Kevin Liles Advises, ‘Do What You Love’

As company president at age 30 with no formal business training, Kevin Liles was able to increase the annual revenue at Def Jam Music Group from $40 million to $400 million by transforming its business culture, Liles said during the keynote address at the 23rd Annual DuSable Conference, presented by the student-led African American MBA Association at Palmer House Hilton November 9. When Liles first took charge of the company, most employees arrived for work at 11 a.m., he said.

“If you come in to the office at 11 a.m., you don’t really start working until noon,” Liles said. “And what’s at noon? Lunch. I started to leave notes saying, ‘I’m the boss. What makes you better than me to come in later than me?’ I realized at some point that I did not just love the music business; I love the business of music. I treated it more like a business and not like a big party. I fired all the cousins, brothers, and uncles. I wanted an organization built on work.”

Liles, who is now executive vice president of Warner Music Group, said MBAs can turn their personal histories into success by finding their “will,” regardless of the business. “Your will is that thing in life that when you do or see or feel it, something comes over you that you can’t explain,” he said. “Find the thing that you love, that you would do for free. When you find that, you will get rich.”

In the last five years, Liles has learned not to let money rule his life, he said. “Yes, I want to make a lot of money,” Liles said. “But I really want my freedom to do the things I want to do, to give, to raise my children, to give them the opportunity to do things they want to do. With freedom comes the bigger picture. I say, ‘I’m here to serve my family and my community first.’ I sacrifice. When my phone rings, that’s not somebody calling to talk to me. That’s an opportunity.”

Even though Liles call himself an entrepreneur and a “risk taker,” he takes only calculated risks, he said. “I love being the boss, but I know I have to have a team around,” Liles said. “True character comes out in a team. People who want to follow can also be leaders, but you have to be willing to follow before you can lead. Sometimes I call a meeting at 7 a.m. or on a Sunday just to see who shows up.”

Liles’s comments showed first-year student Sharema Smith that regardless of the industry and the firm, the same business principles and management foundation apply to be successful, Smith said. “I never really thought that much about the music industry,” she said. “It shows that the things we’re learning at the GSB can be applicable in any setting. It’s upon you to determine what you want to do and to use the knowledge you gain here to apply anywhere.”

The keynote address was presented as a fireside chat with moderator Michael Armstrong, senior vice president and general manager of BET International and recipient of the Black Alumni Association’s 2007 Arthur Turnbull Award for Young Alumnus Achievement.

- Phil Rockrohr