Shaquille O’Neal recently made an appearance on one of the most viral podcasts of 2023, speaking to Bobbi Althoff on The Really Good Podcast. In this episode, which is the eighth one of the show, Shaq and Bobbi discussed a variety of different topics, from his Ph.D. to his days as a basketball superstar. It was an engaging conversation, but that didn’t prevent Big Diesel from getting distracted. Especially, when he didn’t recognize a good-looking man from his own crew, which inevitably led to a drastic decision.
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The four-time NBA Champion is very careful with whom he selects to work for him. His philosophy surrounds hiring people whom he knows he can trust and delegate tasks to. To be precise, he says, “That’s how I own a bunch of things, and be here in my country estate. And I don’t worry about anything. I do a check every Friday. You know, the important part about delegation is you have to be educated to know what’s going on.” An interesting approach, to say the least, and a very efficient one at that. It allows him to enjoy life while also knowing full well that his money is in good hands.
Shaquille O’Neal compliments his own employee before jokingly firing him on the spot
Recently, Shaquille O’Neal spoke to Bobbi Althoff about his life. While discussing his career as a basketball player, Shaq suddenly got distracted by a rather good-looking man. Questioning who this “s*x symbol” is, it took a while for him to realize that it was one of his own employees. This sent The Big Aristotle into a tangent as he tried to figure out this man’s role.
After much deliberation and back-and-forth with Bobbi, who also didn’t know who the man was, Shaq was informed that “Franz” worked PR for him. This left the Hall of Famer bewildered, as he went on to claim that he doesn’t need a PR person. He then proceeded to jokingly fire the young man on the spot.
After all, Shaq has a cardinal rule when it comes to hiring people. He only hires those he can trust, so he can delegate all his businesses to others. This allows him to spend time on his own estate, without having to worry about how his money is coming in.
“Who’s this s*x symbol?…Is he my guy? Oh he is! Who is he?…Who the frick is Franz?…What PR? We don’t need PR! You’re fired Franz!”
So far, this philosophy has worked wonders for Shaq. With a $400,000,000 empire to his name, he’s unlikely to switch things up anytime soon. However, despite having such a strict code when it comes to hiring people, it is surprising he had no idea that there was a PR person on his team.
Shaq once hired his own parents and gave them a hefty salary worth close to $1,000,000
As mentioned earlier, Shaquille O’Neal only hires people he trusts. And when he first started making millions, two of the people he first hired were his own parents, Sgt. Phillip Harrison and Lucille O’Neal. He put them both in charge of some of his businesses and even paid them a hefty salary.
He gave his stepfather, Sgt. Harrison a $60,000 salary, allowing him to retire from the army, and he gave his mother a $750,000 salary. A testament to just how much he loves them and appreciates what they’ve done for him.
At the end of the day, Shaq truly is a gem of a human being. The first thing he looks to do is give back and create opportunities for those who need it. Whether it’s his own parents or Franz, who may or may not have a role as a PR person on Shaq’s team.
