Be Like Mike!

When talking about inspirational athletes, one of the names that gets mentioned most often is basketball legend Michael Jordan. I recently came across some good reviews of his latest book Driven from Within and was curious to learn more about the man and what made him tick.

Well, first of all it is a great looking book. There are pretty much pictures on every page, making it a cool coffee table book to have around when friends are visiting. It is also a quick read, as it is mostly short commentaries from himself and nine of the people closest to him, including his mother, Delores, his agent, David Falk, the designer of 14 of his 20 sneakers, Tinker Hatfield, his college coach, Dean Smith, and Howard White, his first friend at Nike.

It is as much a book about Jordan´s driving forces as it is about how he built the Jordan brand together with Nike. If you have zero interest in brand building half of the book will be lost on you as it is filled with pictures, commentaries and sketches on his famous athletic shoes, the Air Jordans.

That said, I got a lot out of it for the short time it took me to read the book. I got lots of great tidbits out of the book.

The book is all about committing to something and sticking to it.

“Players who practice hard when no one is paying attention generally play well when everyone is watching”, and, “There are no short cuts. I have always believed in leading with action, not words”.

At the same time he lets us in on a little secret about his work ethic.

”People talk about my work ethic as a player, but they don´t understand. What appeared to be hard work to others was simply playing for me. We were playing a game. Why not play as hard as you can? There´s no pressure in taking that approach. Play to win. Why else would you play?”

And about starting out: ”My expectations were very low. I wanted to be the best player at the park in Wilmington. I wanted to be better than my brothers, or the other guys in the neighborhood. These were my expectations: make the varsity team, impress the coach, get a four-year scholarship to a major college. With each progression I gained confidence.”

Talking about authenticity:

“Authenticity is about being true to who you are, even when everyone else wants you to be someone else.”

He also talks about how he motivated himself for every game, the importance of his strong family background, about goalsetting and his love of the game.

One thing I thought was really interesting was Michael talking about the pressure of taking a crucial shot.

He says that as long as he’s done all his preparation on a day to day basis, he knows that there’s nothing MORE he can do other than to trust the instincts, and that he’s EARNED the right to be in the position he’s in to potentially miss that important shot.

And translating this to everyday life:

”Whether it´s running a corporation, taking a test in second grade or taking a shot to win a game, at that moment you are the sum total of all the work you have put in, nothing more and nothing less. If you are confident you have done everything possible to prepare yourself, then there is nothing to fear.”

All in all a cool book about a very inspirational guy!

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