All posts in Basketball
What Phil Jackson Would Say In Your Leadership Meeting
When it comes to winning championships, we often think of the great athletes that inspire us. They are the ones that, if you can afford it, you pay to go see. No one pays to go see a coach. The greatest NBA team of all time was none other than the 1996 NBA Champion Chicago Bulls team that went 72-10 in the regular season. The team was coached by Phil Jackson. In case you’re unaware, going 72-10 in an NBA regular season is right next to impossible. It’s easier to win a championship than it is to pull that off, and the Bulls did both.
When Phil Jackson, who also has 10 other NBA titles along with this one, was asked what he would attribute to their success that particular year, his response was surprising. He didn’t say, “Well, we did have the greatest basketball player ever in Michael Jordan“, or “Dennis Rodman’s rebounding is what really kept us together that year“, or “Our defense was spectacular. You know, defense wins championships.” He said, “We simply stayed healthy for a whole year. No one really got hurt. If a good team can stay fully healthy for a year, they can do wonders.”
No matter what career path you’ve found yourself on, I would suspect that you love winning, right? I think what Phil Jackson would say in your leadership meeting is, “Stay Healthy.” If you were to ask your colleagues about the culture of your organization, would they say it was healthy? You can be as talented as you want to be, and you can recruit as much talent as you want, but if your talent isn’t healthy, they can’t win. Some say that Phil Jackson isn’t just a great basketball coach, but that he was the greatest manager of talent and could coach the uncoachable. Part of creating a healthy culture is also managing personalities well.
2 Ways to Create a Healthy Culture
1. Anonymous Evaluations – You have to be able to get honest feedback from those above, around, and below you. If you’re in a Christian organization, most people, ironically, will lie to you because they want to be nice. You have to retrieve HONEST feedback to get better, and to stay healthy.
2. Staff Getaways – Find an inexpensive hotel that may only be an hour away or anything and just get away with your staff. You can’t manage people well if you only really know them in the context of ministry. Too often we find out too late that somebody’s marriage was struggling because our only conversation with them was based on how they’re small group was going.
What are some ways you think you can create a healthy culture?
One Question
This week I have the honor of doing some backstage hosting/interviewing for Catalyst Dallas. I’ll be interviewing some of the nation’s top leaders, pastors, and musicians over a span of 48 hours. I’ll be interviewing Herbert Cooper, John Maxwell, Jeanne Stevens, Kari Jobe, Jennie Allen, Jud Wilhite, Kirk Franklin, Tony Romo, Matt & Lauren Chandler, Israel Houghton, Rudy Rasmus, Perry Noble, Esther Havens, Jeremy Cowart, Judah Smith, Chris Seay, and the director of Catalyst, Brad Lomenick.
I’m so excited to be a part of what God is doing through Catalyst to empower leaders, and this week, I want YOUR help. An hour before each interview, I’ll tweet something along the lines of, “If you could sit down with @israelhoughton for 30 minutes, what would you ask him, what would you want to know?” Truth be told, I very well could use one of your questions! You can follow me on twitter here: @ryanleak. And the best part of all, you can watch all of these interviews plus others over the next few days at www.catalystbackstage.com. On twitter, I’ll be letting you know when I’m about to interview who and at what time. Sound good?
If you could sit down with any of the above, who would you pick? And… what’s the one question you’d ask them?
Why The Lakers Should Sign Me
It’s a no-brainer. The missing piece for the Lakers locker room is none other than @ryanleak.
Here’s 4 reasons why.
1.) I’m awesome at basketball.
2.) Dwight Howard and I are buddies. If you sign me, I’ll call him for you.
3.) I’ll play for $950,000. That’s how much you make in concessions during half-time.
4.) Kobe needs somebody as competitive as he is on the floor. Ask anyone who’s played Mafia with me. I promise you, I will compete night in and night out.
With Danny Hoyt as my agent, I just request some descent seats for him as well. If the NBA continues to be absurd in their Executive Offices, I highly doubt they’ll put a block to signing me. I can be in LA as soon as Sunday. I gotta say bye to my friends at church.
Let Me Upgrade Ya
From time to time I see articles about celebrities who’ve “gone broke”. But I’ve never seen one that broke down professional sports leagues as a whole. By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce. Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are broke. Here’s the full article from Sports Illustrated on this.
I could have easily entitled this blog, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.” But I’m not the guy to go there. I could go the route of talking about how I govern my own finances. (I use Mint.com and I could write a book on how it’s helped me save a couple thousand bucks this past year. No joke.) The elephant in this blog is that more money won’t solve your money problems. We could go on with “Don’t spend more than you make.” “Build margin.” Duly noted. Really. But I think there’s a simple verse that speaks to the heart of the issue, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” -1 Timothy 6:10.
The rubber meets the road for me with this verse when I’m constantly trying to improve my way of life. It’s like I’m addicted to upgrades of all kinds. 2 years after getting a Mac Book Pro, I’m thinking of ways to get a new one that Apple has upgraded. I’ve already made plans to sell my iPad 2 to get the 3. Once a week I look into what I could trade my car in for. My TV… is huge. But every single time I’m in Target or Best Buy or Wal-Mart, I look at a bigger LED one. Mine’s LCD. So why not upgrade, right? Maybe it’s going from an apartment to a condo. Condo to a house. House to a bigger house.
A descent portion of Christians give 10% of their income to the church, and the rest is fair game for whatever they want. And we also live with the notion that if we were to make more money, we’ll spend that on upgrades. It’s like we keep a wish list of stuff we’ll get “when.” By no means do I think upgrades or the constant retrieval of them is wrong. For me, the love… and the relationship my heart has with them when examined at the core, is not what I find wrong… It’s what I find similar to the people who don’t have Jesus. When a homeless guy ask me for money, I “don’t have cash”, but if Jesus Christ, Andy Stanley, or Kobe Bryant was on the same street, and they needed $200… I’d find a way. I can say all the right things about what I should do with my money, but the evidence thereof will always reveal what I really value.
The next opportunity you have to give to missions, or just a friend in need, watch how your heart responds. Giving generously but grudgingly won’t cut it.