Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: A near fatal accident changed the life of former Roc Nation Records President Benny Pough.

Transcript

Overcoming the Odds: A near fatal accident changed the life of former Roc Nation Records President Benny Pough. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: My next guest. His name is Benny Peugh.
0:01
Speaker 2: He's a respected entertainment industry veteran of decades of experience
0:05
Speaker 2: propelling the careers of some of the leading superstars. When
0:08
Speaker 2: I say superstars, I don't mince words, including Jay z Rihanna,
0:12
Speaker 2: Kanye West, Travis Scott, Future, DJ Khaled, and twenty one Savage.
0:17
Speaker 2: He has left an indelible mark on the music industry,
0:20
Speaker 2: holding the executive roles at labels like Motown, def Jam,
0:24
Speaker 2: Epic Records, MBC Records, rock Nation. That's when he called
0:27
Speaker 2: me and said he was doing rock Nation.
0:28
Speaker 1: I tried to Rock.
0:29
Speaker 2: Nation for before ultimately deciding to pivot to This is
0:33
Speaker 2: why he's on the show, pivoting to entrepreneurship, because that's
0:36
Speaker 2: what money Making Conversation Master Class is all about, not
0:39
Speaker 2: getting so much locked in and what you're doing, but
0:41
Speaker 2: what you're capable of doing for your own personal dream.
0:45
Speaker 2: Over two years later, Ben and Peughe's multi multi tiered
0:48
Speaker 2: entertainment company Diverse. Diverse Media is home to record labels, distribution, platform,
0:54
Speaker 2: publishing management and more. Please welcome to the Money Making
0:57
Speaker 2: Conversations Mathterclass. The CEO Bennie People. How you doing my friend,
1:03
Speaker 2: are you man?
1:05
Speaker 1: You know Bennie.
1:06
Speaker 2: It's first of all, let me just tell you why
1:08
Speaker 2: Bennie is so special to me. Steve Harvey, Now he
1:11
Speaker 2: gave us our first record deal way back in two
1:14
Speaker 2: thousand and one or two.
1:16
Speaker 1: Man, listen, that is a real story too. Man.
1:19
Speaker 3: You guys, one thing I will say about you and
1:23
Speaker 3: Steve is that you know, there's no secret on why
1:25
Speaker 3: you guys are successful because you know, I've been in
1:28
Speaker 3: as I started my career in Motown Records.
1:31
Speaker 1: So I was blessed.
1:32
Speaker 3: To start my introduction into the music business and a
1:36
Speaker 3: black owned company right right, which is different.
1:39
Speaker 1: Everyone's journey is different.
1:40
Speaker 3: But one thing that I feel blessed was is that
1:44
Speaker 3: you know, they made us work hard. You know how
1:47
Speaker 3: it is when we with us right, right. But they
1:49
Speaker 3: taught me a lot, and they wouldn't allow me to fail.
1:52
Speaker 1: Right.
1:53
Speaker 3: They made me work and wouldn't allow me to fail.
1:55
Speaker 3: They made me work, allow me to fail.
1:57
Speaker 1: Right.
1:58
Speaker 3: But when I when I met you and Steve, I saw,
2:01
Speaker 3: like you know, the connection and the love and the driving,
2:05
Speaker 3: the determination, and one thing that you guys always had
2:09
Speaker 3: was foresight and vision. So to see where you both
2:11
Speaker 3: are isn't a surprise to me.
2:13
Speaker 1: Thank you because you're all with.
2:14
Speaker 3: Some tight top dress, yell super clean.
2:18
Speaker 1: I ain't yo. You'all remind me of jam and Lewis.
2:21
Speaker 1: Hey may you remind me? Like I'm not gonna drop it.
2:24
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna drop none of the words. I gotta
2:26
Speaker 1: get to people. Oh, I got to get to people
2:27
Speaker 1: a little bit about you know.
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Speaker 3: I hear you all that money making and all that
2:30
Speaker 3: good good, all that good talk, but they don't know. Man,
2:33
Speaker 3: You're a real one and you know what you talk
2:36
Speaker 3: is really what you're about. So I'm so excited to
2:40
Speaker 3: be here and just you know, be able to speak
2:42
Speaker 3: to your audience and that you're extending, you know, an
2:45
Speaker 3: opportunity for the to do this with you.
2:47
Speaker 1: So appreciate your brother.
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Speaker 2: We know, Benny, the the the the ability to communicates
2:54
Speaker 2: always been your skill set, you know which I mean.
2:57
Speaker 2: I met him in the l A, I met him
2:59
Speaker 2: and your I met him in Las Vegas, I met
3:01
Speaker 2: him in Atlanta, I met him in New York City.
3:04
Speaker 2: But it's always consistent. Your tone and your personality has
3:08
Speaker 2: always been consistent. Is that intentional? Are you have a
3:12
Speaker 2: clear understanding that people what they expect that you should
3:15
Speaker 2: be delivering that.
3:17
Speaker 3: So it all starts for me. It started at home.
3:20
Speaker 3: You know, my parents would never allow us to speak
3:22
Speaker 3: what I had down in eyes down, never did that. Then,
3:26
Speaker 3: as you know, we were being reared, realized the value
3:31
Speaker 3: of what we say is what we mean, right, and
3:34
Speaker 3: you know, all of those things. We came from a
3:36
Speaker 3: strong Christian background, Like my mother was a real Christian,
3:39
Speaker 3: not like they fake Christians. But you don't know the
3:41
Speaker 3: real Bible, you know, the real Bible. Like I never
3:43
Speaker 3: saw my mother the pair of jeans or pants because
3:46
Speaker 3: there's a scripture somewhere I haven't founded yet in the
3:48
Speaker 3: Bible that women and jeans wasn't even around then, but
3:52
Speaker 3: there's a scripture that women shouldn't emulate men in any
3:56
Speaker 3: But you know, I'm sure your audience, the good old
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Speaker 3: Baptist Christian women and men understand that. And so we
4:03
Speaker 3: grew up in a very you know, devowed household in
4:07
Speaker 3: that respect. But I think what was really important for
4:10
Speaker 3: me and identification was the fact that I started delivering
4:14
Speaker 3: papers and news newspapers at eleven years old. And what
4:18
Speaker 3: you realize in the lessons that were given and dealing
4:21
Speaker 3: with adults. Is kind of like now in business managing
4:24
Speaker 3: up right, you know, just like can you go to
4:26
Speaker 3: a restaurant you eat, believe it or not. The servers
4:29
Speaker 3: at a disadvantage because you can always say I don't
4:32
Speaker 3: like it, you go to the bathroom and leave.
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Speaker 1: Right.
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Speaker 3: There's a lot of things that can happen, but you
4:37
Speaker 3: already provide the service. So at eleven years old, I
4:40
Speaker 3: realized how shifty adults could be. You know, und delivered
4:43
Speaker 3: the paper all week and Rain had to get up
4:45
Speaker 3: at six in the morning collect day.
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Speaker 1: You all know when collect day is. You eat it.
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Speaker 3: Never there, they give you a little bit, you gotta
4:52
Speaker 3: come back later, come see me on Saturday, or like
4:55
Speaker 3: you know what. They disappeared for three or four weeks.
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Speaker 3: So at that point I realized, you know, I wasn't
5:03
Speaker 3: a child anymore because I was dealing with adults. So
5:05
Speaker 3: it's like playing up in basketball, right like you're freshman
5:08
Speaker 3: playing with the seniors. So ultimately, I never really dealt
5:12
Speaker 3: with kids my age in that aspect because I was always,
5:17
Speaker 3: you know, dealing with adults. So I learned how to
5:20
Speaker 3: customize myself in situations going up and down.
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Speaker 2: Absolutely. The interesting thing about just having you on the show.
5:28
Speaker 2: We're going to talk a little bit about your book
5:30
Speaker 2: that's coming out in September. Yes, sir, in just that
5:34
Speaker 2: note right there. Why are you writing a book, Bennibut?
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Speaker 1: So there's a story behind that.
5:40
Speaker 3: I never had aspirations on doing a book, but on
5:44
Speaker 3: August thirty first, I was in a near death car accident.
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Speaker 3: August twenty second, I took my son to boarding school.
5:52
Speaker 3: He went to IMG and braiding in Florida, And on
5:59
Speaker 3: the twenty of August, a friend of mine called me
6:03
Speaker 3: in the office and he asked me if I wanted
6:05
Speaker 3: to go to a barbecue, and I told him yes.
6:09
Speaker 3: The next day, he called me on Wednesday and asked
6:12
Speaker 3: me if I was still coming. That Thursday, he calls
6:16
Speaker 3: me again and asked me if I'm still coming. That
6:19
Speaker 3: Saturday morning, I took a flight from New Jersey down
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Speaker 3: to Charlotte, North Carolina, and from Charlotte, I drove to Columbia,
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Speaker 3: South Carolina to visit my sister and my nephews and
6:37
Speaker 3: spend some time with them while they were playing football.
6:41
Speaker 3: My sister and I we drove from Colombia to Orangeburg
6:46
Speaker 3: to spend some time with my father and celebrated seventeth birthday.
6:49
Speaker 3: I spent a little time with my mother, who has Alzheimer's.
6:53
Speaker 3: My friend calls me again and asks me if it's
6:55
Speaker 3: still coming. On the thirty first, I drive from Colombia
7:01
Speaker 3: to Charlotte to take a flight back to New York.
7:05
Speaker 3: It was a misty rain that day, so the flight
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Speaker 3: was delayed. Get on the plane, fly back to New York.
7:11
Speaker 3: I'm about an hour and a half late.
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Speaker 1: Now.
7:14
Speaker 3: I call my wife and let her know I'm going
7:16
Speaker 3: to be late because the flight was delayed and I
7:18
Speaker 3: had a meeting in New York City. In Manhattan. Driving home,
7:23
Speaker 3: my friend calls. He asked me, are you still coming?
7:26
Speaker 3: I said yes, Call my wife, let her know to
7:28
Speaker 3: get my youngest daughter, and let her know that we
7:32
Speaker 3: weren't going to take the convertible because it seemed like
7:35
Speaker 3: it wouldn't be safe with this rain, so we'd take
7:38
Speaker 3: the truck picked them up. We drive out the rule
7:41
Speaker 3: in New Jersey. We're about twenty minutes out. My friend
7:44
Speaker 3: calls me to ask me again, are we coming? I
7:47
Speaker 3: said yeah. So finally we get to the house and
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Speaker 3: what I thought was just a barbecue, he actually catered
7:53
Speaker 3: for the two families, so it was really sweet. Four adults,
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Speaker 3: three bottles of wine. He and I we peel off
8:00
Speaker 3: out of the living room and we go into the deck.
8:02
Speaker 3: It's house is ten thousand square feet, so there's a
8:04
Speaker 3: lot of distance. We're sitting on the deck and we're reminiscing.
8:10
Speaker 3: I've known him about thirty five years, and you know,
8:13
Speaker 3: talking about the good things. A lot of challenges happen
8:15
Speaker 3: in his life, challenges happening in my life. That missy
8:19
Speaker 3: ring happens again. So I don't know whether he said
8:21
Speaker 3: or I said, Well, we both stood up and said,
8:23
Speaker 3: you know what, let's go take a ride. He just
8:26
Speaker 3: bought a new five point fifty bends. So we walked
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Speaker 3: from the deck, through the kitchen into the car port,
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Speaker 3: jump in the car, turns on the radio, He backs out,
8:38
Speaker 3: jumps out of the car, walks in the house, gets
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Speaker 3: a cigar, gets back in the house. Now the women
8:44
Speaker 3: and the two kids, they come out. I don't know why
8:46
Speaker 3: black people always want to see people pull off, but
8:48
Speaker 3: that's what we do, right, We do that in a wave.
8:51
Speaker 3: He backs out, drives down his driveway, which is probably
8:54
Speaker 3: the length of a New York City block. We get
8:56
Speaker 3: to the end of the roadway, he opens the gate.
8:58
Speaker 3: It's a two lane roadway and rule New Jersey. He
9:00
Speaker 3: literally makes it right and I hear her and the
9:04
Speaker 3: car just shoots off. So I'd made a call all day,
9:08
Speaker 3: So I pick up my phone and I cut my
9:09
Speaker 3: eyes and look at the old Dewan and the cars
9:12
Speaker 3: are seventy five miles an hour. So now I cut
9:16
Speaker 3: my eyes and I turned my whole head and he's
9:20
Speaker 3: out conscious with his foot on the accelerator. So now
9:24
Speaker 3: from where we started to impact was half a mile
9:29
Speaker 3: without the car moving forward, without a driver. At that point,
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Speaker 3: I did what I was always conditioned to do, what
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Speaker 3: my mother's always taught us to do, is speak to God.
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Speaker 3: And the first thing I said, because I'd seen all
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Speaker 3: of my family, obviously my son, saw my sister, my mother,
9:45
Speaker 3: and my father, my daughter and my sister standing in
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Speaker 3: the yard, I said, Lord, I guess I'm not going
9:51
Speaker 3: to see my family anymore. The second thing I said
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Speaker 3: to God is Lord, I guess I'm going to see
9:57
Speaker 3: you soon. Because now I get a grips my mortality,
10:00
Speaker 3: and you realize, like this can't in It can't end good,
10:04
Speaker 3: because the car is now without a driver at ninety
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Speaker 3: miles an hour. The third thing I do is I
10:09
Speaker 3: get mad with God. But I'm glad God didn't get
10:12
Speaker 3: mad with me, because I thought about, who's going to
10:16
Speaker 3: pour wisdom into my son at this point, who's going
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Speaker 3: to marry my two girls, My wife's not prepared for
10:21
Speaker 3: this moment, who's going to take care of my mother?
10:25
Speaker 3: And most importantly, you know, God, have I known I
10:28
Speaker 3: was going to die today, I wouldn't have came to
10:31
Speaker 3: this barbecue. As we start veering off the road, we
10:33
Speaker 3: start clipping trees and bushes, and every time he would
10:38
Speaker 3: take his foot off the car with decelerate, he was
10:40
Speaker 3: out right. He was out conscious, gone foot on the
10:44
Speaker 3: accelerated car being driven by itself. So at some point
10:48
Speaker 3: we hit something in the middle of the road and
10:50
Speaker 3: the car just shot across through the opposite side of
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Speaker 3: the road and we hit an oak. At ninety miles
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Speaker 3: an hour, I sustained a level two concussion L three
11:03
Speaker 3: to zero four vertebrate fracture, bulging disc in my back.
11:07
Speaker 3: We hit the tree so hard that ilacerated my liver,
11:09
Speaker 3: which led me to lead out half the blood in
11:11
Speaker 3: my body and the force of the tree and the
11:16
Speaker 3: belt restraining me severed two feet of my small intestine,
11:22
Speaker 3: and at that moment God put a book inside of
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Speaker 3: me called on Impact, which takes you through my journey
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Speaker 3: from eleven years old delivering newspapers to modern day. An
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Speaker 3: Impact is an acronym. It's that stands for intuition, mastery, pivot, authenticity,
11:38
Speaker 3: connection and teamwork. And at the end of each chapter
11:41
Speaker 3: is a hit list that the reader can apply to
11:43
Speaker 3: themselves and say, pretty much, if Benny could do it,
11:47
Speaker 3: I can do it too. And that is what led
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Speaker 3: me to this point in the pivot aspect of moving
11:54
Speaker 3: forward in a different direction in my life.
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Speaker 2: Fear is a good thing because unknown is a good thing.
11:59
Speaker 2: I always tell people we live a life of being
12:01
Speaker 2: too comfortable. And if you live that comfortable life, are
12:04
Speaker 2: you happy with that comfortable life? When I say that,
12:06
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about just a job. I'm talking about
12:08
Speaker 2: a relationship. I'm talking about where you're living. I'm talking
12:11
Speaker 2: about the call your driving, the clothes you're wearing. Are
12:13
Speaker 2: you're comfortable walking out that front door. Are you comfortable
12:16
Speaker 2: sitting at that desk and where you're working? If not,
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Speaker 2: then you need to pivot and when you pivot, there
12:22
Speaker 2: are no guarantees the beauty of your life. Up to
12:24
Speaker 2: that point, when you were with your friend driving down
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Speaker 2: the road, everything was normal.
12:31
Speaker 1: You live in a normal life.
12:33
Speaker 2: When you looked over there and saw he was unconscious
12:36
Speaker 2: ninety miles an hour, those few seconds, you had to
12:39
Speaker 2: think everything was abnormal, everything was against the trend and
12:43
Speaker 2: so but at that impact it had to be. Everything
12:48
Speaker 2: was in slow motion, if I that's how it really
12:51
Speaker 2: does happen, in slow motion. And because I've been there,
12:54
Speaker 2: you know, like I was telling you all, air from
12:57
Speaker 2: a life journey, you know of a nineteen ain't my
13:00
Speaker 2: lung collapse. Stayed in the hospital thirty days, and I
13:03
Speaker 2: was one of those people who thought I could. I
13:06
Speaker 2: was a self healer.
13:07
Speaker 1: You know.
13:07
Speaker 2: If I got sick, I go play basketball. I just
13:09
Speaker 2: sweated out of me. I never stayed in bed. And
13:12
Speaker 2: then in twenty fifteen, that's when I was diagnosed with cancer.
13:16
Speaker 2: And when you was talking that same story, it was
13:18
Speaker 2: very relatable to me because what happens is when you
13:21
Speaker 2: met with tragedy or a decisive moment in your life
13:25
Speaker 2: that you can't control. That's the part right there that
13:28
Speaker 2: y'all need to understand when he was looking over there
13:31
Speaker 2: at his friend, not knowing what was wrong with his friend.
13:33
Speaker 2: He knew that car was driving and he couldn't stop
13:36
Speaker 2: what was happening with it. That's not being in control.
13:39
Speaker 2: And so when they told me I had cancer, I
13:42
Speaker 2: had no control right there. But I had an understanding
13:46
Speaker 2: that what was going on in my life at the time,
13:49
Speaker 2: the people I cared about, the people I wanted to
13:52
Speaker 2: be successful. That's why I'm living hopefully. That's why you're living, Benny.
13:57
Speaker 2: That's why it's a blessing to have a family, Carizon.
14:01
Speaker 2: You have a reason to live. And so I was
14:03
Speaker 2: all right, you know, I looked at everything that was
14:06
Speaker 2: happening in my life, the people around me, the people
14:09
Speaker 2: I had touched. I was alright with dying, not saying
14:11
Speaker 2: I wanted to die, but it did tell me at
14:14
Speaker 2: that point I needed to change.
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Speaker 3: My direction exactly. And God finds a way of getting
14:20
Speaker 3: any attention. And what you're talking about is in regards
14:23
Speaker 3: to like the pivot. You know, when I look at
14:26
Speaker 3: my journey in the music business after three decades, when
14:29
Speaker 3: people fail to realize, like when I left rock Nation
14:33
Speaker 3: and like, how could you leave that job and well,
14:36
Speaker 3: it's the best thing. Like it was an amazing situation.
14:38
Speaker 3: But have you followed my career. I left every job
14:41
Speaker 3: at the top, right, because what I'm a believer is
14:44
Speaker 3: not talk about it, be about it. And I left
14:46
Speaker 3: all of those people at starting in Motown to finishing
14:50
Speaker 3: my career in corporate at rock Nation and death Jam
14:52
Speaker 3: and Epic and all of these situations because as a giver,
14:57
Speaker 3: it's about teaching people, giving them the opportunity, showing them
15:01
Speaker 3: how to fish, and then let them fish.
15:04
Speaker 4: We'll be right back with more Money Making Conversations master
15:07
Speaker 4: Class with Rushan McDonald. Now, let's return to Money Making
15:15
Speaker 4: Conversations Masterclass with Rashaan McDonald, right right.
15:19
Speaker 3: And so at this point, even in the current landscape,
15:24
Speaker 3: a lot of the people I taught to fish and
15:26
Speaker 3: now the people that are now in control of the business.
15:29
Speaker 3: Because it's not about me having the best folks with me.
15:33
Speaker 3: It's about me going helping others to be the best, right.
15:37
Speaker 3: And when you're doing that, then you don't worry and
15:39
Speaker 3: life is good.
15:40
Speaker 1: Man.
15:40
Speaker 3: You know we don't did up and down, right, you know,
15:42
Speaker 3: we know we don't have mayonnaise sandwiches at woggle right.
15:46
Speaker 3: You know how to do bone right, and sometimes you
15:48
Speaker 3: put a little mayonnaise on woggle.
15:51
Speaker 2: The beauty of what we're talking about here, I want
15:53
Speaker 2: everybody to hear this. But we got to slow it
15:55
Speaker 2: down a little bit because see, your pivot was tied
15:58
Speaker 2: to an accident and nearly killed you. Yes, one of
16:01
Speaker 2: my pivots, because that's not the only pivot. He always
16:03
Speaker 2: told you he left jobs at top, so he was
16:05
Speaker 2: pivoting and seeing other opportunities. So we're just talking about
16:09
Speaker 2: this one moment and not saying and we want to
16:11
Speaker 2: let you know that everybody doesn't need to have a
16:14
Speaker 2: life threatening diagnosis, a life threatning event to change your direction.
16:20
Speaker 2: When you hear me talk like this, how do you
16:23
Speaker 2: encourage people to step out on fear, to pass that
16:26
Speaker 2: fear and step And we always hear this stepping out
16:29
Speaker 2: on faith. I would say, if you don't have a
16:30
Speaker 2: plan with that faith, it's gonna be a short journey.
16:33
Speaker 2: Talk to us, Benny.
16:34
Speaker 1: So you know, I think to your point is is
16:37
Speaker 1: actually seeing the finish line. Right.
16:40
Speaker 3: I wake up every day knowing where I want to be,
16:43
Speaker 3: so whatever comes along the way, I'm comfortable with it. Right,
16:45
Speaker 3: If you know, if it's if it's it's a great day,
16:49
Speaker 3: it's a great day.
16:49
Speaker 1: If it's a bad day, it's a bad day.
16:50
Speaker 3: Because, as you know, you're in the moment right right,
16:54
Speaker 3: the past is gone and you know today's only you
16:57
Speaker 3: know yesterday for tomorrow. So you got to take the
17:00
Speaker 3: time in order to accomplish what you're doing today and
17:04
Speaker 3: the value of what it is. Because once again, whether
17:07
Speaker 3: I never knew before the value of time until I
17:11
Speaker 3: walked out of that house and realized in an instant
17:14
Speaker 3: things change. So while I'm in control of what I
17:17
Speaker 3: am in control of, make it matter now. The finish
17:21
Speaker 3: line is how you see the finish happening. And along
17:25
Speaker 3: the way, you stay focused on what it is that
17:27
Speaker 3: you want. Don't stray, stay focused on what you want,
17:31
Speaker 3: and that's where the accomplishments will come. Because if you
17:34
Speaker 3: wake up every day truly loving what you do, nothing
17:37
Speaker 3: else matters. It doesn't matter how much money you make,
17:40
Speaker 3: it doesn't. And when you make a lot of money,
17:42
Speaker 3: you know how to make that money work. And if
17:45
Speaker 3: you just make because once again, I've been saving money.
17:47
Speaker 3: My mom taught me how to save since I was
17:49
Speaker 3: five years old. I had Christmas clubs for those who
17:53
Speaker 3: are old enough to know Christmas clubs. My mother used
17:55
Speaker 3: to walk me a mile to the bank and we'd
17:57
Speaker 3: put a dollar together in the so she taught me
18:01
Speaker 3: how to.
18:01
Speaker 1: Save money then at five.
18:04
Speaker 3: So that's in rooted in me right, in which I
18:08
Speaker 3: rooted in my children and still in my children, which
18:10
Speaker 3: all of us should do right. Because we don't know
18:12
Speaker 3: what the value right of what we do and the
18:15
Speaker 3: responsibility of who we are on what we're supposed to
18:18
Speaker 3: do right.
18:19
Speaker 1: I think we get very sidetracked.
18:22
Speaker 3: And social media is a problem with that, right, like
18:24
Speaker 3: it's it's about to swipe up, swipe down.
18:26
Speaker 2: Well, you know the thing about you know, millennial's world problem.
18:30
Speaker 2: You know, we realize now that millennials just take advantage
18:32
Speaker 2: of technology. While people were complaining about technology, Millennials are
18:37
Speaker 2: an opportunity to skip tech steps.
18:39
Speaker 1: So technology is tied to that.
18:41
Speaker 2: So all you have to do is either join the
18:44
Speaker 2: game that line long line of people who want to change,
18:47
Speaker 2: or that very short line of people who are frustrated.
18:50
Speaker 2: And I say short line because a lot of people
18:52
Speaker 2: getting out of that line, you.
18:54
Speaker 1: Know what I'm saying.
18:55
Speaker 2: So you can look around and go you'll never be
18:58
Speaker 2: by yourself because there's stubborn people out there who's just
19:00
Speaker 2: gonna admit, won't admit they don't they can change. But
19:04
Speaker 2: the thing that I really wanted to point out and
19:06
Speaker 2: just hearing you talk and uh and and dealing with it,
19:10
Speaker 2: you know when we start, we've been fortunately have a
19:12
Speaker 2: lot of famous names in our tied to our resume.
19:14
Speaker 2: I can go with Robert Townsend, Tia and Tamara Moory,
19:17
Speaker 2: I can go with the Bonique. I can go with
19:19
Speaker 2: Jamie Fox, uh, Kevin Hard and they can and the
19:23
Speaker 2: list goes on and on. In each one of those people,
19:26
Speaker 2: Steve Harvey, steven A. Smith, there's people always say we'll
19:29
Speaker 2: sell you, wow, you just these people have unique skills,
19:34
Speaker 2: unique skills that separate them and make them special, make
19:37
Speaker 2: them odd too, because they can't work around everybody. They
19:42
Speaker 2: have to be around a certain amount of people. And
19:44
Speaker 2: if you're around them and you don't have that same mindset,
19:47
Speaker 2: they will trample you because they want to be great.
19:50
Speaker 2: And if you don't understand, if you're hanging out there
19:52
Speaker 2: just to have a good time, you won't be around
19:54
Speaker 2: these people. Talk about hanging out with those type of people,
19:58
Speaker 2: it's not about chances success. Yes, none of them.
20:01
Speaker 3: The ones that you named your repertoire you worked with
20:04
Speaker 3: and equally so and the ones that I have. They
20:06
Speaker 3: all have that unique skill set and that is determination
20:11
Speaker 3: and drive by any means necessary.
20:13
Speaker 1: They're focused individuals. I mean you see it.
20:16
Speaker 3: I've been with individuals that you know that they would
20:20
Speaker 3: be who they are just because of their work ethic.
20:24
Speaker 3: Like there is no break time, it's work time, right.
20:28
Speaker 3: And ideally, when you're on a dream, right, and you're
20:32
Speaker 3: on a quest or you have a journey, that's what
20:35
Speaker 3: your focus is. So you need people who buy in
20:37
Speaker 3: and understand exactly where you're going. And those are who
20:41
Speaker 3: you need around, not nay sayers, not hanger on right,
20:44
Speaker 3: not people that kill your spirit, but eye you not
20:46
Speaker 3: gonna make it right?
20:48
Speaker 1: Let them go right, let them go and.
20:52
Speaker 3: Ideally you know that's what becomes most important, is is
20:55
Speaker 3: understanding the company you keep.
20:57
Speaker 2: Music is always key to of what we do, and
21:01
Speaker 2: it's tied to everything we do in life. I always
21:03
Speaker 2: tell her, you know, our relationship goes back to a
21:06
Speaker 2: record deal he brought to Steve and I a long
21:08
Speaker 2: time ago. And if P Diddy were the released the
21:14
Speaker 2: artist that we needed as our first single. He and
21:17
Speaker 2: I might not be sitting there, mister cheek.
21:21
Speaker 1: But it's a beautiful thing.
21:22
Speaker 2: So I want to just drop some nuggets about what
21:25
Speaker 2: this book is all about. You talked about how it
21:27
Speaker 2: got started, but your impact man on how to motivate
21:31
Speaker 2: people and take them to the next level. Let's talk
21:33
Speaker 2: about a couple of keys the key to building mental
21:35
Speaker 2: relationship because people don't understand young people understand the value
21:39
Speaker 2: of mentorship because they understand that, but what is really
21:42
Speaker 2: the value of building mental relationships?
21:45
Speaker 3: Bennap You mentoring changed my life. As I said when
21:49
Speaker 3: I started at Motown Records. The woman who actually gave
21:53
Speaker 3: me my first job works for me now, right because
21:58
Speaker 3: you know, once again, you know, life goes through with
22:00
Speaker 3: cycles and and that's what long term relationships are about.
22:04
Speaker 1: Right. People pour into you.
22:06
Speaker 3: You make sure that you're able to give something back
22:08
Speaker 3: when it's time to drink, and and that's how it works.
22:11
Speaker 3: And you know, like for me, with with the companies
22:14
Speaker 3: that I've worked for, it's about teach especially for US
22:17
Speaker 3: as Is minorities and African Americans and you know all
22:22
Speaker 3: folks is you know, we need a break. We need
22:25
Speaker 3: an opportunity. There's a lot of things we don't know.
22:28
Speaker 3: So instead of making a mistake, like think of it
22:31
Speaker 3: in its most rudimentary basic terms. If you to know
22:34
Speaker 3: green means go, yellow means caution, and red means stop,
22:40
Speaker 3: you'd always just walk in the street. But there's someone
22:42
Speaker 3: to teach you and thedn't move you along in life
22:45
Speaker 3: and that in that respect, and and that's what I
22:48
Speaker 3: was able to do with the people that I've worked with.
22:51
Speaker 3: I've had some amazing mentors from Ddre, tad l A read,
22:57
Speaker 3: you know, just to just to name a few. And
23:00
Speaker 3: it's a great resource for those to have an opportunity
23:04
Speaker 3: to be able to ask questions that you know, you
23:06
Speaker 3: may not feel that confident in asking what those where
23:09
Speaker 3: you can be vulnerable. And that's the importance of giving
23:12
Speaker 3: people an opportunity to be vulnerable to grow, because if not,
23:17
Speaker 3: they'll make mistakes right and mistakes that you already have
23:20
Speaker 3: the answers to, why would you do that?
23:23
Speaker 1: Right? Right? We know.
23:24
Speaker 2: The interesting thing about it, I always talk about, you know,
23:27
Speaker 2: because we talked about money early. I would tell people
23:29
Speaker 2: I never go into a relationship thinking about money, you know,
23:33
Speaker 2: I think about what I can build and what value
23:35
Speaker 2: I can create, Because if you create value in any situation,
23:38
Speaker 2: somebody gonna pay you some money.
23:39
Speaker 3: Somebody gonna pay you some money. Man, somebody gonna pay
23:43
Speaker 3: you some money.
23:43
Speaker 1: They're gonna pay it. And a lot of people miss that.
23:45
Speaker 2: They come in this is what I this is what
23:47
Speaker 2: I want to get paid and it guess what? And
23:49
Speaker 2: the if people start judging you based on what they
23:51
Speaker 2: paid you. Now, when you create value a need, they
23:55
Speaker 2: don't judge it. They know they have to pay to
23:58
Speaker 2: maintain that relationship, maintained that skill or product that you
24:02
Speaker 2: were delivering on a consistent basis.
24:04
Speaker 1: But you have to be consistent about it.
24:05
Speaker 2: I remember that when I was how I got started
24:08
Speaker 2: in the radio, was just sitting in the back of
24:09
Speaker 2: the studio watching Steve Harver every day, and final line went,
24:12
Speaker 2: I can do this, and I started dropping producer notes producing.
24:16
Speaker 2: Next thing you know, I was the executive producer of
24:17
Speaker 2: the morning show because I had value and I saw
24:20
Speaker 2: it and I learned my craft. But nobody paid me
24:22
Speaker 2: extra money to get up at five point thirty to
24:24
Speaker 2: go in the studio at six o'clock. I could have
24:26
Speaker 2: stayed at home and just collected my commission check because
24:29
Speaker 2: I got paid on the deal.
24:30
Speaker 3: But you knew where you was going, yes, and the
24:32
Speaker 3: opportunity was the value. Like there was an when I
24:35
Speaker 3: was at the company. It was an interesting point I
24:39
Speaker 3: had to make a decision on whether I was going
24:43
Speaker 3: to stay at the company, and I was at I
24:45
Speaker 3: was going to take another job and take a six
24:47
Speaker 3: figure pay cut.
24:50
Speaker 1: Right, that's betting.
24:51
Speaker 3: That was probably the first real bet on yourself, right,
24:55
Speaker 3: the real bet on yourself. But it was an opportunity
24:59
Speaker 3: at to particular company that they never gave outsiders an
25:03
Speaker 3: opportunity to come in, right, and they were the best.
25:07
Speaker 3: So for me, the value was I want to go
25:10
Speaker 3: learn how they do their business right, and that opportunity
25:17
Speaker 3: wound up paying thirty x right. Like at the end
25:20
Speaker 3: of the day, that money that I didn't make for
25:23
Speaker 3: that period of time, I didn't make it. Oh, I
25:26
Speaker 3: made that over and over and over again because of
25:28
Speaker 3: the education, right and realizing following and looking at where
25:33
Speaker 3: I wanted to go. And these are steps, right, it's
25:36
Speaker 3: the tuition that you pay to be yourself right.
25:38
Speaker 1: Right. Let me just give you an example my relationship
25:41
Speaker 1: to that.
25:42
Speaker 2: I remember when I was a writer, was on ABC
25:45
Speaker 2: the show got counseled. Steve Harvey, Me and the boys
25:47
Speaker 2: got counseled. And then I went over to Robert Townson's
25:51
Speaker 2: first show and they cut my money in half. I said, cool,
25:54
Speaker 2: I'm working and then they but they kept my job titled.
25:57
Speaker 2: They did the same, and so I went to I
26:02
Speaker 2: went to Warner Brothers Studios and I sat down. They said, uh.
26:06
Speaker 2: I said, I just want my job title to be elevated.
26:10
Speaker 2: He said, we can't give you no more money. I said,
26:12
Speaker 2: I'm not asking for no more money. I just want
26:15
Speaker 2: my job title to be elevated. He said does that mean?
26:19
Speaker 2: I said yes, because see that's about you know, like
26:24
Speaker 2: I said, showing value with your name, because you know
26:26
Speaker 2: it's a staff writer, executive story editor, you know, assistant producer, producer,
26:32
Speaker 2: super right. So I was about to miss a step.
26:34
Speaker 2: That guy looked at me and go, nobody's ever coming
26:36
Speaker 2: here and said they wanted a title, but not worried
26:39
Speaker 2: about the money.
26:40
Speaker 1: That small move got.
26:41
Speaker 2: To me eventually be co executive producer of the Jamie
26:44
Speaker 2: Fox Show. If I didn't go in that room and
26:46
Speaker 2: tell this guy, don't worry about the money, just give
26:48
Speaker 2: me the job title. I would have never gotten to
26:51
Speaker 2: be the co executive producer of the Jamie Fox Show
26:53
Speaker 2: because I'll have been the title.
26:54
Speaker 1: Behind correct I see you.
26:56
Speaker 2: And so that's what that's my slide over to your
27:00
Speaker 2: the value of personal branding something you know oh too well,
27:03
Speaker 2: And I want to let somebody know on my side,
27:06
Speaker 2: I did a personal branding move way back there before
27:08
Speaker 2: branding was as they said in Vogue today, everybody used
27:12
Speaker 2: it so much, but nobody knows what it really means,
27:14
Speaker 2: talk about personal branding bending Pew.
27:16
Speaker 3: So it started for me as a child. You know,
27:18
Speaker 3: it's a funny story. My sister Regina and I and
27:24
Speaker 3: the rest of our family. We grew up in a
27:25
Speaker 3: five family house and in the attic is which where
27:29
Speaker 3: our apartment was, and the winners were really cold, and
27:32
Speaker 3: the summers were really hot. And what was the chances
27:36
Speaker 3: that my last name being Pew, that there was a
27:39
Speaker 3: family of skunks that lived in proximity of the house
27:41
Speaker 3: under the house and you know, in a far distance.
27:44
Speaker 3: So when whether the raccoons or cats or dogs would
27:50
Speaker 3: agitate these skunks, they would spray, and what would happen
27:56
Speaker 3: is that the scent would go.
27:57
Speaker 1: The draft would pull through the.
27:59
Speaker 3: House and come in to our apartment and me and
28:04
Speaker 3: my sister literally would smell like skunks. So we would
28:08
Speaker 3: go to school with the last name Pew smelling like skunks,
28:14
Speaker 3: and kids as mean as they are, you know, like children,
28:17
Speaker 3: like they're just nasty. You know, we can be bad
28:19
Speaker 3: like kids. We all we were back kids, right, and
28:22
Speaker 3: realized at that point, you know, it could have been
28:25
Speaker 3: a pure negative. I can't change my name right, and
28:29
Speaker 3: obviously I'm not in control of the circumstances with the skunk.
28:32
Speaker 3: So that was at the point when I decided to
28:34
Speaker 3: brand myself and make sure my name mattered right. So
28:36
Speaker 3: that's why I'm always Bennie Pugh, not ben not Benny
28:42
Speaker 3: Bennie Pugh, because I wanted my name to matter.
28:45
Speaker 2: Right because of the I can say that, you know,
28:48
Speaker 2: like I would saying, you know, Oprah, I'm not trying
28:49
Speaker 2: to be Oprah.
28:50
Speaker 1: Oprah can top you.
28:51
Speaker 2: You know, if you if you had a bad thing
28:53
Speaker 2: hapen your like Oprah got a bad thing after your life.
28:55
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Oh, you know I was
28:58
Speaker 1: all with you.
29:01
Speaker 2: I have that's show because you know, because of my name,
29:07
Speaker 2: Rushan you know, my father's really enunciated Russian, and so
29:13
Speaker 2: I had to make a decision is it Russian? To
29:15
Speaker 2: Rashan and said, pick a name, brother, I was, I
29:17
Speaker 2: remember twenty two he said, pick a name. I say Rashan.
29:22
Speaker 2: He said, but don't say it like that. Don't say
29:24
Speaker 2: it like you guessing. Say Rashan, Okay, Rashan, And so
29:29
Speaker 2: same thing there. If you make a decision, ride the
29:32
Speaker 2: decision out. And then if you don't want to be
29:34
Speaker 2: called Chris, your real name's Christopher, say let people say.
29:37
Speaker 1: Your real name Chris. There for her.
29:40
Speaker 2: And that's what people so much and so along in
29:42
Speaker 2: life they allow of the people to define their path.
29:45
Speaker 2: What is the thing that really sets you? Apart as
29:47
Speaker 2: far as defining people with advice?
29:50
Speaker 3: Faith, I mean, it's very clear. You know, what you
29:54
Speaker 3: believe is important because it all starts with with the
29:58
Speaker 3: beliefs and the almighty and then believe yourself. It's really important.
30:03
Speaker 3: Everything else the secondary to me. Ultimately, you know, someone
30:07
Speaker 3: who's been in some of the worst situations and the
30:10
Speaker 3: best in some of the best situations. What's been most
30:14
Speaker 3: important is my driving for us has been my faith.
30:17
Speaker 3: So that's really is simple for me right.
30:19
Speaker 2: And I always tell people that a strong belief in
30:23
Speaker 2: what you want to do will be tied to the
30:24
Speaker 2: goals you put in place to achieve your dream. But
30:27
Speaker 2: it all starts with a dream. But a dream cannot
30:29
Speaker 2: be accomplished with that goal, the goals you put in action,
30:32
Speaker 2: next level opportunity. Bennie peughle thank you for coming on
30:35
Speaker 2: the show.
30:35
Speaker 1: Brother Man, that was good man. Say that again. It
30:39
Speaker 1: is I'm ra Sean McDonald and that's been Bennie peugh
30:43
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
30:45
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
30:48
Speaker 4: Making Conversations Master Class. Money Making Conversations Master Class with
30:53
Speaker 4: rough Sean McDonald is produced by thirty eight to fifteen
30:56
Speaker 4: Media Inc. More information about thirty eight to fifteen Media Inc.
31:00
Speaker 4: Is available at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And
31:04
Speaker 4: always remember to lead with your gifts.