How Winners Lead: Lessons from Michael Jordan

“I pulled people along when they didn’t want to be pulled. I challenged people when they didn’t want to be challenged, and I earned that right because my teammates who came after me didn’t endure all the things I endured.

Once you joined the team, you lived at a certain standard that I played the game, and I wasn’t gonna take anything less.

Now if that meant I had to go in there and get in your ass a little bit, then I did that. You ask all my teammates, “The one thing about Michael Jordan was he never asked me to do something that he didn’t do.”

When people see this, they’re gonna say, “Well, he wasn’t really a nice guy, he may have been a tyrant.” Well, that’s you. Because you never won anything.

I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well. Look, I don’t have to do this, I’m only doing it because it is who I am. That’s how I played the game. That was my mentality. If you don’t wanna play that way, don’t play that way.”
⁃ Michael Jordan from the documentary on his life and career, “The Last Dance”

Let’s use Michael’s words to clarify two things:

What Leaders Do

• They pull people along — even when those people resist.
• They challenge others — because they’ve already endured the challenge themselves.
• They raise the standard — and expect others to meet it.
• They go first — never asking someone to do what they won’t.
• They care enough to confront — even if it makes them unpopular.

What Winners Do

• They accept the cost of greatness.
• They bring others with them — but don’t slow down for comfort.
• They lead by example — not by exception.

Jordan puts it plainly: If you don’t want to play that way, don’t.
But don’t expect to lead.
And don’t expect to win.

Be like Mike.

Intersecting Life, Luxury and Leadership,
Chris Adams

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