I recently saw a video from our favorite NBA analyst, Charles Barkley, which had me thinking about our business — and your business.
You don’t have to be a hoops fan to get the leadership lesson. In a clip circulating on social media, Barkley says the greatest influence on his career was not a manager or coach, but a fellow teammate.
It was the late Moses Malone, a 6-foot, 10-inch hard-toiling NBA center who was the first modern-era player to make the jump from high-school homeroom to pro basketball (at first, the Utah Stars of the ABA).
Of course, Malone didn’t have any collegiate business courses to his name, but the “Chairman of the Boards” apparently knew a thing or two about leadership. And he ran up an impressive record as a paint-pounding 3-time NBA MVP, a 12-time NBA All-Star, an 8-time All-NBA selection and World Champ in 1983 en route to the Hall of Fame and All-NBA 75th Team selection.
Malone was 8 years’ Barkley’s senior when the No. 5 pick out of Auburn University arrived at the Philadelphia 76ers in 1984. The straight-to-the-pros jump for Malone meant he had 11-seasons under his belt at that point; he certainly didn’t owe anything to a loud-mouthed rook.
You can watch the video here. But as the story goes, Barkley expected his talent to waltz him through the 76ers training camp. As the “Round Mound of Rebound,” Barkley’s 300-pound weight and attitude wasn’t impressing Coach Billy Cunningham nor the veterans. He was seeing more action on the bench than on the Spectrum floor to start the season.
Eventually, Malone leveled with the 21-year. Barkley says Malone gave him a look and told Barkley: “You’re fat and lazy. You can’t play basketball if you aren’t in shape.”
Malone told him to lose 10 pounds and dared him to be in gym with him early the next morning. For the next month, he “got after” Barkley before and after team workouts. Barkley shed 15 pounds with a noticeable boost in his stamina. He was earning more playing time, but Malone told him to lose another 10.
“I get down to 275 and I’m close to breaking into the starting lineup and ‘the big man’ tells me to give him 10 more,” Barkley says. “By the time he was done with me, I was down to 255 pounds.”
@grahambensinger Moses Malone kept it BRUTALLY honest with Charles Barkley #charlesbarkley #mosesmalone #nba #basketball ♬ original sound - Graham Bensinger
Barkley started the final 60 games of the 76-ers season and was named to the All-Rookie Team.
Malone, Barkley says, never said a word. “Most guys, if they mentor a young player like that, they go around saying, ‘Yeah, that was me. I did that.’ Not Moses. He never told anybody — and that was the best part.”
Wasn’t Left Up to the Boss
The point here is that correction, and inspiration, doesn’t just have to come from the boss. In fact, a good culture will deal with it before any managers have to get their hands dirty. That is, the culture itself will “eject like a virus” anyone or anything that can’t or won’t level up to the set standard.
Malone didn’t wait for Coach Cunningham or any of his assistants to address something that could improve the organization, and for Barkley himself — even if he didn’t want to hear it.
Rather, it was a teammate looking out for another, because it was the right thing to do.
You know you have a good culture — the sum of great people — when individuals “get in the ring” to help their teammate get where they need to be vs. standing silent or waiting until the boss gets around to it.
I’ve seen it happen — and with selfless efforts to help both the individual and company. But I’ll also say it doesn’t happen enough, as some “mind their own business.”
True team play demands otherwise. Just ask Sir Charles.
