Finally Friday... "My Takes On ESPN's The Last Dance" - May 15th, 2020
This Sunday evening the final two episodes of ESPN’s docuseries The Last Dance will air. If you are not familiar with it, you have been living in a cave. Normally the “living in a cave” assumption has a negative connotation, but in the world we are in, maybe it means that you figured it all out. Regardless, it is an understatement to say that in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis The Last Dance has brought a lot of joy to millions of people. For me, it has been a great walk down memory lane. I was lucky to grow up in the Chicago Area during the Michael Jordan and “Running of the Bulls” era.
I will leave my thoughts about why Jordan is the GOAT and why the NBA of today is soft on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and for discussions with my misguided children. I will share my thoughts from a business and leadership perspective on LinkedIn. I can’t wait to see the final two episodes.
? Give The People What They Want: Originally the series was scheduled to be released mid-summer but due to our current situation, it was moved up. As of three weeks ago the series director Jason Hehir was still editing the final four episodes. It proves that giving people what they want may not be on a timeline that you planned for and sometimes just getting it done at the most opportune moment is more important. Done is better than perfect.
? Contracts Are Contracts: Both Jordan and Scottie Pippen were locked into early career contracts that had a longer term with lower annual salaries. By league standards both Jordan and Pippen were underpaid. Regardless if you agree with the contract amounts the commitment stood. You could see it in the look on Chicago Bulls Owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s face when asked about the contracts, that he did not lose an ounce of sleep over it, because he cautioned both players at a young age not to sign long term deals. For those of you entering into a new arrangement, no matter what you can bring to the table, you are locked into your original arrangement. Negotiate it wisely. The same commitment to “Contracts Are Contracts” can be said about Jordan’s refusal to be photographed wearing Reebok apparel during the 1992 Olympics Gold Medal ceremony.
? Great Coaches & Leaders Have Themes: Phil Jackson is a genius and understood the power of storytelling. He understood how storytelling impacted individual players and how it galvanized a team. Starting each season off with the clarity of message and to title “their story” helped bring a sense of purpose to each championship team.
? “I don’t have a gambling problem; I have a competition problem...”: Jordan’s response in an interview about his gambling was classic Jordan. It made me think that top performers and A-Type personalities are just as skilled at rationalizing good and bad behaviors as Jordan was skilled at carving up NBA defenses.
? Legacy Matters and Competitive Spirit Doesn’t End When Your Career Ends: Jordan’s approval to release The Last Dance’s archival footage the day after the Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Championship and his re-telling of the Portland “Shrug Game” speak to how he views his legacy.
? “Listen To Your Mother…”: Jordan’s mother was correct on every piece of advice she gave him. Through the lens of history, we can see which pieces paid off and how Jordan’s legacy was defined by his mom’s influence. Jordan won big on her feedback about going with Nike when Nike did not seem like a credible partner and Michael lost big on not being more politically and socially active in his home state of North Carolina. Her insistence on going back to finish his degree was also a key factor to making Jordan more marketable to Main Street.
? Stand Up For Yourself: Steve Kerr’s response to Jordan was correct. Do right and fear no one. Every bully deserves to get hit back and many times Jordan bullied and “pushed” too much. It doesn’t matter how talented you are or what you contribute to a team you have to know your boundaries and more importantly the limits of others.
? Deeeeeeee-troit Sucks: Any Bulls and Chicago sports fan will get this. This has nothing to do with business but I still loath the Detroit Pistons of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Bill Laimbeer has the most punchable face on the planet.
I hope you have enjoyed the first eight episodes as much as I have. If you have not watched them, they are worth your time. Yes, it is a bit unbalanced and pro-Jordan fluffy, after all Jordan’s production company Jump 23 co-created the series, but regardless of that, there are many lessons to be learned and many great memory lanes to go down.
I will leave you with this final message of how Jordan responded to the question of “if his desire to win and his drive for success came at the expense of being perceived as not a nice guy.”
His emotional response was this:
“Well I mean, I don’t know. I mean, winning has a price and leadership has price. Sure, I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled, I challenged people when they didn’t want to be challenged. I earned that right because my team members who came after me, they didn’t endure what I endured. Once you joined the team you live at a certain standard that I played the game at and I wasn’t going to take anything less. Now if that means I had to get in your ass a bit then I did that. You ask all of my teammates; they will say Michael Jordan never asked me to do something that he never wanted to do. When people see this, they may say he wasn’t that nice of a guy, he may be a tyrant. Well that’s you because you never won anything. I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. Look I don’t have to do this, I am only doing this because it is who I am, that is how I played the game, that was my mentality. If you don’t want to play that way, don’t play that way. Break.”