Stories change history. The origin of today's NBA "Superteams" doesn't begin with LeBron James bringing his talents to South Beach. Baseball all-star Curt Flood challenged its "reserve clause" that restricted player movement and ultimately constrained player salaries. Flood's rejection of a trade to Philadelphia and subsequent January 1970 lawsuit set the stage for elimination of the reserve clause and the labor movement within both Major League Baseball and subsequently all major sports.
How do we direct and refine our storytelling, to move beyond "making our point" to changing hearts and minds?
Jim Collins' Good to Great examined corporate greatness, including Level 5 leadership as one his five core dimensions. The leaders' stories blended humility and ambition, which he initially called "fierce resolve." In the NBA, leaders depend heavily on player and team "buy in," the story that requires ability (teaching, system development, and motivation) and the humility to understand that the players drive the bus and are the product.
We articulate our message using techniques shared in the Heath Brothers classic Made to Stick. Chip and Dan Heath cite the acronym SUCCESs (simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, story). Memorable stories rivet our attention and capture our imaginations. The best teams, coaches, and players write the best narratives.
Vince Lombardi was the hard-nosed Italian-American underdog who believed the system prevented him from getting coaching opportunity. He seized it when it came with the Green Bay Packers and built a dynasty, selecting players for their toughness, ability, and 'chip on their shoulder' attitude.
He never had a losing season in the NFL, winning five championships in a program built on simplicity and execution. He rejected the NFL's racism and called players "Packer green." One of his themes was "Nothing But Acceptance," setting a standard that players who mistreated teammates would be off the team. That applied to racism, interracial relationships, and harassing gay players or front office personnel. He informed local businesses that any that refused one of his players was off limits to his team.
Trustworthiness of the storyteller also matters. A non-credible person seldom can represent an authentic story. We know from the TED Talk experience that additional key components include the "wow factor" and humor, especially self-effacing comments.
Isiah Thomas became a perennial all-star in the NBA. In addition to a pair of NBA titles, he was also misunderstood for a brief perceptual feud with Larry Bird. Some had suggested that Bird was a self-made superstar and somehow that Thomas had a gifted experience. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thomas grew up in hardscrabble poverty, in a single-parent family. He often went hungry, with an itinerant childhood looking for change or scraps of food on Chicago streets. His early dreams were not of stardom but a full refrigerator. In The Fundamentals: Eight Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life, he wrote, "My earliest dreams were not-as you might imagine-fantasies of playing professional basketball…. My boyhood dreams were mostly about well-stocked refrigerators: huge refrigerators that were bursting at the hinges with mouth-watering roast chickens, heaping plates of spaghetti, and thick juicy steaks."
Conversely, Bill Bradley was the rare 'rich kid' who flourished at the highest levels. He recognized that he had limited innate athleticism, and developed a program of training at age 12, three hours daily on weekdays and eight hours on Saturday, honing his vision, decision-making, ball-handling, and shooting skills. He helped lead Princeton, the Ivy League champion, to the Final Four (setting a scoring record in the consolation game), and became a champion on the Knicks. He earned a Rhodes Scholarship, became a US Senator from New Jersey, and ran for President, ultimately knocked out of the race by a bitter defeat in New Hampshire.
Each or our narratives will likely never reach the heights of Lombardi, Thomas, or Bradley, but we can still impact our players and community. Communicate better, inspire, and become an agent for change.
