8|24: How Kobe Developed the Mamba Mentality

It’s about 8:24am on a typical Monday morning. I’m sitting at my desk, reviewing reports, writing out my priorities for the coming week, while listening in on my weekly conference call. Almost immediately after my conference call concluded and my manager walked in my office and informed me of a shift in priorities for the week. He told me about a new program was that was rolling out and that we need to react quickly. At that point I ripped the sheet of paper from my notebook that had my plan and priorities for the day, balled it up and yelled “KOBE” as I shot the piece of paper into my trash can.

Isn’t it amazing how it’s been almost 130 years since Dr. Naismith invented the game of basketball and the thousands of players that have been afforded the opportunity to play at the professional level, that one name, Kobe, is the name that sounds when the average person plays office trash can basketball. It’s no coincidence. It’s no fluke. Kobe Bryant, who was tragically killed in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020 along with 8 other passengers, one of which was his 13 year old daughter Gianna, was a once in a generation superstar. 5 Time NBA Champion, 1 Time NBA MVP, 2 Time Olympic gold medalist, 15 time NBA All-Star, 4 time NBA All Star MVP, son, husband, father and in all that he was a leader. 

Here are a few principles that Kobe Bryant lived by that made him the Black Mamba:

Outwork Everyone 

Kobe worked tirelessly at his game. He would arrive to the arena to put shots up before anyone else and would leave after everyone else had come and gone. Following Kobe’s untimely passing, former NBA player, now ESPN corespondent Jay Williams told his firsthand account of this. He told how he came down to the court to shoot around for a little while before his big game against the Lakers and Kobe was already there. As Williams was about to leave the court, Kobe was still there with seemingly no intentions of leaving anytime soon. Williams contemplated asking Kobe why he was still practicing for a second and built enough courage to step to him. When he finally approached him, Kobe’s response was “I wanted you to know that you will never outwork me”. That quote by Kobe really stood out to me. It serves as a reminder that, no amount of philosophy, thought leadership or self help literature can replace good old fashioned hard work. Are you out working everyone in your field?

Strengthen Your Weaknesses 

In addition to his incredible work ethic, Kobe understood the importance of strengthening his weaknesses. While most people play to their strengths, Kobe played to his weaknesses. He was very self aware of what his short comings were and worked diligently to close the gaps in those areas. For example, he mentioned that his hands were big but not the biggest, so he needed to make sure he strengthen his hands to be able to palm the basketball and the other functions necessary to be a great player. I believe your strengths will always carry you but your weaknesses can hinder you from reaching the next level. Many great players never won a title because they refuse to get better defensively or improve their post skills. In the same way, what weaknesses do you have that if strengthened can take you to another level?

Goat Mountain

As iconic of a player as Kobe was and a goat in his own right, Kobe understood the importance of seeking guidance from the greats. In fact, when he needed advice or wisdom, he visited what he referred to as Goat Mountain. Goat Mountain was a like a Mont Rushmore of sorts for Kobe. He placed a handful of great past NBA Legends on Goat Mountain. His Goat Mountain consisted of Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan. Anytime he needed advice on improving a skill set, help navigating tough issues with teammates or life in general he went to see one of the aforementioned legends. While it’s great to leverage your peers for advice or family members, nothing will compare to advice from those that did it better than anyone else. There was a time that Kobe wanted to improve his moves in the post, he reached out to arguably the greatest post player of all-time and the inventor of the “Dream Shake”, Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon spend much of the off season working with Kobe. As a result, Kobe became a much more competent post player. To be great, I believe it’s important to study the greats and learn from them. In whatever field you are in, identify who’s great, study them, pick their brain and incorporate what you’ve learned into your style. Who’s in your Goat Mountain?

I will be vulnerable here, his death hit me hard. I was brought to tears when I learned of his untimely passing. I immediately thought about how he was still very young and how he was focused on passing his greatness on the court down to his daughter Gianna, moments later I learned she was with him and passed as well. A truly devastating day. Although I never had the privilege of meeting him, I followed his career so closely that I felt like I knew him. I always admired his work ethic and his will to win. As a lifelong Rockets fan, it was sometimes difficult to express my true fandom, but I made a point to attend the game whenever he was in town. I’m happy to say I even witnessed his last game versus the Rockets in Houston first hand with my best friend and my wife. Long before his passing I had his book Mamba Mentality placed prominently over my desk as a reminder to always strive to be the “Kobe Bryant” of my field, even when times are tough. As I reflect on the life and legacy of Kobe Bryant, I will continue use his legacy as an example of how to be great at my craft, my career and just life in general. Rest in power Kobe! 

Thoughts on Inspiration

As a leader, the people around you need to see you as inspiration. They need to feel you offer something that they aspire to have or achieve. This will transcend your position. Maybe it’s your ability to handle high pressure situations with a still calmness and a smile on your face. Or maybe it’s your passion and work ethic. It could be your ability to navigate through difficult conversations. Moreover, as a leader you should be constantly encouraging your team and letting them know how much you appreciate their contributions. Good leaders do this with their direct reports. Great leaders do this with everyone. This select group of leaders offers encouraging words to the guy that cleans the restroom, their peers and even their own boss. Some will say “oh well that will make me look like a suck up”, no it will not, it will make you look like an inspiration. Now I am not saying to speak this over just anyone to just say it but when it’s been earned it should be said. There is power in the tongue so make sure you are using that power correctly.

Not very long ago, I had been assigned to turn around a very underperforming store. This store was in a place where virtually everything that could be wrong was wrong. Sales were tanking, customer satisfaction was at an all time low, the store team’s morale could not have been worse, sanitation was probably the most alarming of all. As I’m sure you have gathered by now, there were many things that were going wrong that was holding this store back, I knew the most important thing is to have the team believe in me and rally around me, so I could have the opportunity to lead this store from obscurity to prominence.

I knew I had my hands full and a difficult road ahead but to top it off I had 2 brand new leaders working under me. Both were super intelligent and skilled at the job but this was their first stab at leadership. As for myself, I was very new to this organization and I was in all honesty still trying to figure out this organizations systems and structure. Although I was new to this company, leadership was not new to me. I had been battle tested and even though this seemed like it would be my biggest test to date, I did not flench. Instead I immediately accessed every area of the operation and formulated a plan. I then went over the plan with my leadership team and let them know their roles in making this work. I gave myself 6 weeks to get this store back to functioning like a normal operation.

To hold myself accountable to those results I spoke to everyone on the team and told them my timetable. By week four, I felt so far away from this goal with only 2 weeks to deliver on my 6 week plan. Many unforeseen circumstances occurred during those first four weeks that really could have been looked at as setbacks and would have been more than reason enough to push my timetable back another 2-3 weeks. Something incredible happened midway through that fourth week, a very high performing subordinate said to me “I’m not sure if anyone else has told you this, but we think you are doing an amazing job and we appreciate you.” That was the boost in confidence that I needed as a leader to power me through the next week and a half. It seemed like from that moment on that the job was easier and results were coming in faster than ever. The team saw how far we came and became more motivated and had pride in the store. This is a clear illustration of how powerful words can be. This guy could have easily kept it to himself and thought, “oh he’s a manager, he’s knows he’s doing well” or “I’m not going inflate this guys ego”, but he made the choice to speak life over me. I often wonder what would have happened had he not spoke that over me. Would I have become more discouraged and let that hinder our progress. During that sixth week, I remember how everything seemed so operationally sound. Customers were leaving with smiles on their faces, employees were happy because the store was clean and pest free, my boss would come in and commend us on our progress and marvel at the numbers we were starting to hit. One employee came to me and said “You did it!’ And very respectfully responded “No, actually we did it!”

Inspiration is not just in our words. Often times we are most inspired by action. Your team needs to know that you are passionate about the purpose of your company or organization.