"Sacred Hoops"

I recently finished Sacred Hoops by the Hall of Fame basketball coach Phil Jackson.  Jackson's Hall of Fame biography starts with, "Intellectual, spiritualist, maverick, athlete, coach - Phil Jackson is equal parts all five. But while Jackson was a modestly successful player in the NBA, it is as a coach that he leaves his footprint on the history of the game. Installing the complex triangle offense and employing a coaching philosophy heavily influenced by Native American and Eastern philosophy, Jackson has been at the helm of not one, but two of the greatest dynasties in NBA history."  Coach Jackson wrote Sacred Hoops shortly after Michael Jordan returned from his first retirement (which incidentally occurred just over 30 years ago this past month) to play again for the Chicago Bulls in 1995.  It is in part an autobiographical sketch of his early life and 12 -year playing career with the New York Knicks (in which he won two NBA Championships), as well as his early coaching career with the Continental Basketball Association (he coached the Albany Patroons to the 1984 CBA Championship) and Chicago Bulls (first as an Assistant under Doug Collins and later as the Head Coach, during which time the Bulls won the first of three NBA Championships).

Sacred Hoops was an interesting read and brought me back to some childhood and early adulthood memories.  I also appreciated Coach Jackson's philosophical lessons describing his approach to coaching (and really, life).  I've posted a couple of these lessons in the past, which came up in the book (see "The strength of the wolf is the pack..." and "White elephants and Wheelwrights").  Coach Jackson references an article by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne that appeared in the July-August 1992 issue of Harvard Business Review entitled "Parables of Leadership" (the story I mentioned in my post "White elephants and Wheelwrights" appears in this article).  The parables mentioned in this article are certainly very interesting, but I was particularly impressed by the authors' definition of leadership, which is perhaps one of the best definitions that I've ever seen.  

First, Kim and Mauborgne argue that perhaps leadership can't be defined.  They write, "The essence of leadership cannot be reduced to a series of personal attributes nor confined to a set of particular roles and activities. It is like the challenge of describing a bowl: we can describe a bowl in terms of the clay from which it is made. But a true picture must include the hollow that is carved into the clay—the unseen space that defines the bowl’s shape and capacity."

Second, Kim and Mauborgne argue that the parables mentioned in the article suggest that there are certain "essential qualities of leadership that define a leader: the ability to hear what is left unspoken, humility, commitment, the value of looking at reality from many vantage points, the ability to create an organization that draws out the unique strengths of every member."  

Third and ultimately, Kim and Mauborgne do provide a definition for leadership, writing that leadership is "the ability to inspire confidence and support among the men and women on whose competence and commitment performance depends."  I am reminded of a quote by the late Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, former President of the University of Notre Dame ("Father Ted").  He said, "The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It's got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can't blow an uncertain trumpet."  Leadership involves inspiring others to believe in that vision with all of their heart, mind, and soul.