Michael Jordan - The Unusual Tactics His Coach Used To Win World Championships

✍️ Coming up in today’s edition:

1. One quick win: From a world championship-winning head coach

2. One proven system: To avoid the “Bystander Apathy” seen at ex-president Trump’s shooting

3. One million-dollar question: To get the best ideas from your team

I appreciate all the positive feedback and replies on the last few editions - it honestly means the world. The fire is burning to keep providing as much value to you as possible.

I’m always looking to level up the content and the format so I’d love to know if you’d like to see any changes to the newsletter 👇

1. STRUGGLING TO GET YOUR TEAM ENGAGED?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Phil Jackson, nicknamed the “Zen Master,” was the former coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers - winning 11 NBA championships under his leadership. Even in these high-performing teams, he had to battle to keep everyone engaged throughout a season.

Jackson used an energy management practice amongst other Zen Buddhism techniques to manage stress, maintain focus, and help his superstars - Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant - recover effectively.

Add this energy management practise to your toolbox today 👇

Ask everyone in the group to rate their present energy levels and focus between 1 (barely awake) and 10 (super alert).

Then ask them what change in their environment would boost their score by one point, for example:

• A morning stretch/meditation

• Grabbing a cup of coffee 

• Watching a comedy skit on TikTok 

• A walk in the park

Make sure everyone schedules time to implement their change.

At the end of the week, ask them again what their scores were and which additions to their schedule made the biggest impact on improving these.

Share the ones that worked with the wider group 🤝

2. WHY BYSTANDER APATHY NEARLY COST TRUMP HIS LIFE

Ex-president Donald Trump narrowly avoided an assassination attempt recently.

But what I found fascinating was the 20-minute window from these bystanders spotting the shooter and anyone taking action to remove him from the roof.

The main reason for this is Bystander Apathy - the more people available, the less responsibility each member of the crowd feels to do anything about the situation.

In an emergency or high-pressured project, the bigger the group of people involved, the more likely that everyone will assume that someone else is taking action.

Bystander apathy explains why anything assigned to a committee never gets done.

The best way to eliminate bystander apathy in business is to ensure all projects have single, clear owners and deadlines.

Only then will your team feel fully responsible for getting things done.

I went into more depth on this topic in the 3rd section of this newsletter, as ex-CEO of PayPal Peter Thiel swears by the “One person, one problem” framework.

3. WHAT WOULD YOU DO, IF YOU HAD THEIR JOB?

This is a great question to ask your team.

Each week, choose one team member’s role and have everyone in the group take turns answering the question, “If I had your job, I would…” This exercise helps uncover fresh ideas and potential changes from different perspectives.

It is great for cross-team idea pollination.

Whenever I’ve done this, the outcomes have led to some of our best developments as a company.

A prime example is a completely refurbished quiet working zone in response to somebody’s suggestion for more focused working zones.

Fast forward to today and the attic area of our office has been transformed into a quiet, working rainforest 🌴

If you’re in London and want to visit, reply to this email and you can come see the rainforest at Wiser for yourself 🙌

I’d also love to hear any great ideas that come from you running this exercise with your team…

MY FAVOURITE FINDS 🔗

For your performance:

• How the UK Sports Psychology Dept are using “performance decompression” post the Paris Olympics (X)

• Lewis Hamilton on handling the biggest defeat of his career in that infamous race (Abu Dhabi finale 2021)

For your team:

• The best 100 leadership books in the world (Blinkist)

• How “collective accountability” is often the difference between winning and losing (The Winning Difference)

For your health:

• Marathon runner Kipchogi’s no.1 rule = Maximising his Vitamin N (Kipchogi)

• NFL star George Kittle shows the power of self-talk (Coach Jeff Becker)

Thanks!

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