Kobe's True Court Vision

Kobe Bryant
Sunday, January 26, 2020

In 2009, Traction was hired to launch Alibaba.com in the US. A few of us had the honor of being invited to see Kobe Bryant be interviewed about leadership by Jack Ma.

The other speakers at the event were Bill Clinton and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus who had just won the Nobel Prize—which gives you a sense of the esteem Kobe was held in worldwide. He was a giant.

It was great to see him up close, but the greatest lesson I learned from Kobe came in Phil Jackson's book, "Eleven Rings." As hard as it is to believe, Kobe and Shaq didn't win a championship every year they played together. They paired up on the Lakers in 1996, but it took until 2000 for them to start winning rings. What changed?

According to Phil , Kobe came to a realization—and a maturity—that made him realize that the path to a championship was for him to run the offense through Shaq's physical dominance in the paint. Once he did, they became unstoppable and won three championships in a row and a fourth Finals appearance that they didn't win as well.

Many have called Kobe a selfish player, but his greatness was established on a foundation of sacrifice and humility.

After they lost that fourth championship and Shaq left the Lakers, Kobe tore off two NBA scoring titles in a row in 2006 and 2007, including his 81 point masterpiece of a game. In hindsight, it underscores how deliberate his decision to let Shaq be the primary scoring threat during the championship run really was. With Shaq gone, he knew that now he needed to score, so he did.

But those scoring titles didn't translate to championships, so he adjusted his game again. The result? 2008 MVP. Three more Finals Appearances in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Rings and Finals MVP awards in the latter two.

Kobe will always known for his ferocity as a competitor, his creative and lethal game as a scorer, and of course, as a wonderful father. But I'd like to also see us remember him for his wisdom and ability to see what it what took to win beyond his enormous raw talent, and the strength and humility it took to defer when that's what it took to win. That is true court vision.

Rest in peace, Mamba. You're an inspiration.

About the author
Adam Kleinberg

Adam Kleinberg is CEO and and a founding partner of Traction. He has written over 75 articles in publications like AdAge, Adweek, Fast Company, Forbes, Mashable and Digiday.

Recent articles
picture of Shake Shack dinner
Friday, September 20, 2019CX is the New Black

A 2014 Gartner survey suggests that "89% of companies expect to compete mostly on the basis of customer experience, versus 36% four years ago." That is an astounding shift.

Facebook logo
Tuesday, July 9, 2019Facebook: The Storefront for DTC Brands

The concept of owning the end-to-end relationship with consumers remains an illusion while Facebook controls the introduction

Friday, June 28, 2019This 4th of July, Give the Gift of Crap

Here comes the Amazing Crap-O-Matic Gift Generator: ’Murica Edition—just in time to celebrate our nation’s independence.

Traction is a new breed of marketing agency and consultancy—a marketing accelerator for brands and their in-house teams.

© 2000 – 2024

Post

5214F Diamond Hts Blvd #1052 San Francisco, CA 94131 415.962.5800

New business

Careers

General

Privacy Policy