A Leadership Lesson from the Golden State Warriors
Sergio we know you are an MBA student at Hult, but tell us a bit more about your passion for basketball, when has it started?
Actually soccer has always been my passion and favorite sport, until that day (I was 13 years old) I watched Michael Jordan on TV. His leadership and the way he pushed himself and his teammates to excel was contagious. Since that time, basketball is part of me. I can’t imagine myself without it.
So let’s stay with Jordan for a bit, you talked about his leadership, has that impacted also your professional experience? If so how?
What I take away from Jordan is regardless of my sphere of influence, business or sports, as a leader I will face multiple stressful situations. Being confident about my decision-making skills, relying on my experience to help guide me, and keeping a check on my emotions, just as Jordan did, will help mold me into a successful leader. It is imperative that as a leader you develop the skills and mental strength necessary to thrive under pressure. It will be during these stressful moments that your team will need you the most, so step up, do not be shy, take on the responsibility, make those tough decisions and lead the way.
And then you moved to the US for work, how did you find your way into the NBA?
Correct, I moved to the US in 2013 and started working for an Italian company in San Francisco. Work and friends kept me quite busy, but I could not give up my passions: watching the NBA! America is the land of opportunity and indeed one came right on my way. A friend offered me a position as NBA analyst for an important Italian Media. That would give me the chance to attend the Golden State Warriors games live and also write about it. And since this was a part-time job I could also continue to work with my previous company. Bingo!
So, you were at the right place at the right time, because correct me if I am wrong but the Warriors started to win right in those years. Are you a sort of lucky charm?
I don’t know if I am but yes, the Golden State Warriors actually improved their team by signing top players like Curry, Thompson, Draymond Green and hired Steve Kerr as head coach (former NBA champion with the Bulls and assistance coach of Greg Popovich). So watching their games at that time were fun.
And you even witness their title in 2015. How exciting was that?
Exciting for me for sure, but most of all for the Bay Area’s fans who had to wait 40 years to see that happening. At the beginning, it felt unreal to walk close players like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Tim Duncan and be able to watch them so close. After few games (hard to believe I know) for me it became a routine and the initial excitement gave space to a different approach as I was more focus about how the players prepare their games and pay attention to small things that have an impact on their performances such as their diet habits and how they recover after a game and are able to keep a high level of performance with games played 24-48 later.
Sergio, how did you come up with the idea of writing a book?
I mean I talked with many players, the Warriors are considered (by many) one of the best team of the game. I had insights story collected during my 30+games I have attended live, so yes I thought that all this was worth writing a book and I did!
The book as a charity goal also, can you tell more?
I decided to donate 20% of the revenue from my book to SlumsDunk.org a foundation that aims at improving the living conditions of children and youth living in the marginalized area or community of Africa. I feel I related a lot to SlumsDunk mission and also because they use basketball as a tool to improve the live condition of the children
I want to go back now to Leadership, which is one of the skills we developed during our MBA program. The Warriors are known to be a team with a particular form of leadership, walk us through it.
Yes Golden State is pretty unique. If you think about the history of the basketball game, every winning team had one and only recognized leader. Michael Jordan led the Bulls to 6 NBA titles, Magic Johnson was the face of the victorious Lakers in the 80s as Larry Bird was for the Celtics in the 70’. What I find extremely fascinating with the Warriors is that the Leadership is spread across their team and their big-egos come second in regards to the ultimate goal that is winning.
Ok, ok all good in theory, can you share some practical examples from your experience working at the Warriors games, that can help us as future leaders?
1. Listen to your co-workers. All of them.
Steve Kerr never coached a team before, but he won five championships as a player and knew what it takes to win.
Kerr recognized the value of surrounding himself with great assistant coaches. So wanted Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams, (two of the top strategists in the game of basketball) to be part of his staff.
Kerr is also known to incentive opinions from all member of the team. For example, I remember after the first three games of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Warriors were down 2 games to 1 and looked defeated. One of the lowest-ranking member of the coaching staff, Nick U'ren, came out suggesting to play Andre Iguodala in the starting lineup in the following game. It would be his first time in the season.
“Nick U'ren who are you?” Most of the coaches would have said. Not Kerr who actually liked the idea and implemented it. The result? The Warriors won the next three games in a row and the NBA title.
Our challenge as a Leader is to cultivate an environment where everyone is empowered to share an opinion. Often times great ideas might come from unexpected people. Listen to your co-workers!
2. Make decisions that are best for the team. Not the individual.
Andre Iguodala played in the NBA for 12 years, he is a veteran who conquered impressive accomplishments: named to the NBA All-Star team and twice to the NBA All-Defensive team, and earned two gold medals as a member of Team USA.
How do you think he reacted when Coach Kerr decided to remove him from the starting lineup at the beginning of the 2015 season and asked him to come off the bench?
Iguodala had to swallow his pride all year long for the ultimate goal: winning an NBA title.
Sacrifices for the ultimate goal as a team. This is what Coach Kerr asked his players. How did it turn out?
Iguodala became the NBA Finals’ best player, never in the history of the game a player won the award without starting a single game in the entire regular season.
As a leader, you have to make decisions for the betterment of your company. You will find resistance to change, that’s natural but if you are able to get them to buy in for the common goal, you'll take everyone to the next level.
3. Keep confident and learn from your failure
In game two, the MVP of the season Stephen Curry had one of the worst games of his career. Considered to be one of the best shooters in the game, he did poorly that night: only 5 of 23 shots from the field and 2 of 15 from three-point range. To be fair much credit has to be given to Cavs role player Matthew Dellavedova and his defense. Headlines talked about him as "the Curry-stopper" and "Curry's kryptonite." A bit too much but yes, journalist like the underdog's stories 😊
Did Curry lose confidence? Nope. In the following games he responded as a real MVP by scoring more than 20 points per night for the rest of the series, exploding for 37 points in game 5.
My takeaway after I witness how Curry responded to a failure is no matter how you performed on a single event, it's natural to fail, be ready to fail because you will. But remember, you are the same person when you succeeded. Trust your skills and the hard work you've put into your work, and move forward to the next success.
