Good to GreatA few years ago, now former Houston Rockets Coach Jeff Van Gundy gave each of his players a copy of the bestseller GOOD TO GREAT. I had heard about the book but assumed that it was written specifically for the white-collar business audience, and on the surface, it seems to be. But Van Gundy, a master of leadership and a starch proponent of personal accountability, development and responsibility saw the books application to normal life very clearly.
As you might imagine, locker room clean out is always an interesting time following the season. Unwanted belongings are stacked high in boxes and trashcans. There are shoes, t-shirts, an occasional CD or even a mini-DVD player that can be divvied up amongst ball boys, locker room attendants and even…strength coaches.
On this particular day, I was making my way through the facility one last time to see who was hanging around. That's when I saw it. In a pile of junk, not even at the top, in fact, I just barely caught a glimpse at an edge of its red jacket. I knew immediately what it was. Six months late, unread and in near mint condition, Coach Jeff Van Gundy's gift to me. One man's trash…
A month later I was in China working with Yao Ming. Days were busy but nights were restless, with many spent searching for English-speaking television programs. I was a captive audience so to speak. Bored, homesick and desperate for something other than Richie Cunningham and ”The Fonz”, I went to my bag searching for something to read, and there it was again. In the same way that “2 am beer goggles” seduce the eyes into seeing Raquel Welch instead of Ugly Betty, that book was beautiful. Sharp and shiny, crisp and familiar, new and enticing. And even better than that, she spoke to me…in English.
So I read. And read. And read some more. I scribbled notes, highlighted sections and bent pages. Finally, I was finished.
There is much to learn from this book. In business, a revealing study on the similar characteristics that GREAT companies possess over their GOOD counterparts. Guidelines followed in the process of assembling a “winning team” and traits and characteristics indicative of recent history's most successful business leaders. But there is more than that. There is a plan. A plan for us all - white, blue or dingy collard. As you read through the pages, it becomes clear, that the strategies necessary to develop an exceptional business are the same necessary for developing an exceptional life. In its complexity it becomes…well…simple.
One section stands out in my memory as the most powerful. And if you decide against buying the book and reading it, I highly recommend that you steal a glance at this section the next time you “test read” at your local bookstore. The section is entitled “The Stockdale Paradox”, pages 83-87. I won't go into detail for fear of not doing it the justice so richly deserved, but I will say this: We should be ashamed of ourselves. The lives we lead. The things we focus our minds on. The problems we “create” in our heads. The way we mope through our lives waiting for someone to come and save us, for someone to give us a “break”. Those four pages will open your eyes as to how bad it could be and how bad it was for some. Those four pages will open your eyes to the possibility of the human spirit. The limitless and expansive human spirit that you had before you grew up. The spirit you had before life got the better of you.
Those four pages will change your life.
I have gifted the book a few times since then…to the chosen, those who could apply the contents and see the application to their lives. And each time I do so I make it a point to bend a page, page 83. Most times, I write a message. For one thing, if they read only those four pages and nothing else, they have gained something. And maybe one day a long time from now, the scribbled message and bent page will remind them of the person who gave the book to them. And I like to believe there is value in that. I'll always remember where I got mine.
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