David H. Lewis - Michael Jordan--Life Lessons from His Airness

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For Mom, Dad, Sis, Bella,
and the loves of my life, Ezra and Sebastian.
With assists from David A., Helaine, and Aimee.

D.H.L.

NEVER SAY NEVER, BECAUSE LIMITS, LIKE FEAR, ARE OFTEN JUST AN ILLUSION.

On the court, he was an unstoppable force. His scoring average of 30.1 points per game eclipsed every player before him and all who have followed. Hed leap so high off the ground on a dunk that hed hit his head on the rim. He set NBA records like it was just another day at the office. When it came to basketball, no one in the world compared to him. Michael Jeffrey Jordan (a.k.a. MJ, the GOAT, Air Jordan, Mike, His Airness) is one of the most talented and beloved athletes of our time.

STAT Over the course of his career, Michael Jordan racked up 165 40-point games, 32 50-point games, and 5 60-point games.

He was an offensive assassin who could also dominate on defense, leading the league in steals over three different seasons and earning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 1988. He was chosen as MVP All-Star three times.

Off the court, his celebrity power and business acumen has dictated style trends and sold more product over time than anyone thought possible, from the perennially popular Nike Air Jordan sneakers to the baggy shorts players still wear today (Michael wanted enough room under his Chicago Bulls shorts to wear his University of North Carolina shorts) to the Be Like Mike slogan that earned Gatorade decades of brand recognition. He was one of the first athletes to star in commercials and reap sky-high profits. Today he still makes billions of dollars in endorsement deals, far more than any of his contemporaries.

Even though Michael was almost superhuman as a player, he was and is as human as the rest of us, and thats what makes his story so intriguing. We watched as he broke down in tears after finally winning his first title. We witnessed him struggling through the sudden death of his father. He wrestled with life-altering decisions, struggled to know when to retire, and bravely took a hiatus to try his hand at baseball. He was held to a higher standard and was asked to defend his every mistake, including his bold career choices, combative style, and penchant for gambling. He has been criticized and praised in the same breath repeatedly but managed to prevail as a leader and an icon.

While other players might have suffered from their mistakes, he used every failure as inspiration to push himself harder. He lost to the Detroit Pistonshe used that frustration to break their winning streak. He fell short of winning a championship for yearshe went on to win six of them. He lacked a consistent jump shothe developed an unstoppable turnaround fadeaway jump shot. He turned disappointment into self-improvement:

Ive missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. Ive lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times Ive been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Hes nothing if not complicated. Teammates and competitors have called him selfish, maniacal, and ruthless. His obsession with winning at all costs rubbed people the wrong way. His blistering trash talk was infamous. He spurned criticism during his basketball career and guarded his legacy with a passion. But these are the same character traits that made him a winner.

Maybe we cant jump four feet off the ground. Or catch so much air that we can put our head six inches above a basketball rim. And theres no way we could score 32,292 points in the NBA. But we can learn what it takes to become a leader and a champion from the man who did all those things and more. We can learn from Michaels approach to the game, his tireless work ethic, and his handling of coaches and teammates.

So why will we be talking about Michael Jordan for decades and centuries to come? Because what he did on the court was otherworldly. What he showed us was inspiring. What he teaches us is timeless.

His jaw-dropping dunks, clutch shooting, and fierce determination will live on forever. When you are that good of a competitor, that memorable a player, that much of a trendsetter, you never disappear. You carry on as a legend, and your life becomes a valuable collection of lessons learned.

Theres nothing ordinary about Michael Jordan, a man who was born to play basketball. His burning desire to win was always clear from the look on his face: eyes steely, tongue out. Hed lick his lips right before torching an opponent on the court. When you look back at his childhood and early years, you see the origins of Michaels passion for leadership and his burning desire to outdo everyone else.

Michael was born in Brooklyn, New York, arguably the mecca of basketball, on February 17, 1963. The young Jordan didnt have much time to adjust to his humble surroundings or soak in the citys basketball culture because, by age two, his family had already left for a new life in Wilmington, North Carolina. His father, James, and his mother, Deloris, felt the streets of Brooklyn were too dangerous for their family. They wanted a safer environment for their kids.

Michael was the fourth of five children in the family: two older brothers (James Jr. and Larry), an older sister (Deloris), and a younger sister (Roslyn). His brother Larry, older by just 11 months, had the most significant influence on his lifeand game. Michael gives credit to his brother for instilling a winning mentality in him from a very early age:

When you come to blows with someone you absolutely love, thats igniting every fire within you. And I always felt I was fighting Larry for my fathers attention. So my determination got even greater to be as good if not better than my brother.

Michaels older brother never made it to the NBA, but he had talent and a drive that would rub off on his little brother. Larry is five feet eight inches tall, much shorter than his brother, but he could leap 44 inches into the airnearly as high as his famous sibling at the height of his game. Larry pushed his little brother and knew early on that Michael was destined to be something special. His level of play was just so much higher than the rest of us, Larry said. People ask me all the time if it bothered me, but I can honestly say no because I had the opportunity to see him grow. I knew how hard he worked.