Polo has long been called the “Sport of Kings”—a world of manicured lawns, champagne, and generational wealth. So you’d be forgiven for thinking the CEO of a $2.7 billion global heritage polo brand comes from old money connections, with an Ivy League education and a corner office inherited rather than earned. But U.S. Polo Assn’s CEO J. Michael Prince is none of those things.
“I grew up in the middle part of the United States, southeastern Oklahoma—which is actually one of the poor parts of the country, there are four or five really poor parts of the United States, and that’s up there with them,” Prince tells Fortune.
He’s not wrong. Nearly 600,000 Oklahoma residents (14%) currently live in poverty. Southeastern Oklahoma has been one of the most persistently deprived corners of America, where nearly one in four residents in some counties live below the poverty line.
Today, Prince brushes shoulders with Prince William, the future King of England. For nearly the last decade, he’s been running U.S. Polo Assn. out its global headquarters in Palm Beach, overseeing the $2.7 billion brand spanning 190 countries, 1,200 retail stores, and 15 million social media followers.
And he says it’s all thanks to taking up the “boring” job that millennials and boomers abandoned: accounting. “The only chance I have, coming from a small university, to really have a great business opportunity, was through public accounting,” Prince adds.
It wasn’t his passion either, but it was his way in—and the job that few others want—that opened doors to some of the world’s most covetable brands.
With a degree from the small regional university, East Central University, and then later a Duke MBA, he climbed his way to CFO of Nike Affiliates—overseeing a $4 billion portfolio including Converse, Cole Haan, Hurley and Umbro. It was his entry ticket to the C-suite of luxury fashion, first as the COO of Guess, then as the COO of U.S. Polo Assn in 2017. Just eight months later, he was promoted to run the company.
Andy Jassy swears by it, and so does the U.S. Polo Assn. CEO: Attitude will take you further than any skill on your resume
Credentials only get you so far. Ask Prince what made him stand out among his peers for promotion after promotion, and he doesn’t hesitate.
“A great work ethic. Being respectful and considerate of others,” he says. “Where I grew up, I had this personality where you try to find common ground with people, you try to get along. A lot of companies had people who were always challenging in a negative way—I just felt like I brought a positive energy.”
In Prince’s eyes, the formula for success is simple: work hard, stay positive, and pounce when opportunity knocks.
“You’re going to get a handful of opportunities in life, both personally and professionally,” he says. “Always be looking forward—and be thoughtful when you see those opportunities about how to maximise them. Because they may not be there six months from now.”
And he’s not the only CEO to admit that success hinges on something far simpler than qualifications alone: your attitude.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said that an “embarrassing amount of how well you do, particularly in your twenties,” depends on it. The reason why Jassy thinks positivity determines success is pretty straightforward: People want to be around positive people.
In fact, numerous leaders, including the CEOs of Pret and Kurt Geiger, have stressed that being nice to their boss and coworkers was one of the biggest determining factors in their success.
Chanel’s chief outright told Fortune that the fashion house hires for personality before credentials. And Glean’s CEO—running a $7.2 billion AI startup—recently told Fortune he receives thousands of applications a day, and yet he still can’t hire enough candidates with a strong work ethic.
U.S. Polo Assn. CEO shares the lesson he’s learned working alongside Prince William for years
These days, Prince’s world looks very different from his childhood in southeastern Oklahoma.
Every July, he’s at Windsor Castle, co-hosting a charity polo event alongside the Prince of Wales—an event U.S. Polo Assn. has sponsored for years, making it the second-longest-running sponsor on the roster.
And working alongside Prince William, he says, has been its own kind of masterclass.
“What I love about him is that he is so sincere, so thoughtful,” Prince says. “He engages with you as a person—with my son, my wife, our business partners. And you’re like: he’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders, he’s going to be King at some point. Yet he’s out there playing polo because he loves it, raising money for charities that are so happy to be acknowledged.”
“He does such a great job of connecting with you as an individual, so that you feel like you’re the only person he’s focused on right now,” Prince adds. “That professionalism—that ability to connect—is something I’ve taken note of.”
And perhaps there’s something in that for all of us. Even the future King of England—with a schedule most of us can’t fathom and the weight of the monarchy on his shoulders—makes time for the things he loves, shows up fully, and gives back.
