By Pierce Jones –
For this week’s blog, I really wanted to dive in and take a look at one of the all-time greats, Michael Jordan. Many people when they hear “Michael Jordan” know who he is and that he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, to play the game of basketball. In my true and honest opinion, Michael being great at basketball and his work ethic were not only what set him apart and led him to be a 6x NBA Champion, 6x NBA Finals MVP, 5x Regular Season MVP, and a 14x All-Star. It was the role he played as a leader and how he made those around him strive to be as successful as him.
In the documentary, “The Last Dance”, Michael talks a lot about his leadership and how it played different roles throughout his whole career, and how he pushed guys to levels they had never been before. There is a lot to learn and dissect through his leadership roles during his career that can greatly benefit anyone at any age or level of sports, and even in life. Michael touches on how winning has a price and along with that price comes leadership.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves in scenarios where we feel that we could step in and really help out and show leadership, but we get caught up in the thoughts of wondering what people will think or we try to not “step on anyone’s toes”. It is in YOU to decide who you are going to be and if you will be a follower of the herd. Can you step in and make an adjustment? Can you pull someone with you when they don’t want to be pulled anymore? Can you challenge someone when they don’t want to be challenged? This, at times, can create issues with the chemistry between individuals or lead someone to despise you due to not being able to understand or embrace that you are trying to help them get to another level.
One of my favorite quotes from Coach Wolforth is, “Leadership is messy,” and when discussing leadership there is nothing truer than that statement. What leadership often gets mistaken for is delegating or creating an environment of a one-person dictatorship; this will very rarely ever work, and the culture behind that will struggle as well. When trying to become the leader you want to be and taking action to show those around you that you can lead, you are going to have to show them that whatever you are willing to ask someone to do, you are willing to do the same thing or even more. You must constantly set a standard of what you want and expect of yourself for them to see and try to follow down the same road. If you can create the culture and environment to be a “must-win environment” or continuously create growth, it will happen.
It is, in my belief, that in the most successful teams and organizations out there in this world, there is always a leader or leaders to go to and follow behind. Michael Jordan did not have to play that role. In fact, it is very common in today’s society to see a lot of the best players be “me guys” and make the show all about them while letting the team continue to struggle. The result of this is that you see very talented teams struggle and no one seems to know why.
The perfect example of this is the ‘21- ‘22 Los Angeles Lakers. They had a strong core roster that, on paper, would look astounding to anyone. They consisted of 5 players who, combined, were 53x All-Stars, 6x NBA Champions, and 5x MVPs. Yet, they finished the season 33-49, which led them to be 11th out of 15 teams in the conference and miss the playoffs. This immediately gives off the red flag of no leadership and for the face of basketball to be on the team, Lebron James, it is sad to see ZERO leadership pull together.
On the other hand, there is something very magical occurring currently within an organization that truly has it figured out. They have guys in positions to, not only lead and make guys better around them, but also have a successful team as well, and that is the St. Louis Cardinals. With a core leadership being Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, and Adam Wainwright, this team has excelled in growth on and off the field. So much so that even the nearly retired Albert Pujols has been asked by Nolan Arenado to come back and play another year. That’s how you know you have created a culture and leadership group when guys around you just can’t let go and have something much bigger than themselves to show up for.
Michael Jordan ended an interview about his leadership with this and it shows how badly he wanted it all:
“I don’t have to do this; I’m doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, then don’t play that way.”
Be the leader you know you can be and learn from the mess. Pay the price and reap the benefits.
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