The Apprentice Mindset by Katarvia Taylor

Author:Katarvia Taylor [Taylor, Katarvia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798885042147
Publisher: New Degree Press
Published: 2022-04-22T07:47:42+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Develop Soft Skills: Build the Interpersonal Skills and Personal Traits Needed to Succeed

Walk with the wise and become wise.

Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)

The 1960s New York nightclub and music promotion scene is where we find a rather peculiar apprenticeship pairing of a Russian–Jewish mobster from Chicago and a twenty-something African American with a ninth-grade education from Climax, North Carolina. Master Joseph G. Glaser (known as Joe Glaser), a successful artist manager, would impart to apprentice Clarence Avant the skills that would turn Clarence into a formidable kingmaker, negotiator, and dealmaker.

Joe Glaser was a tough and well-connected agent and businessman who was born in 1896 in Chicago. His father was a Russian–Jewish physician. Intending to follow in his father’s footsteps, he entered medical school but dropped out after fainting in an operating room. He then turned to building a business career, starting out as a used car salesman. Glaser became a successful boxing promoter who was notorious for fixing fights. He then became a saloon and club owner and founder and president of the Associated Booking Company, which he cofounded in 1940 with Louis Armstrong. He successfully managed the careers of many top musicians (many of whom were African American), including Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, B.B. King, and Barbra Streisand.

Glaser was a controversial and complex man. The agent was known for his fatherly approach to his clients, taking care of all aspects of their lives from taxes to dental bills. As Louis Armstrong put it, “Asking me about Joe is like askin’ a chile ‘bout its daddy. That’s what he is. He’s my daddy” (Jones, 2016). At the same time, Joe was an alleged notorious mobster who ran Al Capone’s Chicago South Side prostitution ring and faced numerous legal challenges related to his treatment of young girls.

Joe understood the levers of power and was a tough negotiator. He would tell new acquaintances, “You don’t know me, but you know two things about me: I have a terrible temper, and I always keep my word” (Hodgson, 2016).

He died in 1969 of a stroke, leaving behind a complicated legacy. Contemporary critics who look back on the period do not know whether to characterize him as being ahead of his time regarding race relations—given his work with the greatest Black jazz artists of all time—or to cast him as an exploiter of Black talent. One thing remains certain: Regardless of his motives, Joe held a lot of keys, and he used them to open doors for others, one of whom was Clarence Avant, dealmaker, record producer, and advocate for Black artists.

Prior to the 2019 Netflix documentary The Black Godfather, Clarence Avant’s name was not broadly known. Avant is considered the celebrity’s celebrity; he has come to be known as one of the most influential dealmakers in the business.

Avant was born in 1931 and grew up in the tiny town of Climax, North Carolina. The eldest of eight children, Clarence never met his father and despised his stepfather who abused his mother. He

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