Books |
Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success
Phil Jackson
By
Published: Jun 18, 2013
Category:
Memoir
I’ve been watching the NBA playoffs. That will surprise readers who like to think of me, in formal attire, swanning around Manhattan at night. Those readers will be astonished to learn that I interviewed Michael Jordan and wrote a book about him.
Does that mean I love basketball? Not quite.
What I love is a five-man sport that requires harmony on the level of the Tallis Scholars.
What I love is the physical manifestation of powerful ideas.
What I love is watching character be revealed in real time.
Phil Jackson’s new book takes you through his greatest games as a player and a coach, but “Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success” is not a book about basketball. It’s about leadership. Management. Spirit. It belongs on your bookshelf next to Shunryu Suzuki and Pema Chodren, who are quoted frequently in these pages.
Jackson, son of preachers, was a seeker from childhood. When he discovered Zen, he was home. For Zen is all about situational insight. What works here may not work there. You must deal with people as individuals, not types. There is no better preparation for someone who must deal with highly-paid young men, often emotionally immature, generally of a different race and life experience. [To buy the book from Amazon, click here. For the Kindle edition, click here.]
So this is a book about vision. First, having one. Then, selling it. In Jackson’s case, it’s not an easy sell, for he’s telling stars to forget about stardom and play as a team of equals — a team of brothers. He famously told Michael Jordan: “Players who win scoring championships never play on teams that win championships.” Jordan got the message, learned to pass and won both NBA rings and scoring championships.
This is not to say there’s nothing here for the Coors drinker who watches basketball religiously. Jackson and his co-author, Hugh Delehanty, have scored interviews with some of the game’s greats — Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Shaq — and they’re stunners. That is, they’re not about great plays, but about great ideas. About the very precepts Jackson pounded into their heads in a thousand different ways.
Read an excerpt. You’ll see what I mean. And you’ll wish you worked with people who shared these ideas. Because championships await us all. They’re just one big idea — and a commitment to that idea — away.
