“How do you make a life from knowing people? I’ve never seen him with a tool. His tools are his ability to [connect people]. He puts people together — and they do what they do.”
- Bill Withers

From a two-room schoolhouse in North Carolina to the boardrooms of Motown, and MGM, and everyplace — Clarence Avant has earned his reputation as The Black Godfather.

From Bill (Ain’t No Sunshine) Withers and Sean (Diddy) Combs, to Bill Clinton and Kamala Harris. They all speak to the influence Avant has had on their careers and the lives of the people around them.

Clarence got his introduction to the world of show business as an agent for Joe Glaser’s Associated Booking Corporation. Glaser’s successful association with Louis Armstrong brought other jazz greats Dave Brubeck, Sarah Vaughan, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday to the agency and there Avant began building the connections and relationships that would form the basis of his entire career.

Although he maintains to this day that “Life is about one thing: numbers,” he’s clearly driven by a purpose greater than money. But he was critical in ensuring that Black Artists were paid the same amount as their white counterparts. “If you don’t ask, you don’t get. That’s why I tell people, life begins with a number and ends with a number.”

The way Clarence makes things happen is through his relationships and connections. He has developed a knack for bringing people together in ways that make them all stronger. Where making sure that people were paid fairly was the best outcome for everyone involved.

Avant’s generosity with his time, experience, insights and connections is legendary. Many of the most influential people in the businesses of music, film and even politics consider him a confidante and someone they will go to for advice.

If someone like Clarence who came from a severely (financially) underprivileged background can afford to live a life that is devoted to generosity in service of others, how can any of us (who started with more) justify looking out for ourselves with no sense of how we impact the greater community?

Former President Obama said:

“I think that Clarence exemplifies a certain cool, a certain level of street smarts and savvy that allowed him to move into worlds that nobody had prepared him for and say ‘I can figure this out.’”

Avant can ‘figure this out’ because he recognises that he doesn’t have to do it alone. When having him in the room is going to lead to better outcomes for everyone there, he will be welcomed. People will accept him the first time and they’ll be sure to invite him every time after that. They’ll show him the ropes where needed, and enjoy the fact that he’s straight up, every time. I suspect that his ‘all about the numbers’ approach disarms people, because they don’t spend time in meetings with him wondering if there’s an agenda that he’s not mentioning.

As Clarence said when he accepted a BET Entrepreneurship Award: “I can’t make speeches. I make deals.”

What if your deal was to connect as many people as possible? To connect creatives with other creatives? To connect money people with the creative folk who will make them more money? To connect artists with audiences?

Record producer Terry Lewis sums it up:

Clarence never strayed from his real purpose — Black people are going to move forward.
He’ll take something that was impossible and make it possible, because he’ll bring the parties together and make them understand the concept, the overall vision of it. Then he makes you realise your responsibility to whatever that is, and your responsibility to give to the next one.
Each one, teach one. Everybody’s giving.
Then the spirit gets bigger and bigger, and the circle gets bigger and bigger. You keep touching, and moving, and shaking.
Clarence exposed us to that world.

Life is about numbers. There is strength in numbers.

Check out The Black Godfather, directed by Reginald Hudlin. On Netflix.

H/T to Napoleon Douglas for bringing Clarence and this documentary to my attention.

The Infinite Creative

Strength in numbers