438: Jay Williams - How To Reinvent Yourself (Life Is Not An Accident)

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You're not living your life with passion. And what's your purpose, right?
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Are you just floating? Are you just somebody who's there?
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I think we all know a lot of people who
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are just there. And that's not said in a malicious way.
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What happens is life will constantly throw things at you.
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And if you allow life to dictate what your temple is,
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then you'll constantly be gone. And you'll look down and
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be like, where am I?
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This episode is brought to you by a very special
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so much about him and his life that I didn't
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know before, which is amazing considering how much we talk.
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your first purchase That's storyworth.com slash leader. Welcome to the
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Learning Leader Show presented by Insight Global. I am your host,
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Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here. Text
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Learners to 44222 to become part.
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Of Mindful Monday.
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You along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders
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from all over the world will receive a carefully curated
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email from me each Monday morning to help you start
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your week off right. You'll also receive details about my
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upcoming book and you'll get the opportunity to read it first.
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Text Learners to 44222. Now on to tonight's featured leader,
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a great one. It's Jay Williams, known as one of
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the greatest college basketball players of all time. At Duke,
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he won the Naismith College Player of the Year Award,
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won the 2001 National Championship, and had his number 22 retired.
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He was the second overall draft pick by the Chicago Bulls,
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in the 2002 NBA Draft. Now, Jay works as a
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basketball analyst for ESPN. He hosts a radio show and
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is actively involved as an investor in the business world.
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Jay is a man of many talents. During this conversation,
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we discuss the night, the terrifying night, when Jay wrecked
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his motorcycle, which ultimately led to the.
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End of his playing career. And what.
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He's learned from it. And then he explains the genius
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of his coach and mentor coach, Mike Krzyzewski, and how
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you can implement some of the genius that he learned
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from Coach.
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K with your team.
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Then he shares the life lessons he's learned from Kobe
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Bryant and how he tries to incorporate those in his
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life and.
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How you can too.
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Ladies and gentlemen, an emotional one, but an awesome conversation
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with the great Jay Williams. Jay, as I told you
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before we started recording, big fan of you as a
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player and now with everything you do in the media world.
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Great to have you here on the Learning Leader Show. Welcome. Thanks, man.
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I'm stoked to be here. I heard we have a
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lot of commonalities. You said the Duke ties were pretty strong,
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so I look forward to continuing it.
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You're the fourth Duke guy. I had J.J. Redick.
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Okay.
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Whoa, Joe, who, by the way, I just saw last
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week at my workshop in Arizona.
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He was awesome. And I had Jay Billis. So we've
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got some good Duke guys here now. I got you.
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So I when when it was you were presented, I said, oh, man, yeah,
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I got to talk to Jay.
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Well, this is going to be good.
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Well, Jay Billis has the he sets a pretty high bar. So,
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you know, for me, his legal background and his sarcasm, though,
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I'm sure he delivered a ton of his dry jokes,
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which I thoroughly enjoy as a listener to him sometimes.
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Me too.
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And now you guys are teammates again, I guess, both
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at ESPN. So pretty cool. I want to go back
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to earlier in your career. I know it's a story
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you've talked about a lot, but there's a few reasons
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why I want to bring it up. So for those
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who don't know, your second overall pick in the 2002
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NBA draft, one of the best college basketball players of
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all time, won a title at Duke, phenomenal player. But
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in June of 2003, you get into a motorcycle crash
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that almost kills you, but basically puts you in a
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position where it looked like.
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You were not going to be able to play.
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But I want to hone in on a specific moment
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because this is a leadership conversation. I believe I read
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that Coach K, your college coach, flew on a private
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plane from Colorado to come and see you after you'd
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gotten in this accident. And I was curious about, one,
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what he said to you and what it meant to
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you that he came to see you from all across
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the country after you got in this accident.
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You know, Ryan, one of the best lessons I learned
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during my tenure at Duke, especially for me, because I
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wasn't a true point guard. So when I was in
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high school, funny story, my high school coach and Coach
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K during his official visit, my mother made Polish sausage,
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which is like It's so funny. Like you can make
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other meals for coach K other than pull a sausage,
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but trying to like, Hey, this is etiquette. You know,
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we want to serve you at this, that you're familiar
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with things of that sort. And my high school coach
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and coach K literally almost got into a little bit
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of a spat because coach K said that, you know,
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he thinks I'm the best point guard in the country.
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And my high school coach said that I'm better suited
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for the two or the three position because of my
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ability to score. So if that gives you any insight into,
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I didn't really think the game thoroughly through. As a player,
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I was more reactive than proactive as a thinker, as
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a player. And from that moment on, he started planting
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seeds for me to look forward to moments of the game, right? So, hey,
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when this turnover happens, how will you react in this
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type of moment? He gave me more scenario driven workshops
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to kind of prepare my mind for how I would
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handle adversity throughout games which paid major dividends for me
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as a player. And this moment after my accident, obviously
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you can imagine the emotions very similar to a game.
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The emotions are very, very high, right? Because you're lost
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in the extremism of things, right? So for me, I'm
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in the hospital room and I'll explain this analogy in
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a minute on how I can tie the two together,
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but I'm in the hospital room. I have, you know, pens,
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three metal pens stuck into my, one into my higher thigh,
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one into my knee, one into my shin that's holding
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my leg up. I have two metal pins that are
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about a foot that are extending from both my hips
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because I literally severed my pubic symphysis, similar to when
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a woman has a child. It splits open, mine split
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open 13 inches. So my pelvic bone is kind of
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fused together with these pins and my knee is kind
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of laid up into the air, extended. And you're having
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all these devilish thoughts in your mind during that time.
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What the hell did I do to myself? Why did
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I even put myself in this position? I was on
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the verge of achieving all my dreams. I felt like
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I had just figured out my first year in the NBA,
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not just how to play the game, but how to
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live the lifestyle and not get lost in all the
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BS that came along with the lifestyle of being somebody,
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a pro. And there was a lot of anger and
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there was a lot of sorrow combined together. And once again,
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in that moment, a guy that got me to look
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forward to how I would handle something later is, you know,
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he handed me a rosary that I still have to
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this day. And I'll never forget, obviously, seeing his walk.
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I know that gate, seeing him walk down the hallway
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a little bit. And I thought I was dreaming because
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I was so high on, you know, different, you know,
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I was high on morphine and all these other different
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habituates that they gave me. And I'll never forget, he
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brought this pendant, this rosary, and he handed it to me.
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And I was on the verge of crying and he
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puts it in my hand. And he just says, you know,
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you're going to give this back to me when you
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play again, because you are going to play again. And
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here I was as a 21-year-old young adult who... was
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so lost in that particular moment, in my own sorrow,
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in my own anger about what I had done to
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myself and the end result of it, that I couldn't
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get myself out of that cocoon, that moment. And once again,
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giving you a place a reference point to look forward
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to about what you're going to accomplish to get yourself
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out of that mindset that you're currently in. That's exactly
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what that rosary did for me. And it got me
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to start thinking about, okay, I just turned the ball over. Hey,
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I just missed five shots in a row, but I'm
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not going to let these bad series of plays or
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that turnover or this accident define me. And that was
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the first step in the process of me transitioning myself
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psychologically towards what I wanted to achieve next. And obviously
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that came with, you know, years of physical therapy and
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a lot of mental or mental rehabilitation as well. But, um,
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that was the first seed that it planted and he
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planted a lot more. Um, but that was the first step. Wow.
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Thank you for sharing that story, man.
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Um, It makes me think from, again, like the leadership
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lesson here, you know, when we're working with people who
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are struggling or going through something really challenging, that he
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was thoughtful enough to think way ahead to give you
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almost like a point to shoot for, right? Like, and
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it seems like you obviously remembered this and, and you,
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and you learn from this, like, how do you try
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to incorporate this into your life now as a leader?
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I don't know if the right word.
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Is hope or a path or some guidance or inspiration,
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all of the above, because at that moment, I'm guessing
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your feeling is about as bad as a person who's
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still alive can feel, right? You've thrown everything away. People
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are calling you probably an idiot for getting on a
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motorcycle when you're an NBA superstar, whatever, all those things.
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So what have you taken from that now that you
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try to incorporate as a leader for other people when
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it comes to giving people some direction or something to
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shoot for?
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Well, you naturally do this. I think leadership first starts
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off with initiating a conversation because in order to lead someone,
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you have to know who someone is. You have to
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know how they tick. And I always found that to
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be a pretty arduous task for a lot of coaches
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to when I get a chance to go around the
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country and see the different styles in which people communicate,
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when there is one, I guess, generic theme to how
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people lead, right? You can't just lead one generic way.
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You have to understand who you are as a team,
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what your overall mantra is as a team, and then
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how your individuals have built connectivity to become one. And
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I think that's very important. So you know, for me personally,
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trying to ask questions about who people are, where they
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come from, what's their background, how they think about particular situations,
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how would you have handled this if you were in
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a position of leadership? And I think by asking those
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probing questions and understanding how that individual is motivated, then
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I tap into more, how can I build a bridge
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about what we have more in common than how we're
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so different? I think everybody tries to leave from a
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place of, And I think it's also a byproduct, Ryan,
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of social media. Let me showcase how I am different.
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Let me showcase how my lifestyle is better, or I
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have different access to you. And for me, the way
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I found to motivate individuals, especially either companies I invest
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in or just every single day work, going to a
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show for four and a half, five hours a day,
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is not only let me lead by example, but let
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me lead by getting to know you and understanding you.
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And finding ways to relate to you. One of my
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friends that I work with just had a family member
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that they lost in North Carolina. And so for me,
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going to a place of saying, what hospital was she at?
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I'm saying, oh, she was at Duke. Okay, well, I
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have a lot of connections at Duke. Is there anything
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I can do to help you? I have a home
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down that way. I have a doctor down that way.
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Here are the people I know from a hospital situation
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that can help you down that way. Um, a priest,
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I know down that way, in case you just want
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to pray, I'm not even sure that you're religious. So
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by posing all those different scenarios and those different optionalities,
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that person actually started telling me more about themselves. And
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I think now, whenever we talk the connectivity, the relation
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that we have, those are cross-reference points, right? That you
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build off of, and that builds trust Ryan. And before
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I can run through a wall for anybody. before I
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can exert myself to points of exhaustion where I'm working
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my tail off, I need to know who I'm working for.
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I need to know what I'm working with. And I
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think those are the kind of reference points that are
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imperative to help you lead is just understanding who people
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are to begin with. Wow.
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I mean, you just come across as like such a
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thoughtful dude.
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Is this from your mom? is this from coach K
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a combination of all the people? I mean, I have
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to believe it starts when you're young. I mean, where
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do you come at life with this type of thoughtfulness
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to say it's about caring. It's about curiosity versus judgment
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is what I'm picking up on.
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Right.
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Because like, especially today.
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It's easy for others to judge somebody first, as opposed
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to approaching them with curiosity. And I think those two
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are polar opposites, right? And, and so I always like
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as a dad, that's one of the things I try
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to say is like, let's lead with curiosity instead of
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leading with judgment. Meaning if, even if they're doing something
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that you disagree with, instead of just judging them, let's
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ask them why, or wonder why, or have a conversation
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about that to say, maybe we can work through and
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try to learn from one another just because they think
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something different or they're doing something that maybe you wouldn't
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do doesn't immediately mean.
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Let's just kill that person.
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Right.
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It's like, Let's try to figure that out. So I
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have to ask first and foremost, is that for your
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mom or where does that come from?
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I think it's from a combination of things. My mother
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used to always talk about life isn't interpreted by headlines.
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We naturally live in a headline-driven society. What the headline
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says is what it is. And these are the facts.
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And my mother's like, well, wait a second. Did you
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read the 10 pages of fine print before you signed
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the documentations? Like there's context to a lot of these things.
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And I think my mother always had a drive and
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still does for education, for knowledge. While she was raising
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me with my father, she went back to school to
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receive multiple master degrees to better herself while she was
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taking care of my grandmother who was on dialysis, who
300
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had polycystic kidney disease, which inevitably she lost the fight to.
301
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So I think I naturally saw that type of work mentality,
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that type of blue collar grit and everyday approach, which
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for some people can become extremely exhausting. I also think
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my father, you know, working at Amex and leaving every
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single morning and going on trips. And I think the
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combination of those two combined with obviously Coach K during,
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you know, that time in my life where I was
308
00:17:12.450 --> 00:17:15.839
trying to absorb as much as possible when you're in
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your formative years, you know, 17, 18, 19, 20, and
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little things like shaking somebody's hand and looking them in
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the eye and accountability. You know, for me, I had
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the foundation of awareness, but I don't think I activated
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00:17:33.869 --> 00:17:36.789
that foundation when I was younger, I was careless. I
314
00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:41.069
was too busy moving. not thinking about how I wanted
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to move, Ryan, if that makes sense. And I think
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when I got to school, I saw that, hey, just
317
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because I'm moving around a lot doesn't mean that I'm
318
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being effective, right? It doesn't mean that I'm actually being
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efficient with my movement. I think that's where Coach K
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started to fine tune a lot of that thinking. And
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I would say, I think that my accident, I never
322
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had a moment in my life that I was forced
323
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to stop. I was doing a lot of thinking on
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the fly. My accident was the first time where I
325
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got the miles per hour. The speedometer was always at
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100 or higher. I was forced to be at zero.
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I started seeing the world in a different way. I
328
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started seeing, I was doing all these things, but how
329
00:18:28.190 --> 00:18:30.869
was I really creating impact? Because the world kept going.
330
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There was another headline. There was another news story. There
331
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was another athlete coming. I saw Kirk Hamrick get drafted.
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I saw the Bulls move forward. I saw Coach K
333
00:18:41.140 --> 00:18:44.329
move forward with other recruits. And, you know, all these
334
00:18:44.390 --> 00:18:46.750
people that were in my inbox saying, I wish you well,
335
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I'm praying for you. They have families, they have lives.
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And it left you to the point that, excuse my language,
337
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but like shit. Like at the end of the day,
338
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I have to pick my own ass back up. Like me,
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00:19:01.019 --> 00:19:03.640
like the tools that I've been given, I have to
340
00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:05.839
pay attention to what those tools were. And now I
341
00:19:05.880 --> 00:19:09.069
have to apply them to my life. And just not
342
00:19:09.250 --> 00:19:12.450
say it, but actually start trying to live it, live
343
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it and hold myself accountable without having a coach K,
344
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without having an NBA coach or Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner
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00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:23.279
of the Bulls, without having an agent, me as my
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own man. Like what principles and standards am I living by?
347
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And I think that was the first time that all
348
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that foundation that I had, all that coaching and fine
349
00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:38.180
tuning I have from my Coach K and what he's
350
00:19:38.220 --> 00:19:40.619
built upon from what my family did. Now, all of
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a sudden, it was like, this is your opportunity to
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go off into the world as your own man and
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figure out what kind of man you want to be.
354
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And that was a challenge I took.
355
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This forced stoppage in your life. So there's definitely some downsides, right?
356
00:20:01.099 --> 00:20:04.109
I've read a lot about the depression and the suicide
357
00:20:04.170 --> 00:20:08.470
attempts and the drugs and right, pills and Oxycontin and drinking, right,
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that you leaned on, it sounds like, to get through that.
359
00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:14.779
And as we get past, I mean, you're welcome to
360
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:16.799
obviously share about that. I think it's probably useful to
361
00:20:16.859 --> 00:20:20.660
hear about that. But what I found today, Jay, working
362
00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:23.660
with so many leaders is the fact that a common
363
00:20:23.740 --> 00:20:28.190
theme is nobody stops. Like nobody takes time to pause
364
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and reflect and think. And it's just back to back
365
00:20:32.349 --> 00:20:35.349
to back to back. And then if you reflect back, like,
366
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am I making an impact? I know I'm busy. I
367
00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:39.690
know I'm busy, but am I actually making an impact?
368
00:20:40.309 --> 00:20:42.690
And so maybe you can share how being forced to
369
00:20:42.730 --> 00:20:45.829
do that has made you so much better. And certainly
370
00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:48.589
not what you thought, like you expected to probably be
371
00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:52.430
playing basketball forever as long as possible. And this forced
372
00:20:52.470 --> 00:20:54.690
you to stop. And it sounds like though, that's what's
373
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made you now have such an impact in the world,
374
00:20:58.009 --> 00:21:00.509
just in a way that maybe you had not expected earlier.
375
00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:01.839
Yeah.
376
00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:05.619
So, and I'm with you, man. Impact is what I
377
00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:10.200
want my legacy to be. So I had that, that
378
00:21:10.240 --> 00:21:13.000
stoppage moment, which was a pretty significant moment in my
379
00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:16.950
life at the age of 21. You know, my, when I,
380
00:21:17.049 --> 00:21:20.950
when I first came to Duke, I really wanted to
381
00:21:20.970 --> 00:21:24.170
wear the number 32. That was my high school number.
382
00:21:24.509 --> 00:21:28.549
Obviously Christian Leitner had that number and retired that number.
383
00:21:28.670 --> 00:21:31.180
So it was, you know, out of the stars, it
384
00:21:31.349 --> 00:21:34.450
was out of my realm, my reach. When I came
385
00:21:34.490 --> 00:21:37.450
to school, I'll never forget, I came inside Cameron Indoor
386
00:21:37.509 --> 00:21:39.349
Stadium after I was speaking to Coach K and my
387
00:21:39.390 --> 00:21:43.390
father was there and he was sitting in the gymnasium
388
00:21:43.670 --> 00:21:46.769
and he was looking at the Raptors. And I came
389
00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:49.210
out and I said, you know, dad, what an incredible
390
00:21:49.269 --> 00:21:53.630
conversation with this guy. I sometimes have to pinch myself, Ryan.
391
00:21:54.750 --> 00:21:57.390
I meet a lot of coaches and a lot of
392
00:21:57.410 --> 00:22:01.079
coaches have special qualities. I was coached by one of
393
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:05.130
the greatest minds to ever coach the game of life,
394
00:22:05.349 --> 00:22:10.029
not basketball. Like basketball is so insignificant and it would
395
00:22:10.509 --> 00:22:16.890
not put the right value on the lessons that Coach
396
00:22:16.910 --> 00:22:18.990
K has been able to bring into my life. This
397
00:22:19.069 --> 00:22:22.339
is a life leader. So for me in that moment,
398
00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:26.240
after having a spiriting conversation with him and then being
399
00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:30.430
channeled and focused the right way, I came out and said,
400
00:22:30.450 --> 00:22:32.609
you know, Dad, this is the place. I need to
401
00:22:32.650 --> 00:22:35.390
be here. And he said, you know, son, I've been
402
00:22:35.769 --> 00:22:41.440
thinking about Coach K, the academic qualities here. It seems
403
00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:44.140
like there's no school with a better combination of both
404
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.440
to help you become the young man I know you
405
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.259
can become. And I'm looking at the numbers and I
406
00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:52.819
see that 11 is retired Bobby Hurley. I see 33
407
00:22:52.819 --> 00:22:56.750
is retired Grant Hill. I see 44 is retired Dick Grote.
408
00:22:57.630 --> 00:23:01.880
It feels like the number 22 is the missing link.
409
00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:03.500
And I'll ask you, do you want to be a
410
00:23:04.349 --> 00:23:06.069
King among Kings? Or do you want to be a
411
00:23:06.130 --> 00:23:09.309
King among men? And for me at that moment, I
412
00:23:09.309 --> 00:23:10.829
was like, I want to be a King among Kings.
413
00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:12.289
He's like, well, you should come here and take your
414
00:23:12.329 --> 00:23:15.730
place amongst the Kings and get the number 22 retired.
415
00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:20.940
And I tell you that ride because my 22nd birthday,
416
00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:26.339
my leg is strapped up. I can't walk. I'm in
417
00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:29.819
the wheelchair. And in my mind, When I take you
418
00:23:29.859 --> 00:23:34.119
back to the moment when I'm 17, being a two-time
419
00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:37.819
national player of the year, staying in school and graduating
420
00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:40.819
a year early, being a second pick in the draft,
421
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.940
feeling like this is divine, that I'm going to the
422
00:23:45.019 --> 00:23:48.359
same place I dreamt of playing as a young kid,
423
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:52.759
coming out to the same music Michael Jordan had, sitting
424
00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:55.579
in the same locker as Michael Jordan and nobody else
425
00:23:55.640 --> 00:23:58.099
wanting it since his retirement and me saying, No, I
426
00:23:58.180 --> 00:23:59.720
want this. I want this to rub off on me.
427
00:23:59.779 --> 00:24:02.079
And heavy is the head that wears the crown. I
428
00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:06.740
want to wear the crown. And then having that happen
429
00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:09.640
to me by my own choice, I think at the
430
00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:12.180
age of 22, sitting in my backyard with my mother
431
00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:14.109
and my father there and my fiance at the time,
432
00:24:15.269 --> 00:24:17.529
thinking to myself, how the hell did I get here?
433
00:24:17.650 --> 00:24:20.329
And then at that moment being like, this is exactly
434
00:24:20.369 --> 00:24:23.650
where I'm supposed to be. This is exactly where I'm
435
00:24:23.690 --> 00:24:26.230
supposed to be. And now who I become from this
436
00:24:26.269 --> 00:24:29.589
moment on will really dictate Am I what I thought
437
00:24:29.730 --> 00:24:32.250
of myself all these years leading up to this point?
438
00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:36.549
So I tell you that because I think for me,
439
00:24:36.589 --> 00:24:38.890
that's when a lot of the work started. And I'm
440
00:24:38.930 --> 00:24:40.220
not going to sit here and tell you that I
441
00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:42.819
just had this plan where I stopped myself multiple times
442
00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:46.339
throughout my 20s because I didn't. I almost fell back
443
00:24:46.380 --> 00:24:49.420
into the same habit I'd had before where I have
444
00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:51.380
to run. I have to figure it out now because
445
00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:54.009
now am I coming back to play? And oh God,
446
00:24:54.329 --> 00:24:56.029
I didn't come back and I didn't play and I
447
00:24:56.069 --> 00:24:57.990
got hurt again and Now, what am I going to
448
00:24:58.029 --> 00:24:59.880
do with my career? A lot of people say, you know,
449
00:25:01.210 --> 00:25:03.039
what is it to be a man? And first off,
450
00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:04.900
you've got to find out what you're going to do
451
00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:06.599
and who you are. So there was a lot of
452
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.099
that completion about, you know, you are what you do.
453
00:25:09.140 --> 00:25:11.299
And I spent a lot of my 20s running again.
454
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:13.440
And I think it wasn't until I got into my
455
00:25:13.480 --> 00:25:16.019
mid 30s that I was like, hold on a second.
456
00:25:16.289 --> 00:25:18.069
I need to start learning from all these things that
457
00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:21.109
happened to me in my early 20s. And whether that
458
00:25:21.130 --> 00:25:23.049
was George Floyd and all of a sudden now, hey,
459
00:25:23.109 --> 00:25:26.569
go on TV right away, you know, speak your truth
460
00:25:26.650 --> 00:25:29.750
about what it is to be a black male in media. Well,
461
00:25:29.789 --> 00:25:33.190
hold on a second. I'm just not going to do that.
462
00:25:34.049 --> 00:25:36.950
I need to think about my strategy and my approach
463
00:25:36.990 --> 00:25:40.880
here and saying, hey, work, I understand that you have
464
00:25:40.910 --> 00:25:43.460
a need for clicks and that you have a need
465
00:25:43.579 --> 00:25:48.799
for ratings. And whenever we're speaking upon racial issues, the
466
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.900
demographic that I'm pretty much talking to are predominantly Caucasian males.
467
00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:56.930
But I need to think about What is my to-market
468
00:25:56.990 --> 00:26:00.170
strategy for myself first? And I need to think about
469
00:26:00.309 --> 00:26:03.750
how I actually feel about a lot of these things
470
00:26:03.769 --> 00:26:05.970
going on. And instead of just saying, this is what
471
00:26:05.990 --> 00:26:07.990
it is and people need to get on board, how
472
00:26:08.049 --> 00:26:11.069
am I doing that in my own voice to build
473
00:26:11.170 --> 00:26:15.059
more connectivity to make you understand that, yes, I am
474
00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:18.240
an African-American male, but I also have so many traits
475
00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:22.920
that are so similar to you, middle-aged Caucasian male in Cleveland,
476
00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:29.069
middle-aged Caucasian male in South Dakota? How am I bringing
477
00:26:29.089 --> 00:26:32.390
that connectivity so you can understand who Jason Williams is
478
00:26:32.670 --> 00:26:35.799
as a human being? And then I can get into
479
00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:37.920
the nuances about what it feels like to be Black.
480
00:26:38.380 --> 00:26:40.299
But the more you understand who I am, the more
481
00:26:40.339 --> 00:26:43.180
it's like, damn, I never thought about it like that, right?
482
00:26:43.640 --> 00:26:47.140
Or catching COVID at the NBA finals and saying, hey,
483
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.170
come back and work and talk. Well, hold on a second.
484
00:26:50.690 --> 00:26:53.750
I'm worried about how does this affect my daughter who's immunocompromised?
485
00:26:54.349 --> 00:26:57.200
How does this affect My mother, who's gone through two
486
00:26:57.940 --> 00:27:00.329
scenarios where she's almost passed away this past year, who's
487
00:27:00.349 --> 00:27:03.529
still sick and who's gone through two kidney transplants and
488
00:27:03.549 --> 00:27:07.529
diverticulitis and congenital heart failure. How am I going to
489
00:27:07.589 --> 00:27:09.950
talk about that when I just come back to work?
490
00:27:10.769 --> 00:27:12.839
How am I going to talk about how COVID affected me,
491
00:27:13.319 --> 00:27:16.839
even though I was vaccinated? Being in a stadium full
492
00:27:16.859 --> 00:27:20.559
of 35,000 people while I'm at work. These are very nuanced,
493
00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:24.380
delicate subject matters to talk about. You know, while everybody's
494
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:26.200
trying to make a decision about whether they want to
495
00:27:26.220 --> 00:27:28.740
take the vaccine or not. How am I being informed
496
00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:32.049
enough scientifically so I can talk to you about? So
497
00:27:32.549 --> 00:27:34.430
now I feel like as a 40 year old man,
498
00:27:34.869 --> 00:27:37.450
I've done it multiple times in my 30s where I say,
499
00:27:38.170 --> 00:27:40.670
let's just call a timeout. Give me a full timeout. Basketball.
500
00:27:40.690 --> 00:27:43.529
Give me a full timeout. Let's talk strategy here. Let's
501
00:27:43.549 --> 00:27:45.970
talk about what all the details were that led up
502
00:27:46.009 --> 00:27:47.250
to this point. And let's talk about how we're going
503
00:27:47.269 --> 00:27:49.130
to strategize moving forward, which is very important.
504
00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:53.680
You have become, it feels to me like, and you
505
00:27:53.700 --> 00:27:57.230
could expand more on this, like a go-to guy for
506
00:27:57.450 --> 00:28:04.130
current players on kind of life, on media, on business building,
507
00:28:04.369 --> 00:28:08.460
on off-the-court interest, on branding. And I don't think you
508
00:28:08.500 --> 00:28:11.279
become this guy just because you want to. I think
509
00:28:11.319 --> 00:28:15.079
you have to be someone who adds significant value to
510
00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:19.880
others' lives, especially from professional athletes who can basically... have
511
00:28:20.099 --> 00:28:23.440
anybody they want in their inner circle to work with,
512
00:28:23.460 --> 00:28:26.599
to partner with, right? And I know from seeing, there's
513
00:28:26.839 --> 00:28:30.369
tons of people who do this with you. I'm curious,
514
00:28:30.849 --> 00:28:33.210
can you talk more about that and why you think
515
00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:35.309
you've become one of those guys? Because if you look
516
00:28:35.349 --> 00:28:37.390
at it, you didn't have a long NBA career. You
517
00:28:37.410 --> 00:28:39.509
played for a year before you got hurt. So it
518
00:28:39.549 --> 00:28:42.150
wasn't because you had a long career. It's because of
519
00:28:42.210 --> 00:28:46.190
what you've done after your career got cut short. What
520
00:28:46.230 --> 00:28:48.089
is it about you and how you approach kind of
521
00:28:48.190 --> 00:28:52.710
life and business and branding and career building that you
522
00:28:52.730 --> 00:28:55.849
think is so attractive to other professional athletes that they
523
00:28:55.869 --> 00:28:58.170
want to call you and hang out and work with you?
524
00:28:59.930 --> 00:29:03.990
Well, I think it's about how you frame your narrative, Ryan.
525
00:29:04.009 --> 00:29:07.759
I think that's so important. And I think for me, my,
526
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:11.279
my accident was the first lesson in that. I think
527
00:29:11.319 --> 00:29:13.559
for the first couple of years after I was hurt,
528
00:29:13.859 --> 00:29:17.900
you know, you already alluded to this, right? Jay Williams,
529
00:29:17.940 --> 00:29:22.339
the idiot, Jay Williams, the guy that hit a utility
530
00:29:22.420 --> 00:29:25.660
pole going 65 miles an hour and threw away his career.
531
00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:28.599
There were so many of these narratives that were being
532
00:29:28.700 --> 00:29:33.309
formulated about me that I let get out of control
533
00:29:33.369 --> 00:29:37.170
because I never faced my own moment of adversity. Right.
534
00:29:37.190 --> 00:29:39.910
You know, Jay-Z had the song back in the day.
535
00:29:39.950 --> 00:29:44.819
you know, called Moment of Clarity. And I think for myself,
536
00:29:45.539 --> 00:29:48.299
that moment of clarity came when I said, enough of
537
00:29:48.380 --> 00:29:52.500
me allowing other people to tell my own story. I'm
538
00:29:52.539 --> 00:29:56.480
going to go to market with my story. This is
539
00:29:56.710 --> 00:30:00.609
my story. And I think going around to different book
540
00:30:00.650 --> 00:30:04.349
publishers and having a lot of them tell me, no,
541
00:30:04.910 --> 00:30:09.529
that there needs to be more here, that you need
542
00:30:09.549 --> 00:30:12.599
to experience more, there needs to be a payoff. And
543
00:30:12.630 --> 00:30:16.700
I'm sitting there saying, at 28, 29, the payoff is
544
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:20.660
that I'm alive. That's the payoff. And the payoff is
545
00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:24.240
that all these opportunities that have been given to me
546
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.720
came from me finding a way to forge myself through
547
00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:31.369
the fire, right? It's almost like a sword. When people
548
00:30:31.980 --> 00:30:37.670
mold the sword, it takes hot flames and intense increased
549
00:30:37.869 --> 00:30:40.769
heat in order to shape this sword to have a
550
00:30:40.849 --> 00:30:44.789
fine point to be sharp. So for me, my accident
551
00:30:44.869 --> 00:30:50.619
was me being in swords into the flames. And so
552
00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:53.539
talking about all those lessons and what I learned, and also,
553
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:56.609
to be frank with you, I think there's so much
554
00:30:56.650 --> 00:30:58.630
relatability that I have to athletes. And I'm not going
555
00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:01.130
to sit here and say that I'm perfect. It's been
556
00:31:01.410 --> 00:31:06.480
extremely challenging for me to navigate this media landscape and
557
00:31:06.539 --> 00:31:09.480
the amount of hours that you're supposed to speak and
558
00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:12.759
some of the corners that puts you in. But I
559
00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:15.500
understand it for people even more so now, even more
560
00:31:15.539 --> 00:31:19.509
so now, right, at 40 years old. I empathize so
561
00:31:19.569 --> 00:31:25.490
much more with people like Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Giannis.
562
00:31:26.710 --> 00:31:31.559
and superstars of tomorrow in all sports. Because people have
563
00:31:31.579 --> 00:31:36.359
these stories that are being told about them from other
564
00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:40.079
people that don't really have insight into their lives or
565
00:31:40.140 --> 00:31:45.039
who they are. And these stories are automatically facts. And
566
00:31:45.059 --> 00:31:48.859
then you have the slew of people online that constantly
567
00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:53.259
feel like they throw daggers and jabs at you Because
568
00:31:53.640 --> 00:31:56.420
it's either funny to them because of what they're going
569
00:31:56.440 --> 00:31:58.720
through in their life. And that's their way to get
570
00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:01.599
away from that. Or they just feel like, hey, I
571
00:32:01.619 --> 00:32:05.440
can say whatever I want. There's no repercussions. And psychologically,
572
00:32:05.500 --> 00:32:07.339
what does that do you every single day when you're
573
00:32:07.380 --> 00:32:10.839
consuming information about yourself on this? What does that do
574
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:12.380
to you every single day? How do you combat that?
575
00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:16.269
How do you fight that? So I think now being
576
00:32:16.309 --> 00:32:20.430
able to carry all those experiences to the table of
577
00:32:20.509 --> 00:32:24.609
having a platform and talking about it. And being open
578
00:32:25.230 --> 00:32:28.599
and authentic about what my challenges were and how I'm
579
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:33.000
trying to navigate that hopefully lends to them and how
580
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:37.279
they navigate it. And hopefully lets them understand that everybody
581
00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:39.180
is out here having a hard time navigating this new
582
00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:43.230
space of vulnerability and being open, having people criticize you
583
00:32:43.289 --> 00:32:46.490
and chastise you for every play, every decision that you make.
584
00:32:47.269 --> 00:32:50.890
Anthony Davis, people reporting on his wedding as if it
585
00:32:50.930 --> 00:32:53.690
were game seven of the NBA finals. You feel like
586
00:32:53.710 --> 00:32:57.109
you have no more privacy to even have delicate conversations
587
00:32:57.170 --> 00:32:58.809
about something that you don't know. You have to be
588
00:32:58.829 --> 00:33:01.670
this individual. I know everything or I'm not going to
589
00:33:01.710 --> 00:33:04.589
talk about this. How do you have an environment conducive
590
00:33:04.630 --> 00:33:08.410
to learning when there's not transparency and vulnerability in that environment?
591
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:11.059
It's not conducive to you learning because you have to
592
00:33:11.119 --> 00:33:15.460
be retracted from the real world because you know that
593
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:18.619
even you saying the wrong thing, even if you're ignorant
594
00:33:18.700 --> 00:33:22.079
about a subject matter, that can get twisted or contorted
595
00:33:22.789 --> 00:33:25.869
That's another headline. For me, I just try to create
596
00:33:25.910 --> 00:33:28.269
that environment as much as possible to say, hey, not
597
00:33:28.309 --> 00:33:30.869
everything needs to be a story to the media. I
598
00:33:31.509 --> 00:33:33.369
just want to see you win just like you want
599
00:33:33.390 --> 00:33:35.430
to see other people win. Let's figure out the best
600
00:33:35.450 --> 00:33:40.200
environment conducive for that to happen.
601
00:33:40.279 --> 00:33:44.079
I watched you this morning actually on your radio show
602
00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:48.740
simulcast on the ESPN networks.
603
00:33:49.720 --> 00:33:51.869
One of the things I've come away. I talked to
604
00:33:51.890 --> 00:33:53.170
my brother about this recently too.
605
00:33:53.190 --> 00:33:55.869
I was like, J will just seems to be always so, um,
606
00:33:58.710 --> 00:34:01.150
overly prepared in a great way so that you can
607
00:34:01.170 --> 00:34:02.089
just let it flow.
608
00:34:02.109 --> 00:34:03.930
I would love to learn about this.
609
00:34:04.019 --> 00:34:06.460
Maybe a little kind of, I guess, inside baseball talk,
610
00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:09.840
but because, because it's my own curiosity, but like, what
611
00:34:09.900 --> 00:34:12.159
is your prep process like to make sure you are
612
00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:14.579
ready to roll when the lights turn on, when the
613
00:34:14.619 --> 00:34:19.289
microphone turns on, it just seems like you are I've
614
00:34:19.349 --> 00:34:21.849
never got a sense, whether you're on GetUp or other
615
00:34:21.909 --> 00:34:24.650
shows or you're analyzing a game at the finals, whatever,
616
00:34:25.050 --> 00:34:27.030
I've never got a sense that you've shown up without
617
00:34:27.070 --> 00:34:29.369
being fully ready to go. Can you walk us through
618
00:34:29.929 --> 00:34:31.929
your prep process? Because I think this applies to any
619
00:34:32.010 --> 00:34:34.619
leader in any job about how they get ready for
620
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:37.320
the moments of their career and their day-to-day job.
621
00:34:38.480 --> 00:34:42.699
Yeah, that prep process really never turns off, right? I mean,
622
00:34:43.340 --> 00:34:46.659
behind you right now, I literally have CNBC on. and
623
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:53.230
I'm watching what's happening in the marketplace, there's been a
624
00:34:53.269 --> 00:34:57.489
lot of fascinating things I've learned about myself over the
625
00:34:57.550 --> 00:35:01.909
past several years. And Jay Billis was actually one of
626
00:35:01.929 --> 00:35:03.530
the first people to put me on. He's like, you
627
00:35:03.570 --> 00:35:07.050
do the work so you can reference the work, but
628
00:35:07.130 --> 00:35:09.909
you do the work almost as a parachute. You don't
629
00:35:09.969 --> 00:35:14.690
need the parachute, right? The parachute is there, but how
630
00:35:14.750 --> 00:35:19.769
you navigate The conversations is things in case you draw
631
00:35:19.789 --> 00:35:23.250
a blank or in case there's a deeper point that
632
00:35:23.269 --> 00:35:25.789
you want to make that, hey, here's a nugget for
633
00:35:25.849 --> 00:35:28.030
you just in order to seal your conversation together. So
634
00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:33.960
that's an ongoing 24-7, 365 process, especially when you're not
635
00:35:34.579 --> 00:35:37.500
as familiar with other sports. You know, I can go
636
00:35:37.579 --> 00:35:41.550
back and break down plays with my eyes closed from
637
00:35:41.590 --> 00:35:44.159
last year's finals. I can go down and break down
638
00:35:44.199 --> 00:35:46.320
how I think LeBron James and Magic Johnson are two
639
00:35:46.340 --> 00:35:48.880
of the most gifted passers the game has ever seen,
640
00:35:49.400 --> 00:35:51.619
and give you different scenarios in games in which I
641
00:35:51.639 --> 00:35:54.300
think they've proven that. It's a little bit more challenging
642
00:35:54.340 --> 00:35:57.139
with me in football, right? Like I didn't grow up
643
00:35:57.260 --> 00:35:59.579
playing football. I played Pop Warner for a split second,
644
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:04.980
but I really excelled at basketball. So going back and
645
00:36:05.139 --> 00:36:08.050
being prepared to be able to talk about different divisions,
646
00:36:08.909 --> 00:36:13.329
historical references for different divisions, player stats and who's in
647
00:36:13.349 --> 00:36:15.610
the MVP race this year as opposed to last year
648
00:36:15.650 --> 00:36:18.070
and how you compare those 90 seconds. That takes a
649
00:36:18.130 --> 00:36:21.130
lot of preparation. And to be able then to be
650
00:36:21.570 --> 00:36:24.889
as familiar with NHL hockey to a degree, right, based
651
00:36:24.949 --> 00:36:27.659
upon if we decide to talk about them, what's happening
652
00:36:27.699 --> 00:36:30.719
right now in Major League Baseball, if that's with the
653
00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:32.639
Mets or with the Yankees, and will they get the
654
00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:35.039
wild card? Has it been turning in the right direction
655
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:36.900
for them lately, which makes me a little bit concerned,
656
00:36:37.219 --> 00:36:39.929
you know, or the Mets and Javier Baez. I think
657
00:36:39.989 --> 00:36:41.409
it takes, you know, I went to the Mets game
658
00:36:41.429 --> 00:36:43.050
the other day and threw out the first pitch and
659
00:36:43.489 --> 00:36:46.860
talked to Luis Rojas, the manager. Like, I miss that
660
00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:50.340
so much, too, spending personal time with individuals. You know,
661
00:36:50.380 --> 00:36:52.420
the past two years has been tough when you don't
662
00:36:52.440 --> 00:36:55.900
get a chance to spend time with people and go
663
00:36:55.960 --> 00:37:00.769
to their environments and hear their stories, right? Marcus Stroman
664
00:37:00.789 --> 00:37:02.730
spoke to him the other day, Duke alumni, as a
665
00:37:02.750 --> 00:37:05.789
pitcher for the Mets, and hear about his interpretation of
666
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.099
Javier Baez and the thumbs down scenario and how that
667
00:37:10.139 --> 00:37:14.000
made fans feel, but get their inside POV on what
668
00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:16.519
even got them to that point. Wow. That makes you
669
00:37:16.539 --> 00:37:22.239
understand it differently. So I think it's almost been through osmosis, right?
670
00:37:22.460 --> 00:37:25.969
Going to events, understanding what's happening on the business side,
671
00:37:26.530 --> 00:37:29.050
sitting down with a guy in his box, like Steve Cohen,
672
00:37:29.610 --> 00:37:32.110
understanding his mindset about where he wants to take the
673
00:37:32.150 --> 00:37:36.150
Mets organization, why he thinks Francisco Lindor is so pivotal.
674
00:37:36.639 --> 00:37:38.449
to where he wants his franchise to go from a
675
00:37:38.510 --> 00:37:42.630
leadership perspective, understanding, Hey, is there a guy like Theo
676
00:37:42.710 --> 00:37:44.989
Epstein out there that can help their franchise get over
677
00:37:45.030 --> 00:37:48.869
that hump and go to the next level? I think
678
00:37:48.969 --> 00:37:52.289
by combining business and sports with an understanding of who
679
00:37:52.489 --> 00:37:55.929
athletes are, that is my goal. Like that is who
680
00:37:56.030 --> 00:37:59.690
I am. And I see guys like Darren Rovell. I
681
00:37:59.750 --> 00:38:03.289
hear guys like Stephen A. Smith and I see guys
682
00:38:03.329 --> 00:38:06.440
like Kendrick Perkins, right? What is a combination of all
683
00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:09.739
three of those? Some guy that can give you insight,
684
00:38:10.300 --> 00:38:12.699
some guy that can provide you relatability, but also a
685
00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:17.679
person that understands structurally where this business is of the
686
00:38:17.699 --> 00:38:20.300
sport and where this business is going. I feel like
687
00:38:20.340 --> 00:38:22.610
that's my sweet spot. And that's what I love to do.
688
00:38:23.409 --> 00:38:24.030
It's unique.
689
00:38:24.119 --> 00:38:26.949
Obviously, I can't think of another person I would put
690
00:38:27.150 --> 00:38:31.630
who could do all of those things that you just mentioned. Jay,
691
00:38:31.670 --> 00:38:34.969
given what you do, Um, you have to make decisions
692
00:38:35.030 --> 00:38:37.070
on who to partner with. You have to make decisions
693
00:38:37.170 --> 00:38:39.710
on where to work or what to do. And you've
694
00:38:39.750 --> 00:38:43.630
also throughout all of that gotten to experience all these
695
00:38:43.710 --> 00:38:46.570
amazing leaders and decide like, do I want to work
696
00:38:46.610 --> 00:38:48.010
with him or her or what am I going to do?
697
00:38:48.030 --> 00:38:51.110
So I'm just curious if you think about all of
698
00:38:51.179 --> 00:38:53.780
those people, what have you found to be some of
699
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:58.699
the commonalities among leaders in general who have sustained excellence
700
00:38:59.400 --> 00:39:01.079
over an extended period of time?
701
00:39:02.940 --> 00:39:17.480
Wow. What a great question. So many things. Jack Dorsey.
702
00:39:19.559 --> 00:39:23.219
Being on a plane, coming back from the West Coast
703
00:39:23.260 --> 00:39:27.889
to the East Coast, spending time talking about him and
704
00:39:27.949 --> 00:39:31.139
obviously the platform that he's built. has led to so
705
00:39:31.179 --> 00:39:36.360
many conversations around how we treat one another and what
706
00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:40.110
the effects of that do to young minds in their
707
00:39:40.139 --> 00:39:43.789
formative years about how they feel about themselves.
708
00:39:44.369 --> 00:39:45.550
Twitter, by the way, we're talking about.
709
00:39:45.949 --> 00:39:46.269
Yes.
710
00:39:46.510 --> 00:39:48.130
Creative Twitter, CEO of Twitter.
711
00:39:48.170 --> 00:39:52.039
Yes. And thank you for providing that context. I should
712
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:53.780
have done that sometimes, you know, just saying, Jack.
713
00:39:54.000 --> 00:39:55.599
Right, I'm with you.
714
00:39:55.880 --> 00:40:00.980
And I think how he carries this incredible weight for
715
00:40:02.699 --> 00:40:07.360
the responsibility that comes along with the platform and how
716
00:40:07.460 --> 00:40:13.110
it's helped mold minds. And it's been challenging, but there's
717
00:40:13.170 --> 00:40:16.010
a concerted effort. You know, one of my really good friends,
718
00:40:16.030 --> 00:40:19.179
a guy named Mark Klaus, who is the CEO of
719
00:40:19.239 --> 00:40:22.559
Campbell Soup. And his story is pretty amazing. I met
720
00:40:22.619 --> 00:40:28.139
Mark when Mark was the CMO of Mondelez. And I'll
721
00:40:28.179 --> 00:40:32.300
never forget, our relationship really flourished because we had so
722
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:35.340
many commonalities. And I'll never forget, Mark didn't get a
723
00:40:35.340 --> 00:40:38.409
chance to see his son play high school football a
724
00:40:38.429 --> 00:40:40.800
lot because he was traveling around the world. And obviously,
725
00:40:40.969 --> 00:40:43.730
when you're the CMO of a company, some pretty high
726
00:40:43.849 --> 00:40:50.969
intense relationships moments you go through. And I'll never forget
727
00:40:51.010 --> 00:40:53.590
this moment, we're having dinner. And Mark is telling me that,
728
00:40:53.610 --> 00:40:58.070
you know, I'm thinking about taking a break for a minute. Like, well, Mark,
729
00:40:58.110 --> 00:41:00.329
you're on track to become CEO of Mondelez. This is
730
00:41:00.369 --> 00:41:03.289
the Fortune 500 company. This has been something you've been
731
00:41:03.309 --> 00:41:05.070
talking about for a while. And he's like, yeah, but
732
00:41:05.690 --> 00:41:09.090
I didn't get a chance to spend time with my son.
733
00:41:09.150 --> 00:41:11.699
And my other son's about to go through high school.
734
00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:16.519
And I want to see him play. I I want
735
00:41:16.539 --> 00:41:18.599
to also spend time with my older son, and now
736
00:41:18.659 --> 00:41:20.440
he's graduating. He's going to be in the city. I'm
737
00:41:21.260 --> 00:41:26.500
going to prioritize that. I give him credit. He stopped.
738
00:41:28.110 --> 00:41:31.909
He took time, and then a headhunter found him. He
739
00:41:31.929 --> 00:41:37.650
became the CEO of a smaller packaging company. Three years later,
740
00:41:37.989 --> 00:41:39.530
you can't make this up, Ryan. This is how the
741
00:41:39.590 --> 00:41:42.860
universe works. He's watched his son play high school football.
742
00:41:42.900 --> 00:41:45.980
He's having an incredible time. He's running this business. Then
743
00:41:46.610 --> 00:41:49.429
private equity comes in and they buy his company for
744
00:41:49.469 --> 00:41:52.789
like a 10 X and he makes crazy amounts of money.
745
00:41:53.570 --> 00:41:57.420
And he's like, I just been rewarded for prioritizing my family.
746
00:41:58.280 --> 00:42:01.219
You never hear stories like that. Right? So I give
747
00:42:01.239 --> 00:42:06.280
you the Jack Dorsey example of prioritizing social responsibility and
748
00:42:06.340 --> 00:42:09.570
how there's a concerted effort to do that. I give
749
00:42:09.590 --> 00:42:12.170
you the Mark Klaus story because there's a concerted effort
750
00:42:12.250 --> 00:42:16.500
to prioritize family. And, You know, I think these are,
751
00:42:17.380 --> 00:42:20.320
these are life lessons that you find from great individuals.
752
00:42:20.340 --> 00:42:23.460
And I'll give you the last one. How are you
753
00:42:23.519 --> 00:42:27.750
creating impact for those that are creating impact? I watched
754
00:42:27.849 --> 00:42:30.969
a docu last night with my wife and yesterday was
755
00:42:31.010 --> 00:42:33.710
a pretty significant day. And I was actually pretty frustrated
756
00:42:33.730 --> 00:42:35.010
about it because I know we live in this world
757
00:42:35.030 --> 00:42:36.690
where we talk about sports all the time. And there's
758
00:42:36.730 --> 00:42:39.570
a lot of big time games on yesterday and Tom
759
00:42:39.610 --> 00:42:43.789
Birdie threw for five touchdowns and no interceptions. And, Russell Wilson,
760
00:42:43.829 --> 00:42:46.130
they lost to the Tennessee Titans and all these, the
761
00:42:46.170 --> 00:42:49.269
Dallas Cowboys, they beat the Chargers because, you know, Greg
762
00:42:49.289 --> 00:42:51.710
Zerlin makes a field goal kick from 56 yards and
763
00:42:51.750 --> 00:42:54.449
he redeems himself, Legatron and Greg DeLegge and all these stories.
764
00:42:55.230 --> 00:42:59.969
And I'm sitting there saying, these stories pale in comparison
765
00:43:00.369 --> 00:43:03.869
to the biggest story that happened yesterday. We sent four
766
00:43:04.769 --> 00:43:11.929
individual civilians to outer space and they came back yesterday, right? Like,
767
00:43:12.349 --> 00:43:17.090
Space X and Elon Musk, like this, for lack of
768
00:43:17.110 --> 00:43:19.769
better terms, like arm races between him and Richard Branson
769
00:43:19.809 --> 00:43:25.480
and Jeff Bezos to almost commercialize trips to outer space
770
00:43:25.599 --> 00:43:29.119
and what that experience must be like. I mean, we sent,
771
00:43:30.099 --> 00:43:33.659
you know, somebody that works for St. Jude's, you know,
772
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:37.969
we sent three everyday human beings. And for me, When
773
00:43:37.989 --> 00:43:41.389
you start understanding about those individuals and their stories about
774
00:43:41.429 --> 00:43:47.389
how they've been impactful and to see that be rewarded. Wow.
775
00:43:48.179 --> 00:43:50.719
Like it just it makes everything else that we get
776
00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:54.940
so lost in day to day seems so minute. Right.
777
00:43:54.980 --> 00:43:58.199
When you're that far into outer space, looking down on
778
00:43:58.260 --> 00:44:03.500
our planet, saying like that's impact right. And how you
779
00:44:03.539 --> 00:44:06.940
might feel about it, just the thought of it, life-changing
780
00:44:07.019 --> 00:44:10.360
experiences for individuals. How do you provide that to people?
781
00:44:10.960 --> 00:44:13.389
How do you give people who don't have any hope
782
00:44:13.800 --> 00:44:16.150
something to look forward to like a Coach K and
783
00:44:16.210 --> 00:44:19.429
plant that seed and have them fight for something? And
784
00:44:19.469 --> 00:44:24.050
I feel like a lot of corporations are missing that.
785
00:44:24.110 --> 00:44:26.920
People ask me, what's the best thing for retention? Make
786
00:44:26.940 --> 00:44:30.079
people a believer in what the hell you're doing. that
787
00:44:30.099 --> 00:44:33.159
will increase your retention rate. Because right now, people in
788
00:44:33.179 --> 00:44:36.579
the midst of a pandemic and struggles with families, and
789
00:44:36.619 --> 00:44:38.579
are we in it? Are we out of it? People
790
00:44:38.639 --> 00:44:40.280
are looking for something to hold on to, Ryan. And
791
00:44:40.300 --> 00:44:41.949
you have to be able to provide that for them.
792
00:44:44.510 --> 00:44:46.289
Can we talk about Kobe for a second?
793
00:44:47.130 --> 00:44:49.070
Sure. One of my best men.
794
00:44:50.690 --> 00:44:55.309
Jordan and Kobe were like the guys. And I remember,
795
00:44:55.329 --> 00:44:57.150
I think you were one of the very first guys
796
00:44:57.889 --> 00:45:01.460
people I feel like that had kind of their response
797
00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:05.360
to the, his death go viral. Not that you think
798
00:45:05.400 --> 00:45:06.980
of that way. I know you don't, but, but I
799
00:45:07.019 --> 00:45:10.079
remember watching it and then watching it again. And it
800
00:45:10.099 --> 00:45:13.239
was just felt seemed so heartfelt and just full of
801
00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:18.059
raw emotion. I really, really appreciate it, especially because it
802
00:45:18.099 --> 00:45:20.380
was such a painful time. You know, I obviously don't
803
00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:24.039
know him personally, but like, you know, worship the dude. Um,
804
00:45:24.280 --> 00:45:26.539
could you talk a little bit about like, like him
805
00:45:26.559 --> 00:45:28.380
and what he meant to you and that, and maybe
806
00:45:28.420 --> 00:45:30.239
even that day as well, when you gave that first
807
00:45:30.300 --> 00:45:34.239
interview was on ESPN and talked about, uh, his tragic death.
808
00:45:36.260 --> 00:45:41.500
I do to my short career, didn't get the opportunity
809
00:45:41.559 --> 00:45:43.719
to spend as much time with Kobe that I'm sure
810
00:45:43.739 --> 00:45:48.250
I would have, but he impacted me so greatly in
811
00:45:48.289 --> 00:45:52.510
the shorter moments that we were able to share, right.
812
00:45:52.550 --> 00:45:54.389
Moments through the players should be on and then obviously
813
00:45:54.409 --> 00:45:59.039
moments after through a young player in the league. And,
814
00:45:59.579 --> 00:46:01.760
you know, one of the things I loved about him
815
00:46:02.380 --> 00:46:05.239
is that there, and Jordan had it and, you know,
816
00:46:05.260 --> 00:46:08.820
Steffi Graf has it. A lot of the greats do.
817
00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:16.889
There is this relentless pursuit to be the best, but,
818
00:46:17.570 --> 00:46:22.010
you know, for Kobe too, like there, there's also a
819
00:46:22.030 --> 00:46:23.630
little bit of a crazy side to me. Like, you know,
820
00:46:23.650 --> 00:46:25.949
I was, I knew one of his favorite songs they
821
00:46:26.010 --> 00:46:28.320
listened to was the song, like the Halloween song by
822
00:46:28.380 --> 00:46:31.039
Michael Myers. Right. Like it just, it put them in
823
00:46:31.079 --> 00:46:33.539
that mindset. Like, you know, it doesn't matter who you
824
00:46:33.679 --> 00:46:37.059
are and what you are. Don't F with me. Like
825
00:46:37.559 --> 00:46:39.440
I am in killer mode right now. Right. And how
826
00:46:39.500 --> 00:46:44.920
he would get himself to that maximize level of performance.
827
00:46:45.820 --> 00:46:49.679
And that was always a very special trait of his, but.
828
00:46:50.349 --> 00:46:53.630
the most beautiful and the most inspirational aspect of Kobe
829
00:46:53.650 --> 00:46:57.329
Bryant to me was not as a player. It was
830
00:46:58.070 --> 00:47:04.090
how he was able to crystallize those same intangible traits
831
00:47:04.239 --> 00:47:08.300
that got him to maximize his talent on the floor,
832
00:47:09.380 --> 00:47:10.840
the way he was able to get those things to
833
00:47:10.940 --> 00:47:14.619
translate to his other missions after he was done playing basketball.
834
00:47:15.159 --> 00:47:17.900
And you saw a lot of that translate to him
835
00:47:17.940 --> 00:47:22.010
being a husband and him being a father. You know,
836
00:47:22.110 --> 00:47:25.250
one of the first things people always ask me when
837
00:47:25.269 --> 00:47:29.030
you meet people at different events is if they don't
838
00:47:29.070 --> 00:47:30.969
know who I am, but they see other people talking
839
00:47:31.010 --> 00:47:33.809
to me, is it like, hey, what's your name? You
840
00:47:33.829 --> 00:47:35.730
look familiar. I'm like, oh, hi, I'm Jay Williams. Nice
841
00:47:35.750 --> 00:47:39.889
to meet you. Like, what do you do? Right. And
842
00:47:39.909 --> 00:47:43.710
it's so easy to get lost into that, Ryan, because
843
00:47:43.989 --> 00:47:48.929
every single day, if you're not focused on who you are,
844
00:47:49.530 --> 00:47:53.679
you easily become what you do. you start talking about
845
00:47:53.719 --> 00:47:58.539
yourself with those type of reference points. Does that make sense? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
846
00:47:58.900 --> 00:48:03.559
And I think watching Kobe go through the process of saying,
847
00:48:04.139 --> 00:48:06.340
that's what I did, but this is who I am.
848
00:48:06.360 --> 00:48:13.210
And these are how those principles apply to every facet
849
00:48:13.409 --> 00:48:16.730
of my life, that I'm going to take this rag
850
00:48:16.769 --> 00:48:19.409
of water and I'm going to squeeze it so damn tight.
851
00:48:19.789 --> 00:48:22.489
I'll be damned if I don't let You know, that
852
00:48:22.789 --> 00:48:25.309
one little drip not come out. I want to get
853
00:48:25.329 --> 00:48:29.929
the most out of it. And that's just always the
854
00:48:29.969 --> 00:48:33.010
precedence that Kobe has set for me. And I think
855
00:48:33.110 --> 00:48:37.849
that particular day, I just became a father a couple
856
00:48:37.889 --> 00:48:42.389
months before. That brings on a significant different meaning to
857
00:48:42.409 --> 00:48:51.880
an individual. You start recognizing the importance of not providing monetarily.
858
00:48:52.429 --> 00:48:58.860
But psychologically, what kind of footprint, what kind of trajectory,
859
00:48:58.940 --> 00:49:01.920
what kind of standard are you providing for your wife
860
00:49:02.139 --> 00:49:04.840
and your child about who you are and about what
861
00:49:04.880 --> 00:49:09.039
you want your family to represent? And that day for me,
862
00:49:09.380 --> 00:49:14.949
finding that out, it would have been so typical for
863
00:49:15.070 --> 00:49:19.090
anybody to try to describe Kobe Bryant by putting him
864
00:49:19.130 --> 00:49:23.030
in a box. right, about what he accomplished on the court.
865
00:49:24.300 --> 00:49:29.139
But for me, I wanted people to relate to Kobe Bryant,
866
00:49:29.159 --> 00:49:34.300
the human being, the dude who wasn't perfect, who didn't
867
00:49:34.320 --> 00:49:38.059
have everything figured out, who made mistakes along the way.
868
00:49:39.820 --> 00:49:41.820
But damn, that was not going to stop him from
869
00:49:41.900 --> 00:49:48.820
pursuing to be the best version of himself. And if
870
00:49:48.840 --> 00:49:52.800
there's anything that my experiences have taught me is that
871
00:49:54.949 --> 00:49:57.469
nobody promises you how long you're going to be here, man.
872
00:50:00.289 --> 00:50:04.510
And to combine that raw emotion with how I felt
873
00:50:04.550 --> 00:50:09.940
about him as a human being in conjunction with my
874
00:50:10.260 --> 00:50:16.980
own emotion of still being here to witness that when
875
00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:22.590
I could have been in the dirt 19 years ago.
876
00:50:24.889 --> 00:50:27.429
I think once again, hit me at the core of
877
00:50:27.489 --> 00:50:31.289
my soul about this is a moment for him to
878
00:50:31.510 --> 00:50:34.389
impact people the way he would have wanted to impact
879
00:50:34.469 --> 00:50:40.610
people way beyond basketball could ever do for him. And
880
00:50:41.989 --> 00:50:43.469
I'm sorry for going a little bit long winded on
881
00:50:43.489 --> 00:50:47.849
this window ride, but it was all my, my car
882
00:50:47.889 --> 00:50:50.469
ride on the way over, you know, before I went
883
00:50:50.530 --> 00:50:53.989
on air, I was obviously emotional, but I was like, I,
884
00:50:54.849 --> 00:50:56.769
I really want to epitomize that for people. Cause I
885
00:50:56.809 --> 00:51:01.090
think it's important for people. That's what Kobe's legacy was,
886
00:51:01.110 --> 00:51:06.030
you know, not the championships or the pull on, you know,
887
00:51:06.789 --> 00:51:09.400
it was man the impact he had on people you
888
00:51:09.440 --> 00:51:12.559
have kids out there that you know want to be
889
00:51:14.179 --> 00:51:18.539
like mama yeah i want to you know mama mentality
890
00:51:19.099 --> 00:51:21.909
and that spirit needs to live on to give other
891
00:51:21.969 --> 00:51:26.010
people hope about kobe didn't always believe in himself when
892
00:51:26.050 --> 00:51:27.789
he was younger and he started to and look what
893
00:51:27.849 --> 00:51:30.630
happens when you believe in yourself you know it still
894
00:51:30.650 --> 00:51:33.690
brings on challenges but wow to see that um and
895
00:51:33.710 --> 00:51:35.599
to try to talk about that man that was um
896
00:51:36.429 --> 00:51:37.730
It's one of the realest moments I've ever had in
897
00:51:37.769 --> 00:51:38.130
my life.
898
00:51:38.909 --> 00:51:41.230
You were phenomenal, man. You know, one of the things
899
00:51:41.269 --> 00:51:44.650
about Kobe, I started feeling towards the end of his career.
900
00:51:44.690 --> 00:51:46.230
It took him some time to get to this place.
901
00:51:46.250 --> 00:51:48.469
I'm sure you could sense it. And it's happened with
902
00:51:48.530 --> 00:51:51.780
others too, is he got to the point where he
903
00:51:51.820 --> 00:51:56.719
was 100% authentic, I felt. Like he said exactly what
904
00:51:56.760 --> 00:52:00.300
was on his mind. And while some of them might've
905
00:52:00.320 --> 00:52:05.340
been controversial or he was like, this is me. This
906
00:52:05.409 --> 00:52:07.739
is what I think. This is what I'm about to do.
907
00:52:07.800 --> 00:52:10.300
I'm going to go score 60 or whatever. And I
908
00:52:10.340 --> 00:52:13.449
think it was a great leadership lesson for me seeing
909
00:52:14.320 --> 00:52:17.690
him as he grew into that, which is hard to do.
910
00:52:17.809 --> 00:52:20.150
I know it's especially harder for younger guys. I get it.
911
00:52:20.789 --> 00:52:23.050
But it was like, you know what people want to
912
00:52:23.090 --> 00:52:26.849
be around? You know what people value? They value that
913
00:52:26.949 --> 00:52:29.590
part of it. They value like, is this person being real?
914
00:52:29.650 --> 00:52:33.530
Is this person being authentic? And I got that sense.
915
00:52:33.949 --> 00:52:37.150
That's why he became so beloved, even though he's certainly
916
00:52:37.190 --> 00:52:40.130
a flawed person, because it was like, I feel like
917
00:52:40.150 --> 00:52:42.369
we know where we're at with this guy. And I
918
00:52:42.389 --> 00:52:45.449
think leaders could learn a lot from that part, especially
919
00:52:45.489 --> 00:52:47.159
that stage of his career where he was just telling
920
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:47.840
you what he thought.
921
00:52:48.840 --> 00:52:50.760
You know, right. Also, I think what comes along with that,
922
00:52:50.780 --> 00:52:53.940
like the ability to protect the ones around you. Right. And,
923
00:52:54.579 --> 00:52:56.239
you know, kind of save them from a lot of
924
00:52:56.260 --> 00:52:58.860
the stuff that goes on. I try to tell people that,
925
00:52:58.920 --> 00:53:00.659
you know, can you imagine what it's like to be
926
00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:05.510
a Kobe Bryant? Everywhere you go, somebody is trying to
927
00:53:05.570 --> 00:53:08.369
talk to you about what you've done before in the past.
928
00:53:09.170 --> 00:53:11.190
Somebody is trying to tell you, hey, this story or
929
00:53:11.230 --> 00:53:13.690
that story. And if you allow that stuff, that can
930
00:53:13.710 --> 00:53:17.070
steal those present moments you have with your children, with
931
00:53:17.110 --> 00:53:21.150
your wife, with your family members. So I think you
932
00:53:21.170 --> 00:53:22.739
kind of said it better, man. It also puts in
933
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:28.179
perspective how crazy and close-knit of a group that family was.
934
00:53:29.880 --> 00:53:33.739
And they went through a lot of stuff, man. And
935
00:53:33.780 --> 00:53:36.679
for his wife to be by his side speaks volumes.
936
00:53:37.239 --> 00:53:39.590
One last question, Jay, if you've got a second. Yeah,
937
00:53:39.650 --> 00:53:41.050
I've got time. Okay.
938
00:53:42.590 --> 00:53:45.969
There's somebody who's graduating college recently, and they're in the
939
00:53:46.010 --> 00:53:49.210
working world, and they hear your story, and they hear
940
00:53:49.829 --> 00:53:53.800
the talk about impact. And that person wants to leave
941
00:53:53.840 --> 00:53:56.320
a dent in the world, a positive impact on other people.
942
00:53:56.360 --> 00:54:00.159
What are some of the general pieces of life advice
943
00:54:00.340 --> 00:54:03.420
slash career advice that you would give to somebody in
944
00:54:03.460 --> 00:54:04.860
those early stages in their career?
945
00:54:06.719 --> 00:54:09.579
So one of my friends told me once when I
946
00:54:09.619 --> 00:54:11.920
was younger, that if you're not living your life with
947
00:54:11.960 --> 00:54:15.920
passion and what's your purpose, right? Are you, are you
948
00:54:15.960 --> 00:54:19.429
just floating? Are you just somebody who's there? I think
949
00:54:19.449 --> 00:54:21.909
we all know a lot of people who are just
950
00:54:22.469 --> 00:54:25.670
there and that's not said in a malicious way, right?
951
00:54:25.730 --> 00:54:29.769
It's just what happens is life will constantly throw things
952
00:54:29.869 --> 00:54:34.059
at you. And if you allow life to dictate what
953
00:54:34.119 --> 00:54:38.079
your temple is, then you'll constantly be going, right? And
954
00:54:38.139 --> 00:54:40.280
you'll look down and be like, where am I? It's
955
00:54:40.320 --> 00:54:43.260
like sometimes when you're climbing on a mountain, sometimes you
956
00:54:43.280 --> 00:54:45.500
need to just stop and be like, damn, I've climbed
957
00:54:45.559 --> 00:54:48.119
a long way. I never thought for taking a second
958
00:54:48.139 --> 00:54:50.829
to look down. Wow. Like I'm always looking up about
959
00:54:50.849 --> 00:54:52.989
where I want to climb, but sometimes just take a
960
00:54:53.030 --> 00:54:55.929
second and pause. And I think the biggest thing that
961
00:54:56.070 --> 00:55:04.440
I would say is that... appreciate your position while planning
962
00:55:04.619 --> 00:55:08.639
your promotion. So if you do want to live your
963
00:55:08.679 --> 00:55:12.780
life with passion, if there is something that you want
964
00:55:12.820 --> 00:55:16.440
to go out and accomplish, even if you don't like
965
00:55:16.480 --> 00:55:20.119
what you're doing right now, how are you utilizing that
966
00:55:20.219 --> 00:55:23.920
platform and that opportunity? Because I don't care what anybody says,
967
00:55:24.699 --> 00:55:28.610
whether you're a garbage worker, whether you're somebody who's an assistant,
968
00:55:29.110 --> 00:55:34.780
whether you're somebody who's who is an architect. That opportunity
969
00:55:34.800 --> 00:55:37.300
that you have to do that will afford you moments
970
00:55:37.900 --> 00:55:40.420
to take advantage of. You have to be in the
971
00:55:40.480 --> 00:55:44.340
mindset that you're appreciating it while planning for what's coming next.
972
00:55:45.079 --> 00:55:47.860
But you have to strategize about it. A lot of
973
00:55:47.889 --> 00:55:49.469
people say, well, things are lucky. Yeah, I'm not saying
974
00:55:49.489 --> 00:55:51.630
that luck doesn't happen, but you have to put yourself
975
00:55:51.710 --> 00:55:54.730
in that position for luck to happen. And that comes
976
00:55:54.769 --> 00:55:58.429
with the mindset being ready to strike when the opportunity comes.
977
00:55:59.449 --> 00:56:01.389
And I try to tell people whether if you're in college,
978
00:56:01.409 --> 00:56:04.510
if you're graduating college, how are you utilizing the resources
979
00:56:04.550 --> 00:56:09.119
around you? Are you sending emails to other alumni from
980
00:56:09.159 --> 00:56:12.940
your school? If you play a sport, are you inviting
981
00:56:13.219 --> 00:56:18.699
respective alumni from your school to watch you play? And
982
00:56:18.719 --> 00:56:21.059
I'm not talking about, let me send you a DM
983
00:56:21.219 --> 00:56:23.659
on social media. I'm talking about, are you sending this
984
00:56:23.699 --> 00:56:26.840
guy an email? Are you sending this woman a handwritten letter?
985
00:56:26.949 --> 00:56:30.150
Are you calling their offices and relentlessly into that person
986
00:56:30.190 --> 00:56:32.050
and say, damn, I'm going to take a call. This
987
00:56:32.070 --> 00:56:36.170
guy's called 15 times. There are ways that you can
988
00:56:36.210 --> 00:56:39.650
make your mark, but how do you combine that relentless
989
00:56:39.690 --> 00:56:43.449
mentality or pursuit that Kobe had with appreciating your position
990
00:56:43.469 --> 00:56:45.699
while planning your promotion with living your life with passion?
991
00:56:46.539 --> 00:56:48.820
People want to be around people who are passionate about
992
00:56:48.860 --> 00:56:51.179
what they do and what they want to accomplish. Don't
993
00:56:51.219 --> 00:56:53.320
be one of those people that allow life to dictate
994
00:56:53.360 --> 00:56:57.199
your tempo. You dictate your tempo. Love it.
995
00:56:58.050 --> 00:56:58.929
Jay, this is awesome, man.
996
00:56:59.570 --> 00:57:03.070
Where would you send viewers, listeners to learn more about
997
00:57:03.110 --> 00:57:03.610
you online?
998
00:57:05.250 --> 00:57:08.309
So I'm doing a lot more now, obviously on my
999
00:57:08.349 --> 00:57:11.690
social media pages, but we just launched a podcast with NPR.
1000
00:57:11.710 --> 00:57:15.409
We'll be talking to a lot of individuals on how
1001
00:57:15.469 --> 00:57:19.719
they scale their own personal brands and what are the
1002
00:57:19.800 --> 00:57:24.699
challenges and opportunities that come along with that. I'm really
1003
00:57:24.760 --> 00:57:27.449
excited about that because I'm creating essentially a cheat sheet
1004
00:57:27.530 --> 00:57:30.449
for myself by picking the brains of people who have
1005
00:57:30.469 --> 00:57:32.340
done some pretty incredible things.
1006
00:57:32.400 --> 00:57:35.619
Who are you talking to?
1007
00:57:35.760 --> 00:57:39.389
We're talking to everybody, guys like Dwayne Johnson, how he's
1008
00:57:39.409 --> 00:57:40.710
been able to do that leverage.
1009
00:57:41.150 --> 00:57:42.030
You got the rock on.
1010
00:57:43.420 --> 00:57:47.239
Well, we're working on procuring certain individuals, which.
1011
00:57:47.159 --> 00:57:48.239
I think will be really cool.
1012
00:57:48.260 --> 00:57:48.559
Sorry.
1013
00:57:48.699 --> 00:57:50.079
Some of them might still be secret, I guess.
1014
00:57:50.639 --> 00:57:51.500
Yeah, no, it's all good.
1015
00:57:51.539 --> 00:57:52.280
It's all good.
1016
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:55.099
So I think all that is very exciting for me
1017
00:57:55.119 --> 00:57:58.460
because I think that's very authentic to who I am. So,
1018
00:57:58.500 --> 00:58:01.300
you know, for me to then also have a notepad
1019
00:58:01.320 --> 00:58:02.889
and for me to jot down notes and then to
1020
00:58:02.929 --> 00:58:06.309
share my notes with my viewers and my, you know,
1021
00:58:06.329 --> 00:58:09.409
people that pay attention to me about A, these are
1022
00:58:09.429 --> 00:58:11.750
the things I'm going to make applicable to my life,
1023
00:58:11.789 --> 00:58:14.230
and this is how I'm going to insert them. It's
1024
00:58:14.250 --> 00:58:16.969
really cool. Obviously, what I'm doing with ESPN every single
1025
00:58:17.010 --> 00:58:19.780
day on our show, Keyshawn, J. Will, and Max, which
1026
00:58:19.840 --> 00:58:21.679
is cool working with Max Kellerman and Keyshawn, have been
1027
00:58:21.739 --> 00:58:24.579
great for me. And then what I'm able to do
1028
00:58:24.619 --> 00:58:27.960
with some of the businesses I'm involved in. So I'm
1029
00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:30.889
really excited about the opportunity, man. Once again, I feel
1030
00:58:30.909 --> 00:58:33.829
like when you turn 30, it feels like things slow down.
1031
00:58:34.349 --> 00:58:36.409
but just turning 40 September 10th, I feel like things
1032
00:58:36.449 --> 00:58:39.230
have slowed down even more and, uh, looking forward to
1033
00:58:39.269 --> 00:58:41.070
see how that matrix takes me to a different place.
1034
00:58:41.800 --> 00:58:42.489
And it's so cool.
1035
00:58:42.559 --> 00:58:45.019
And I really appreciate like the care and thought you
1036
00:58:45.039 --> 00:58:46.460
put into this one today. And I just got to
1037
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:49.500
tell you, man, I, I would love to continue our
1038
00:58:49.559 --> 00:58:53.000
dialogue as, uh, as we both progress. Hopefully there's an
1039
00:58:53.019 --> 00:58:54.900
in-person meeting at some point here in the future. It'd be,
1040
00:58:54.920 --> 00:58:55.820
it'd be a lot of fun, man.
1041
00:58:56.440 --> 00:58:58.840
I would love that. Right. And congrats everything you're doing, man.
1042
00:58:58.860 --> 00:59:01.670
Keep blazing your path, bro. We need more people like
1043
00:59:01.710 --> 00:59:04.679
you that challenge the status quo and, think outside the box,
1044
00:59:04.699 --> 00:59:06.280
but also can put things into perspective.
1045
00:59:06.840 --> 00:59:08.389
Oh man, that means a lot. I really appreciate it.
1046
00:59:08.449 --> 00:59:09.010
Thanks so much, man.
1047
00:59:09.030 --> 00:59:10.360
All right, brother. All right.
1048
00:59:12.599 --> 00:59:14.360
I feel like you can really tell that J.
1049
00:59:14.380 --> 00:59:17.900
Will has spent a lot of time in reflection and
1050
00:59:18.099 --> 00:59:21.809
understanding who he is and the type of impact he
1051
00:59:21.849 --> 00:59:25.710
wants to have on others and the world as a whole.
1052
00:59:25.750 --> 00:59:29.659
And I really enjoy that. people like him. I really
1053
00:59:29.699 --> 00:59:35.030
enjoyed him and look forward to more conversations as we
1054
00:59:35.090 --> 00:59:37.730
both progress. In fact, I told him the next time
1055
00:59:37.769 --> 00:59:39.889
I'm in New York City, we're going to plan to
1056
00:59:39.909 --> 00:59:40.409
get together.
1057
00:59:40.429 --> 00:59:43.550
I hope you enjoyed that one as much as I did.
1058
00:59:44.449 --> 00:59:48.690
Looking at my notes, a few of them, the career
1059
00:59:48.710 --> 00:59:53.269
advice he shared at the end, appreciate your position while
1060
00:59:53.409 --> 00:59:59.110
planning your promotion. So be excellent at your current role, right?
1061
00:59:59.150 --> 01:00:01.309
Be so good they can't ignore you, as Cal Newport
1062
01:00:01.329 --> 01:00:05.320
might say or Steve Martin. But at the same time,
1063
01:00:05.380 --> 01:00:10.420
you can compartmentalize and think about what could potentially be next.
1064
01:00:10.440 --> 01:00:13.139
I think Jay does this really well if you look
1065
01:00:13.199 --> 01:00:16.860
at his career. And then when Coach K handed him
1066
01:00:16.980 --> 01:00:20.440
the rosary when he was lying in the hospital after
1067
01:00:20.480 --> 01:00:24.389
his motorcycle accident, what did that do? It gave him hope.
1068
01:00:25.119 --> 01:00:28.369
It gave him something to work towards. It was a
1069
01:00:28.530 --> 01:00:32.909
thoughtful gesture and can be something we do when trying
1070
01:00:32.949 --> 01:00:37.389
to help someone else through a challenging time. How can
1071
01:00:37.449 --> 01:00:40.590
we give somebody hope? How can we give them something
1072
01:00:40.690 --> 01:00:44.739
to look towards, to work for, so they get out
1073
01:00:44.860 --> 01:00:48.739
of their tough situation? And then his preparation process. As
1074
01:00:48.780 --> 01:00:53.079
he said, it never turns off. He's always working on
1075
01:00:53.159 --> 01:00:56.530
preparing himself for his job. And as Jay Billis said,
1076
01:00:56.590 --> 01:00:59.369
it becomes like the parachute where you don't want to
1077
01:00:59.429 --> 01:01:02.280
have to use it, but you know, it's there if
1078
01:01:02.360 --> 01:01:05.300
you need it, if you ever get stuck. And that's
1079
01:01:05.340 --> 01:01:07.199
why we prepare so much. It did remind me a
1080
01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:10.840
little bit of the Jim Collins conversation when, when discussing
1081
01:01:10.960 --> 01:01:14.119
why the people he worked with prepare so much so
1082
01:01:14.139 --> 01:01:16.840
that they can just let it flow in the moment.
1083
01:01:16.920 --> 01:01:19.780
I see when you watch him on TV, Jay's really
1084
01:01:19.800 --> 01:01:21.559
good at that. And once again, I want to say, um,
1085
01:01:22.289 --> 01:01:28.809
Thank you so much for continuing to spread the message
1086
01:01:28.989 --> 01:01:31.750
and telling a friend or two, hey, you should listen
1087
01:01:32.250 --> 01:01:34.610
to this episode of The Learning Leader Show with Jay Williams.
1088
01:01:35.010 --> 01:01:38.849
It'll help you become a more effective leader. And because
1089
01:01:38.869 --> 01:01:40.769
you continue to do that and because you continue to
1090
01:01:40.849 --> 01:01:43.969
write reviews and rate the show five stars on Apple Podcasts,
1091
01:01:44.389 --> 01:01:47.889
hopefully you'll You are giving me the opportunity to do
1092
01:01:47.909 --> 01:01:50.050
what I love on a daily basis. And for that,
1093
01:01:50.409 --> 01:01:54.380
I will forever be grateful. Thank you so, so much.
1094
01:01:54.420 --> 01:01:55.119
Talk to you soon.