Michael Jordan - Driven from Within

ITS HARD, BUT ITS FAIR.

CLIFTON POP HERRING

MICHAEL JORDAN
MARK VANCIL

ATRIA BOOKS
1230 Avenue of the Americas New York,
NY 10020

For my wife, Juanita, and our children, Jeffrey, Marcus and Jasmine

MJ

In August of 1984, at the insistence of my mother and father, I boarded a plane to Portland, Oregon.

THAT DAY I MET PHIL KNIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Neither of us could imagine what the next 20 years together would produce. Has it been a perfect partnership? No, but nothing of value comes without hard work, particularly when the objective is to create something no one could even envision. Howard H White has said Nike was the perfect place for two people as competitive as Phil and me because we could plug into one another in an atmosphere that reflected our aspirations. I think thats probably true. We might have come from different places, but we have always shared a commitment to creating products that reflect the same fundamental values.

BRAND JORDAN EXISTS BECAUSE OF WHAT PHIL KNIGHT CREATED BEFORE I EVER CAME ALONG.

MV

For Uncle Bill, my best friend

The call came from Tinker Hatfield, my friend and the design genius behind 14 of the 20 Air Jordan shoes. More than two years removed from the end of my playing career and 20 years into Brand Jordan, I was enjoying my life away from the spotlight. I liked being behind the scenes and out of the public eye. In fact, I was doing just about anything to stay below the radar when Tinker called. He said it was time to look back, time to reflect on the arc of my life on and off the court. Tinker was coming back on board to create the Jordan XX, which would be designed on the idea of looking back over the last 20 years. It became an opportunity not only to reconnect with Tinker and revisit our creative process, but to talk about the basis for everything that had transpired. No one could have predicted the outcome because I was never following someones lead or operating off an existing model. There were no models for what happened at Nike, and certainly nothing close to what we have created with Brand Jordan.

Everyone has theories, and its easy to analyze events after the fact, but no one could have predicted everything would all turn out the way it has.

BUT LOOKING BACK WASNT ABOUT CELEBRATING THE RESULTS AS MUCH AS IT WAS ABOUT UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS THAT PRODUCED THOSE RESULTS.

And the process for me has always been pure. Its been about leading and staying trueauthenticto those fundamental values that flowed downstream from my parents and later Coach (Dean) Smith. Moving through the business world full time, I recognize that the structure of success is no different there than it was on the basketball court. Great companies have a lot in common with great teams. Players who practice hard when no one is paying attention generally play well when everyone is watching. Success at any level can be reverse engineered to reveal the same architecture.

THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED IN LEADING WITH ACTION, NOT WORDS.

And I learned very early to follow my instincts. My standards have always been mine alone. I have never tried to be like somebody else, or live up to the expectations of others. I dont believe in following.

I believe in leading. That is the essence of Brand Jordan. There was never anything contrived about the way I played the game, and there is nothing contrived about what we have created at Brand Jordan.

This book provides snapshots, vignettes and stories about my life, virtually all of which can be seen in my shoes.

WE ALL KNOW OUR STORY FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE.

I WANTED TO KNOW WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE TO THOSE CLOSEST TO ME, THE PEOPLE INSIDE MY CIRCLE.

Everyone sees things from a different angle, and the people in this book saw everything from the inside out. Only people who are very close to meother than my wife, Juanita, and our childrenare included in this book. In some cases, a story is related and I provide my view of that same event. In other cases, I talk about what happened, or how I approached a phase of my life, and they respond from their vantage. Everybody knows the results. This book is about the process. The values that formed the foundation of my playing career are the same values that define Brand Jordan. I truly believe those values never go out of style.

MOM (DELORES JORDAN) Where it all started.

GEORGE KOEHLER He was the first person I saw when I walked off the plane on my first trip to Chicago. From that first day, I never felt lonely in Chicago, thanks to George. And thats still true today.

DAVID FALK He taught me the business.

TINKER HATFIELD When it comes to anything to do with the design and creation of product, Tinker is my right-hand man.

CURTIS POLK My left-hand man, the person who watches the business.

ROD HIGGINS The teammate who showed me Chicago, a friend of 21 years.

DEAN SMITH My second father.

HOWARD H WHITE My first friend at Nike.

FRED WHITFIELD My friend of nearly 25 years.

WILL THERE BE ANOTHER MICHAEL JORDAN? SURE.

There is no doubt a player will come along who will be able to build on what I have accomplished, just as I built on the example of great players before me. But it wont be as easy for the next Michael Jordan.

TODAY, PLAYERS RECEIVE THE REWARDS BEFORE THEY PROVE THEIR WORTH. IF YOU LOOK AROUND, YOULL SEE THAT IT HAPPENS IN A LOT OF PLACES, NOT JUST SPORTS.

The big NBA contract comes with the big shoe contract. With those contracts come national commercials. With that kind of notoriety comes expectations, some of which are bound to be out of proportion to the players experience and ability.

There were no expectations for me. Sure, I was the third pick in the NBA draft, and I received a contract worth a lot of money at the time. But no one expected me to become the player I became. I came in under the radar to a certain degree. Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Julius Erving were the clear stars in 1984. In those days, no rookie was expected to come into the league and challenge the status of veteran stars. So I didnt have to be concerned with looking over my shoulder, or trying to live up to the expectations created by a marketing campaign. No one created a persona that I had to live up to.