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Friday, December 13, 2024

Basketball - Self-Correction, Notes from a Podcast

Tuesday is try something different day...podcast application...

Rethinking with Adam Grant and Malcolm Gladwell (TED podcast)...this is a change of pace to encourage thinking out of the box. Derive value from discussions with other viewpoints. 

"The fastest way to make something go away is to say, 'I was wrong'," says Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell has written, "Revenge of the Tipping Point." "Yes, I was wrong." (Have the courage to admit to the team that I was wrong).

"You made me rethink 'nonfiction sequels' - Adam Grant

Gladwell didn't see how to revise the original "Tipping Point" without a rewrite. (What basketball topics need rethinking?)

Epidemiologists NEED to look for problems. (Epidemiology is the study of health and disease in populations). 

Strategic optimists see themselves succeeding and study hard. (Why do anything if we don't believe we can succeed?)

Grant says, "there is too little grading," from his diving training. Feedback allows for correction. 

Gladwell says the only time to send out work for evaluation is when it is unformed. He admired his father's willingness to change his mind. 

Gladwell got critiqued on his chapter in The Tipping Point on New York crime and Bernie Goetz. He realized that he had been uneven in not evaluating both parties. (Think about issues from both sides of the argument to evaluate better.)

There was a school with a high suicide rate. Why? A monoculture where there was a singular group of success, academic, athletic, etc. If you didn't belong, there was no home for you. We need a home. Schools with jocks, nerds, punks, goths, etc. had many 'homes' for students. A strong culture "had a dark side with that uniformity" said Grant. (Culture matters for social animals). 

"Diversity is a matter of numbers," says Gladwell. Have enough diversity and it impacts culture. "Symbolic representation is almost as bad as none."

Gladwell got some things 'so wrong' that he went to debate school to improve. (As coaches, we've all been there.)

"Apologies are good for failure of competence but NOT for failures of character," Grant about an article from Peter Kim. (I think character and competence are solid themes to build a team around). 

"I am so afraid of failing that I take that issue off the table," by self-sabotage Gladwell shared. 

Gladwell promoted sports because it 'requires daily investment' and prevents self-handicapping. You can't drink if you want to run cross-country. "Athletics are essential...but you don't have to be good at it." Value comes from discipline, teamwork, fitness...even if you're not skilled. 

Grant says, "success does come from being good at a domain where others aren't." 

Gladwell says you can learn grit and resourcefulness without being good. "I realized the beauty of mediocrity," as an older average runner instead of a Canadian champion. 

Gladwell says he writes to encourage people to think in different ways. He believes in 'receiver culture'. (Great advancements can occur when someone sees a deficit and a solution.)

"Would you accept a place in a society if you knew nothing about it?" Rawlsian... would you want to be coached by _____ ? John Rawls wrote, "The Theory of Justice." 

"The most complaining about society takes place by the most affluent (relative to the least affluent)..." We might think about the Alabamas, Georgias, and Clemsons. Gladwell can't fathom this. If you have a billion dollars and can't stand your neighbor, move. It's the "asymmetry of complaint problem."

Grant, "how does a high achiever disidentify with success?" Gladwell says that is a central question of aging. We need more worlds...a diverse set of values and goals. 

Grant, "what's something you'll never change your mind about?" (Find players who care as much about success as you do). 

Lagniappe. Communication isn't always yelling. 

Lagniappe 2. Sell the fake. 

Lagniappe 3. There is always a price to be paid.  

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