Play Defense and Pass the Ball

Recently, my wife and I decided to clean out our guest bedroom. The closet was overflowing with photos collected over two lifetimes and one seven year marriage. Among those photos were some relics from my high school past. My father came for a visit a few months back and brought me a box of photos and old school records.

As we began sorting through photos of yesteryear I can across some old high school basketball team photos and interestingly enough my junior varsity stats dropped out. Now, I remember JV basketball quite vividly. I played on the team as a sophomore and junior. Our junior season the team went 17-2, losing only twice to the same team. What a rivalry!

In looking at the stats and seeing who the top scorers and the top rebounders were my name was middle of the pack. Maybe the third leading scorer and fifth in rebounding. Nothing special right. By just looking at the stats you would think this guy's not the MVP, but you'd be wrong.

I learned very early on from sports that the MVP on any team is the person who passes the ball and plays defense. These are the skills which win championships. As I write this I think of teams like the Sacramento Kings era with Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie, Peja Stoyakovic, and Jason Williams.

Just like that Kings team I always had a game plan in my head to pass the ball to setup my teammates for the easy shot first. They enjoyed playing with me because I gave them easy shots and made them look good. Only when they all were struggling did I take matters into my own hands and shoot or take the ball to the hoop. I saved my energy for defense.

I loved d'ing up the best guy on the other team, putting my chest in his and frustrating the heck out of him. There's nothing better than shutting down a top scorer or forcing turnovers for easy buckets. I'd get so close on defense he'd think he had a siamese twin. Forced shot, rim, grab the rebound and run the floor. Easy two!

Mimimize the other teams strength and exploit their weakness was my approach. It's very Sun Tzu and the Art of War. I know this is a technology blog, but my point here is simple.

To compete in sports, life, and business we need to do the dirty work which minimizes the advantage others have and delegate responsibility to our team rather than being a one man show. I loved teams with one cocky, big headed star who thought he could carry the team alone. Shut him down and the team falls to pieces.

Do the dirty work to make the team's job easier. Play defense. As a business owner or manager delegation is hard. Mistakes happen, the job doesn't get done exactly like you would have done it, but many times people will surprise you with brilliance. Give up control and instill trust in your team. Pass the ball.

Remember these two things and all the other good things will fall into place.