I don’t know how many of you follow basketball, but I’m going to relate this week’s leadership-related post to Jeremy Lin, who has been the recent topic of discussion in the sports world. For everyone who’s been following Linsanity, I apologize for publishing another post about it.
If you haven’t heard of Jeremy Lin, he is a basketball player for the New York Knicks. A Harvard graduate, Jeremy Lin played for the Golden State Warriors for the 2010-2011 year. For the 2011-2012 year, Lin was waived from the Golden State Warriors and well as the Houston Rockets. He had a contract with the New York Knicks, but was days to being cut from the team.
However, because the Knicks were playing poorly and had most of their starting players out due to injuries or family emergencies, Lin was given a chance to play. He took this opportunity to make his coaches and teammates notice him, which helped in leading the Knicks to seven straight wins.
I am by no means a basketball buff – not even a sports buff, really. But it is interesting to see how Jeremy Lin handles his newfound fame, how he somehow seemingly remains unaffected and humble through it all, and how we can all learn some leadership lessons from him. Here is an article that relates to this topic.
For the past couple weeks, we have scoured the topic of what leadership is, what makes a good leader, and what skills and abilities leaders possess. This article highlights Jeremy Lin’s skills as a leader. He is by no means the best basketball player to walk to earth, but it is how he carries himself on and off the court that sets him apart from the others.
Jessica,
What a great (and relevant) leadership post – Jeremy Lin has certainly been thrust into the spotlight recently and conducted himself in a very admirable manner.
I watched a sideline interview during the Knicks game yesterday with Lin’s former high school coach. The reporter mentioned that Lin characterized himself as a selfish player back in high school, prior to his senior year. The coach was surprised by that characterization and said that Lin was very critical of himself, but that introspective nature has contributed to his personal and professional development.
Along those lines, I think Lin is an extremely humble player. He works hard and has handled himself in a very mature manner.
What a great example of how leaders can be created and develop out of the spotlightthat others place upon them.
Jessica
I think we so often get carried away with characterizing leaders as being the “most vocal” or having the “biggest personalities” on the team. Lin is neither of these. Having watch him play over the last couple of weeks, it is easy to see that Lin’s style of leadership comes from leading by example. By playing hard every time he goes out on the floor and diving for loose balls and giving 110%, he inspires everybody else around him to do the same. Leadership doesn’t always have to come from the loudest in the group, it very often takes somebody quietly playing the right way that inspires everyone else to follow his or her lead.
Justin