Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Evan Carmichael Top Header
Share for a Cause









Lesson #5: Turn Up the Volume to Tune out the Critics

Robert Johnson Quote


Article Overview: BET might have gone on the air over twenty years ago, but it has no fewer critics today than it did when it first started. Indeed, throughout its lifetime, BET has been criticized from people all across the spectrum. From white conservatives to black liberals, BET had its enemies from all walks of life. But throughout it all, Johnson remained focused on his number one goal: to make his business profitable. Other than that, there was no criticism that could distract or deter him.

Free Download - Robert Johnson Quotes By Robert Johnson
Name: Email:

Lesson #5: Turn Up the Volume to Tune out the Critics

BET might have gone on the air over twenty years ago, but it has no fewer critics today than it did when it first started. Indeed, throughout its lifetime, BET has been criticized from people all across the spectrum. From white conservatives to black liberals, BET had its enemies from all walks of life. But throughout it all, Johnson remained focused on his number one goal: to make his business profitable. Other than that, there was no criticism that could distract or deter him.

There were those who said the station’s programming was lowbrow and not intellectual enough. There were those who said it was not cultural enough – that BET was neither black nor entertainment. Then, there were those who said it actually did more harm to the African American family than good, with all of its music videos featuring little more than expensive cars and flashy clothing, not to mention having no shortage of cleavage.

When Johnson sold BET to Viacom, many observers also called him a sellout. Tavis Smiley, a BET talk show host who continually drew in some of the station’s lowest ratings, was fired soon after the sale. Critics blamed the move on the new “white owners” at Viacom and dismissed Johnson as “a front man.” He was even called “the 2001 version of the dude who drove Ms. Daisy around.”

Johnson, however, has always called this kind of criticism unwarranted. With a 1.6 percent stake in Viacom, he has become the second largest individual shareholder in the company. “I make too much money to be a front man,” he retorts.

To the charges that he is harming the African American movement, Johnson says he has done more good than harm, but that it is not his job anyway. He is an entrepreneur, first and foremost, and his mission is to make money. “We are the only black network in town, so everybody has poured their burdens and obligations on BET,” he says, “but we can’t solve everybody’s desires for BET. We have to be focused on running this as a profit maximization business.”

Johnson has never fallen victim to his critics. Indeed, in response he has pushed even harder to prove that his goal is to create a profitable business, not represent a race. “I never really embraced the notion that BET was an heirloom that belonged to the greater black society,” he says. “BET was a business that had a great impact on African American society, but it didn’t belong to it. And so, my thing is that we want to contribute, we want to add value. But we have to operate according to the philosophy that you have to exist in a world where business decisions have to be made based on business, not on political notions or social agendas.”

The more Johnson’s critics told him to pause and put more thought into his programming, the more Johnson sped up and sought to conquer the industry. He did not let them slow him down. Instead, he turned up the volume and tuned them out.

Related Articles
  Ignore your critics
  Handling Critics
  How A Game Of Rugby League Can Teach You To Make Your Online Business A Success.
  The Gravity of Failure
  Who Is Your Proud Family?

Home > Famous-Entrepreneurs > Robert Johnson > Lesson 5 Turn Up the Volume to Tune out the Critics
Article Tags: burdens, cleavage, conservatives, daisy, desires, enemies, entrepreneur, expensive cars, front man, liberals, music videos, observers, percent stake, sellout, shareholder, talk show host, tavis smiley, twenty years, viacom, walks of life



Related Forum Posts
How does one suggest improvements to inventions How does one suggest improvements to inventions - and get paid for them? I'm sure people write in and complain and suggest new features for various things they buy... and if those changes are implemented that's all well and good, but the person who made the suggestion for the improvment isn't going to get paid for it. How does one suggest these improvements - and get paid for them? ----long story One of the best things the PC did (at least, Dell) was to color code all their little plugs, so you know that the green plug goes into the green hole, the pink into the pink, etc. Makes setting up those things a heckuva lot easier! I was thinking that the same thing should be done for today's TVs! I've had a new TV for a few weeks, set up next to my computer because I like to work and watch TV at the same time. But I've got it set up in such a way that I can't see all the little buttons on the top of the screen, which are the buttons for Stop, Play, Eject (for the internal DVD) , the Volume up and down, and the Channel up and down. Of course, that wasn't a problem when my remote control worked, but for some reason it stopped working a couple of weeks ago. (Yes, I replaced the battery - no good). Since I have the TV so close to my computer it's no problem, I can reach out and touch the buttons... But because they're all the same color, I had to actually get up and look at them to make sure I was pressing the right button. I've solved that problem by attaching a bit of yellow paper to the Play button, and a bit of orange paper to the Volume Up button. Makes things a lot easier...
Re: Ways to Boost Productivity Re: Ways to Boost Productivity - 1. Give Employees More Than a Paycheck 2. Provide Better eSupport Channels to Promote Self-Service 3. Complete your most dreaded tasks first thing in the morning. 4. Outsource as much as possible 5. . Turn off the TV.
On Escalade On Escalade - I've seen the ad for "Turn you on" on TV here in Toronto but not the others. Yeah my girlfriend liked that ad too and started telling me wouldn't it be great to have one, I had to quickly remind her that one of the reasons we moved downtown was so that we could get rid of the car and plus we don't have a parking space for it. Honestly, I was seriously considering it.
Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods - We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her. Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails. I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out. So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.
Re: Getting *back* to the next step Re: Getting *back* to the next step - I think small things can make a big difference. Cut corners when ever possible. To the point that you don't lose any business. For example: start using cheaper products around the office. You'd be surprised how much money you can save just by going to a less expensive brand for the same items. Start soliciting referrals. People are happy to give you a good one if you've done a good job. You just have to ASK. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising and it's the least expensive = free! Turn off lights and computers and even pull plugs on appliances on the weekends, or even every night if you have time and aren't using them. This saves a lot of energy in the long run and you should be conserving energy anyway. Dare I say this......shake the printer ink and make it go another 50 copies. Over a year you can save quite a bit in ink costs. There are other cuts you can make that won't impact the quality of your service/product if you sit down and really think it over, but this is a start.


Recommended Article for You close

  Ignore your critics

Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.



Featured Article


Bottom Footer
Share for a Cause












Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Building a Business From 30,000 Feet

Smart & Simple Internet Techniques

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.