Did you know that the NBA calls Michael Jordan “the greatest basketball player of all time” even though Jordan isn’t statistically the greatest player? Even Magic Johnson once said, “There’s Michael Jordan and then there is the rest of us.”
So why is it so accepted that Jordan is the greatest player of all time? Because he is a superstar, and superstars don’t need statistics to be considered the greatest.
Jordan built his superstar brand by being a champion at every level, combining his natural abilities with an intense competitive desire and an insatiable work ethic.
Here are seven things Michael Jordan said during his career that you can use to help make yourself into a superstar brand:
1. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
No matter how great you are or want to become, you can’t create your brand by yourself. Brands are made up of what other people think about you and how they perceive your actions. While you can help direct your brand by focusing your message, interacting with others to build strong relationships through helping and sharing more than talking and taking is the only way to become a true superstar.
2. “I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.”
How much time do you spend honing your skills and learning new ones? More importantly, how do you use these new abilities to achieve your goals? The amount you practice is important only in that it lays a foundation for you to accomplish your goals. Without practice, you can never hope to live your dreams; and without execution, all the practice in the world will amount to nothing.
3. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
Failing, especially publicly, can be one of the most difficult personal obstacles to overcome, but failing is also the only way to get better. In school we learn that failing is bad and that it is important to get an “A” on every project we undertake. In reality, failing is a healthy, natural process, and the only true way to learn and grow.
Look at how babies learn to walk. They hold on to a chair, eventually letting go, teetering, and falling. Then they do it again, each time learning to stand better and eventually gaining the confidence to take that first step. If they were afraid of failing, they would quit after their first efforts, and we would have a society of human snakes.
Understand that failure is part of success, and you will be closer to your goals than ever before.
4. “I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.”
Superstar brands, personal or otherwise, are built over time and require consistent and repeated messages to become memorable. To build a lasting brand, you must work hard every day to create something of value for others. Getting it right once — so what? Getting it right time and again each time for every customer — that’s how you create a lasting brand.
People don’t care what you say, they care what you do.
5. “If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.”
This is probably the most important rule for building a superstar brand. There will always be people who are rooting for you to fail, because they don’t believe that they themselves could achieve stardom. Each of us has it within ourselves to be great, but most of us tend to listen to the naysayers because it’s the easy thing to do. As Kevin Garnett shouted when the Boston Celtics won the NBA Championship last year, “Anything is possible!”
6. “My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.”
Great champions and great brands always turn their weaknesses into their greatest strengths. For Michael Jordan, that meant becoming a lock-down defender and perfecting his lethal outside shot. For businesses and individuals, that means finding a way to use your perceived weakness as a strength. Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV is incredibly opinionated and boisterous. Rather than listen to his early critics and tone his delivery down, he persisted, and now his tens of thousands of fans love him because of that same unapologetic enthusiasm.
7. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”
Obstacles are everywhere, and you are guaranteed to hit them as you build your superstar brand. The key to overcoming these obstacles is to know in your mind how you want to be seen, and act in accordance with that vision. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school varsity basketball team in his sophomore year. What would have happened if he decided this was a sign and simply gave up playing the sport he loved?
While there will never be another Michael Jordan, there will also never be another you. Whatever it is in life you want to achieve, however you want to build your superstar brand, find a way to make that happen. In short, Be Like Mike!
Photo by Steve Lipofsky via Wikimedia Commons
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great Job Drew!
Jordan is a great example of powerful personal brand.
Thanks,
Excellent blog post! These seven points can be used in making a success of any pursuit. As a marketing specialist in the music industry, I wish that emerging, and even some well-established musicians would consider these points when the going gets tough. Sports and music are perceived as polar…on opposite sides of the entertainment spectrum. But in actuality, they aren't that far apart.
Most serious musicians have spent their entire lives studying and performing. So too, is the case with athletes. Making money in music these days is getting to be much more difficult than before, simply because the infrastructure has imploded, and the auxilary or supporting mediums such as print media are collapsing as well.
Be strong, be focused and find a way around the obsticles! No matter what your life pursuit is, you can find a way to achieve greatness. Get out there and get movin'!
Janet Hansen
Scout66.com
Excellent blog post! These seven points can be used in making a success of any pursuit. As a marketing specialist in the music industry, I wish that emerging, and even some well-established musicians would consider these points when the going gets tough. Sports and music are perceived as polar…on opposite sides of the entertainment spectrum. But in actuality, they aren't that far apart.
Most serious musicians have spent their entire lives studying and performing. So too, is the case with athletes. Making money in music these days is getting to be much more difficult than before, simply because the infrastructure has imploded, and the auxilary or supporting mediums such as print media are collapsing as well.
Be strong, be focused and find a way around the obsticles! No matter what your life pursuit is, you can find a way to achieve greatness. Get out there and get movin'!
Janet Hansen
Scout66.com