Mathew Knowles: Champions Health Awareness and Living With Purpose

Ladies and gentlemen, if you ever wanted to know how to spot raw talent before the world even sees it, how to turn talent into a global brand, and how to lead when pressure is at its peak, then this episode is for you.

I'm sitting down with Mr.

Matthew Knowles, and we talk about the strategy behind Destiny's Child, the mindset that keeps leaders relevant, and the life lessons from surviving cancer.

This is a rare, unfiltered look into the mind of a true visionary.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Mr.

Matthew Knowles.

Mr.

Knowles, how are you doing today, sir?

I'm doing great, Mick.

Thank you for the introduction.

That was very warm and very warm and thoughtful of you.

So thank you for that.

You know, I was telling you offline, there's several men that have shaped my life with you being one of them between Les Brown, Damon John, Robert Irvine, and Matthew Knowles.

I always tell myself, if I can take pieces of those men, I can be the best that I can be.

And you've been the blueprint, not just for me, but for several people for so long.

So on behalf of people that you don't know, Mr.

Knowles, I'm saying thank you.

Well, you know, as you get older,

you don't realize, and then you start to realize

how many people and lives that you've touched along the way.

And

I'm at this

pathway of my life.

It's really just a good feeling to know that you've made a mark in some kind of way.

So, again, thank you.

You totally have.

And, Mr.

Knowles, on the show, I like to ask, what's your because,

right?

That thing that's deeper than your why, that true passion that you have, that thing that makes you continue to do the amazing things that you, Mr.

Knowles, do.

So, if I were to say, what's your because?

What's your purpose?

Why do you keep doing and giving the way that you do?

Well, I think you said it, Nick.

You actually said the because

for me, it is the passion.

That is the thing that wakes me up in the morning and

excites me.

And I go to bed at night thinking about it.

And every time I do a speaking engagement, you know, it looks easy.

You go on the stage 30, 40 minutes, but I might spend two, three days of research.

And I do it because I love it that much.

And I want to make sure I give my very best.

So for me, the because is the passion.

That's why I do it.

And I'm grateful that at this point in my life, that I can make that decision that maybe some can't, that are younger,

if I want to do something or not.

And that's the defining for me is, am I passionate about doing it?

When did you realize that you had that theme, right?

So, you know, I'm going to go back to Fisk University.

One of my really good friends, Kenny Anderson, was the head basketball coach there for several years.

And so I go on campus and I see Matthew Knowles, and I had no idea that you were a Fisk graduate, right?

So when you were at Fisk,

the things that you've accomplished in your life, the amazing things and the wisdom that you pour into people, did you know it then?

Well, it's interesting that you bring up Fisk because I was literally

on Wednesday,

I had breakfast in Houston, I had lunch in Nashville,

and I had dinner in Laguna Nigule, California,

all in one day.

And so I was actually in Nashville and

was going over to Vanderbilt and had some time and actually went to Fisk and actually went on the campus and actually went to the gym.

And I wanted to just, and I took a photo and I wanted to just relive in my mind.

You know, we won two championships, SIEC championships,

played basketball there.

And

I got to meet the new basketball coach, the new female basketball coach.

So

it was a wonderful feeling just to go back.

It's been 50 years since I graduated from Philadelphia.

Wow.

Wow.

You don't look a day over 25 still, though.

I'm going to give it to you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You know, Mr.

Knowles, one of the things that I adore about you is your resiliency.

And you've been very open about, you know, being a recoverer of male breast cancer.

And you do so much around health awareness.

It's Marie Antoinette Month on the Vulgar History Podcast.

Every week in September, we will be talking about the notorious French queen.

Why is she still talked about today?

Did she really say, let them eat cake?

Spoiler, she did not.

Why do people still think she deserved to have her head cut off?

We're going to be taking a deep dive into Marie Antoinette's life and world to try to answer the question, how do you solve a problem like Marie Antoinette?

Listen to Vulgar History wherever you get podcasts.

Why is it important for men, and I'm going to talk to men first, with the egos that we have.

Why is it so important to put the egos aside and to get the regular checkups that we need?

I think, and that's an extremely good question, Mick.

It baffles me often with men and women, and especially those of color.

I come, most people don't realize I did 20 years of diagnostic imaging in my corporate life.

I saw zero radiography in 1980 through 1988, which was the leading modality at that time for breast cancer detection.

And I, every mountaintop, I could yell early detection.

Then

I went to Phillips Medical System and became the first black to sell MRI CT scanners in America.

And then I ended my career with Johnson N.

Johnson as a neurosurgical specialist.

So that's my background.

And I've always talked about early detection.

And the thing that really baffles me, when you look at the stages of cancer, stage, you know, one two three four

fortunately I was diagnosed at stage 1a but unfortunately those who wait those who don't just do a simple blood test for a PSA for men or a simple mammogram that might give you 30 seconds of distress that can determine

if you're going to be in one of those stages or if you're at risk.

And and i've seen both stages stage one and four

if you can prevent from being in stage four and in the chemotherapy therapy and and

all the pain that goes with that and the challenges for your family and caretakers uh why would you ever do that for something that could take 30 minutes or uh two hours of your day with parking and to go take one of those tests.

One in eight men in our lifetimes will come down with prostate cancer.

We'll be diagnosed for that.

One in eight women in their lifetime, one in eight will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

So I don't understand.

And the more and more you give those platforms to us, like right now, so those listeners can see and hear.

I don't think they maybe put that in their evaluation when they say, we don't want to do it.

But the second reason I think it is cultural conditioning since slavery, we've been taught cultural conditioning that until it hurts,

that's when we take care of it.

If it's not hurting, then it's okay.

That's not how cancer works.

It could not hurt for a while.

Yeah.

And it can be when it hurts a really short-lived outcome.

So please, those of you listening, please, early detection is the key.

And

from your viewpoint, is it a annual checkup that we should be doing when we get to a certain age?

Should we be doing it twice a year?

Like, from your viewpoint, how often should we be getting these checkups?

Well, from my own personal experience of having male breast cancer, for me, now

that I really thoroughly research and understand genetics, it really starts with getting a genetic test, understanding your family history.

Like, for example, my grandfather died of prostate cancer.

Four of my dad's five brothers died of prostate cancer, and his only living brother has prostate cancer.

So I'm at risk.

But getting a genetic test early, I'm saying now in your 20s and 30s,

to see how at risk you are.

And then if you see that you are at risk, then routinely, annually, getting those simple exams.

They're so simple.

They're so simple and easy to do.

See, now you just have me, I'm going to go do something.

I've never had a genetic test, right?

I'm going to now because you're right, it's so important because you can test for things, but if you don't know the why behind the why, the because around your health and wellness, then you're still kind of shooting in the dark a little bit, right?

Like you're still kind of getting generic responses versus, hey, Mick, this is your genetic history.

These are the things that we can do now from a prevention standpoint.

Like the light bulb just went off for me.

And I thank you for that.

So for all the viewers and listeners, like please understand

your genetic history is vitally important because Mr.

Knowles just told us so.

And just so our viewers know and listeners,

because we get a frightened for pain, I get it.

It's a saliva swap.

It doesn't hurt.

It's a salava swab.

So,

you know, we don't want to say it, but I think a lot of guys out there that think they're tough, we scared of needles.

And nobody wants to say it.

So I'm going to say it out loud.

I think a lot of brothers are scared of needles and I want to say it.

Yeah, yeah, no, the saliva test, I get it.

So, everybody, you can go do that, you don't have to prep for it.

We can all do that, we can all do that, you know.

Mr.

Knowles, again,

you've been a blueprint for me, you've been one of my core four, as I call it, when I have your guys's name on my wall.

And I literally mean that I'm going to take a picture and send it to you so you know I'm not messing with you.

You have

a keen eye for talent, and I'm not even even talking music.

Like, what you've done musically stands the test of time.

But what you do for brands, what you do in the sales arena, like that, that keen eye that you have, when did that start?

Like,

when, when,

I don't want to say when did you know, but like, when did you know that dog on it?

I'm Matthew Knowles.

I got it.

Well, I was fortunate.

Uh, Mick,

no, I'm a third-generation entrepreneur.

I saw my grandfather in Marion, Alabama with 200 acres of land.

I saw this man,

from a genius perspective,

leased off 50 acres of that land to the

city there in a paper mill.

And what does paper mill need?

It needs trees.

So they would cut off all the bush and trees to make paper.

And I saw my grandfather go behind them and farm.

That was super genius.

They paid him to clear his land off so he could farm.

My dad was a truck driver, but he convinced the people he worked for to let him use this truck all the time.

And he would go tear down houses and he would sell the wood, the copper, the aluminum.

He would buy old cars and sell all the parts.

He would make 10 times what he was making working.

My mom was a colored maid who made $3

a day.

She convinced that white woman and her friends to give all the hand-me-downs, all the hand-me-downs.

And on the weekend, I saw my mother and her two best friends, because they used to make me three at the needle as they were getting older.

I saw them make these beautiful quilts, made 10 times more than she made.

So I got to grow up in that kind of environment of creativity and thinking outside of the box.

So to have that,

again, that genetic in a different way,

to see my parents and their entrepreneurship was, you know, that's what was still in the back of my head growing up, that I can do this, being motivated by my parents, that I could be the best that I could be, getting encyclopedias when they didn't have a lot of money but taught me to research, research, knowledge is power.

All of those things is what I think in my toolkit.

So we have that in common.

One, my grandfather was,

I'm going to say a sharecropper.

My grandfather was also like the first black sheriff in our hometown.

My grandfather was the first black everything, but he didn't want to be defined as being the first black.

He said, because if you define me as that, then you're saying that that's the only reason I accomplished what I did.

But also in my household were the encyclopedias.

And so as a kid, I was, I knew things that maybe I shouldn't have known or I couldn't connect dots at that time.

But as I got older, I started realizing, wait, I know more.

I've seen more and I'm able to do that.

So one, just hearing you say that is awesome.

And the other thing that I respect the most about Matthew Knowles is this.

And I'm going to, I'm going to look you in your eye as I say this.

You are always the most relevant person that I know, meaning as generations and society changes, you always adapt and evolve.

And there are a lot of people, and I know that you're going to know what I'm saying by this,

they can do what they do in the generation they were in, but as things change, they don't adapt.

Their message doesn't relate to whatever is going on now.

You stay so relevant.

I think that's one of your most

genius points is just staying relevant.

Why is that important for you as an entrepreneur, as a leader?

Well, you have to stay relevant.

The world is changing all the every day, every second now with technology.

And, you know, you heard me tell my background in corporate, it was technology.

So, in technology, you have to evolve and modify because technology changes by the hour.

So,

I think the second reason,

Mick, is because I work as a professor now 20 plus years around young people.

And I think that really helps me to stay relevant.

I remember years ago, I was at Texas Southern University, one of my classes, and one of my students said, you know, Professor Knowles,

you have a lot of material in that suit.

And I was like, well, what do you mean by that, son?

He's like, you know, it's kind of baggy.

That's not what's hip now.

So I get the benefit of being around, you know, Gen Z and understanding their behavior.

But again, it's just that thirst for knowledge.

I've always been curious.

I've always wanted to know why.

And I've always wanted to think outside of the box and not be a box in thinker, somebody that's...

been conditioned and told this is a way we have to do it.

And you never say, well, why do we do it that way?

Or try another way.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I have something written down that I heard you say a long time ago.

And I didn't get it until I became an entrepreneur.

I heard it in my early 20s and it's, it's more relevant and impactful for me now as an entrepreneur and leader than it was then.

You, you, I think were the first person that said, you are a brand and your brand speaks for you when words can't be said.

And when I heard you say that, again, I was probably, I was just graduating college.

I was 21

and I got it, but I didn't get it until 10 years later when I started my first business or seven years later.

Can you tell the listeners and viewers why it is so important,

one, to see yourself as a brand.

And if you're a business, to focus on the brand, because it does speak for you when words can't be said.

Yeah, that's we are all individually, as well as in our corporate careers, as well as

in entrepreneurship.

We are a brand.

The moment we walk outside the door,

we're messaging to the world sometimes without words, often without words, is how we look.

We call it the optics always, the optics.

What are the optics?

You know,

and so you have to understand how to to build a brand and messaging and brand development.

There's a reason why someone goes and gets a pair of Jordans versus going to Walmart and getting a pair of sneakers.

They're all sneakers, they're both sneakers.

But what was the brand development that went into making you be aware that I want a pair of Jordans?

You know, you see, I always talk about entrepreneurship: the who,

the what,

the why, the where.

Who is my customer?

What is my product?

Why should they buy it?

That becomes the marketing and branding.

Right.

And then the where is the distribution channels.

I don't make it complicated.

A lot of people making folks and professors make it complicated.

It's as simple as the who, the what, the why, the where.

And that's why that branding, when we went into the music industry, they were selling records.

I was building brands.

That's why I partnered with L'Oreal and Destiny's Child and Beyoncé to put their music and to put them in those commercials because the target market that we learned in marketing, finding our target market, were those women.

See, people didn't understand that those songs by Destiny's Child, Independent Woman, Bills, Bills, Bills, Girls, Girls, Girls, strategically were

empowerment songs, female empowerment songs.

That was part of the branding and marketing, female empowerment.

And even if you, you know, look fast forward into Beyoncé's career, female empowerment.

You look at salon, she's branding blackness.

Yeah.

Unapologetically black.

So you have to understand branding and marketing.

It's a really powerful tool.

Yeah.

Where do you think

we'll go individuals?

Where do you think people are going wrong?

Where are they missing the mark?

Because you broke it down so simply.

If I'm an entrepreneur and I'm watching or listening to this and it's like, I got it.

Mr.

Knowles is saying I need to focus on brand.

What are they doing wrong that they could easily fix?

Well, I think

today there's so much information out there at your fingertips.

I mean, it just requires, again, going back to that simplistic simplicity of why I wrote the DNA of achievers, the 10 traits of highly

professionals that

really have been successful.

And it starts again every time with a passion.

Like, is this really what you want?

In life, is this really what you want in your profession?

And sitting down and taking a piece of paper and writing down 10 things you love

and eliminating till you get to three eliminating till you get to that one thing that you love and you want to do in life because when you live your passion you never work you don't work when you live your passion you work when you have a job When I live my passion like right now, I'm not working.

I'm having fun.

I'm enjoying this.

I'm excited about this interview.

But what coexists with passion, and that's where a lot of people go wrong, is our work ethics.

You know, they go together like a globe.

You find

I was, he was Kobe Bryant.

When he,

after he got off the six months of the basketball season, the other players were out having fun and chilling.

Kobe was in the gym getting up at four o'clock in the morning so he could spend time with with his family still.

But he was doing this model called 6, 6, 6.

Six months after the season, he practiced six hours a day, six times a week.

And that's what it takes for greatness.

A lot of people are okay with just being good or average.

But there's some of us that strive for greatness.

And those work ethics and the 10,000 hours that Malcolm Gladwell, the brother from Canada, talks about and outliers.

10,000 hours that it takes to be great.

Trust me, Beyonce's put in 10,000.

Trust me, Michael Jordan put in 10,000.

I can go on and on, Serena and Venus.

I can go on and on, the people that are great at it

because they love it.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

And another one of your pillars that you taught me to go along with work ethic is consistency, right?

And when I speak with leaders, I talk about this trait more than anything is how important consistency is to everything.

Because when I can see your consistency, it tells me your actual core values, right?

I can see your commitment.

I can see your integrity.

I know I can trust you.

What do you think about that?

One, you taught me that, but why is consistency also important for leaders, for entrepreneurs, for entertainers?

Well,

in order to move the needle, you're going to have to say it, do it over and over and over and over and over.

You can't move the needle with just saying it a few times or doing it a few times or displaying it a few times.

You have to consistently mean constantly

doing that thing.

constantly and doing it at a high level constantly.

Yes, sir.

You know, everything

has to be thought out.

You know, there's a lot of moving parts.

I take the music industry, for example.

There's probably, you know, you've got 50, 60 moving parts that all we see is the artists on stage.

We don't see how they got there.

Yeah.

And what was required to get there, the planning that was required, the team that was required.

And again, going back to passion and work ethics.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

And I know one of your passions, one of the things that you're really

proud of, the work that you do with the global brand or with the zero prostate cancer and everything that you're doing there, being a global brand ambassador.

Talk to us about the work that you're doing and that that community is doing.

So that's why I was in Nashville.

You know,

I'm very transparent.

And

in my first book, I have a chapter called Talk to Do Ratio.

Talk to Do Ratio that goes back to that consistency thing.

So I was in Nashville because there's a young black man at Vanderbilt who is a genius

in his early 50s in urology.

And I wanted to get a consultation

with him regarding my own prostate issues.

Fortunately, I don't have cancer today,

but I'm being proactive instead of reactive.

And I said to my physician in Houston, I think you're waiting for this to happen.

I don't want to do that.

I want to be preventative that it never happens.

Yes, sir.

So that's why I was in Asheville, to be preventative,

to get others' opinion, to get an expert opinion.

There you go.

There you go.

I love it.

So, Mr.

Knowles, I'd love to give you just a little bit of time to talk about

the great things you have going on this week.

I know you're going to be in Martha's Vineyard, but talk to the viewers and listeners about what you have going on there.

Well, I'm excited because I've never been to Martha's Vineyard.

My wife has been many times,

and so she's quite excited also about coming.

But I'll be there on Wednesday, August 20th.

That's Wednesday of next week.

There's a discussion and panel that's being given by Touch for Life.

And it's three o'clock, starts at three o'clock in the afternoon.

So some of the best minds in medicine and cancer experts and folks who have gone through the experience as well, like myself, of cancer,

talking about health and wellness for black folks.

And so I'm really excited about Touch for Life

and how we can touch someone and save their life.

That's awesome.

I'm going to make sure that I have links for Touch for Life, links for everything that you're associated with.

in the show notes and descriptions.

If you are a fan of me, I need you to do me a favor.

I need you to not just support Mr.

Knowles, and I'm not talking about financially, but I'm talking about helping spread the awareness for all the things that he's doing.

I'm talking about some of the books that he has written are

going to change your life because they've changed mine.

If there's someone who stands for professionalism, for equality, for brand building, for the modern leader like myself, it is Mr.

Matthew Knowles.

And Mr.

Knowles, I just thank you for being the icon that you are, for being the voice that you are, but for more importantly, for me personally, being that shoulder that I could stand on.

Because there were times that I needed it.

And every time you were there, whether you knew it or not, you've been that shoulder that I proudly stand on.

So I personally want to thank you, sir.

Mick, I can tell you have a good, good heart, and I thank you for that.

It means you got some great parents somewhere in that dna

yes sir great parents great grandparents yeah raised in the south so you you already know what that means and and again you being that person that i could look to there i can never thank you enough but i just want you to know that a big part of who i am is because of you well thank you mick and if any of you like to know more just simply go to matthewknowles.com matthewknows.com we'll have that link there Everybody, please do that.

Again, Mr.

Knowles, thank you so much for your time.

For all the viewers and listeners, remember, you're because is your superpower.

Go unleash it.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Mick Unplugged.

If today hits you hard, then imagine what's next.

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Until next time, ask yourself how you can step up.