can have a better
life than what they believe they can now. But your
your right vision is the key. And I think, you know,
one of the one of the things that I've been
talking about with this is changing people's perception of formally
(22:08):
incarcerated people. But I also think it's about changing the
perception of yourself, changing yourself perception to say I can
do something different. I do believe I can do something different,
And I think things like your story, my story, other
stories of success can help um to motivate and show
(22:28):
people that they can do it. Well. Larry, you know
you carried around this this secret for over fifty years.
I can't imagine the type of stress that was on
you in your day to day job. Then in the
book you talk about going to the White House and
all of the uh sort of v I p s
(22:49):
and important people in the country that you've been around
this time. I can't imagine the stress that you carry. Uh.
People who know me and have come to my con friends. Uh,
you know, my father and other members of my family
have been incarcerated. My father's passed on now, but he
served like thirteen years and in the fellow penitentiary. And
(23:13):
you know, I don't totally say that this is probably
the biggest public form Larry, that I've said that, And
if you can, if you can reveal that, I can
reveal that about my father and my family. But I
can't imagine the stress that was on you from day
to day because people do look at you differently. And
you tell that story when you first got out and
(23:34):
applying for jobs that people looked at differently. So the
young men who are out now, who served their time,
who've done some things wrong, what type of encouragement do
you have for them? And they sort of looked at
the future and try to figure it out. And that's difficult.
Once you get that record, that's difficult. It is very difficult.
(23:58):
And I think, UM, you know what what I would
say and what I'm I'm and again one of the
reasons for writing this book and telling this story is
to say you can, you can achieve. You can't overcome
the your past. You don't have to be UM defined
by the things that you did in the past. But also,
(24:20):
to me, it's also about UM providing and identifying opportunities
for people who are coming out and who are trying
to do the right thing and want to move in
the right direction. It's about UM, you know, giving opportunities
to people. And I think what I'm what I'm hoping
is that this book can and the story can UM
(24:43):
make people who are in decision making roles have much
more of or be willing to give people opportunities just because, um,
you know, they've had issues in their past. I think
that's really really what it comes out to it. And
I would say to someone who's struggling coming out, Um,
(25:06):
you know, don't don't give up on yourself. Don't don't
allow yourself to end up back in that situation, because
you know, if you put forth the work and the
effort and you you know, look for opportunities, there are
people that will help you. Their organizations out there out here,
Like I'm I was on a call not too long
ago with an organization called Concordance and they're in St.
(25:29):
Louis actually, and they they based specifically work with folks
who are currently incarcerated, but then when they get out,
they trans transition to work with them to help them
find work and get acclimated. Um. And so to me,
I think, you know, looking for where there's help and
(25:49):
support out there and people that are willing to help
and support. I think that's one of the big things
that can can help help folks to figure out how
to survive coming out of that out of that situation,
because you know, the majority of people are going to
get out at some point. The majority of people in jail,
the majority are going to get out. And I was
talking to a brother named Dr Boyce Watkins. I don't
(26:13):
know if you know voice and that, but he was
talking about the fact that his uncle, who was he
was really close to his uncle, went to jail, and
he said his uncle was a different person when he
came out, not for the better he was. He said,
uncle was never able to kind of get it together.
And the thing that Um boys said, and I agree
(26:33):
with this, he said, you know, the goal should be
that people come out of prison a better person than
they were when they went in. And in order for
that to happen, we've got to provide tools and opportunities
to help people improve who they are while they're incarcerated,
and then provide that help once they get out as well,
(26:55):
because it's it's challenging. I'm a friend of mine, UM
who I met when I was in jail last time. UH.
For forty years, I went up and visited him whenever
I was on the East Coast, spent time with his
mother before she passed away. UM. Finally he got out
about a year and a half ago after fifty two
(27:17):
years of incarceration. And the crazy thing about it, he
was arrested with three other people. Two of them did
a year, one did five years, and he did fifty
two years. I mean, where where's the justice in that? Right?
Where's the fairness in that? But but you know, fortunately
for him, he's got a great support system. He's got family. UM,
(27:40):
he's got people who are you know, working with him
and helping him to acclimate and adjust to UH, to
being out. But it's not it's not an easy thing
to make that adjustment. And I think, Um, one of
the keys I would say is, you know, look for
places to get help for people who are willing to
help you, whether it's with ad you cation or skills
(28:01):
or whatever. Because um, there are organizations and people out
that will help. Not enough, and we need a lot
more of it. But I think trying to take advantage
of what does exist is UH is a good route. Larry,
how difficult was it to tell folks life m J
and Phil nine and Adam Silver, people you had been
(28:23):
around forever and they thought they really knew you. How
how difficult was that? It was really difficult? Um? My daughter,
so my daughter is the one who actually convinced me
to do this. Um. She worked on me for years, Dad,
you need to tell the story. And you know, her
thing was, look, you know, your story is motivational for
me and for the family, and I think it could
(28:45):
be motivational for other people as well. So she she
worked on me and UH and basically convinced me to
do this. So her and I started working on it,
and we got to a certain point where it was like, Okay,
I think we're really gonna do this. And at that point,
I was like, you know, there's some people that I
need to talk to and share this with before they
(29:06):
hear about it some other way. And so Phil Knight
and MJ were the two first people that I um
decided to reach out to, and because my goal was
to sit down and have a face to face conversation,
but COVID stopped that from happening, so it had to
be virtual. UM. But with m J, I, uh, you know,
(29:28):
I kind of shared the story of my daughter pushing
me to do this, and then I kind of started
to tell him some of my background and go over
some of the stuff with him and UH, and his
first comment to me was, I agree with your daughter,
you need to tell this story and I'll support I'll
support you, and you know, and the same with Phil Knight,
exactly the same thing. And I think if either one
(29:51):
of those guys would have been like, well, maybe you
shouldn't do this right now, or maybe you should, I
would have probably been reluctant to do it. But not
only were they supported, but they were encouraging. And the
same with Adam, and the same with you know, people
that I've talked to, uh, you know that that I
considered to be friends as well as business associates, um.
(30:11):
And the response has been incredible. Everybody, for the most part,
has been supportive and encouraging. But it was it was tough.
I mean there were many times I m J and
I would be together just kind of the tour, was
hanging out and I would be like, man, I should
I should tell him J about my path, but I
just couldn't bring myself to do it because I was
(30:31):
so you know, I had locked in so hard on
like this can't come out, people can't find out about it.
It will ruin everything that I built if if this
comes out, And um, yeah, I mean I had for
years I had nightmares and migraines, and UM, the interesting
thing is once I started sharing with my daughter, Once
(30:52):
I started telling her the story, the nightmares stopped, the
migraines stopped, and I think just getting it out was
was cathartic for me. Really, There's been some controversy with
the young man's family, UH tell us about that. So
you know, I take um full responsibility for the fact
(31:15):
that I should have done a much better job of
reaching out to them before this all went public. I
had intentions of doing it. Um. I knew I had
to do it, but I was nervous since uh you know,
anxious about about not knowing how they were going to
respond or how they were going to react. Had started
(31:37):
connected with a private investigator to try to find him
because I had no idea where they were. Um. Unfortunately,
the story got out, they saw it, and then they
responded because again they this was a surprise to them.
This brought back some pain that they had uh you know,
(31:57):
had been had dealt with and probably had tried to
get past. UM. And I absolutely should have done a
better job of trying to connect with them before this
one public. I have connected with them, I've met with
them a couple of Times. Um. And you know, they're
(32:17):
incredible people. Uh. And they have forgiven me for what happened.
And that's the most I could ask for. I mean,
to me, if nothing else comes out of this book,
out of this story, the fact that they were willing
to forgive me for what happened, UM, that that's the
best I could have asked for coming coming out of
this story. And UM, we've agreed that we're gonna try
(32:41):
to work together to figure out a way to memorialize Mr. White. Um.
We're looking at a scholarship fund or something along those lines.
But but again, to me, UM, I should have done
a better job of trying to connect with them. Unfortunately,
the New York Times beat me to it and the
story came out um and the way it did. But
(33:03):
I have connected with them since, and I think, like
I said, we're we're in the process of healing on
both sides of the table. Um. But you know, it
was great. I mean, at the end of the meeting, Um,
we hugged, and that to me was just like I
couldn't have asked for anything more than that. We'll be
(33:26):
right back with more of my interview after this quick break. Well,
Larry The way Maker community believes that every successful person
has had way makers in their life, and the waymaker
someone who sees something in you sort of before you
(33:48):
sees it in yourself, and intentionally does something to help you.
Name a few of the way makers that have been
in Larry Miller's life. I've had a lot of them
over the years. I mean, there's been a lot of
people who have seen in me what I didn't see
in myself over the years. Uh. You know, there there's
there's just been, like I said, tons of people who
(34:11):
have been encouraging, who have um really supported and pushed me. Uh.
I wouldn't be in I wouldn't have been in the
Jordan brand uh job if it wasn't for a guy
named Howard White. I know you know h White. H Um.
I got to know H when I started working in Nike.
My first job here was I was ahead of apparel
(34:32):
in the U in the US for Nike when I
started and uh when when um the decision was made
to start the Jordan brand, Uh, and they were trying
to decide who should who should be the person to
head it up? H was the one that said, I know,
just the guy you know what I mean, And he
said that to m J. He said that to Phil Knight. Uh,
(34:55):
he said that to a few other people, and they
reached out to me and said, hey, you know, we
think this would be grateful you. So if H, you know,
if it was, and maybe it would have happened without AH,
but H was the Um. He was a catalyst that
that really put my name in the mix at that point. Um.
There have been other folks. My friend that I was
talking about that was that just got out after fifty
(35:18):
two years. He when I was there, he was encouraging
for me to you know, because I was into the books,
going to school, trying to get into this program. Always
encouraged and pushed me to do the right thing, and hey,
you know you need to stay on this course. Um.
And even when when he was still in cross Rate
(35:38):
and I would go up to visit him, I would
always weird because I'd leave there like inspired and fired up,
and he's in jail, but I would leave I would
be the one leaving the jail inspired and fired up
and motivated to keep moving. Because I think him and
a lot of the other guys they are kind of
lived vicariously through me. They saw me making these moves
(36:01):
and you know, doing the things that I was doing,
but staying connected to them, never you know, really losing
that connection. And I think that uh you know, that
was like I said, it was it was inspiring for
them and they were they were living vicariously through me.
So but but again, I mean I could go on
and on and on and on about the people that
have encouraged me and been there for me. Phil Knight,
(36:23):
Michael Jordan's I mean, those those are obvious ones that uh,
you know, you would you know obviously you know mj
has definitely uh been been huge in my career. And
without him and without the support and without him trusting
in me to do what I was able to do, um,
I wouldn't wouldn't been able to do it. So I mean, again,
(36:43):
I could the list goes on and on and on
and on, but I am just grateful and uh you know,
thankful that I've had the opportunity to do the things
that I've been able to do, and um to you
know support now the people that I've been able to
help and to get the support and help from people
(37:04):
that I have. Well, Larry, before we leave, like I
gotta ask you to do this. There are a lot
of young men in the streets today who have the
ability to go on to lead an extremely successful life
and something happens, and like with you, they turn in
the wrong direction. Uh. Talk to these young men out
(37:28):
there today who may be listening to this to encourage
them not to pick up a gun or to put
down a gun. As we hear headlines every single day
in every major city about someone being killed senseless. League
talked to those young men before. I would say to him, UM,
(37:50):
you know, listen, I know the mentality that you're functioning
off of because I had that same mentality. The reality is, um,
it led me to do something that I regret every
single day in my life. Every day, I regret the
fact that I took the life of a young black man. Um.
(38:10):
You know, which to me is uh something like I
said that I I live with every day and I
regret every day. And I would just say to you,
you know, don't just think about the things that you're
doing and just believe that you can change your life,
because at the end of the day, I think that's
really what it's about. It's about believing that you can change,
(38:32):
and you can. There there are people out here who
will support you, their organizations that will be there to
help you out. Um. And it's not easy. It's not
easy to pull up out of that lifestyle in that
world and do something different. But the rewards are much
much greater than you know what you can have access
(38:53):
to living that street life and that you know, gangs
of thug life. That's not there's no future in that.
I mean, you know, I fortunately was able to break
out of that lifestyle, but I'm not I'm not the
only one. I know a lot of people who have
gone through that process and gone through that situation, but
I've been able to change their life. One of my
(39:16):
guy I was in jail with when I was sixteen
years old was my barber. He learned how to cut
hair when he was in the penitentiary as a juvenile,
got out, opened up a shop, has employed people. I mean,
so there there, there are other There are ways that
you can change your life. You just have to believe
(39:37):
that you can. And I think at the end of
the day, you know, stories like mine can maybe help
young people to believe that they can change their life
because you know, it's not like I, um, you know,
grew up in really nice neighborhood and you know, so
respoon all that that's not this case. I grew up.
You know, I had my mother and father there, which
(39:59):
was great. Had you know, both my parents were there. Uh,
you know, my household was was great, was fun, all good.
But when I stepped outside, it was it was that
environment and um, I unfortunately got caught up in it.
But I was able to pull myself out of it.
And I think, uh, you know, just it's not an
(40:21):
easy thing to do, but it can be done. And
I'm an example proof, living proof that you can change
your life, you can move forward. And you know, I
think that every every person deserves a second chance. Every
person deserves an opportunity to change their life if they
(40:41):
really want to. And I think there are I mean,
I meet people all the time now, especially since this
went out. I'm I'm getting um emails and letters from
people saying, hey, you know I went through that, or
I was incarcerated and I was able to get out
and do this, or while your story has really kind
of motivated me to, you know, to to try to
(41:04):
change my life. So again that that was the whole
purpose of doing this, that hopefully it will motivate and
inspire some people, UM to look at how they're living
and what they're doing with their life and uh start
to believe that they can change. Final question, Laria, looking back,
I'm going to your corporate career. Now, give our audience
(41:29):
three things that every successful person has to have as
part of their blueprint towards their successful journey. UM. I
think the first one I would say is, UM is
be dependable. You know, have people need to be able
to depend on you if you're you know, if you
(41:50):
commit to doing something, you have to do it because
you build your reputation. I think in business and whatever environment,
a year in by people knowing that they can depend
on you, I think that's that's a key element of
of success. If you if I you know, and I'm
sure you feel the same way. Loads if it's somebody's
(42:10):
like now I messed with that person, but yeah, yeah,
this person, I know they're gonna get it done, and
I think that's to me. UM, you know, one of
the key elements I would think is is uh, you know,
is being dependable. The second one would be, UM, understand
the value of relationships. Understand and cultivate relationships because that
(42:36):
will make a major difference. Like I feel like, um,
I don't think i've ever actually or since early on
applied for a job, they've all like people have come
to me and said hey, with the Trailblazers, someone came
to me and said, hey, you need to you need
to And it was because of relationships that I had
with people. So I think, you know, cultivating relationships is uh,
(42:59):
it is key to me as well. And I guess
the third one I would think is, um, you know,
be a good teammate, Be a good team player, because
everybody wants good team players on their team. You know
what I mean. If you're if you're putting a team
team together, are you're looking to hire somebody and you
know that this person is gonna be a great teammate,
(43:20):
that they're gonna understand and support division, and that they're
gonna work with other people. From the perspective of being
you know, a good teammate, I think, UM, to me,
those are some things that have have I think worked
in my advantage and I think would be helpful. Well, Larry,
thank you so much for this man. Uh. I've known
(43:40):
you for a number of years and you've have been dependable.
You have built relationships and you've been a great team player.
So thank you so much for sharing your story and
your journey with the Waymaker audience and tell people how
(44:01):
they can get this great book, JOHNP. So Um. The
book is available in bookstores also on Amazon. You can
order it on Amazon and also um we uh we
have uh Instagram, Uh Facebook has jumped the book all
one word jump the book. Um. And you know, please
(44:23):
come and make comments and folks, I would love to
hear people's feedback on the book once they get a
chance to read it. Um. But that's that's how you
know you can you can buy the book and also,
like I said, stay connected with what we're trying to
accomplish through this book. Larry, thank you, and I'm gonna
(44:45):
reach out and say anything that Waymaker or Lewis Carr
can do for you to do, not ever hesitate to ask. Um.
You have been such a friend and you have always
been a person that uh we can count on. So
thank you so much. Well. I appreciate that, Lucien, and
(45:06):
uh and thank you so much for having me on
appreciate the opportunity to share you know, my story, uh
some insights with with your audience and you know, definitely
look forward to seeing you in person sometime soon. And
uh and again, if there's anything that I can do
to help your efforts, don't hesitate to reach out as well.
(45:27):
Thank you, my brother. I appreciate you. Take take care well.
Thank you,
Host
Louis Carr
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