WHAT IS SUCCESS?

When I was on the court, this concept was simple if looked at from the highest vantage point: winning. I had to drive to the hoop or steal the ball to prevent the opposing team from scoring. With enough practice, training, and determination to push me, these were objectives that manifest themselves routinely every game that I became very comfortable about achieving. But then things changed.

Now that I’m retired, I’ve entered a different professional arena, where the metrics of success are less black and white than the numbers on a scoreboard. Believe it or not, it has actually been another aspect of my life entirely that has best prepared me for my new challenges ahead and not the game I’ve always known. The lessons I’ve actually taken the most from in this new transition for me I’ve gleaned, in fact, from fatherhood.

I have two young boys now, the absolute light of my life. Watching them face and best new challenges each day in approaching an enormous, complex world completely new to them is a pure inspiration for the way I handle my transition into the business and entrepreneurial worlds. Whenever asked, I give people the same advice I give my boys: that true success can’t be measured externally…it always starts from achievement within.

 Success, to me, is being able to be able to look yourself in the mirror and know that you have given all you can to your efforts and walking away from your day with a nurtured sense of pride in your work and yourself. It’s never about the money, the fame, or the rankings—it’s about respect. It’s about having a personal integrity and honest love for the decisions you’ve made and the work that you’re apart of. It’s holding your head high each day, knowing that you’re making a difference in people’s lives and doing what you can to help shape the world you’re dedicated to into a better place, whatever sector you take on. 

True success is finding your place and your voice and sticking with it, improving your skills, knowledge, and capital until your unique point-of-view makes an impact in your field that cannot be ignored. But the thing I cannot stress enough is to give that voice the time it needs to grow. Watching my toddlers develop, I know how important those incremental, transitional steps are to eventually mastering anything. They crawl and tumble and land flat on their faces long before they can run. We all need that luxury—to fail, to make mistakes, to try out new and revolutionary ideas that might not spark on first attempt…but could lead to a defining breakthrough down the road. 

Because one day, your success will ultimately be defined by the kind of legacy your work leaves on your profession. Did you follow the herd, or did you take those risks, utilize that time to grow, and instead make shockwaves? Did you change your game? As I strive to make an even bigger impact on the worlds of media, entertainment, business, and philanthropy than I did on the court, I continue to learn from my boys as much as they learn from me. Perhaps the biggest testament to my success will be raising them into men who see the endless opportunities of the professional world and the limitlessness of their own potential, never feeling afraid to raise their voice and take those bold shots that might just reshape the world. As a professional, a citizen, and a father, I can’t wait till that day arrives, and their unstoppable successes also become my own.