‘The last 5 seconds’

For many sports minded fans watching sports TV is the closest they’ll ever come to having "athletic activity". The closest I ever got to getting an MBA is interviewing the director/professors of three top business schools in the country.

But who would have imagined learning a leadership concept straight out of championship games in the NBA? If I ever write a book on it, I’d call it "The Last 5 Seconds". It’s about core leadership skills that Michael Jordan has shown in several NBA championship games.

All during the last 5 seconds.

I long gave up on ever becoming a pro when my hamstring decided it wanted to be part of my leg and not my thigh. Since then, watching the NBA is like the annual return of flying termites, once you’ve see them, they’re on their way to the funeral.

But one morning while "surfing" the channels (another failed athletic activity) I chanced upon a Michael Jordan clip on Solar Sports. Having watched at least a hundred Air Jordan ads and his cartoon movie, I was sorely tempted to go to Disney Channel, my regular source of wisdom for parenting. There I know why my daughter talks the way she does.

But at 5:30 in the morning the clear small voice was a bit louder. "Be still and learn. If you pay attention, there’s an MBA lesson here for you". I’m not a mystic seeker kinda guy, but the notion that I could actually learn MBA from the NBA was too interesting to pass off.

The video clip was about several crucial games and a couple of NBA championship games. The star of course was always his Airness Michael Jordan. The common scenario was Jordan’s team in the spot down by two points, with one chance to take a shot.

And as expected the guys go to Jordan for the shot, and he does, and he makes it, and the Bulls win!!!! That’s what you see. Not me.

Like one of those crime scene TV shows, I went through the dialogue, the interviews, the live broadcasts, breaking it all down and guess what came out.

First: in every game, when everything was on the line, Jordan asked for the ball.

Confident, determined he was not on the outer ring of the huddle. He was the center of it. He knew what was at stake, he knew the price to pay. It was not about playing hero, it was doing his job and what was expected of him. He would either take the shot, or make the play. He asked for the responsibility.

While most athletes and businessmen fantasize about being heroes, not everybody is willing to live out the rest of his life as the guy who lost the championship in front of 20,000, much less in full view of the world. Then again there lies the difference.

Like a rich nation pretending to be poor, there are people who talk about leadership but are really in it for the money. In a lake of feathered creatures, one encounters difficulty determining by sound, the difference between the "quack" and the swan.

Second: Jordan said in the clip "success in the past gave me the confidence we could do it". Jordan continued to build up on his success which increased his confidence. He did not rely on it like a veteran reminiscing on a war long forgotten, he moved on "from glory to glory". He trusted the things he did right.

Many business people and leaders talk about their achievements, but not many move on to more achievements, and even fewer understand the importance of reflecting, drawing from your past success to encourage you out of your comfort zone, green zone, or safety perimeter.

Sadly, more people dwell on failures.

They are paralyzed by shame and subsequent fear of another failure, little realizing that you have a better chance of handling and getting out of failure than successfully handling success.

Remembering the success of the past is like using an existing proven and tested business model. But instead of simply duplicating it, improve, even do spin-offs or simply "go where no man has ever gone before", just make sure there’s intelligent life out there.

Third: Jordan draws out the enemy.

If you ever get to see the clip on Jordan, it’s really freaky how the guy takes the ball, and literally uses up time until the last five seconds to take the shot. Mechanically speaking, that’s probably all you have to do the shot. Nothing more, nothing less.

With precious little time, Jordan draws out the enemy.

He has what they want, the brown sweat covered, pig skin full of air that will determine who goes home with fat $ bonuses. He determines what the enemy has planned. He uses up time to find out if three guys will gang up on him which means two of his teammates are going to be free. He finds out who he’s up against.

In other words the guy has been doing his homework. He knows the competition. They spend millions of dollars paying "scouts" to study, spy, analyze every team, every coach, every player that the Bulls will be up against. It’s not a game, it’s business and it’s war.

Jordan decides what style, what shot, where to take the ball, where his teammates are on the floor. His skills, his discipline, his experience come together to few select choices, go left or go right, go to the ring or go out, pass the ball or take the shot.

Fourth: Jordan decides and lives with the outcome.

He takes the shot. He always takes the shot. Only when its impossible for Jordan will he pass the ball, only when someone has a better chance will he pass the ball. But ultimately because he asked for the ball he takes the shot.

It is said "don’t ask a man to do something you yourself are not willing to do".

Perhaps we should improve on it and add. Don’t ask a woman to be faithful, don’t ask employees to be on time, don’t ask government for services, don’t ask children to be disciplined, don’t ask God for things . . . you yourself are not willing to give or say or do.

Between doing and done is a graveyard of failed businesses, aspirations and opportunities. This sadly is something that needs to be relearned by leaders and businessmen. Everyone wants a uniform, a varsity jacket, club membership, title. But action and commitment have now become relative notions. Even Supreme Court decisions are being reinvented as relative. Not final, not executory.

It’s become a fast food, microwave culture where people don’t want the slow burn of experience, the muscle building – fat-burning process of action and exercise, the season nurtured cycle of sowing and reaping. Everyone wants the buck in dollar version but not the version that means responsibility and accountability.

People delay making choices not because they want to draw out options but because they want to avoid making the decisions. No wonder there are more tenants than owners, partners instead of spouse, careers instead of children, and people making a living but not a life.

As his Airness would put it… just do it.