#18 The highest return
If you want to thrive, invest in others.
Michael Jordan is the best basketball player of all time.
During his first 7 years in the NBA, he won all personal awards and smashed all individual records.
But one thing hunted him. He did not have an NBA Championship ring.
People saw him as a great player and performer that won many scoring titles, but not a leader that could win championships.
Then Jordan and The Chicago Bulls made a fundamental change that transformed the team and led them to win 6 NBA championships in the following 8 years.
Before:
From the time he was drafted in 1984 to the season of 1989, The Chicago Bulls coaching team pushed a strategy that consisted of getting the ball to Jordan as many times as possible.
While this strategy gave Jordan incremental wins in his career, it did not get the Bulls closer to being NBA Champions.
Teams like the Detroit Pistons would then counteract by implementing "The Jordan Rules," plays and tactics to shut Jordan down during the games and prevent him from scoring.
Photo: Netflix “The Last Dance” 2020.
After:
In 1990 Phil Jackson became the head coach and implemented a new team strategy that focused on developing the entire team, not just Jordan.
Under Jackson's leadership, the Bulls instituted the triangle offence. This fluid passing system created opportunities for all five players on the floor to score, not just Jordan.
Photo: Netflix “The Last Dance” 2020.
At first, Jordan resisted this new approach. He was convinced that winning depended on improving himself and scoring more.
With Jackson's guidance, Jordan later realized that improving the game of every member of the team would take the Bulls and his legacy to a new level.
A year later they won their first NBA Championship.
Photo: NBA
This is what developing others to achieve bigger goals looks like.
The Takeaway:
When we grow and invest in others, we grow and invest in ourselves.
Everyday life seems to look more like a ruthless competitive sport.
We feel a need to improve and do more to get an edge over others to win.
But when we mistakenly focus on solely getting ourselves ahead, we put a limit on what we can achieve.
If you want to find a real edge and achieve more and better things, stop focusing only on yourself and invest in lifting the level of those who surround you. Doing so will have a significant return on your growth.
Individualism can only get you so far, but helping others gives you influence, which can get you very far.
For more, I recommend “The Last Dance” docuseries by Netflix.
Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.
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I hope you are well.
María Albert
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