His book ‘Action Has No Season’ available now
By Daniel R. Brown
Of the St. Louis American
“In college or law school or graduate school or business school, they don’t teach you the lessons that my book, Action Has No Season, teaches, and yet it’s really as fundamental as being able to discern a business plan,” said businessman and new author, Michael Roberts, chairman and CEO of the Roberts Companies.
“As you read my book, you will hear me talk about the elements that put my philosophies together. Those elements are entrenched in existentialism, they are entrenched in Renaissance thinking, and they are entrenched in St. Louis street knowledge.”
Over the past 30 years, Michael and his brother Steven Roberts have built their original company, Roberts-Roberts and Associates, into a complex network of organizations that ranks among the top black businesses in the nation. Among their holdings are Roberts Brothers Properties, Roberts Tower Company, Roberts Aviation, Roberts Isle, the Roberts Orpheum Theater and the Roberts Mayfair Hotel.
According to Black Enterprise Magazine’s listing of the top 100 black Industrial Companies, Roberts Broadcasting Company, which is ranked number 76, brought in over $39 million in sales last year alone.
Roberts explained why he wrote the book, which is available to the public but is directed especially to his children.
“What I recognized was that I was beginning to develop a degree of success, and that success was translating into wealth and authority,” Roberts said.
“What I learned and wanted to pass on to my children, and of course everyone else who reads it, is that rich people scream, and wealthy people whisper. Power is elusive, authority endures. In order for one to create more of a generational wealth and authority, you have to learn the secrets and the strategies that lead to wealth and authority.”
The philosophies within the book that Roberts has used to raise his own children have certainly been successful. His twin son and daughter, Michael Jr. and Jeanne, both have law degrees from Pepperdine University, while his younger daughters, Fallon and Meaghan, both currently attend the university with plans of becoming attorneys.
“The different concepts in this book are really the way that he raised us,” explained Jeanne Roberts.
“I could pick up the book and open it to any page and read something and refer it back to my upbringing. It’s a great thing to have on record, because we will be able to pass it on to our kids and grandkids and be able to convey the same teachings that he is trying to convey to us.”
“My father has accomplished heights that he never could have imagined, and so he said, ‘Where does it all go from now?’ The first people that came to mind were his children,” said Michael Jr., who serves as a vice president with the Roberts Companies.
“He wanted to make sure that even after we got our law degrees that we were equipped with as much of his real world experience as possible, as opposed to having to go through the trenches ourselves and make the same mistakes that he made.”
