Earning Respect, Trust, and the Right to Lead | MJ Mondays

Michael Jordan said that when he first came into the NBA, his leadership came from action; all action. He said he couldn't be a vocal leader at the beginning. He was afraid to speak to veteran guys because they had a level of envy towards him to start with. He had to pick his friends very carefully because he was starting to steal some shine from the older guys on the team.

But he also said that he was earning respect and the right to lead with effort and work, and he wasn't asking for anyone to give him anything. His practice habits were great and he forced the other guys to improve their practice habits by how hard he worked.

MJ challenged his teammates with his play in practice because his coach challenged him. At the end of each practice, they would scrimmage, and the losers had to run. They would be killing the second team, and his coach would stop practice and put MJ in the second team and the second team, with MJ, would still come back to win.

There are a lot of ways to lead. When MJ came into the NBA, he led with his work and effort. He led by competing. By the end of the career, he had become a vocal, hard-driving leader, but he had to grow into that and prove himself first.

It can be hard being new to a team or being young and trying to lead. I played varsity basketball as a freshman at a big school in Texas, so I know what it is like being the new guy on the team and stealing minutes from juniors and seniors. But the best thing that you can do is show up early, work hard and compete, and stay late. Earn the respect of your coaches and teammates. Lead by what you do until they trust and respect what you say.

If the best player on the team is going as hard as they can, what excuse can you have? Tired today? Hurt today? You earn the role of being a leader by earning the trust and respect of your teammates. You earn that by the work that you put in every day.