Real-life resilience - Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is regarded as one of the best basketball players in history. But his first season in the NBA ended in total failure.

The year was 1997, the LA Lakers were playing the Utah Jazz in the Semi-Finals of the NBA Playoffs. It was Game 5 (do or die for the Lakers), scores were level, and there were 8 seconds left. Kobe was just 18 years old and he had a chance to win the game with the final shot. He brought the ball up the court, took the shot… and missed. Badly. He air balled. That means the ball didn’t even touch the ring or backboard.

The game went to overtime. A chance to redeem himself.

Kobe tried again. He took more shots and got three more air balls! The Lakers lost the game and their season was over that night. Oh, I should mention that the game was being played in Utah. The crowd were loving the fact that he was missing so badly.

Amidst the throbbing noise of jeering fans, Kobe went over and sat down on the bench to think through what had happened. He spent a few minutes mulling it over, trying to uncover the reason that he could miss so badly. All the shots had felt good, had looked good, were lined up well…but they had missed.

And then he had it!

Later he would talk about that game. In fact, multiple NBA alumni refer to that game as one of Kobe’s career-defining moments and forged a future champion. You see, that was the moment that Kobe realized a lot about himself. He knew what he needed to do.

Here’s how he saw it. Kobe was just 18 at that time. He’d skipped college and had been drafted straight out of high school. In high school they played 35 games a season. In the NBA, they play 82! This was deep into his first season, and he was exhausted. He just didn’t have the legs, and that meant that every shot was falling short.

Once he knew what had happened, he got to work to improve the strength he would need to get through all of those games. Here’s where I note that Kobe then went on to win 5 NBA Championships throughout his career.

The obstacle is the way.

Applying this thinking to our day to day work.

Without struggle, there is no progress. To lose can actually be a blessing, if we find the lesson.

The campaign didn’t deliver. The product launch failed. The pitch was a complete miss.

Whatever the situation, we can look at these with disappointment and frustration, or we can look at these as opportunities to improve.

Here are some real-life applications from the air ball story.

1. Awareness. Not being able to see our challenges is a recipe for repetition. Kobe had the tape to review, but he didn’t need it. Everyone in that stadium knew exactly what had happened. Sometimes in real life it’s not that easy for us to see, so we may need others to help us. This requires emotional intelligence, either as individuals or an organization, to identify and communicate the miss.

2. Analyze. We can take a few breaths (literally or figuratively) to look at the situation as objectively as possible. Get curious. Where did the process fail? Why did it fail? Often this can be a individual process, but it works particularly well when we invite multiple perspectives. Perspective allows us to see situations from a variety of angles, and particularly invites empathy so we can see how others interpreted the situation as well.

3. Acceptance. This is our ability to let go of ego and accept that we have work to do. Our minds then shift to solution-mode as we start to find ways forward. This involves elements of gratitude (focusing on the good), adaptability (recognizing that we need to change), a growth mindset (believing that we can change), and discipline (to actually get the work done).

If we can practice the above, that sets us up for the best chance of success. Then we get to work.

Want to know one more thing about this Kobe Bryant story?

After that ‘air ball game’, the team flew back to LA. He skipped sleep and went to his local high-school gym at 3am in the morning, asked a janitor to let him in, started practicing his shooting, and stayed there all day. All. Day.

I teach workplaces and individuals the strategies to improve resilience to succeed personally and professionally. These are preventative ideas and practical tools, so that we can thrive when obstacles come our way. Book a free discovery call today. 

Until next time friends, stay resilient!

Carre @ Resilient Marketing Minds