BE LIKE MIKE
Success leaves footprints. That means those we consider champions in any are of life have made certain choices, developed certain qualities, and exhibited certain behaviors that, if we recognize and utilize, we can learn from and apply to our own pursuit of winning. Their experience provides a road map for us to follow...if we take advantage of it.
The problem is, on the surface it can be easy to focus on what those high achievers have that we don’t, what they can do that we can’t, and the gifts they were given that we weren’t. In some ways, of course, that’s true. Take a world-class athlete like Michael Jordan, for instance. What are the most obvious things we see when we study his performance? We see elite athletic ability and supreme basketball talent that few if any other players in history can match. Trying to emulate that part of his performance just makes us feel embarrassed and inferior. It doesn’t matter what we do, how much we train, or how long we work at it, we’ll never be able to do many of the things Michael Jordan can do.
If you're my age, you might remember - during the height of his popularity - Gatorade built a marketing campaign around the idea of being "like Mike.” The catchy jingle plays over a montage of clips, some of Jordan's iconic moments and others of average people trying to replicate them. There is of course a level of irony in that statement, "I wanna be like Mike." On the surface, it just doesn't seem possible.
But when we dig deeper, beyond the surface-level physical ability and into the mindset and attitude of an elite-level performer like Michael Jordan, we find some of those choices, qualities, and behaviors it is possible for us to emulate. These are the footprints we actually can and should be following. Despite his athletic talent, Jordan, for instance, once said, “My best skill is that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn.” Of all the unique abilities that set him apart, being coachable - to him - was his most valuable.
There is a level of irony in that statement, too. Arguably the greatest basketball player in the history of the game, a man with limitless athletic ability and basketball talent, and someone we consider to be a champion in every sense of the word, believed the most important skill he possessed was a skill anyone - regardless of their athletic ability or basketball talent, including you and I - is totally capable of possessing, too. Most people could never jump like Michael Jordan. They could never shoot like him, or dribble or defend or dunk like him. But in what he believed was his most valuable area? Literally anyone can be as much like him as they'd like. And yet, for so many people, their commitment to being coachable isn't a priority.
Jordan's quote is offering us a road map. If we want to be our best, we need to be coachable. We need to be a sponge, soaking up every piece of feedback and information that can help us grow and improve. We need to be aggressive to learn. We need to relentlessly attack the opportunities that are presented to us, and we need to continually embrace the process it takes to get better. In this important area of performance, we need to do what champions do.
That starts with recognizing what Michael Jordan seemed to recognize, that a willingness to be coachable can set us apart from those we're competing with and against. Jordan probably saw other players who looked impressive on the surface but who never reached their potential - not because they didn’t have what it took on the outside, but because they weren’t equipped on the inside.
There’s a word of warning in that harsh reality, that just like success, failure leaves some footprints, too. We should learn from those whose ego has made them resistant to feedback and unwilling to learn and improve. We should recognize the important role our mindset and attitude plays in helping us become our best. We should follow the footprints of those who’ve shown us the way. That means, when it comes to being coachable, we should all strive to be like Mike.