 |
Making
things happen - with integrity. A weekly CyberMemo designed to keep you on task. Monday June 18, 2001 Volume III Number 25 |
FOCUS - Kobe and Shaq
Barely five months ago, there were plenty of doubters.
Sure, the Los Angeles Lakers took the NBA Championship in the year 2000 with lots of fanfare. Seemed like the legendary former Bulls Coach Phil Jackson still had the magic from that unforgettable Chicago era. He was headmaster to that venerable basketball dynasty. The Glory Days in the Windy City followed him to Tinseltown. The Blue and Gold enjoyed the deftness of a young twenty-two (now twenty-three) year old star player many people believed was the heir to the Michael Jordan throne. Then, under the boards, that giant of a man, seven feet one inch tall and three hundred fifteen pounds of Philistine warrior; a modern day Goliath with the smiling eyes of a teddy bear.
But early this year, the Defending Champions were ice cold. Plenty of razzle-dazzle. But by the time the final buzzer sounded, the Lakers just could not rally to win. They embarrassed their hometown fans again and again.
On Sunday, February 18, in a classic face off against the Indiana Pacers, Shaq was wide open on the last play of the game. His defender, Sam Perkins, tired, beat up from a physical pounding underneath the boards, was in no position to stop an O’Neil slam-dunk. Kobe Bryant never even looked at Shaq. Or anyone else for that matter.
He pulled up for a three point jumper from way outside and just after the ball left his fingertips, the buzzer sounded ending a tight contest and the stadium fell silent as the game winning shot took flight, arching toward the hoop and then bouncing hard and high from the back of the rim with a loud thunk. No good. The Lakers lost. The hometown Indiana crowd exploded. The defending world champions fell. Again. Pacers 110. Lakers 109.
Los Angeles didn’t even need a three to win. Two points would have won the game. Shaq was wide open for the sure two. Coach Jackson was furious. Shaq threw up his hands, rolled his eyes and walked off the court, barely disguising his contempt for the young peacock.
Kobe muttered something about his distrust of the big man.
And the press jumped all over it. It was a potent example of how the Lakers played in the first half of the season that followed a phenomenal season of victory. But now, they were squandering the opportunity to dominate. The talent was there. The teamwork wasn’t.
These self-absorbed Lakers, particularly the two highest salaried players, presented the fabled Coach Jackson with the greatest challenge of his career.
He took on the unenviable assignment of super-ego management. With difficulty. How could the coach, paid considerably less than his super-stars, reign in the clashing personalities and teach them mutual respect, comradery, solidarity and co-operation?
The sports writers and commentators and opinion-makers expressed their doubts. The Lakers were a one-time act. The 2000 NBA Championship a fluke.
Jackson went back to the books.
* * * * * *
When Max Depree’s little book on business management became a best seller, it surprised him. His company, Herman Miller Furniture (numbered among the Fortune 500) reached a level of success most Americans only dream of. He knew that solid management principles were foundational in that success, but he never imagined his straightforward summary would find such a wide audience.
The title of his book identifies his most basic conviction. He calls it The Art of Leadership. Effective leadership is not the rote implementation of a punch list of how-to’s. It’s not the mastery of a manual or a course of study. It is an art.
It’s more like the painting of a picture. Or performing a dance. Or directing a symphony. Or writing a compelling paragraph. There are technical aspects in each, but to get it right, to make it work, to capture attention, to create something beautiful, something enduring, is an art.
His little book is most recognized by a concept Max Depree lived out in his own business. He calls it “management by wandering around.” Good leaders are enablers. Facilitators. A good leader knows his people by name, and can spot it when there are barriers blocking the way of efficiency and productivity. A good leader removes the barriers. He or she makes sure that there are proper resources available to the team. A good leader sets the tone. The esprit de corps. He or she is skilled relationally, and builds comradeship.
There are certain aspects of art that cannot be taught. One can learn about technique. But the flow and color and texture and perspective and feel… well, these are what you bring to the task. Not so much from the books. Or the lectures. Or the audio tapes. (Though they are all helpful.) The art comes from your heart. Your conviction. Your thoughtful care. Your style. Your degree of commitment. Your attention to detail. Your intuitive feel.
So Depree concludes, “It is important that we focus more on what we need to be than on what we need to do.”
* * * * * *
Something happened to those Lakers in the winter of their discontent.
They learned that basketball is a team sport. That individual effort has its place. But no single superstar will ever bring home the trophy alone. That happens in the PGA, not the NBA.
But it got worse before it got better.
Kobe went to the press and complained about Shaq’s performance. He lopes. He lumbers. Can’t move. Doesn’t hustle. And worse, he can’t hit a free throw. He can draw a foul, alright. But in the critical final moments, he can’t capitalize. Doesn’t score. Sheer size isn’t enough at this level of play, Kobe said. Shaq’s just plain lazy.
The cameras rolled and the reporters scribbled notes. The quotes hit the headlines.
Shaq got even. Kobe’s a runny nosed youngster and a showboat, he told the press corps. A ball hog. A glory-seeking street kid who thinks he’s the only guy on the floor. He plays to the crowd. He refuses to be coached. He thinks he’s Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson all wrapped up into one, but he’s not. Never will be.
More headlines.
Jackson shrugged.
* * * * * * * *
Bryant Gumbel hit the top of his game when the TODAY Show broke through and hit number one in the morning show category of the Nielsen ratings. He and Katie Couric emerged as a dynamic new duo. The program finally recovered from the loss of Jane Pauley, and Bryant hit his stride.
In those heady days of People Magazine cover stories and big name interviews and high priced globe trotting, Gumbel wrote a confidential memo to his boss. The memo got leaked to the press.
Gumbel believed that the over-weight buffoon doing the weather and the centenarian Smucker’s birthday greetings was an embarrassment to NBC’s world-class morning programming. Gumbel wanted to unload Willard Scott, and send him to broadcasting Siberia. This sophisticated arena of high-powered news was no place for the former Ronald McDonald clown who would show up to work with or without his toupee depending on his mood. Bryant Gumbel told NBC to dump Willard Scott. Now. He put it in writing.
The memo, now a public document, didn’t sit well with the Today Show crowd.
Sure, Willard was a clown. But such a lovable clown. How could Bryant hurt Willard’s feelings so? That’s TERRIBLE. Who does he THINK HE IS?
So the NBC execs made Bryant go public with his apology. “I love ya, man,” Bryant said one morning as the cameras rolled. “I love ya back,” answered Willard from some remote location. But everyone knew they were words from the teleprompter, not the heart.
In 1996, Bryant Gumbel departed NBC for a juicy contract with the struggling news division at CBS: a five-year contract for five million a year.
To this day, Bryant Gumbel is still searching for that long gone audience.
And Willard Scott continues to say Happy Birthday to One-Hundred-Year-Olds. Smuckers and everybody else for that matter, still love him.
* * * * * *
Phil Jackson was raised by two, not one, but two, Pentecostal preachers. A mom and pop tag-team of pulpiteers.
His mother and father were fire-breathing evangelists. He grew up listening to their sermons, in church and at home. In his book, Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior, he recalls, "Our lives were dictated by the rhythms of church life." Certain activities were banned in his Williston, North Dakota home. No TV. No dancing. No movies. No rock and roll. No playing cards (fifty-two of Satan’s best men). No comic books. At age seventeen, he confessed, he and his older brother sneaked undercover to their first movie: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
But grow up he did. To a staggering height of six feet eight inches. His prowess on the hardwood floor took him all the way to a decade of success with the New York Knicks in the 1970s. Today at age fifty-four, he is the winningest coach in the NBA.
He now calls himself a “Zen Christian.” While he jettisoned most of the provincial Bible thumping religion of his parents, he approaches his work with the same missionary zeal he learned from the hardwood pews of those little country churches out there in rural America.
He reads books. He demands his players to do the same, often recommending specific volumes, even highlighting poignant chapters. He believes that performance on the court involves physical conditioning. But much more. It’s a physical and mental and spiritual game.
He’s been in the company of over-sized egos all his life (starting, I suppose, with a mother and father ordained by God himself). Kobe and Shaq aren’t the first. Jackson took Jordan and Rodman and a rag tag collection of Chicago Bulls and forged an NBA dynasty.
And now, he’s got Kobe and Shaq. And Lue. And Horry. And Fox. And a stable of highly paid performers each of whom quite capable to wow any crowd as a solo act. Jackson’s got the assignment from his boss Jerry Buss – get them to work… together.
Leadership is an art.
* * * * * * *
So when the Lakers won their spot in the play-offs and began the marathon series of high intensity games, Jackson made it clear. Kobe brings it down. The ball goes inside to Shaq. Then the open man gets the ball. Fox. Horry. Fisher. O’Neil. Bryant. No matter. If he’s open, he gets the ball. We are a team. We play together. If you can’t live with that, you’re on the bench. Period.
Jackson made his point.
And the Los Angeles Lakers were unstoppable.
Movie stars started filing into Staples Center like cattle at feeding time. Just like the old days. Angelinos, who have no football team, have been continually disappointed in baseball and hockey… well, haven’t been revved up by a championship streak since Magic and Kareem led the Lakers to glory over a decade ago.
Jackson’s Lakers rolled over Sacramento in four straight games in the Western Conference semi-finals. Then, victimized the highly rated San Antonio Spurs, snuffing them out in four straight games, cutting the seven game series way short. NBA fans from all over the country started whispering about the outrageous possibility of a twelve game undefeated streak through the finals to the championship.
Only once did the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers derail the winning streak. In Game One, another Michael Jordan wannabe, a toned down version of Dennis Rodman, lots of tattoos, and corncob haircut… but no rainbow coloring, Allen Iverson. He tore up the floor with forty-four points, and one 76’er win.
But Iverson needs to learn what Kobe learned early this season. No one man can win an NBA championship.
When
those Lakers, all of them, stood around their graying coach and held the Larry
O’Brien Trophy high, the battle weary Lakers embraced one another with a new
kind of abandon. Egos had been
checked. The battle plan
worked. The TEAM celebrated
– a victory of comrades.
The press no longer writes stories of spoiled bad boys and dueling post-game verbal jabs and the sour attitudes of over-paid youngsters.
Now, they’re talkin’ dynasty.
* * * * * *
It’s Monday morning. You are a leader.
Father’s Day gets better every year.
As a leader, you know that you need more than a book of “how-to.” You need more than a corporate manual. Depree was quite right. Leadership is an art.
Maybe you’ve got a battling duo on your team. Their out-of-control egos are disrupting your entire operation. They believe they are right. They think they have a point. They are obsessed with a need to prove themselves justified… and they think their personal victory and the defeat of their nemesis will somehow benefit all. But you know the truth. Their irreconcilable differences are spoiling the well.
You may wish for the wisdom of Jackson. I’ve got a better idea: the wisdom of Solomon. Don’t let the controversy brew. Don’t allow the wounds to fester.
Be a leader. Learn the art. Do the dance. Take the baton. Paint the picture. Remind them of the vision. Set the tone. Then the standard.
You can do it.
The whole team will thank you.
© Copyright Kenneth E. Kemp 2001
Special Thanks to my good friend David Belcher, owner of Rhino Media Group and creator of WisdomGram
LeaderFOCUS is a service of Good Stewardship Associates
|
|