A Rare Phil Jackson Interview
+ Stoicism, Hiring, Success, Analytics, Winning by not losing & more
“If you call failures experiments, you can put them in your resume and claim them as achievements.” - Mason Cooley
Hey Coaches,
Here you go!
✍️ Articles
Why Do Some People Succeed after Failing, While Others Continue to Flounder? I may have sent this before, but it’s a great read summarizing research on what leads some people to succeed while others don’t.
Some people learn from their failed attempts more than others, with those who “learn more” incorporating more components of their failed attempts into their later attempts.
Wall Street Journal - Have the Boston Celtics Broken the NBA?: The WSJ looks at the continued increase in 3-pointers in the NBA and what it means for sports going forward. (if you can’t read the link, try this)
Over the course of 48 minutes, the Celtics had launched an astonishing 61 shots from behind the 3-point arc, or one every 47 seconds on average.
“Mathematically, it’s gonna be hard to win that game,” Thibodeau said.
🎙️ Podcast
Way of Champions Podcast: #400 Phil Jackson, 13x NBA Champion Coach and Player on Coaching Jordan, Kobe and Shaq, Lessons from Vince Lombardi, and More - In a rare podcast appearance, Phil Jackson shares his coaching philosophy, how he led star players to buy into the team culture, his approach to coaching challenging individuals such as Dennis Rodman, lessons learned from Vince Lombardi, and more. [10/24/2024 - 78 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
"As a coach, your job is to connect with the human spirit of each player, help them trust you, and guide them to trust each other."
"In coaching, less power is often more powerful. When you give players space, they step up and take ownership of the team."
"The more I tried to exert power directly, the less powerful I became. Leadership is about distributing power widely while retaining final authority."
"To lead effectively, you have to be calm, receptive, and truly in touch with yourself. Leadership is about setting the tone, not dictating it."
The Knowledge Project: Ryan Holiday: How to Win the War with Yourself - Holiday explains how Stoic principles can guide you in navigating feedback, balancing ambition with self-awareness, and understanding the fine line between determination and delusion. [11/26/2024 - 102 minutes] Apple | Spotify | YouTube
"If joy for you is only possible when things are going amazing, then your happiness is fragile and out of your hands."
"Virtue is not something you have; it’s something you do. Good people do good things."
"The path or formula to get rich over time is pretty clear and it's available to almost anybody, but you get into trouble when you try to rush the timeline."
💭 Miscellaneous
Investor Paul Singer on winning by not losing (source):
We are in a number of losers’ games. To me, what that means in a practical way is that our results are not generated by our brilliance,” Singer says. “They’re generated by minimizing the mistakes. We have a growing number of very intelligent, well-educated people . . . so people are getting ideas, they’re thinking up things to do, but it’s the mistakes that really are, I believe, the most important part in the overall result.”
Jim Simons (the GOAT investor) on hiring:
“I believe there’s too much emphasis on a person’s being able to answer questions quickly when being interviewed. I remember a guy who gave slow answers during his interview, but it seemed to me he would be a good addition to our firm. So I called his thesis advisor at Harvard and asked about him. The advisor said: "Well, I had a number of problems that students could work on. He chose to work on the hardest one and did a great job." I overruled the interviewing group and said, "We’re going to hire this guy." And he was very good indeed.”
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