“My agents work for me, I don’t work for them, I’m in charge!”: Shaquille O’Neal grew frustrated with people not acknowledging his presence during business meetings

Shaquille O’Neal became annoyed with how everybody wanted to talk to his agents and not him, eventually claiming that he was in charge. 

Shaquille O’Neal may have earned a whopping $286 million during his 19 year NBA career but he knew that the way to sustain his wealth wasn’t to become complacent with what he had gotten while playing basketball. Instead, the 4x champ became one of the most prolific endorsers and investors in the North American sporting landscape. 

Shaq’s philosophy of wanting to surround himself with people smarter than him who he could trust has worked perfectly for him. The fact that he also only invests in products that he has either heard of or believes in is one that many people starting out in investing should look towards.

Also read: “LeBron James was my favorite player growing up”: Shaquille O’Neal’s son Shareef O’Neal addresses media post his workout with Lakers

“I have to believe in it, I have to like it, I have to know about it. You can tell me a great story about it and I don’t know about it, I probably won’t do it. If I know you’re a Laker and you tell me a great story, I’ll give you a chance while I do my due diligence to find out about it.” 

Shaquille O’Neal on wanting to garner respect for himself. 

Shaquille O’Neal revealed to ‘SUCCESS’ magazine that his family members never finished college and that’s what prompted him to get himself a degree. Another motivational factor for him was the fact that he wanted to be the guy from his family who everybody across the world knew about. 

When talking about his business dealings, he let out a bit of frustration regarding how his meetings would start with obligatory salutations but would eventually divulge into a meeting between his agents and the other party, completely ignoring his presence in the room. 

“A lot of times I went into business meetings, they would go, ‘Hello Shaq,’ and then turn straight to my lawyers like I wasn’t there. I always wanted to be a guy that was in charge. ‘Agent, you work for me, I don’t work for you.’ I always wanted to be in control and the agents work for me. You talk to me, I’ll talk to my agent, and he’ll reach back around to you.” 

Shaquille O’Neal has amassed an incredible net worth of over $400 million according to ‘Celebrity Net Worth’ and it’s no wonder why this is the case.

Also read: Shaquille O’Neal’s $400 million net worth and reputation were at risk after appearing at Joe Exotic’s Tiger King zoo