A small interaction or passing conversation can mark entrepreneurs throughout their careers. For NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, that lesson came from his father — and he carried it with him throughout his career in sports, business and philanthropy.
“My father was a drill sergeant, but he always told me to honor people. Treat people kindly. Treat less fortunate people well,” O’Neal said recently during the Milken Institute conference. “Make sure you can give them things, especially things you don’t need.”
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One moment in particular cemented O’Neal’s outlook on life. His father had just earned some extra money at work and wanted to take the future sports star to eat at White Castle. (traditional fast food chain in the USA).
The two ordered five double cheese burgers each, but on the way home, they encountered a man holding a sign: “Homeless Veteran, Work for Food.” Without thinking twice, O’Neal’s father took three hamburgers from his hands and handed them to the veteran.
“I asked him, ‘Why did you give my food to that man?’ And he replied: ‘Because this man needed it more’”, recalled the basketball legend. “And then he concluded by saying, ‘If you ever become famous — I know you have many dreams and aspirations — make sure you always look out for the humble ones.’”
Living Father’s Message Through Multimillion-Dollar Philanthropy and Business
The multimillionaire carried this philosophy throughout his three-decade career. In addition to having a successful 19-season stint in the NBA from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Orlando Magic — winning four league titles and three consecutive NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards — he has also built a business empire and philanthropic portfolio worth many millions of dollars.
O’Neal incorporated his father’s philosophy into his broad philanthropic efforts. Last year, he broke ground on the $24 million Shaquille O’Neal Youth Complex: a facility focused on youth from Southern Nevada communities.
And in 2025, he also donated $20,000 in scholarships to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta.
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Through The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, the basketball legend’s philanthropic foundation, he is also able to provide support to vulnerable youth — from the annual “Shaq-a-Claus” holiday gift initiative to grant funding for children’s sports programs.
At the same time, O’Neal also strengthened his position among the “greats” through business; At age 54, he has owned more than 150 car washes, more than 40 gyms, 17 Auntie Anne’s stores and a significant stake in Five Guys.
In 2018, he even created his own franchise, Big Chicken, which has dozens of units around the world. O’Neal is also the second largest shareholder in Authentic Brands Group, valued at $20 billion and responsible for brands such as Reebok, Champion, Sports Illustrated and Forever 21.
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CEOs and celebrities who say it’s essential to give back
O’Neal isn’t alone in believing that true success means helping other people along the way. Just like the athlete’s father, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Mariska Hargitay also taught this lesson to her children — and believes that the universe favors those who do good to others.
“When we’re on the street and someone drops something, I pick it up. If you stop for a second and do something, everyone’s happy,” Hargitay told USA Today in a 2012 interview. “You do good and it comes back to you multiplied.”
Hollywood icon Denzel Washington also echoed the same life lesson O’Neal learned from his father. The two-time Oscar winner, who starred in films such as Training Day, Philadelphia and Malcolm X, also values giving back to others while reaching new heights in his career.
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“In the end, it doesn’t matter what you have or even what you’ve achieved. It matters what you did with those achievements,” Washington wrote in his book “A Hand to Guide Me.” “It matters who you helped grow, who you made better. It matters what you gave back to the world.”
And billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, whose fortune is estimated at $37 billion, has never hidden her goals of distributing her wealth to improve the lives of others. The former Amazon employee and ex-wife of Jeff Bezos has donated more than $26 billion in 2,700 donations through her charitable initiative Yield Giving.
This amount made her the third most generous philanthropist in the world, having donated 46% of her net worth, according to a Forbes analysis published earlier this year. This is all part of his plan to use his wealth to bring about meaningful change.
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“Each of us receives the gifts we can give thanks to an infinite series of influences and strokes of luck that we can never fully understand. In addition to all the resources that life has cultivated in me, I have a disproportionate amount of money to share,” Scott wrote in his letter to The Giving Pledge philanthropic campaign, adding that his giving “will take time, effort, and care. But I will not wait. And I will continue until the coffer is empty.”
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