In his memoir, “Talk of Champions,” former NBA point guard Kenny Smith shares that he was roommates with future billionaire David Kohler during college. That’s Kohler, as in the person who would go on to be the fourth generation of his family to own and operate the giant plumbing manufacturer of the same name.
According to Forbes, the Kohler family is worth an estimated $16.2 billion. Smith was surprised to see his roommate sleeping on his couch instead of working for the family business.
“‘Why didn’t your father just make you an executive?’” Smith, now an analyst on “Inside the NBA,” recalled asking Kohler at the time, in a 2023 conversation with radio personality Big Boy.
“He said, ‘No, I’ve got to be a plumber first,’” Smith continued. “‘He’s going to make me be a plumber and then I go through the steps so if I get an invoice as an executive for $7 for screws I know that they’re really $3. So I know everything about the company.’”
Smith says the conversation changed his perspective on business, sports and life. Here’s why.
The Kohler family isn’t the only one that insists that the next generation acquire practical work experience.
According to researchers at the University of Louisville, St. John Fisher University and Kennesaw State University, many business families mandate external experience for younger generations “believing it to be the best way for younger family members to gain legitimacy, to learn what work ‘is really like’ and to make mistakes at no cost to the family business,” as written in Family Business.
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To be clear, you don’t have to be a billionaire business family to implement these lessons.
“Now, when my kids ask me for things, I’m, like, ‘No, you’ve got to be a plumber first. I’m going to give it to you, but you’ve got to go through the steps, and you’ve got it, it’s waiting for you. It’s waiting for you at the end,’” Smith told Big Boy.
A quick brush of practical experience can help you as an investor and as a parent.
