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 Hard Work
3 Word Quote: “Mindset Always Matters”
1.
He always excelled at basketball.
In Philadelphia, he would go to summer pick-up games that were incredibly intense.
These games featured players who were the best of the best from the area - some were college all-Americans, and several were NBA players.
These weren't casual Sunday games at the park.
The games were exhausting, loud, and rough.
No player wanted to be outdone or humiliated; trash-talking and fights regularly occurred.
And one player who managed to get himself in these games 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.
But before all the awards, he was an eighteen-year-old rookie for the Los Angeles Lakers.
And in his rookie year in 1996, 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.
His play was disastrous.
It was game 5 of the NBA Western playoff series. The Utah Jazz led the Lakers 3 games to 1 in a best-of-7 series.
Bryant was ready to take over the game like he always had done since he was a teenager.
So in the final seconds, with the score tied, Kobe dribbled the ball, stopped, pulled up to take a game-winning shot…and promptly fired an airball.
The ball 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 three-point line, shot a three, and… again fired an airball.
Then with under a minute to go in overtime and his team now 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.
But Kobe had one final opportunity to redeem himself.
With only seconds left in overtime, he dribbled down the court and fired another three-point shot for the win.
He had just launched yet another airball.
The Lakers lost the game and were eliminated from the playoffs.
Kobe Bryant had just shot four airballs in under five minutes of play.
2.
Early in Microsoft's history, Bill Gates was 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.
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 have been.
Gates' radio had clearly been removed and was missing from the car.
Moritz hollered 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, in fact, had not been stolen.
Moritz listened as Gates told the reporter that he was the one who had actually ripped out the radio from his own car.
The journalist couldn't understand why Gates would do this and questioned him about why he would remove the his radio.
As the two drove, Gates explained that if his car had a radio, he would likely turn it on as he traveled to work.
And if he turned on his radio, Gates continued, he would listen.
And if he listened to the radio, he would not be thinking about how he could improve Microsoft's business or dominate his competitors.
Gates' drive time to work was said to be only 7 minutes.
3.
The flames were enormous.
The fire started quickly and raged on despite multiple fire departments arriving on the scene.
This was December 10th, 1914, in the early morning, and fires were not uncommon in the early 1900s.
The type of fire and the type of fire-fighting equipment used at the time allowed this fire to engulf and decimate ten buildings before it was finally put out.
But these buildings were particularly important - these ten buildings were inventor 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. It 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 buildings burn, 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 protested, distraught over the fire. 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 removing his car radio?
In a word, mindset.
All three had distinct ways of thinking of, working toward, and achieving their goals.
And it was their mindset - the way they thought- that set them apart from many others in their fields.
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 players went out to enjoy themselves or went home to start their off-season.
But when Kobe arrived back in Los Angeles at 1:00AM, he departed the plane, drove straight to a local high school in Pacific Palisades, and found someone to unlock a high school gymnasium.
He practiced jump shots all night, using that embarrassing playoff performance as motivation.
He didn't blame anyone; he didn't make excuses.
He simply began to work on his weaknesses. He became consumed with improving.
When asked a few months later by a reporter, what his off-season was like, he said he didn't have an off-season. He said he simply worked to get better during the off-season.
He told himself he would never have a night like that again.
That game changed how he thought about his practice, fitness, and approach to the game.
He didn't use his poor performance as a place to dwell; he used it as a time to excel.
And when Edison observed his life’s working burning, his positive mindset and confidence came out. Not even for a second did he dwell on what he lost.
The next day he got back to his work just as he said he would.
And when Bill Gates removed his own car radio, it ensured he could spend every waking moment thinking of how to make Microsoft better.
Many people in interviews have described Gates as someone who does not tolerate distractions.
And his car radio was a distraction to him.
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.
Gates was already obsessed and driven. He was clear in his mission.
And he would not waste even a 7-minute drive to work.
Like Edison, he was always thinking about his next move. Like Bryant, he was willing to put in the work.
But regardless of the job, how one thinks and regroups - especially after a setback - is crucial.
Their skillsets were world-class, but their mindsets catapulted these figures to success.
Mindsets always matter.
3 things before you go:
Listen: the best one-hit wonder song from the 1980s - no debate on this one! One critic said: “…irresistible guitar melody, danceable beat, heartfelt…”; sums it up nicely
Read: Smithsonian Magazine (“See Inside One of America’s Last Pencil Factories”): a concise article about the dying business of pencil making; still producing 72 million pencils a year; quick and entertaining about something you might not have ever thought about
Watch: Songs That Changed Music: video series; each episode details an important song in music history; usually about 30 minutes long; hosted by music producer Warren Huart; engaging host and entertaining information; this episode is on Stevie Wonder’s Superstition song