Hanging With Michael Jordan

I have been away this week and as usual, it is great to be back home. It is extra special being home because my oldest daughter has her 11th birthday this weekend. I can't believe she is 11 years old already. It is going to be a great day for her. I am so excited for her.

I have to admit... I just attended one of the greatest events I have ever been to. I spent 4 awesome days at the Michael Jordan Senior Flight School. I was a guest of one of the attendees.

Not only did I hang out with Michael Jordan and listen to him speak about his experiences as a player (he also taught us some of the skills he that made him the greatest basketball player of all time), I also met some of the greatest coaches and players of today and from the past.

Doc Rivers, the coach of the world champion Boston Celtics, is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. Each day he took time to chat and take pictures. He even took a minute of his time to recorded a special message to my daughters, who watched the Celtics on their run to the championship. What a classy man!

I was able to meet and take photos with some of the other great coaches and former players; Doug Collins, Bill Walton, Jay Bilias, Lenny Wilkins, John Thompson Sr and John Thompson Jr, Mike Fratello, and others. I will post them on my blog soon.

These coaches are all so passionate about the game. During one of the sessions Michael Jordan spoke to the group, I was sitting behind Chuck Daly and watching him draw up plays for his team that played later in the morning. All these coaches were great competitors.

Lessons Learned From Michael and The Coaches

These guys all play to win. It doesn't matter if it is sports or business. They prepare and compete to be successful.

During one of Michael's talks ,he mentioned how the pressure is enormous when you are in front of 10's of thousands of people and you are expected to take the winning shot or foul shot. He mentioned how it is important to be able to always fall back on the routine practiced thousands of times over and over. Successful people can block out the outside noise and trust the routine and knock down the winning shot. Business is no different. When he is negotiating and if he doesn't know exactly what he wants out of the deal and he didn't practice his routine of what to say and how to respond it simply becomes a gamble- so he said to always prepare.

Building The Foundation

Michael also soke about the fact that his game reached the level it did was because he attended college for 3 years and learned the foundation of the game. He learned how to improve his skills on a daily basis. He was taught things the NBA doesn't focus on. So when he became an NBA player his foundation skill set was in place. He also mentioned he doesn't agree with many of the these players going straight to the NBA out of high school. Just for the reasons he mentioned...learning the basic foundational skills needed to improve their game each year.

I was so glad to hear Michael talk about foundational skills and why it is do important to build that big foundation. I have been speaking about this for years. I don't care what sport, business, or activity you are involved in- having the foundational skills to build from is essential. I am a great example of this in the business world. It has taken me many years to build my foundation of business due to the fact I was never exposed to it when in school or college. I had to learn totally on my own by going to business seminars, buying books, and listening to Cd's. I now have learned many successful business strategies to improve my businesses and to help others grow theirs- but only because I took the time to learn and hire other coaches that helped me grow my businesses.

Michael mentioned several times that he would not have been successful if he didn't have coaches always teaching him and helping him recognize things he wasn't seeing. Here is the greatest player in the world telling you, you need to have a coach if you want to be successful in anything. HUMM, I think it worked for Michael- don't you?

Yours in Speed

Lee

PS: If I were you, I would take Michael's advice and become a part of a coaching program so you can learn from other successful people. Go to http://www.speedinsiders.com/... be coached yourself plus, benefit from all the great interviews and information shared each month to all the Speed Insider Members.