NBA Stats

Soul food, Pepsi, death-grip hugs, and lots of smiles

However, things got serious when the Bulls played because my grandma and all of her family were from Chicago.

They emigrated out to California to get away from the gangs and cold weather and to start over somewhere new.

But when the Bulls played, it was almost religious.

While these days I’m actually more of an MMA fan than basketball, I still follow the NBA from a distance.

I actually did some research the other day and found out that there are 450 players in the NBA.

Out of those 450, 328 of the players are Black men.

That’s an overwhelming majority of Black men who play in the NBA, compared to other races.

However, even as a kid, I knew the chances of me getting into the NBA were incredibly small.

In fact, when I see so many youths today dedicating their lives to becoming basketball stars, I know that most of them are living a dream that will never manifest.

Even still, the majority of these kids play morning and night.

They get coaches, join teams, buy the expensive shoes (shoutout to my Nike execs), wear the Jerseys, watch the professional games, play basketball video games, eat Wheaties, watch SportsCenter, work with physical therapists when they get injured, and more.

They are totally dedicated to getting into the NBA, and the majority of them will end up only playing high school ball.

A sliver of these guys play college ball, and a minuscule amount goes pro.

However, the guys that do go pro, live and die basketball.

They don’t just play basketball, the identity and everything that comes with being an elite world-class athlete is baked into their bones.

It’s not a hobby, it’s something they become on game day, it’s who they are.

They leave their families for weeks at a time, if not months, to play other teams, to promote the NBA abroad, and the rest.

They are absolutely committed to their craft because their competition is insane and they know that they must stay on-top to stay in the league.

But this is the business community over here, so let’s talk corporate numbers.

While the odds of a brother making it into the NBA are incredibly small, they are even smaller for a brother to become a Fortune 500 CEO.

Out of the 500 CEOs of all of the Fortune 500 companies, the largest companies in the United States, only 4 are Black men.

• Frank Clyburn, CEO of International Flavors & Fragrances Inc.

• Marvin R. Ellison, President and CEO of Lowe's Companies Inc.

• David Rawlinson II, President and CEO of Qurate Retail Group.

• Robert Reffkin, Founder and CEO of Compass.

There are roughly 30 million people working for Fortune 500 companies, and the competition for the CEO role is absolutely through the roof.

For the brothers who are going for the top seats in corporate America, you have to train, live, breathe, and die (figuratively speaking) for corporate advancement like NBA players train for the championships.

If not, you absolutely, positively, will not make it to the top.

It won’t happen by chance or luck.

If you were a kid, I would say anything is possible.

However you are a adult male, so I will tell you that you must operate at an incredibly high level to reach the C-suite, EVP, or SVP roles.

In working with over 532 brothers in corporate America, most in senior leadership, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that being a corporate executive is not just a job for them; it’s their life.

They go to multiple conferences a year, work with elite executive coaches, engage in leadership training and certification programs annually, constantly network with other high-seniority leaders who can help them achieve their goals, work with executive recruiters, work with board search firms, attend galas, on top of doing their 9-to-5 jobs.

This doesn’t mean they don’t have a work-life balance, but these men are absolutely relentless about personal growth, professional development, and networking success.

These guys are built differently.

They don’t want to turn it off. They want to turn it on.

They enjoy Fridays, but love Mondays.

They get a thrill and satisfaction from playing the corporate game and winning the spoils of money, influence, and prestige that come with it.

For these gentlemen, I salute you.

Black Executive Men salutes you.

We support you in playing full out and achieving an ultimate level of professional success.

For all my corporate Jordans, Pipens, Kukoches, and Rodmans out there in the business world, I salute your dedication. You are the heroes at Black Executive Men that we celebrate, and we will continue to have your back.

I'd play for the Chicago Bulls. But that's just because...

I remember watching Jordan in the NBA finals when I was a kid, sitting on the floor of my grandmother's apartment with my cousins.