Kobe Bryant, 5x NBA champion, and one of the greatest basketball players the world has ever seen is one of the most recognizable sportsmen in the world today. His style of play is a joy to watch, with his myriad array of ways to score and penchant to deliver ‘I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened’ moments. He is a basketball artist, with the ball as his brush.
And yet despite this, I just can’t admit to liking Kobe Bryant. He plays for the wrong team (I am a Rockets fan), and I liked rival players of his when I grew up (Tracy McGrady comes to mind). He also seems to have a polarizing personality that has clashed with teammates and coaches in the past. Those factors make it hard for me to like Kobe Bryant. But after all these years watching the NBA, Kobe Bryant is the player that I have gained the most respect for, so much so that I have tried to learn from his successes and am now trying to apply these learning’s to my own career.
Whilst I am in a profession nothing like basketball, I can’t help but keep looking to what Kobe Bryant has done and continues to do over his career as a source of great inspiration in my work, especially as a young professional looking to develop and consolidate a strong core set of values for me to succeed in the work I do.
So what kind of qualities can be transferable from a basketball court to a board room? What kind of traits does Kobe Bryant possess that can help any professional? I would like to now share the five qualities that I have seen in Kobe Bryant that I try and draw on to make me a better professional every day:
1. Meticulous Preparation
No one in the NBA prepares for a game like Kobe Bryant. He spends endless hours studying game tape of the opposing team, his direct match-ups(s), team match-ups, and everything else in a bid to understand and counter what the opposition has to offer. Kobe understood from an early age, the importance that preparation had on how he performed on the court. This was in part due to his self-awareness that he could not initially simply overpower anyone due to his then-slender frame. “I was a scrawny kid”, he said. “I knew for me to get any type of edge whatsoever I had to be more prepared than the person I was matching up against”. Not that being scrawny has been much of an issue for Kobe in the NBA – he has listed at 6’6’’ (198cm) and around 215 pounds (97.5kg) for most of his career and is one of the most physically gifted players of his generation. And yet his preparation for games has only gone up several notches since his rookie season, not only preparing pregame but during games as well. At half-time of games, Kobe would go back to the locker room to study game tape of the 1st half and would often get his teammates to watch examples of plays in preparation for the 2nd half.
Kobe’s preparation is something that would make every professional better. No matter how talented or gifted you are, nothing beats preparation in obtaining excellent results – whatever it may be. If you want to smash that sales pitch, presentation, or client meeting – preparation is the key to success. Much like Kobe learns his opponent’s game, preparation will allow you to learn who your audience is, understand your deliverable inside-out, and plan for any unexpected events that may be thrown up. Whilst I often romanticise my ability to ‘wing’ say a presentation, the reality is that without adequate preparation, any presentation I deliver would invariably bomb. What I draw from Kobe is that preparation is how you will get the results, and that results aren’t simply down to talent or luck, but hard work.
2. Strive for improvement
Kobe Bryant was not a superstar overnight. He entered the NBA as an 18-year-old straight out of high school and experienced quite a few setbacks his first and second year of professional basketball. His four straight air-balls against the Jazz in the 96-97 playoffs come to mind. However, Kobe also improved dramatically in those first couple of years, becoming arguably the best in his position and an NBA champion by his 4th year. His insatiable work ethic, ferocious competitive nature, and dedication as a student of the game made sure of that. Despite reaching the summit, Kobe continued to hone his game, spending endless summers watching and mimicking moves from NBA legends such as Michael Jordan, or improving his footwork with Hakeem Olajuwon to rely less on his diminishing athleticism to keep ahead of his competition.
Kobe’s constant strive for improvement reminds me of the philosophy of ‘Kaizen’; to continuously improve business processes, traditionally in manufacturing. Kobe’s dedication to improvement is meticulous, and machine-like. This mentality is something that any professional can apply – to aim to continuously improve their craft; their clients, industries and markets, and to identify and illuminate waste in the way you do things (stop youtubing 2 hours a day!). To not be content (for too long) with the current skill set and knowledge that you possess because there is always something new to learn. To have the passion and curiosity to continuously learn and master is another. Look up the values and behaviours that are requisite to the large professional services firms and ‘hunger to improve or grow’ are commonplace.
Here’s a quote on how Bryant wants to be remembered, which provides a great insight into his focus on getting the most out of himself: “To think of me as a person that’s overachieved, that would mean a lot to me. That means I put a lot of work in and squeezed every ounce of juice out of this orange that I could.”
3. Resilience
Throughout the years, Kobe Bryant has had his fair share of critics. The critics come far and wide, critiquing his performance from on the court and off it too. This has to be very exhausting and distracting for Kobe Bryant, especially when the criticism is warranted. But you really couldn’t tell, given the magnificent seasons Kobe has provided and the championships he has delivered. Whilst failures on and off the court have mostly been in his control for the most part, Kobe Bryant has been dealt with a cruel season with a possible career ending Achilles injury suffered last April. There have been few players who have been able to return to the court successfully after a torn Achilles tendon, especially a player of Kobe’s age (he recently turned 35). This may have been Kobe’s darkest hour as a player, and despite some initial disappointment, Kobe responded by vowing to study the recoveries of others who have suffered the injury to make the fastest and best recovery from an Achilles injury possible. Four months into his recovery, Bryant said that he has “shattered” the average recovery time from surgery. Bryant’s resilience to the extreme challenges that he faces and continues to face is an amazing competitive advantage, where others would have buckled; he seems to relish the challenge.
In an ever changing world, every professional will go through a period of heightened stress  where negative thoughts dominate and cloud the mind, severely handicapping performance. Your ability to quickly bounce back up and develop contingencies is one way of overcoming this, enabling you to keep performing at a high level regardless of the pressures and responsibilities encountered. Important in a time where presenteeism has cost Australian employers $34.1 billion in 2011. Another great benefit of building resilience is that your tolerance to stress can strengthen as the pressure grows – crucial as you climb the ladder, as you invariably take up larger roles, or sit in higher pressure environments. This is akin to seeing Bryant perform and excel in incrementally tougher stages – from the regular season, to the playoffs, and finally the finals, where championships are won and lost.
4. Leads by Example
When you play for a team with Bryant beside you, you know you have someone that will stand up for the team when the going gets tough. Kobe will also strive to get the most out of you and each teammate, be it on the practice court, out of every timeout, and of course, during a game. Bryant will demand that you compete and give 110%, – anything less is unacceptable. He does this best by leading by example; he will only demand that you give as much as he gives. A rookie would learn much from training and playing with Kobe Bryant, as he is the king of the walk, and even if he blows his Achilles and can no longer walk, he still leads by example (see video).
There is nothing more impressive to me than to see a leader practicing what he/she preaches, seeing your leader get down and do the hard yards to set the bar at where everyone else needs to be. Great leadership calls for a strong sense of accountability for not only getting the job done but also ensuring that those under your wing are given every chance to develop and shine. For someone at the early stages of his career, leaders that have this trait can really instill a lasting impression, and can really quickly change the working culture through their actions. This can quickly inspire a small project team or an entire workforce to strive to emulate at a minimum what they have seen as an example from their leader. Very, very few NBA champions or booming organisations have had poor leadership.
5. Self-belief
All those qualities described above are relative without this one: self-belief. And Bryant has a truck-load of this. Bryant’s belief in his own ability to push through and win games no matter the situation is legendary. You’d need a bit of self-belief to decide to bypass college for the NBA, challenge Shaq as the man on the Lakers, and ultimately lead your team to the championship five times. Witness his infinite belief in his ability and to his craft, through his incredible recovery from a torn Achilles at the moment – he’s already running on a treadmill 4 months when the typical length of time is 6-9 months after a torn Achilles.
You can’t do anything worthwhile without a little self-belief; it is the ultimate enabler to achieving great results. There have been numerous times where I rued that lost opportunity or failed to act in that moment because I didn’t have the confidence to just do it. Self-belief allows you to take risks, and importantly buffer you from the setbacks that may come your way. It helps you to keep pushing, even if you have failed along the way. It is also important to distinguish self-belief from arrogance, as arrogance is characterised by a lack of self-awareness whereas self-belief requires self-awareness for it to be effective, and helps keep things in perspective, especially when you are not experiencing a linear journey towards your goals. This perspective is incredibly important to your ability to prepare, improve, lead, and block out the noise that distracts you from your objectives.
Concluding Remarks
So those are the qualities that I have seen in Bryant that continue to inspire me today to become a better professional. I have seen Bryant excel in these areas to control and drive his career to the ultimate success (NBA Championship) multiple times, and I believe that these same qualities will allow any professional to reach the summit of their work, be it an executive at a large multinational corporation, or founder of a successful local business.
So what are your thoughts on Kobe’s strengths and how it may help you? I’d be greatly interested to hear these. And also stay tuned for my next blog, which will explore flaws that I have observed in Bryant that I try and avoid in my own work.