Photo credit ESPN
This is my second post reflecting on episode 2 of the “The Last Dance” a 10-part documentary series about Michael Jordan’s last year with the Chicago Bulls. The purpose of this series to find one leadership nugget in each episode.
Check out part 1 if you haven’t.
[UPDATE: Due to the positive feedback I received on this series I turned it into a short book called “Lead Like Mike”. If you want to support me and read the ten posts all in one place you can now order it here.
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Are You Waiting for Inspiration?
In the second episode, there was a scene where Michael Jordan, a college student at the time, told his coach, Dean Smith, that he wanted to be the best who ever played at the University of North Carolina.
Coach Smith responded, “Not if you play like you did last year.” And with that, Jordan found the mental trigger he needed to push himself to work harder.
Jordan wasn’t the fastest player in the NBA, he wasn’t strongest, he didn’t have the highest vertical leap, and he didn’t have the best scoring percentage. But what sets him apart was his “growth mindset” or his ability to be coachable.
Psychologist Carol Dweck describes it this way,
“In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”
My favorite Jordan story, which I mention in my book, is when he was cut from his high school varsity team. The kid who took Jordan’s spot on the team is the legendary, Leroy Smith.
Smith is legendary, not due to his basketball career but because history will remember him as the boy who took Jordan’s spot and sent him home crying to mommy. Jordan himself said that without Leroy there would be no Michal Jordan.
Jordan’s mother said that from the following day she never saw her son without a basketball in his hands. Jordan used that disappointment and failure as fuel to push him to practice more.
Think about this for a minute.
How in the world could someone who didn’t make their varsity team as a sophomore eventually become one the greatest basketball players of all time? That’s not supposed to happen.
So, how did Jordan do it?
Practice, practice, and more practice. Right. But practice alone isn’t enough.
Jordan created a competitive advantage by finding ways of turning any disappointment, failure, or negative experience into fuel for his desire to improve and win. This is the same man who said “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
“I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
Jordan and I have some things in common. I was cut from my high school team too. (I was cut in college too.) I also went home crying. But that’s as far as I can take my comparisons with Jordan. When I was cut, instead of being inspired to practice more, I just looked for an easier team to join.
Do you see the difference in mindsets here?
During practice scrimmages, one of his coaches in the NBA would move Jordan to the team that was losing if he was on the winning side. But Jordan learned not to complain; he took it as a personal challenge. And more times than not, his team would win.
Here’s my nugget from episode 2
NUGGET #2: Leaders find ways to inspire and motivate themselves to achieve by turning setbacks, disappointments, and even failures into a competitive advantage and by learning from those experiences.
Leaders create their own internal “why”. Jordan’s why was very simple. He wanted to win, make an impact, and leave his mark.
While researching for this blog post I found this quote from Ryan Blair an American entrepreneur and author (never heard of him but I love the quote), “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”
“If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.”
– Ryan Blair
Jordan found a way to win internally before he won outwardly. Waiting on external motivation and inspiration is a gamble because 1) you don’t know if you’ll find it and 2) it doesn’t last. Instead, we have the ability to inspire ourselves by using life’s circumstances to our advantage.
So, are you the type of person who is waiting for external motivation or do you create it yourself?
If you like this post, go check out my book.
