Kobe Bryant's Worst Game, Bill Gates' Car Radio Gets Stolen, And The Destruction of Thomas Edison's Invention Factory: How Disaster Can Lead To Innovation With The Right Mindset...And Work Ethic
The 3-Word Quote: ‘Mindset Always Matters’
*Originally posted on July 13, 2023.
1.
He always excelled at basketball.
In Philadelphia, he would attend intense summer pick-up basketball games. These games featured the best of the best from the area—some were college all-Americans, and several were NBA players.
These definitely weren't casual Sunday games at the park.
The games were exhausting, loud, rough, and intense.
No player wanted to be outdone or humiliated, and fights were a regular occurrence.
One player who managed to get himself into these games with college all-Americans and several NBA players was still in high school, attending Lower Merion High School.
He was just 15 years old.
Former NBA coach John Lucas witnessed many of these games. He said of the fifteen-year-old, "There was no question in my mind he was the best player." Other players in those pick-up games knew he would be a pro.
The young player, Kobe Bryant, turned professional at 18. He became a five-time NBA champion, is the fourth leading scorer in NBA history, was an 18-time all-star, and earned an NBA MVP award. He holds dozens of NBA records and won an Academy Award after his basketball career ended.
But before he won all the awards and started his assault on the basketball record books, he was an eighteen-year-old rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers.
And it was in 1996, his rookie year, he had a game so memorable that Kobe called it a "turning point" in his career.
It was indeed a career-changing game.
However, the 'turning point' was not for anything positive he did in the game.
It was game 5 of the NBA Western playoff series - The Utah Jazz were leading the Lakers 3 games to 1 in a best-of-7 series.
The score was close, but the Lakers were in trouble. Bryant was ready to take over the game like he always had done since he was a teenager.
In the final seconds, with the score tied, Kobe dribbled the ball, stopped, pulled up to take a shot…and promptly fired an airball that didn't even come close to the rim.
The game went to overtime.
Seconds into overtime, Kobe, still intent on controlling the game, pulled up again from behind the arc, shot a three, and… again fired an airball.
Then, with under a minute to go in overtime and his team down by three points, Kobe grabbed the ball and launched another three-point shot, hoping to tie the game…and again, he shot an airball.
However, with only a few seconds left in the overtime period, Kobe had a final opportunity to redeem himself.
He dribbled down the court, took another three-point shot for the win, and…launched yet another airball.
The Lakers lost the game and were eliminated from the playoffs.
And Kobe Bryant had just shot four airballs in under five minutes of play.
2.
Early in Microsoft's history, Bill Gates was being interviewed by a young journalist.
The journalist was profiling Gates for a national magazine and had flown to Seattle to shadow the founder.
Microsoft was already successful, Gates was already a multi-millionaire, and competitors were already invading Microsoft's territory.
The journalist, Michael Moritz, was wrapping up his stay in Seattle, and Gates offered him a lift to the airport.
Moritz was grateful and accepted the ride, and the two began to walk toward Gates' Mercedes for the trip to the airport.
But when the journalist arrived at the car a few steps ahead of Gates, he looked in the window, noticed something, and was immediately alarmed.
Moritz was staring at a large gaping hole in the center of the car's dashboard where the radio should be.
Gates' radio had clearly been removed and was missing from the car.
Moritz called Gates over and told him he was sorry, but it looked like Gates' car had been broken into, and someone had stolen the radio.
As the two got in the car, Microsoft's founder seemed unconcerned.
The radio had not been stolen.
Gates told Moritz that he was the one who had actually ripped out the radio from his car.
The journalist couldn't understand this action and questioned Gates why he would rip out the radio from his own car.
As the two drove, Gates explained that if his car had a radio, he would likely turn it on as he traveled to work.
If he turned on his radio, Gates continued, he would listen.
And if he listened to the radio, he would not be thinking about Microsoft and how he could conquer his competitors.
Gates' drive time was said to be 7 minutes.
3.
The flames were enormous.
The fire started quickly and raged on despite multiple fire departments on the scene after racing to the location.
This was December 10th, 1914, in the early morning hours.
The type of fire and equipment used at the time allowed the fire to engulf and decimate ten buildings before it was put out.
But these buildings were particularly important - these ten buildings were Thomas Edison's plant in West Orange, New Jersey.
These were the buildings where all Edison's employees worked, and all his ideas and experiments were conducted.
Edison later estimated the value of the damage at a million dollars at the time and destroyed multiple prototypes and years of research and records.
Edison stood there watching most of his life's work go up in flames.
While Edison watched his building burn to the ground, he asked his son to "go get your mother and all her friends. They'll never see a fire like this again.
Apparently, his son sadly protested, and Edison replied, "It's all right. We've just got rid of a lot of rubbish."
Edison commented to a reporter at the fire, "Although I'm over 67 years old, I'll start all over again tomorrow.
And he did.
The Takeaway:
So what does Edison's factory fire have to do with Kobe's air balls and Bill Gates' car radio?
In a word, mindset.
Kobe's disastrous game didn't become a 'turning point' in his career because of the game.
It was what he did after the game that was monumental.
That same night, after shooting four straight airballs, the other Lakers went out to enjoy themselves or went home to start their off-season.
But when Kobe arrived back in Los Angeles, he departed the plane, drove to a local high school in Pacific Palisades, and found someone to unlock the high school gymnasium for him.
He shot jump shots all night long.
He used that disastrous night as motivation.
He didn't blame anyone; he didn't make excuses.
He simply began to work on his weaknesses.
When a reporter asked him a few months later what his off-season was like, he said he didn't have an off-season. He went to the gym the night of his terrible game, and the next night, and the next night.
He was consumed with improving.
He didn't use his poor performance as a place to dwell; he used it as a time to excel.
He used the airballs as a launchpad, which helped him become one of the game's greats.
And when Bill Gates removed his own car radio, it ensured he could spend every waking moment thinking of how to make Microsoft excel.
Many people interviewed described Gates as someone who does not tolerate distractions.
His radio was a distraction. He had calculated the time he spent in his car to and from work and the time he spent in his car on the way to the airports for his frequent business trips.
Gates figured he spent several hours each week driving. So he removed his radio to free up several extra hours a week to think.
He would not waste even a 7-minute drive to work.
His attitude and mindset were different.
Like Edison, he was always thinking about his next move. Like Bryant, he was willing to put in the work.
Their skill sets were world-class, but their mindsets catapulted them to success.
3 things before you go:
listen: recently stumbled across The Red Clay Strays: this one (Wondering Why) sounds like Chris Stapleton
listen: one more from The Red Clay Strays; their current one: Wanna Be Loved; lead singer was described as combination of Elvis and Johnny Cash
Look: great nature photography celebrating World Elephant Day (which was yesterday)
Have a great next 10 days.
-Jeff