You don’t normally see (or hear) our man Shaq doing big interviews. Most of the time, he’s appearing on podcast – including his own – or short-form TV segments. This week however, O’Neal sat down for a larger, more wide-ranging talk with The Guardian online newspaper, talking about everything from old-school NBA, new stars, business practices and more. Big thanks to The Guardian for info for this story!
During his playing days, it was easy to define Shaquille O’Neal – the most dominant center in the NBA and one of the greatest players in the league’s history. It’s not so simple nowadays.
Since he retired from professional basketball 11 years ago, O’Neal has branched out and pursued ventures in all sorts of spaces; so much so that it doesn’t all fit on his LinkedIn profile.
We’ve mentioned before that the 50-year-old O’Neal has an MBA and a doctorate degree. But here’s some new info: his doctorate dissertation was on “How Leaders Utilize Humor or Aggression in Leadership Styles.” Yup, sounds like Shaq.
Currently, his business empire includes his own Big Chicken fast-food franchise restaurants, along with owning and / or operating many Five Guys burger joints, 17 Auntie Anne’s pretzel shops and multiple Papa John’s establishments.
Talking to The Guardian in Abu Dhabi, where he was helping promote two NBA preseason games, Shaq said: “I’m just passionate about having the opportunity to do things to touch people, make people smile, have a good time. [NBA commissioner] Adam Silver could have called a lot of NBA players but he called me over here and I’m glad I came.”
Talking about his business life, O’Neal says he started planning for his time after basketball as early as the second season of his 19-year NBA career. “I was raised you always gotta have something to fall back on. My parents were very good at, what if you hurt yourself? What if you’re not that good? What are you gonna do? Save some of this money. No, I don’t want a new car, you bought me one last year, save your money. So we’ll always think about that.”
So he started thinking – and planning – ahead. “And then I was like, at some point I’m gonna have to retire, would love to live the same lifestyle. When you come from nothing and then you have it all, you want to keep it all. So how can I keep it all? You have to develop smart and inventive ways to make sure that my mom keeps this house that I just bought her or my sister keeps the car I got her.”
Regular readers of the ShaqFu Radio blog know that O’Neal places a high value on education (for himself and his family), as well as partnering with the right people in life and in business. “The best thing that happened for me is I bought a book, Dummies Guide to Starting Your Own Business, and my favorite chapter was joint ventureships. Because I’m a true believer in things that are hard, you break them down to the simplest form,” he said.
Shaq did take a few moments to talk old-school vs. new-age hoops. He said he “misses the days” when basketball was about battles between big guys under the rim. If he were still playing, O’Neal insisted he would still play the same physical game in this era. “All these jump-shooters … that just tells me you don’t like contact. I would just beat you up. And now you’re trying to guard me, you don’t have those legs and your arms are sore, your shot won’t be falling the same,” he said.
As you read this post, the new NBA season is underway. We can’t wait to see how it plays out, and to – of course! – hear all about it from Shaq and our other favorite commentators and critics.