CEO Rich Paul Created His Own Luck
CEO of Klutch Sports, Rich Paul, recently joined SI to promote his new book, "Lucky Me." During his interview with SI host Robin Lundberg, Paul discussed his professional journey, creating an empire with LeBron James, and the goals he has set for himself in the future.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 I'm Robin Lundberg, joined by the CEO and founder of Clutch Sports, Rich Paul, who's
00:04 got Lucky Me, a memoir of changing the odds, a book.
00:08 And Rich, Lucky Me, in a sense, I'm assuming, is talking about creating your own luck, right?
00:15 And I guess a lot of people don't know your backstory to the same degree as others.
00:20 You sold vintage jerseys out of the trunk of your car, which kind of led to you maybe
00:25 meeting LeBron James in what would be a lucky situation?
00:28 Yes.
00:29 I think that was, I mean, I think if you call it luck, then yes, I guess there's an aspect
00:36 of luck.
00:37 I would think there's more so fate in that regard because, I mean, I was in a position
00:43 in my life and he was in a position in his life and hindsight would say, "Oh, that was
00:49 a lucky thing."
00:50 It depends on who you're giving it luck to because he would probably say, "I was extremely
00:54 lucky to be able to meet Rich."
00:56 And I would say, "Obviously, I was extremely lucky to be able to meet him as well."
01:00 We're both extremely lucky to be able to go down the path that we went and still be able
01:05 to share the experiences and journeys and all the things that that entails.
01:12 Now in creating your own company, you've done that as well.
01:16 And it's hard to argue against your success.
01:19 Do you still think you have anything to prove to critics out there?
01:22 No, I don't have anything to prove.
01:24 I don't think I had much to prove to begin with.
01:27 I think there's a discouragement that's placed upon anybody that's not trying to follow what
01:34 would be industry standards, right?
01:36 I think everyone wants your path to be their path and that's just not realistic.
01:41 Now, obviously, your relationship with LeBron James comes to the forefront of a lot of conversations,
01:46 but what you just raised brought up an interesting point to me where in 2011, he had lost in
01:51 the finals to the Dallas Mavericks and that's often considered a black mark on his career.
01:58 His response to that, in retrospect, do you think it actually helped grow his career?
02:04 Yeah, I think everyone looks for something to not position you where they feel like it's
02:14 a threat towards whatever they deem as hierarchy, right?
02:18 And so I think that his response to that wasn't what he said, it was actually what he's done.
02:26 And I think post that, he went to eight straight finals in which he won three post that.
02:35 And then having the, I think it was probably the toughest road coming back from 3-1 and
02:42 all that, which was great.
02:44 And then when you look at the teams that were taken, it just showed his capabilities.
02:51 And so as much as people dived into what was said post that, I was more impressed about
02:59 what was done.
03:00 We've talked a little bit about criticism dealing with scrutiny.
03:03 I previously saw you talk about how Michael Jordan had come up in a different era and
03:08 it made me think about an old SI cover actually where they put Bagot Michael on the cover
03:15 and he hasn't talked to SI since then.
03:17 That was based on his baseball career, his foray into baseball.
03:20 How do you think Jordan would have dealt with the scrutiny that say a LeBron James gets
03:24 nowadays?
03:25 You know, I don't know.
03:29 I think that it's tough to try to compare that because he didn't live in that space.
03:36 But ultimately, I think there's a mental toughness that comes with it.
03:40 And there's a confidence within that you have to continue to, you know, just stay the course.
03:46 And I think the great ones have that capability of just staying the course and not being distracted.
03:52 But more importantly, I think the great ones, and we all know who those people are, if you
03:57 look at them, especially those in basic sets with the championship level, they've been
04:01 great because they love it.
04:03 They love the game.
04:04 They love everything about it.
04:06 They don't disrespect the game.
04:08 They don't take shortcuts.
04:10 And so ultimately, they become winners.
04:14 That's been something that I've paid attention to since I was a kid.
04:19 Lucky Me, a memoir of changing the odds, looks back on how Rich Paul got to where he is now.
04:24 Oh, good luck with the book, Lucky Me, and congrats on your success and your future success
04:29 moving forward.
04:30 Thank you, Robin.
04:31 I appreciate the time.
04:32 (upbeat music)
04:35 (upbeat music)