WHAT WAS THE HARDEST DEAL TO GET DONE?

Steve Stoute: McDonald’s and Justin Timberlake, because the way he wanted to be portrayed as the McDonald’s spokesperson and what they were used to in those relationships were yin and yang. McDonald’s was used to guys becoming much more product friendly—like holding the product and eating the burger. And Justin wanted an organic relationship. He didn’t necessarily have to eat the food on camera for you to realize that he was down with McDonald’s. So that was hard to try to really make them understand that and for Justin to give in on some of his points as well. But I knew that he would be good to carry what McDonald’s was trying to portray as their lifestyle.

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FAILURE TO DATE?

Steve Stoute: The Pharrell/Reebok thing. I wished it would’ve worked out. That one slipped away. I think Pharrell is a big act, and he’s going to be extremely successful in everything he does because I think he’s a very important aspect to youth culture. We were working with him at Reebok, but then there was a bunch of legal things that we had to deal with and we ended up going our separate ways. It really wasn’t a failure, though, because it didn’t happen. It didn’t come out and have a chance to fail.

IF YOU COULD PAIR ANY ARTIST WITH ANY CORPORATION, WHO WOULD IT BE?

Steve Stoute: I would love to do Jay–Z and Boeing. Why? It’s just hot. It sounded hot when I just said that! I’d love to do something with snack foods and with automobiles. I’d love to get Mary J. Blige down with Fendi. It keeps changing. I’d have to really think of what would be the ultimate, but I always think about Jay–Z and Boeing.

IN 1999, WHEN YOU WERE AT INTERSCOPE, YOU HAD A RATHER INFAMOUS RUN–IN WITH P. DIDDY. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THAT?

Steve Stoute: The first thing I learned is people take the story and blow it out of proportion. The second thing I learned is people love associating anything they can with stuff that’s negative. That’s unfortunate. I can’t control how people look at me or at him. The question should be asked of him—I don’t know if people look at him that way. I’m not an artist. I’m not anything but a guy that’s behind the scenes, doing a lot of things to help further send the message of America’s youth that the world has to wake up and pay attention.

IS THE COMMISSIONER EASY TO WORK FOR?

Steve Stoute: No! I’m not easy to work for because most people have expectations that are subpar. They don’t demand that as a team, you strive for excellence. People talk about it like it’s a poem or something and don’t necessarily strive for that. I do believe that I’m building an organization that is striving for that.

YOU’RE A POWER BROKER AT WORK, BUT HOW ABOUT IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE?

Steve Stoute: Well, I’m single, so it’s easy! Once you’re married, you have that situation where you have to split the power or split the decisions. When you’re single, you don’t have those issues. Home // CELEBRITIES // THE SHOTCALLER // Steve Stoute