Magic Leadership

• He can reach from the top to the bottom to inspire an entire team, and he`s done it and done it and done it. It`s not inspiring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It`s inspiring the seventh and eighth man

--Jud Heathcoate

• Whatever team you put Magic Johnson on, whatever its makeup, it will win.

-- Jim Murray 

• Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates.

-- Magic Johnson

Great leaders make great ambassadors, and you couldn't ask for a better ambassador for the game of basketball than Magic Johnson in the 1980s, when he led the Lakers to five NBA championships.

Perhaps more than anything, Magic's appointment as Co-Captain of the 1992 Dream Team, the greatest basketball team of all-time, signifies the respect and admiration he commanded from his peers. In the 1980s, he was the NBA's ambassador to the American public. In the 1992 Summer Olympics, he was the game's ambassador to the world.

How did Magic accomplish this? By leading in a consummately friendly, good guy fashion. His teammates didn't fear him, but rather, followed his example and learned from him. Magic Johnson taught you. He motivated you. He coached you. A true floor general, Magic could quickly get the vibe of his teammates and know how to optimize that vibe.

The true test of a great leader is whether he can create winning teams while working with a variety of skill levels and backgrounds.

Magic sure did -- in high school, his team won the Michigan state championship. In college, he took Michigan State to the National Title. He entered the NBA and promptly led the Lakers to the NBA Championship, winning an NBA Finals MVP in the process. He was a 21-year old rookie.

Through it all, Magic was a leader in every sense of the word.

 

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