Love's leadership

More than once, I’ve had the privilege of meeting people I was too ignorant to appreciate. October 14, 2015, was one of those occasions. At the invitation of a pastor in Chicago, Cindy and I went to a Bulls preseason game at the United Center.

The pastor, an entrepreneur who also owned several businesses, had rented a suite for the game. He invited several pastors and other ministry leaders from the area.

One of the perks of a suite at a Bulls game was a visit from Bob Love. All I knew about him that night was that he was a retired NBA player who had spent much of his career with the Bulls. He autographed copies of his book and posed for pictures. Again, I was too dumb that night to adequately appreciate Love’s kindness and gentle spirit.

Love, who died earlier this week, is one of a small handful of Bulls players to have their jersey number retired and displayed in the rafters of the United Center. Although locals call it “The House that Michael Built,” Love’s jersey was hanging there before North Carolina’s Michael Jordan. Love was one of the first two Bulls to be placed in the team’s Ring of Honor.

Love’s accomplishments in life eclipse his significant achievements on the court, including being named an NBA All-Star in three of his nine seasons with the Bulls. Those accomplishments also offer principles for all leaders to apply in their lives and work.

Great leaders can emerge from humble beginnings. Love, born in 1943, was one of fourteen children born into a sharecropper’s family. He worked in the cotton fields of northeast Louisiana long before any child likely would today. He also suffered abuse from his stepfather that was so intense that Bob ran away and lived out the remainder of his childhood with his grandparents. That abuse as a child may have contributed to a debilitating stutter that afflicted him well into his 40s.

That stutter was also part of why the Cincinnati Royals traded Love to the Bulls in the late 60s. They cited his inability to communicate with others on the team as a reason for the trade. When his playing days were over, the stutter prevented him from landing a decent-paying job when he retired from the Seattle Supersonics in the late 70s. In the mid-80s, he worked for less than $5/hr bussing tables at Nordstrom’s flagship store in Seattle.

Watching bussers at work in various restaurants over the last 30 or so years makes that detail of Love’s life predictable. Bussers are rarely seen and never heard. They are entirely invisible to most patrons in a restaurant until they miss a spot wiping a table or overlook a dirty dish and leave it on the table. Even those concerns are typically expressed to a manager, so there is rarely any direct communication with them, even when there is a problem.

It’s also tragic that the man one Chicago sports writer has called the third-best Bull in team history, behind Jordan and Scottie Pippen, was bussing tables for about $10,000 a year.

In that role, Love met John Nordstrom, a descendant of the founder and co-chair at the time. Nordstrom paid for Love to receive intensive speech therapy. Upon completing that speech therapy, Love was named a Nordstrom corporate executive, whose responsibilities included being a company spokesman and health compliance for all 70 Nordstrom restaurants.

Twice, Love had to overcome significant challenges to achieve the success that formed the headlines of news stories about his death this week. These experiences are the roots of his mantra in the latter years of his life, “Never play the victim.”

Leaders invest their success in others. I met Bob Love that night in October of 2015 because he became an ambassador for the Chicago Bulls. His story of achievement in the face of challenges is told in his book. He autographed copies and gave them away at public appearances in local schools and community events. His mission was to encourage children and adults who may face challenges and are tempted to give up to press on.

That investment in others is a demonstration of Love’s humility. While many successful leaders in various fields, including ministry, parlay their success into a revenue stream, Bob Love saw his success as an opportunity to invest in others.

What about you? How are you investing your success in others? What have you learned in your leadership journey that may bring value to others? Who can help you recognize the unique value you can offer to others? How can you help others grow faster and lead farther by investing in them?

What challenges have you faced that tempt you to make excuses? Who can help you see beyond them to the opportunities for you to lead more effectively?

Enjoy your weekend.

The views and opinions expressed in my Thursday Thoughts on Leadership are my own. They do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina or any affiliated churches.