THOUGHTS FROM MICHAEL JORDAN ON LEADERSHIP

If you don't back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn't mean a thing.

I've always treid to lead by example.  That is just my personality.  I never led vocally.  I never really tried to motivate by talking because I don't think words ever mean as much as action.

They always say a picture carries a thousand words.  So I tried to paint a picture of hard work and discipline.

But a leaders has to earn that title.  You aren't the leader just because you're the best player on the team, the smartest person in the class, or the most popular.  No one can give you that title either.  You have to gain the respect of those around you or by your actions.  You have to be consistent in your approach whether it's basketball practice, a sales meeting, or dealing with your family.

A leader can't make any excuses.  There has to be quality in everything you do.  Off the court, on the court, in the classroom, on the playground, inside the meeting room, outside of work.  You have to transfer those skills, that drive, to whatever environment you're in.

And you have to be willing to sacrifice certain individual goals, if necessary for the good of the team.

From "I Can't Accept Not Trying"

MJ's 10 RULES FOR MAXIMIZING YOUR COMPETITIVENESS

Thanks to LSU Sports Information Director Bill Martin for tweeting this article from Golf Digest last week on Michael Jordan.  Here are a few excerpts, but you can read the entire article written by MJ and Craig Bestrom here.

1. Focus on the little things. During my basketball career, I always told myself to focus on the little things because little things added up to big things. I equate making putts with making free throws, and my biggest mental challenge shooting free throws was in my second year, 1986, when I came back from a foot injury for the playoffs and had a 63-point game against Boston in the Garden. I had to make two free throws to send the game into overtime, and all I focused on was the basics -- I'm not gonna be short. I'm gonna extend and reach for the rim -- all the fundamentals that I had worked on at home and at practice for all those years. Golf is no different. Don't assume, for example, that any putt is good. Make sure you putt every three-footer with conviction.

And keep score every time you play. I do.

2. Have total confidence in what you can do. If you have 100 percent confidence that you can pull off a shot, most of the time you will. I'll never forget the time I was playing with Seve Ballesteros in Valencia [Spain]. It was just a fun round, but very competitive, of course. Seve misses a green, and his ball ends up right up against a tree. He has absolutely no backswing, and I'm thinking he's out of the hole. Next thing I know, Seve's on his knees with some kind of iron in his hands, and he's choking down all the way to the hosel. He chips this thing, and it bounces onto the green to a few feet, and he makes par. Unbelievable!

3. Don't think about the prize; think about the work. At my basketball camps every year, I award the kids shoes if they make a certain number of free throws or if they complete an around-the-world or something like that. But I always tell them that if they're thinking about the prize, they should be thinking about the work. Prepare, practice and perfect it. Do the work, and the prizes will come.

4. Keep it simple. There are a lot of correlations between basketball and golf, especially on the mental side. Whenever I played a big game, I tried to stick to things I knew I was capable of doing. I do the same in golf. I've seen Tiger hit that stinger, and I know it's doable for me, too, but it isn't a shot I've practiced much. Why would I try that in the heat of the moment?

5. Control your emotions until the round is over. Celebrating during a round can be a good thing if it inspires you to keep doing great things. But be careful not to overdo it. Sometimes, celebrating too much adds pressure and makes you feel like you've got to live up to it the rest of the round. Worse, your celebrating can motivate your opponent. My enjoyment doesn't come until the round is over. Most of the time, anyway.

6. Use tough losses for motivation. Turning negatives into positives has always worked for me. I think back to when I was cut from my high school basketball team as a sophomore. That was the biggest disappointment of my sports career, but it only made me work harder.

7. Competitors always want to have something riding on the outcome. It isn't the amount of money, it's something to keep the focus at its highest. Whenever I meet people, they always have this idea that I like to play for big money. My line is always: I play for whatever makes you nervous. That's enough to give me a competitive edge. It could be five dollars. It could be 10. It could be a shirt in the pro shop. It doesn't have to be for $500,000 or a million. Sometimes it might be enough if we're just playing for pride.

8. I love trash-talking, and there's an art to turning it into a competitive edge. Trash-talking is a means of (1) giving you confidence, and (2) taking your opponent's mind off what he's trying to do and putting a little more pressure on him. I don't talk trash to demean people.

I don't talk about their parents or any of that. But I do love talking trash no matter who I'm playing. President Clinton is the only U.S. president I've played golf with, and I talked trash with him, too. Why wouldn't I? Talking trash, especially with someone like that, is giving him a better understanding of who I am. He wants to experience what it feels like to hang out with Michael Jordan, and that's me.

I enjoy moments like that. I love competitiveness. So why would I do anything less?

9. Nervousness is not a bad thing. I was nervous a lot of times before games. The key is, does that nervousness go away once the ball is thrown up because of your preparation and your routine. Once the game got started, I was back in my routine.

Golf can work the same way if you put in the work to prepare. Yeah, you're going to be nervous on the first tee, but all it takes is one good shot, and that nervousness goes away.

10. Learn from Tiger's competitiveness. We'll never really know which of the two of us is more competitive.

He plays golf, and I played basketball. But he'll do anything to beat you.

One day we were playing with a friend of mine, Jacob Brumfield. He played pro baseball [with four major-league teams] in the '90s. Jacob was so trash-talking Tiger that when we got to the 18th hole, Tiger told him he'd play every shot on that hole from his knees and Jacob could play normal. Now that is confidence. That's the kind of stuff I'd do in basketball.

JORDAN: HE HATED TO LOSE

Here are some older post from our blog for athletes, Hoop Boost.  This was a 3-part series on Michael Jordan on how much he hated to lose.  These are great reads for your players.

JORDAN: He Hated to Lose (Part 3)

JORDAN: He Hated to Lose (Part 2)

JORDAN: He Hated to Lose (Part 1)

PERFORM IN THE MOMENT

Game performances occur in the present, not in the past or future.

Although recalling positive memories of past performances and visualizing future ones can be useful, the best state of mind to be in is in the present.

George Mumford, who also work with the L.A. Lakers when Phil Jackson was coach, currently works with sports teams at Boston College.  He still remembers his best student on the Bulls, none other than Michael Jordan  "Michael made no distinction between practice and a game in terms of the effort he puts in," Mumford recalled.  "He was the first one running sprints and doing all the other drills.  He didn't have to prove anything, and yet he was always pushing himself.  Not in an abusive way, but because he was truly in the moment and enjoying what he was doing."

Before, during and after practice and competition, constantly remind yourself, "Right here is the best place, and right now is the only time."

"Don't coach and teach too much about where you want to be," Coach Wooden said. "Coach and teach where you are as a team right now, and what you want to do right now in order to player your best."


From "The Winning Spirit" by Joe Montana and Tom Mitchell

JORDAN ADDRESSES FUNDAMENTALS, PRACTICE AND WORK ETHIC WITH BOBCATS

The following are some excerpts from a Q&A that Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats did with the Charlotte Observer. 

Q: You spoke to the team Monday. What did you say?

MJ: Well I watched a couple of practices and one of the things I was very happy about and I really praised the coaching staff in terms of was the method they were going about teaching our kids, teaching our players. Because a lot of those players, a lot of those things in the past were not being seen as basketball players. I got so excited because these are the things I went through -- some of the drills, some of the fundamentals.

I think those have been missing in some of the preseason activity. Why coaches have skipped steps in the past I don’t understand and especially because our talent coming out is a lot younger than it used to be. And this is from a guy [Jordan himself] who had been in college three years, and I still had to go through that process.

I felt good about what Coach Dunlap was actually doing, all the little things that seemingly have been our biggest issue in the past.

Q: Little things like what?

MJ: Boxing out. Making good passes. Utilizing each other’s talents. Understanding basic basketball. Pivots. Things that basketball fans don’t see as often, but if you look at good teams, those are good things that happen in the game. And one of the reasons I felt compelled to speak to the team was, ‘Look, I endorse what coach is talking about.'

Unfortunately we had some guys who were not receiving it that way. Either they were not, they didn’t want to do it. And I felt the need to step in and say, ‘Look, this is how we’re going to do this. The culture of what’s happening in Charlotte is going to be this. Either you buy in or you’re not going to be here.’

You can’t sit here and look yourself in the mirror and say we don’t need this stuff. If that was the case, we shouldn’t have been a 7-59 team. So in essence when you’re a 7-59 team, you go back to the basics, you go back to try and figure out a way, OK, we need to do this thing the right way. Either you buy in or you’re not a part of this whole process.

MJ: So you had heard some of the players grumbling about the 3-4 hour practices?

A: Yeah, I heard that and I saw it. Which is one of the reasons I went to watch practice. And I didn’t see anything that was different from when I played the game of basketball. I think the perception is a little bit different, maybe the expectation is a little bit different and this is where we’ve got to hold firm. This is what championship teams do. If we did it in Chicago and we became a championship team, why wouldn’t we want to do that here? If you turn your nose up to it, then maybe you need to look in the mirror and see that you’re a part of the problem…

You can read the entire Q&A here: http://goo.gl/gxxVU

CAMP LECTURE: HARD WORK

Here are the cliff notes to my lecture for our position camp this evening...the topic being HARD WORK.

The great ones control what they can control — we can all control how hard we work.

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good. That's just the way it is. And if you believe that and live by it, you'd be surprised at how much you can have." –Woody Hayes

The problem for us all is we see someone doing something great and they make it look easy so we assume it is easy to do or at least easy for them. We don’t realize how hard they have worked to master something. Michael Jordan (great player ever)...Shaquille O’Neal (one of the most dominating post players ever) — both got cut in high school...resilient but extremely hard working.

“If you think you are working hard, you can work harder. If you think you are doing enough, there is more that you can do. No one really ever exhausts his full potential.” –Pete Carril

Examples:
Magic Johnson...Dick Vitale (than coach at University of Detroit) thought he’s surprised and impress Magic Johnson by showing up at 6:30 AM at his Michigan home one winter. With chilling, windy, snowy weather on the ground Vitale knocked on the door. Magic’s mom answers and told him that Magic had already left. He goes to the outdoor court every morning and shoots before the bus comes. http://bit.ly/4C98ZH

Chris Paul...started his off-season workouts at 4:21 AM when he was with the Hornets http://bit.ly/m59wXN

Chris Jackson...game-like shooting immediately following a night game at LSU because he was upset he missed 3 similar shots.

Larry Bird..."I used to shoot a lot of free throws. I wouldn't leave until I made a hundred in a row." (86.7% career FT shooter...lead NBA 4 times...10th all-time).

Seimone Augustus...McKinnley HS...Rec Center

Derrick Rose...700 jumpers a day in the off-season http://bit.ly/Kgj42z

Shaquille talking about how hard Kobe Bryant worked at practice...first one there, last one to leave...every drill at game speed — even drills on his own...always carried a compact DVD player...watched video walking down the hall or while getting taped.

Sylvia Fowles hiring a post coach and paying his way to come and stay in Russia to workout her out during her season in Russia.

LeBron James has his own personal shooting coach...paid his way to Beijing, China during the 2008 Olympics so he could work on his shooting for an hour in the afternoon after team USA practiced...spent last summer with Hakeem Olajuwon working on low post game.

Michael Jordan:
Hired his own strength and conditioning coach...built an amazing weight room in his home...hired a chef to create ultimate training meals.

Baseball: first one to the park and last one to leave — hitting instructor at the end of the day would say we’re done. MJ: “Can we do a little more.” http://bit.ly/KBnMhg

Coming out of retirement, first practice back, practice ended and the team broke from half-court to the locker room. Michael walked to the end line and started running wind sprints — team came back and joined him!

After 5th championship he was asked why his he still playing — “I think I can get better.”

"CAN WE DO A LITTLE MORE"

I came across this video of Michael Jordan and it is basically a collage of clips and interviews -- all with great merit.  But the thing that hit me was the very early piece on his baseball career.  The segment talks about how MJ was the absolute first to the ball park every morning and the last one to leave and that a day didn't pass that he didn't say to his hitting instructor, "Can we do a little more."

It is well chronicled that Jordan was the first to the gym and last to leave in basketball but some may put that off as why not, he was so good at it.  Of course, he was so good at it because of the work he put in it.  And he certainly didn't hit the batting cage as an accomplished hitter but he knew there was no way to get there unless he put the time in.

MJ: "I WANT TO BE THE BEST PLAYER TO EVER PLAY HERE"

The following is conversation between Coach Roy Williams, then an assistant at the University of North Carolina and a young freshman named Michael Jordan:

When Michael Jordan first got to UNC, we were sitting at the track one day after conditioning. It was just the two of us. “Coach,” he said. “I want to be the best player to every play here.”

“You’ll have to work much harder than you did in high school,” Williams said.

“But, Coach. I worked as hard as everybody else.”

“Oh, excuse me. I thought you just said you wanted to be the best player to ever play here. Working as hard as everybody else is not even going to come close, son.”

That was the end of the conversation.

Two days later, after the next conditioning session, Michael comes up to me and we were sitting there alone again. He said, “Coach, I’ve been thinking about what you said. I’m going to show you. There will never be anyone who will outwork me.”

He did that. From that day on, Michael tried to kick everybody’s rear end in every drill.

From "Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court" by Roy Williams

HOW TO BE LIKE MIKE BY PAT WILLIAMS FULL OF GREAT LESSONS

We've talked about it before but I'm a big believer in giving reading assignments to your team or even players individually.  It can be anything from a newspaper article to an entire book.  Over the years, one of the better books we've assigned our players to read is "How To Be Like Mike" by Pat Williams.  First and foremost, it is extremely well written in terms of the lessons laid out for players to learn from.  Secondly, just the fact that it is about Michael Jordan instantly grabs the attention of players.  It is also a great book for coaches to read.

A variety of topics are discussed in the book including focus, work, toughness, competing, loyalty, and dreaming. The books uses shorts stories — some from Jordan, some from his teammates, some from his coaches and even more from his opponents.

The draw for our kids is that Jordan is what most aspire to be...they really do want to be like Mike! So when B.J. Armstrong says, “The thing that makes Michael who he is, is his focus. His ability to concentrate absolutely. To set everything else aside other than what needs to be done right now”...your players listen.

Chapter 8 is titled “The Fist.” Ironically, the “fist” came about from a symbol used by North Carolina’s biggest rival, Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils. Coach K often uses the fist as a symbol of team work — each finger folded tightly together. Hill talked about how Coach K effectively used ‘the fist” to motivate Duke to National Championships in 1991 and again in 1992. Williams goes a step further to explain how Jordan didn’t fully understand that principle when he first entered the NBA. He used his competitiveness to try and go out and beat his opponent each night by himself. It wasn’t until he involved his teammates that they started winning championships and in effect he became an even greater player.

One of the stories shared by Williams was an annual meeting held by Phil Jackson the night before he started training camp. Jackson would bring his team together on the eve of the first practice and close by asking each player to give his individual goals.
 
Jordan was always the last player to speak and he always had the same thing to say:
 
“I have no individual goals. We play for one reason and that’s to win the title. Practice is more important than the games, and I will practice when I’m hurt, when 95 percent of the players in this league would sit out. I expect all of you to do the same thing. You will follow my lead.”

In terms of handling a defeat, Jordan said, “Accept a loss as a learning experience and never point fingers at your teammates.”

In terms of leadership, Jordan pushed himself but also pushed his teammates. In Rolan Lazenby’s "Blood on the Horns" (a book about the Bulls), he goes into detail about how Jordan was driven with himself and the Bulls squad to the point that he was referred to as “Bobby Knight in short pants.”

Another story about the drive of Jordan is detailed in the book by sportswriter Michael Wilbon.

“One day during the 1997-98 season, Phil Jackson called off a practice. Michael said to Scottie Pippen, ‘We’re not playing well enough not to practice. So they went to Phil and requested a practice. Turned out they practiced for three hours. Later, MJ said, ‘The best players have to be the caretakers.’”

Still another insight into his success comes from his ability to gravitate above failure.

“Some people get frozen by a fear of failure,” Jordan said. “they get it from their peers or from just thinking about the possibility of negative results. They might be afraid of looking bad or being embarrassed. I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life, I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it.”

This book starts fast and finishes fast. Pat Williams, the Senior Vice President of the Orlando Magic has written several motivational books and did a tremendous job in writing “How to Be Like Mike.” The stories and quotations are tremendous to share with your team. It is a great book for coaches to read and a great gift for a player or even a team.

JORDAN ON BULLS' TITLES: WON WITH ROLE ACCEPTANCE AND FUNDAMENTALS

When we started winning championships, there was an understanding among all twelve players about what our roles were. We knew our responsibilities and we knew our capabilities.

And that’s why we were able to beat more talented teams. There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve.

The minute you get away from fundamentals, the bottom can fall out.

Fundamentals were the most crucial part of my game in the NBA. Everything I did, everything I achieved, can be traced back to the way I approached the fundamentals and how I applied them to my abilities.

They really are the basic building blocks or principles that make everything work. I don’t care what you’re doing or what you’re trying to accomplish; you can’t skip fundamentals if you want to be the best.

You have to monitor your fundamentals constantly because the only thing that changes will be your attention to them. The fundamentals will never change.

Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.

It comes down to a very simple saying: There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way.

If you don’t back it up with performance and hard work, talking doesn’t mean a thing.

From "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan

TIM GROVER: HOW THE GREAT GET BETTER

Talk about a great way to tip-off a super weekend -- Felicia Hall Allen started this year's Assistant Coaching Symposium by making it possibly for us to travel to Attach Athletics' gym to watch Tim Grover and his staff working out some players.  Tim is credited for helping Michael Jordan get to the next level.  I enjoyed the afternoon in the gym and will be posting some notes later but until, here is some video footage you might enjoy.

QUOTES ON OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

"Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has."
-Billy Graham

"Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you."
-Jeffrey Gitomer

"You may not realize it when it happens, but at kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
-Walt Disney

"Nothing is predestined: The obstacles of your past can become the gateways that lead to new beginnings."
-Ralph Blum

"I would never have amounted to anything were it not for adversity. I was forced to come up the hard way."
-J. C. Penney

"The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration."
-Confucius

"There is no education like adversity."
-Benjamin Disraeli

"Adversity builds character and character makes us stronger."
-Mark Wilson

"When it gets dark enough you can see the stars."
-Lee Salk

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."
-Michael Jordan

MICHAEL JORDAN: I CAN'T ACCEPT NOT TRYING

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. Why? Because when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.

I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it. I don’t believe you can achieve anything by being passive. I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it’s an illusion to me.

That’s why my advice has always been to “think positive” and find fuel in any failure. Sometimes failure actually just gets you closer to where you want to be.

I think fear sometimes comes from a lack of focus or concentration especially in sports.

I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.

I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don’t do things halfheartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect halfhearted results. That’s why I approached practices the same way I approached games. You can’t turn it on and off like a faucet. I couldn’t dog it during practice and then, when I needed that extra push late in the game, expect it to be there.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

From: "I Can't Accept Not Trying" by Michael Jordan

BIRD & MJ: THE SIMILARITIES

Chris Ford, who coached Larry Bird and coached against Michael Jordan, came in the end to think that despite the vast differences in their games and their styles and their bodies, the similarities between them were greater than the differences. There was the hunger for excellence, the singular need for a championship, the effect they had in lifting their teammates, the sense they gave off that they were invincible men. They had one other thing in common, Ford thought, that set them apart from so many supremely talented young players now entering the league, who arrived a weak franchise by dint of the whim of the draft, and could not wait until the three years of their first contract were up, so that they could go to a better team. They both shared the same sense of obligation. “If you were drafted by a team which was at the bottom, then part of the responsibility which went with your contract was to turn that team around and make it a winner—in fact, make it a champion.”

From "Playing for Keeps" by David Halberstam

DO YOU WORK ON TEAMWORK AND CHEMISTRY

On my flight out to Phoenix yesterday, I brought John Maxwell's "Teamwork Makes the Dream Work." It is the third time I've read. I very much to like to re-read certain books. In part because my retention is not what I'd live for it to be and also because it gives me the opportunity to review material I thought important. My books are always marked up. I underline things...circle things...write notes on the margins...then I have a student worker go back and type all that I have marked up.

There were so many great concepts in thoughts in this particular Maxwell book even though it is a relatively short book (120 pages). It is well worth the re-read!

How many times do we as coaches talk about the importance of teamwork? We talk of other teams - "they don't play well together." Or we speak about our own squad - "we still haven't come together yet." I don't think there could possibly be a coach of a team sport out there there would disagree that teamwork is a very essential part of success in their sport.

My question is this...do you work on teamwork?

Team chemistry was so important to Sue Gunter. I learned a valuable lesson while on her staff. It is important lets talk about it, make a plan about it, and execute that plan. Whenever we had staff meetings with Coach Gunter, there would always be specific topics that you could count on such as offense play, defensive play, conditioning, recruiting, practice organization.....

....and team chemistry.

For Coach Gunter, the closeness of a team was important to her -- important enough to talk, plan and execute. Each week she wanted to do something with the team and/or for the team that focused on building team chemistry. It might be a team meal...it might be a motivational passout about team...it might be an assignment for them to discuss team...there would be drills in practice designed to bring the team together (those were always difficult ones of course)...we utilize "Secret Santa" at our team Christmas party because Coach Gunter thought it made the team think about each other.

Her thoughts on team were prevalent year round. She would be just as concerned in July with building a team as she would be in October. Every decision she made she would ask, "How does this effect the team?"

If TEAM is important to you than make it important enough to be part of your plan.

Outside of our video room there is a sign with the following Michael Jordan quote selected by Coach Gunter. I thought it appropriate that Maxwell utilized the same quote in his book.

"There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren’t willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence win championships."

-Michael Jordan

PUSHING YOUR STARS

If anything, some thought, Dean Smith was a little harder on Michael Jordan every day in practice then he was on other young players, as if accepting his greater possibilities and his own limitless ambition and holding him to it, setting higher standards for him than for the others. Roy Williams was also always pushing Jordan to work harder in practice. “I’m working as hard as everyone else,” Jordan answered.

“But Michael, you told me you wanted to be the best,” Williams once reminded him. “And if you want to be the best, then you have to work harder than everyone else.” There was, Williams thought, a long pause, while Jordan pondered that. Finally he said, “Coach, I understand.”

From "Playing for Keeps" by David Halberstam

IT'S ABOUT WINNING...NOT RECORDS

Michael Jordan scored sixty-three points, a playoff record. Jordan himself was not very pleased. After the game, he told reporters, “I’d give all the points back if we could have won the game. I wanted to win so badly.” Years later, when people brought the game up, expecting him to go on about it with some degree of nostalgia, he quickly changed the subject. “It’s not one of my favorite games,” he would say, and then quickly add, “Because we lost. That fact never changes.”

From "Playing for Keeps" by David Halberstam

WORDS OF WIDSOM FROM MICHAEL JORDAN

ON HIS MENTORS

"The process for me has always been pure. It's been about leading and staying true -- authentic -- to those fundamental values that flowed downstream from my parents and Coach (Dean) Smith."

ON BEING CUT AS A HIGH SCHOOL SOPHOMORE

"Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I'd sloe my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that usually got me going again."

ON PERCEPTIONS OF HIM

I"ve never been worried about anyone's perception, one way or another. I've never allowed anyone's opinion to define me. I'm comfortable with who I am, I trust myself."

ON TEAM FIRST

"One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."

ON FAILURE LEADING TO SUCCESS

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

ON OBSTACLES

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it."

ON FEAR

"I know fear is an obstacle for some people, but it is an illusion to me...failure always made me try harder next time."

ON WORK

"Anything can happen if you are willing to put in the work and remain open to the possibility. Dreams are realized by effort determination, passion and staying connected to that sense of who you are."

JORDAN: WHY I SUCCEED

"I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career,

I've lost almost 300 games.

26 times I've been trusted to

take the game winning shot and misses.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life.

AND THAT'S WHY I SUCCEED!

-Michael Jordan-

PLAYING FOR KEEPS (PART I)

The late David Halberstam was a wonderful writer and one of my favorites was his book "Playing For Keeps." There were several passages in the book that outlined the very reason why Michael Jordan was not just a great player but a dominate player. From time to time this summer I'm going to share some of those passages beginning with this one:

"Hale noticed another thing about Jordan. Even in pickup games, he had become unusually purposeful. There was a tendency in games like this, when there were no coaches around for player to resort to what they did best, to reinforce their strengths and avoid going to any part of their game that was essentially weak. But Jordan, Hale believed, was constantly working on the weaker part of his game, trying to bring it up. It was, Hale thought, one more sign of his desire to be the best."