Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success | Phil Jackson & Hugh Delehanty

I learn a lot from the biographies and the true stories of professionals. During his storied career as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson won more championships than any coach in the history of professional sports. And he has a lot to share in his book: Eleven Rings: The Soul of Success. Besides, there are great quotes in this book. Here they are:

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

                                     RUMI

Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is ajar.

                                     JIM BUTCHER

The symbol is the ring. In the NBA, rings symbolize status and power. No matter how gaudy or cumbersome a championship ring may be, the dream of winning one is what motivates players to put themselves through the trials of a long NBA season.

On a psychological level, the ring symbolizes something profound: the quest of the self to find harmony, connection, and wholeness. In Native American culture, for instance, the unifying power of the circle was so meaningful that whole nations were conceived as a series of interconnected rings (or hoops). The tepee was a ring, as were the campfire, the village, and the layout of the nation itself—circles within circles, having no beginning or end.

In their groundbreaking book, Tribal Leadership, management consultants Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright lay out the five stages of tribal development, which they formulated after conducting extensive research on small to midsize organizations. Although basketball teams are not officially tribes, they share many of the same characteristics and develop along much the same lines:

STAGE 1—shared by most street gangs and characterized by despair, hostility, and the collective belief that “life sucks.”

STAGE 2—filled primarily with apathetic people who perceive themselves as victims and who are passively antagonistic, with the mind-set that “my life sucks.” Think The Office on TV or the Dilbert comic strip.

STAGE 3—focused primarily on individual achievement and driven by the motto “I’m great (and you’re not).” According to the authors, people in organizations at this stage “have to win, and for them winning is personal. They’ll outwork and outthink their competitors on an individual basis. The mood that results is a collection of ‘lone warriors.’”

STAGE 4—dedicated to tribal pride and the overriding conviction that “we’re great (and they’re not).” This kind of team requires a strong adversary, and the bigger the foe, the more powerful the tribe.

STAGE 5—a rare stage characterized by a sense of innocent wonder and the strong belief that “life is great.”

The art of transforming a group of young, ambitious individuals into an integrated championship team is not a mechanistic process. It’s a mysterious juggling act that requires not only a thorough knowledge of the time-honored laws of the game but also an open heart, a clear mind, and a deep curiosity about the ways of the human spirit.

You can’t break the rules until you know how to play the game.

With leadership, as with most things in life, the best approach is always the simplest.

One of the most common styles of coaching: the domineering “my way or the highway” type of leader (which, in Bill’s case, was tempered by his devilish sense of humor). The other classic type is the suck-up coach, who tries to mollify the stars on the team and be their best friend—a fool’s exercise at best.

Some coaches insist on having the last word, but I always tried to foster an environment in which everyone played a leadership role. It doesn’t make sense for you to rigidly impose your authority.

Dialing back the ego doesn’t mean being a pushover.

One thing I’ve learned as a coach is that you can’t force your will on people. If you want them to act differently, you need to inspire them to change themselves.

The greatest carver does the least cutting.

                                     LAO-TZU

Practice doesn’t make perfect,” he used to say. “Perfect practice does.”

“If your mind is empty,” he writes, “it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”

It took me years of practice to still my busy mind, but in the process I discovered that the more aware I became of what was going on inside me, the more connected I became to the world outside. I became more patient with others and calmer under pressure—qualities that helped me immensely when I became a coach.

Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.

                                     CHARLIE PARKER

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe the horse was lost.

For want of a horse the rider was lost.

For want of a rider the message was lost.

For want of a message the battle was lost.

For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Think lightly of yourself and think deeply of the world.

                                     MIYAMOTO MUSASHI

What I’ve learned over the years is that the most effective approach is to delegate authority as much as possible and to nurture everyone else’s leadership skills as well.

 

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.

                                     ROALD DAHL

Each person is an island unto himself, in a very real sense, and he can only build bridges to other islands if he is first of all willing to be himself and permitted to be himself.

“The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided.”

The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

                                     TOM WAITS

Former UCLA head coach John Wooden used to say that “winning takes talent, to repeat takes character.”

As Michael put it, “Success turns we’s back into me’s.”

As the team turned its attention inward, the bond among the players began to re-form. The “me’s,” to use Michael’s phrase, slowly transformed into a powerful We—and one of the strongest all-around teams I’ve ever coached. The system was clicking, and our defense was unstoppable.

Human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but . . . life bliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.

                                     GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ

Coach Al McGuire once told me that his secret was not wasting anybody’s time. “If you can’t it get done in eight hours a day,” he said, “it’s not worth doing.” That’s been my philosophy ever since.

People have to learn that nothing lasts forever.

If you live in the river you should make friends with the crocodile.

                                     INDIAN PROVERB (PUNJABI)

If you have the right mind-set, he said, you can make the crisis work for you.

Great players make other players better.

It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy.

                                     STEVE JOBS

To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.

                                     SØREN KIERKEGAARD

Everything is always in flux. Until you accept this, you won’t be able to find true equanimity. But to do that means accepting life as it is, not just what you consider the “good parts.” “That things change is the reason why you suffer in this world and become discouraged,” when you change your understanding and your way of living, then you can completely enjoy your new life in each moment.

There’s a Zen saying I often cite that goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” The point: Stay focused on the task at hand rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge.

                                     TULI KUPFERBERG

The Dalai Lama calls it “the enemy’s gift.” From a Buddhist perspective, battling with enemies can help you develop greater compassion for and tolerance of others. “In order to practice sincerely and to develop patience,” he says, “you need someone who willfully hurts you.”

No one knows what the future holds, but let’s finish it right.

We could lose this game, I said, but what’s important is playing with the right kind of effort, and not being overtaken by the fear of losing.

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.

                                     THICH NHAT HANH

Greatness is a spiritual condition.

                                     MATTHEW ARNOLD

“Most coaches come into a season with an idea of what they’re going to do and impose that on the players,” he explains. “But I always felt that Phil came to the table with an open mind. ‘Let’s see how each individual expresses himself. Let’s see how the group responds under fire and whether it’s capable of solving problems.’ He never appeared too concerned about the team at that point. Never any panic.

To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.

                                    GEORGE MACDONALD

One breath. One mind. One spirit.

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

                                     THE BUDDHA

As Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman writes, “Our goal surely is to conquer anger, but not to destroy the fire it has misappropriated. We will wield that fire with wisdom and turn it to creative ends.”

Sitting with your anger doesn’t mean being passive. It means becoming more conscious and intimate with your inner experience so that you can act more mindfully and compassionately than is possible in the heat of the moment.

A team always beats a group of individuals.

Forget mistakes, forget failures, forget everything, except what you’re going to do now and do it. Today is your lucky day.

                                     WILL DURANT

Connection is why we’re here. It’s what gives purpose and meaning to our lives.

                                     BRENÉ BROWN

We couldn’t lead this team from 10,000 feet,” he says now. “We had to come back to sea level and try to grow with our guys. And as that process took place, we started to feel a real connectivity and brotherhood.

There’s nothing like a humiliating loss to focus the mind.

If Luke was bummed about missing three straight shots, Kobe would say, “C’mon, man, don’t worry about that shit. I miss three straight shots every fucking game. Just keep shooting. The next one’s going to go in.” Says Luke, “When your leader is telling you that, instead of giving you a death stare, it makes the next shot a lot easier to take.

Leadership is not about forcing your will on others. It’s about mastering the art of letting go.

Fall down seven times. Stand up eight.

                                     CHINESE PROVERB

It’s more important to pay attention to the spirit than the scoreboard.

We are all failures—at least the best of us.

                                     J. M. BARRIE

Life is never quite so well scripted.

Zen teacher Jakusho Kwong suggests becoming “an active participant in loss.” We’re conditioned to seek only gain, to be happy, and to try to satisfy all our desires, he explains. Sometimes the letting go happens quickly; other times it may take several sleepless nights.