The DNA of Achievers: 10 Traits of Highly Successful Professionals

By Mathew Knowles Ph.D

In the five years since the original publication of The DNA of Achievers: 10 Traits of Highly Successful Professionals; the author, the contributors, and the world around them have evolved tremendously. From major life changes to new heights in their careers, many of the voices return with fresh perspectives. Some contributors are newly

• Language: English
• Publisher: Music World Publishing, LLC
• Release date: Oct 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734400441

Mathew Knowles Ph.D

Author, professor, lecturer, public speaker, entrepreneur, music executive, artist manager, fighter, and survivor would be the words used to sum up the life and career of Mathew Knowles, MBA, Ph.D. Knowles is widely recognized in the entertainment industry for his effective approach in developing and promoting award-winning artists. As the founder of Music World Entertainment Corporation, he has served as the executive producer for more than 100 award-wining platinum and gold albums in multiple genres, including Pop, R&B, Gospel, Dance, Country, as well as soundtracks and special themed projects. Record sales have exceeded 450 million worldwide with work featuring some of the biggest names in music including Chaka Khan and Earth, Wind & Fire. In Academia, Dr. Knowles has an undergraduate degree in Business Administration/Economics from Fisk University as well as Advanced Studies in Professional Development at Harvard University. He has an MBA in Strategic Planning and Organizational Culture and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Cornerstone Christian Bible College and has held professorships at Texas Southern University, Prairie View A&M, Art Institute International, and University of Houston. For more information, go to Mathewknowles.com

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Copyright © 2020 by Music World Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-7344004-3-4

ISBN: 978-1-7344004-4-1 (e-book)

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Front Cover Photo done by: Kerr Orr/Veronica Hill of Point and Click Photography

Rev. date: 05/01/2020

Dedication

I would like to dedicate my first book to my late parents, Helen and Matthew Q. Knowles, for instilling within me a strong work ethic, an entrepreneurial spirit, and an awareness of the importance of giving back, not to mention a passion for life—all qualities I learned from their examples. Additionally, they taught me to be a visionary and risk taker by allowing me to be among the first African-American students to attend desegregated schools in Gadsden, Alabama, and at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Those experiences made me a better man, both personally and professionally. I am forever grateful to my beloved mother and father for their unconditional love.

Next, I would like to thank my daughters, Solange and Beyoncé—first, for being kind and loving people; second, for being incredible mothers; and, last but not least, for leaving their mark on the world as philanthropists, entertainers, and entrepreneurs. They both clearly possess the DNA of achievers. I love them dearly.

Additionally, I dedicate this book to each and every student I have had the privilege of teaching and lecturing at Texas Southern University, Fisk University, Jarvis Christian College, Hampton University, Cornerstone Christian and Bible College, Cornell University, Howard University, Rice University, Harvard University, UCLA, University of Cape Town, Berklee College of Music, Alabama A&M, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and, currently, Prairie View A&M University. Not only have my students learned about the business of music and entrepreneurship but also marketing and Africana studies. I hope I’ve taught them about the traits inherent in individuals who are successful in the business of life as well as to become better at critical thinking.

Lastly, to my friend, Joe Campinell, whom I had the opportunity to work with for years while he was President of L’Oréal. I enjoyed the many strategy meetings that always evolved into deep topics and laughter. Joe believed in and supported Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child, Solange, Kelly, and myself and made a tremendous impact while at L’Oréal, on all of our careers. I am eternally grateful.

Contents

FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Passion

Work Ethic

Vision

Risk-Taking

Planning

Talk-to-Do Ratio

Team Building

Learning From Failure

Giving Back

Thinking Outside the Box

FOREWORD

Tommy Mottola

This is how it all came about: I first met Mathew Knowles around 1996, when the girls in Destiny’s Child were only about fourteen years old. As the then-chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Music Entertainment Worldwide, I was in a position to manage all the record companies under the Sony umbrella. Each company had its own A&R department, but I decided to create a super–A&R team that was outside the record labels. I would then use my team of professional talent-spotters to feed them all.

One of my top A&R reps in Houston was a woman by the name of Teresa LaBarbera Whites, who found Destiny’s Child (not to mention Jessica Simpson at the same time). Shortly after that huge discovery, I was sitting with Mathew and the girls in my New York office on Madison Avenue.

My first impression of Mathew? He was a very nice man—and a typically protective father figure, which I thought was good for those innocent young girls. Granted, he had limited experience as a music manager at that point, but certainly he had me and my team at Sony to help guide him. And he was very cooperative from the point of view of things that needed to be done. But he was not afraid to stand up for himself. Experience does not necessarily make one a good manager after all. In my life before Sony, I had been a manager myself, for Hall & Oates. Still, I did not have a high regard for managers in general. Most of them were imbeciles who happened to be friends of the band. Mathew got in the door because he was a parent—but he was also a smart man, obviously. Whether he had music management experience or not, he knew right from wrong about what to do and what not to do, which is always good. He opened up to people around him with more experience, which reminded me of my whole learning curve as a manager.

I was like a sponge when getting into areas I didn’t know about. I found Mathew very much like that too. He would always take direction well. The greatest thing about him was that he was very protective about his act and very persistent. Like any manager, he wanted to get the most he could for them.

I am aware of Mathew’s reputation in the industry as a tough manager. But personally, I always found him to be gentlemanly and polite. I am sure that around other people, he might have been more pushy, but every good manager has to be pushy sometimes. I mean, when I started out as the manager of Hall & Oates in the 1970s and knew very little about the music business, I had a reputation as being the most obnoxious and pushy guy out there—and it was all true. So I understand when people get a reputation if they work as managers because you always have to be looking out for more for your act. At the end of the day, the ax falls on you!

Look, the music business pulls at you in every way imaginable. The minute artists start to get some fame (or notoriety, as the case may be) and things begin to change on every level, they think, Wow, I am getting it right, and this is all because of me. And then when they get more attention and finally make it over that line of going from notoriety to stardom—and then into global stardom and superstardom—lots of things happen inside their minds, such as I am the boss of my own show, I know what I’m doing, and I am going to call all of my own shots from now on. So my advice to Mathew was simple: Just tell Beyoncé to try to stay grounded. Keep it real. And always be open to suggestions. Most important, I added, Please tell Beyoncé to remain humble and teachable all the time—that will keep her fresh and on her toes. Trust me; the minute you think you have the winning formula, that’s usually the moment when you lose it.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Initially, I would like to acknowledge that a power greater than myself exists in the universe. Next, I would like to thank thirty-four of my friends and acquaintances—some from corporate America, some from the music industry, and some who are entrepreneurs— who took time out of their extremely busy schedules to be interviewed for this book. I’ve known most of them for quite some time, and I’ve both watched and learned from their successes as well as their occasional failures.

Thanks also goes to Chiquita Knowles Ash, my sister, who every day becomes a better friend to me; to Lin Almanza-Vasquez, my tireless assistant, who for eighteen years has worked endless hours to support me; to Ashton Shields, who, I taught in college and who interviewed for Music World and is now full-time after getting his degree and is our brightest new star; Johnnie Roberts, James Patrick Herman, Cheryl Alexander, and Gia’na Garel for giving their time, energy, and expertise to make this book the very best it could be; to past and present members of my Music World Entertainment staff who have worked so hard to assist in all of our successes over the years; and to that special person in my life who loves me unconditionally.

I extend my appreciation to all the people out there who suit up, show up, and work hard every day, giving it their very best and learning along the way. The most important lesson to learn? Don’t ever be discouraged by negativity. Have the vision that one day your passion will come to fruition. Remember, it starts with believing in yourself! I already believe in your potential, which is truly limitless. I acknowledge you and applaud your efforts to succeed in life.

Thanks to Worth Davis, one of my first, and greatest, mentors who gave me a unique opportunity to work in the copier engineering division, and who supported me in interviewing with the elite medical division at Xerox where I spent eight years. I now fully understand why you dragged me to all those boring meetings with old white men while I was at Xerox. They were merely the presidents of Shell, Exxon, Pennzoil, and Mobil Oil!

Lastly, I want to acknowledge my best friend and wife, Gena Avery-Knowles, who every day brings laughter and joy into my life.

INTRODUCTION

The question came to me why I wanted to revise this book. A lot of things have changed over the last five years for me personally and with regard to my experiences and growth. So the question is more, what has changed for me in five years? For starters, my passion has changed. My spiritual beliefs and outlook on life have as well. At least some of that has been due to, in one example, my experience with male chest cancer. In July 2019 I experienced just a simple dot on my white T-shirt for three consecutive days. I then consulted my wife, Gena. She said, I’m not surprised, because I saw a dot of blood on the bedspread when I changed it.

I immediately got a mammogram and then a biopsy and subsequently had a surgical mastectomy. I choose to call it male chest cancer because I have found it to be the number one thing that holds men back from acknowledging or even talking about their own experience with the disease—the difference of description between breast or chest. If by just changing a word we can bring increased awareness and hope and even save lives, then hopefully I’ll get the support of all of the community to change the name. But that impact—I remember so vividly when I heard the word cancer—led to an immediate character arc on my journey. I asked myself, as many must do, Why me? I think that’s something we ask ourselves, or Why did this happen now? Why is this part of my life?

I tell this one story often, where I was in Los Angeles going down an escalator at LAX, and at the bottom was a nun from Mexico who had a jar. Handwritten on it was Please give to the missionary. I remember giving what I had in my wallet to give, and she gave me a card. I don’t read most business cards right away and often just pile them up. In this case, it might have been a month before I actually looked at the card. I was at a car wash and was going through and tossing business cards that I didn’t recognize. I saw hers and read what was on the back of the card: Pray not for life free from trouble. Pray for triumph over trouble. What you and I call adversity, God calls opportunity.

So I asked myself, What the hell could be the opportunity in me being diagnosed with male chest cancer? As I began to ponder an answer, I thought, Well, this is an opportunity that I have to possibly bring awareness and possibly even save lives by me speaking up and having the social courage to speak out about my own personal experiences with male chest cancer. That’s what I did—by using the platform that I have and by calling friends who supported me, like Nancy Brown, the CEO of the American Heart Association, who is in this book and who introduced me to my incredible medical team starting with Susan Domchek at the University of Pennsylvania. Susan became my oncologist and made me aware of BRCA genetics. My longtime personal physician, James Muntz, gave me his total support in finding the surgeon Michael Coselli. This became my incredible medical team. It was the opportunity for me to learn and grow. The irony of this is that I once sold mammography equipment. So yes, that experience made an impact on me and opened up new introductions and even opportunities.

What’s also changed is that we live in a different world than five years ago. In that time, my observations of it and how I approach writing about it have changed. As my experience level as an author has grown so has my process in getting it down. We all feel uncomfortable when we have to make changes in our lives. I often give speeches around the world where I use the example that the only people that really love change are babies, because babies love their diapers changed. Other than that, we don’t like it much. Change is quite uncomfortable for many of us, for different reasons of course, but if it comes without planning it, it can throw anybody’s life off center. I expected some degree of change, as we all must, but in five years, it has been hugely impactful on us all. Today we use social media as a primary mode of pushing information—even the President and officials use it to communicate on the spot. Also, as of this book’s publishing, we are talking about social distancing as well as looking at the shifting landscapes of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and all the other –isms and phobias—all in a world where social courage has become the main threshold of how we approach life and each other as well.

These three most notable changes—social media, social distancing, and social courage—are the driving forces we face as a society. Social distancing is what we are encountering now with the coronavirus, along with social media informing us with up-to-the-minute information on it. With social courage, we must look bravely at the coronavirus and how it will impact the way we live in every aspect for years to come. With Social Distancing, it will affect how we interface with each other, as in we won’t embrace or shake hands. Imagine a world like that, of not embracing someone. I often hug when I meet someone I know. In the past, I would even embrace and many times shake hands with a stranger. I just recently had the opportunity to be in Sacramento, California, in the month of March, and it was pre-coronavirus information in America because we were late at getting any details. There, I shook over one hundred hands. However, as I do book signings in the future, I won’t have that opportunity. I feel that an embrace and a handshake is an acknowledgement of people connecting. That’s what it is for me, someone connecting in a different way than just a hello.

Imagine how the future will look in the workplace. I just recently started considering a smaller office and downsizing because there won’t even be a need for offices. We will find that in the future, many people working from home is commonplace. So now we don’t shake hands, we don’t embrace, and we don’t even see each other face to face to communicate in business settings. Even down to Uber and such ride-sharing methods, things will change from how we open a car door to the distance between us and the driver. Perhaps we will go back to what Yellow Cabs look like in every rideshare vehicle, with a big plastic partition in between.

That’s the very cold worldview being predicted by many. I see social media being the number one platform, but also people will read more because they have more time alone. People will stream what they watch and listen to music more. There won’t be concerts for a while—not like they were in the past. We will soon possibly get to that, but there will be a screening process for us all when we’re in groups of people.

In this new world, with social media becoming the primary platform of communication, it stops being just social media and becomes solely social interface—and not necessarily in a good way as we lose the personal interconnectivity between us. How does one even date in today’s world with the coronavirus and the fear that’s surrounding it? Surely not through social media platforms alone.

I was born in 1952, and there have been major defining moments in the world, starting in elementary school. When I grew up, there was the fear of Russia and America having a nuclear war. This changed the way that we lived. We used to have a siren and practices for if an atomic bomb were coming. Some of those instructions that drill came with, believe it or not, were almost hilarious. We would all get up under the desks and hold our heads, like that really was going to save us. There were some shelters that you could go to down below, but the plan for survival under a desk seemed flimsy, even as a kid.

Another defining moment was the civil rights movement, when black people and women got the right to vote. That became the catalyst for change in America. Desegregation changed how we live. Now I look at another major change by way of a defining event with the coronavirus making an impact on the new world order, which is what I like to call it.

I can’t imagine being a basketball player in high school and college playing in a game where there are no fans to motivate and excite me. I just can’t even imagine that, yet that is being proposed as a change to how games are presented. The audience is important. Can we change that easily?

I’m also wondering how I am going to adjust to it all myself. I took a significant hit on five speaking engagements, all cancelled unexpectedly. What does that look like now? Public speaking is really my passion now, yet what is that going to look like in the future? Will it come to a day and time where I will literally sit in a room and actually give my motivational speeches and everybody is viewing it on their phone or computer screen? Will that be the way of the future, period? To no longer have an audience there and for it all to be digital? A digital world is coming faster, sooner, and quicker, and there are many that really need to understand it in relationship to how they functioned before.

Even playing or performing in front of an audience offers a sense of pride that encourages you to want to win for your school, for your family, and, more importantly, for yourself and your teammates. That’s what those fans and being in that building with people means. I can’t overemphasize how pretty much in every aspect there will be change now as you won’t have a need for a good number of people. Restaurants will change as you won’t go into a deli and fix your own salad. Between the digital and the practical, we all will be adjusting daily. I look at the 30 million kids who have been affected in the United States by this coronavirus; 15 million of those get both breakfast and lunch paid by the federal government because they don’t have the money, or their parents don’t, to buy their lunch at school. Then, of those 30 million, all have lunch programs. How are we going to feed children then? Where is the food coming from now that our supply chain is compromised?

So when we look at the DNA of achievers and at what’s going to be required of achievers in the future, we are going to be more in demand and needed even more in the future as we develop fresh generations of achievers to lead the new world order.

Change in this generation is shifting our understanding of not just practical living and safety but the maintenance and preservation of life. That is why health and wellness have been at the core of my own five-year growth spurt since the first version of this book was released. It is driving the narrative of life itself when so much of our community is facing not just food and economic scarcity but lack of access to life-improving wellness programs and the effects of lacking genetic history about ourselves.

When I wrote this book, The DNA of Achievers, in no way did DNA mean genetics. I have had a whole lot of education on the depths of that particular word. What I’ve learned through this cancer experience is that we all have BRCA genes that are supposed to help us fight off disease. My own, and those if many others around the world, have mutated (called a BRCA 2 mutation). Now, that is genetics. When I went on Dr. Oz just recently, he asked that I do a family history of disease. I was able to call a lot of relatives my age and older, and I was able to go back on my mother’s side all the way to my grandmother’s sister, who was the first I was able to find who had breast cancer. Then I was able to find that my mother had two brothers and with them a sister, Elzada Jackson, who died of breast cancer. My aunt had two daughters, and both died of breast cancer.

My mother had Alzheimer’s in her declining years, yet I still knew more about her and her family than my dad’s. I then researched my father’s side, which I knew less family history about and whom I had less involvement with growing up. I remembered my grandfather when I was a young boy and me going over to his house and hearing him moan. I didn’t quite understand he was in pain at the time. It got to the point that my mother stopped letting me go over there. As I got older, I understood he was dying of prostate cancer.

My dad died of heart disease, and so did my grandfather, Dave Hogue. Of two of my dad’s sisters, one currently is a breast cancer survivor, and the other sister died of lung cancer. My dad had one brother die of lung cancer (just like my brother) and four brothers who died of prostate cancer. My dad’s only sibling who is alive now has prostate cancer. When talking to my first cousin, (whom I speak to rather frequently), he shared that his brother also currently has prostate cancer. I’ve come to understand through this the power of genetic testing and have partnered with a leader in the field of cancer and cardiovascular testing Invitae (invitae.com).

So now I understand the word in a different way when I say DNA—and even DNA of achievers. My belief in that today is evolving to include a health and wellness perspective and not just a mental genetic influence. I consider all things inherited. My grandfather was a successful entrepreneur as was my grandmother on my father’s side. My mom and brother were also entrepreneurs. So entrepreneurship has always run in our family, just like the passion that fueled us all, and I now look back at them, both from a genetic standpoint and impact, for influencing my success in life. I believe that Beyoncé and Solange seeing both of their parents have passion and a strong work ethic also inspired them in a way. In this case, let’s try the phrase genetic influence, which has sort of a DNA fingerprint on our success. Unfortunately, if you see someone that’s growing up in poverty, it’s often generations before they reach above that level.

I do believe there is some type of connection in our DNA to the way we think and the way we process information from an inherited perspective. These influences form traits that evolve into the tools, methods, and belief systems that create our success or failure. That understanding has not changed for me.

I’ve been asked where I received the inspiration for this book. Throughout my travels, I would occasionally start up a conversation with the passenger sitting next to me or mostly the other way around. The number one question I am asked is What do you do? I’m always amazed at the incredible responses I’ve gotten from all walks of life—entrepreneurs, corporate executives, attorneys, and others. During one such flight, it hit me like a bolt of lightning: When I met those that were highly successful versus those that weren’t, the thing they all had in common started with this tremendous passion for what they do as well as a common approach for their extreme success. It was pretty consistent for most of them. Then I began thinking of people I know or have met one way or the other, and they also exemplified these same traits.

Throughout the book, I’ve included interviews with friends and acquaintances who have the DNA of achievers. I’d like to