Lebron James
Patience
Lebron James also demonstrates the leadership quality of having patience when he stated "my father used to tell me, when you fill your mind with meaningful knowledge each day, it will continue to grow stronger. When you put it to the test it grows wiser". This basically means that Lebron James has put so much patience in his game that he has the ability to get rid of external pressure, and does not let any problems affect his mindset. This method of preperation is a major reason for why lebron is so successful on the court. Not everyone has the ability to not let any problems affect their mindset, and this is a challenge many players in the NBA face. Not everyone has the patience to develop these preparation methods which is why many players face difficulties when put in tough situations. This really proves that patience on the court is just as important as off the court. Being patient with yourself is really what helps you tackle tough challlenges, for example when a problem is given to you, it takes a patient mindset to not get angry and give up. Personally I feel that being patient with your game allows you to personally be successful.
This shows that Lebron James is an effective leader because as a leader you should always have a patient mindset. This is important because when tackling problems you are more capable of solving it than others. Many people who are not patient may see a problem and just give up right away without even trying. They basically just want others to teach instead of attempting to solve the puzzle themselves. This can relate to setting goals as well, it may take longer than expected to maybe reach a goal, but as a leader you should understand you will not be able to achieve it immediately but instead you will face a series of challenges. If we connect this back to Lebron it shows how creative and commanding he actually is when a problem is put upon him. From the evidence it really showed that Lebron really treasures his mindset for his vision of not being affected by problems. He also states through the experiences you go through you brain grows wiser which allows you to become an effective leader. Now we all know it is not easy to be patient, many people seek for immediate results, so what we really need to try to do is too look up to leaders like Lebron James and look at the growth they have gone through and the different strategies they use.
In the NBA today the league is highly competitive and in order to be successful you need to have the mindset where you know that results are not supposed to come right away and instead you need to be patient with your grind. This leadership trait of patience is exactly what Lebron James possesses. Many people believe that Lebron James is successful on the court due to to his size and athleticism, but instead he believes it is not only that but instead our mind plays a major role as well. Lebron James believes that if you have a much more developed mind which is gained through patience you actually have a higher competitive advantage compared to others. The pressure to be able to deliver during crucial moments can be overwhelming, and I can relate to this as well but Lebron James has developed so much as a player that he is unfazed by any sort of pressure. The main key behind this is Lebron James mindset which is that he's going to continue to train and work hard without stopping. Many people just decide to give up when they don’t see immediate results, but Lebron knows that this is going to help him long term as he moves on in his career. He is patient with his teammates as well, whenever they make a mistake as a leader he knows that to be effective you should not go off on your teammates but instead to motivate them to get better and not make the same mistake. We actually saw this in Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals where the teammate of Lebron actually forgot the score in a crucial moment to win the game. They actually ended up losing and when reporters later asked Lebron how he felt about the situation he just told them that his teammate should “get better” and that “I will never give up on my teammates”. A quote by Lebron James that relates to this is that “I like criticism, it makes me stronger”. This relates to Lebron because in the 2018 NBA Playoffs him and his team have been criticised for their success in the playoffs.
This shows that Lebron James is an effective leader because as a leader you should be able to have the mindset where you are not always seeking for immediate results but instead you are working for them. As a leader for example when you are given a problem to solve you are not usually going to come up with a effective solution right away, but instead you are to analyze the problem and work through a solution. The only way you can effectively do this is by having patience. It’s crazy who we can relate this kind of a situation to a sport as well, since we all know we face a series of problems as a player as well. For example when you are playing basketball you have to analyze and figure out what play the opposing team is using in order to effectively guard them. There has been several occasions where Lebron James has pointed out mistakes in the plays for opposing teams and actually has told them how to improve on them as well. This shows the amount of patience and dedication Lebron James puts in when analyzing the game on and off the court. As a leader the quality of having patience is also key because many of your followers may not have the same skills as you or may not be as capable to reach your expectations, but this leadership trait allows you to motivate them to get better instead of demanding for immediate results. This is important because as a leader it causes your followers to respect you more since they know you care for them and want them to achieve their full potential as well.
A connection I can make to another pieve of text is actually to a book I read in this course called "Enders Game". The main character in the book Enders Game was a young boy named Ender Wiggins and I feel that he went through similar experiences as Lebron James when demonstrating the leadership quality of patience. So first of all Ender and Lebron hare the same vision of being patient with their training and wanting to see their friends/teammates succeed. For example in Enders Game Ender would practice daily by going through simulations and games. No matter how many people praised his skills he would still have the need to improve and get better, even if he was more skilled than everyone. He knew that he had to put in time during training and that listening to other people would not get him any results. This relates to Lebron James because he is considered one of the greatest basketball players ever, but he still puts in that time and dedication to improve, even though he has nothing to prove being a 4x NBA MVP, and 3x NBA Champion he still puts in work every single day. I feel like these 2 characters were trying to put out a similar message which is that no matter how skilled or successful you are, you should always continue to put time into improving and be patient since good things do not come with immediate results so you should always remain patient.
Inclusive
Lebron James also demonstrates the leadership quality of being inclusive during several press conferences where he states "I think team first" and he further on extends to explain how that does not not only help him succeed but instead helps his whole team succeed. We all know that Lebron James is a team first player which basically means he looks at the happiness and success of his team over everything else. Lebron James focuses so much on his team that during his free time he actually analyzes film for his teammates and looks for where they like the ball best passed and also their individual playing style. I don't think any player in the NBA actually takes their time to study film on their teammates, and this just goes to show why he is one of the greatest players in the world and such an effective leader. Many people who actually get the chance to play on his team say it is a blessing because of all the different opportunities he gives his teammates to get better. This shows why Lebron has the leadership trait of being inclusive, which is including everyone and treating them as a whole.
This shows that Lebron James is an effective leader because as a leader you should be a people first person meaning you should care specifically about the well being of your followers. The only way you are successful is if you motivate your own followers to be successful. As a leader you should always try your hardest to benefit your followers, that might be by creating a plan, or solving different problems you see affect your followers. This is exactly what Lebron James does because he never loses faith in his teammates and thrives to get them better. Even if they aren't taking initiative he is always going to try his best to get them better. We see many players who have played along side Lebron become superstars. For example Kyrie Irving who played along Lebron for around 2 years actually developed his game so much because of Lebron that he became a all star player. This is exactly what leaders should do though they should inspire all their followers to reach their full potential no matter how hard it is. Personally when I play sports with people who I know are always going to motivate me to get better I always feel comfortable because I know that there is a leader who is going to make the whole team successful. If we compare this to corrupt leaders they actually do the exact opposite as they do not care about the well being of their followers but instead care about how they can benefit their own life first. This is why being inclusive is such an important leadership quality.
This year in the 2018 NBA Finals Lebron James was able to doubt everyone wrong and made it to the NBA Finals. He had no other all star players but what he did have was the leadership quality of being inclusive and being able to involve all his teammates to reach their full potential. As we all know Lebron James is considered one of the greatest athletes in the world, even through his skill set he still decides to involve all his teammates and thrive to see them succeed. During the regular season this year the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to make a big change for their roster and traded their all star player in Isaiah Thomas. Many people doubted this trade but no one was aware of what Lebron James was able to do with the roster he was given. The roster was not special and was filled with veterans and everyone doubted it but even through this Lebron James saw a vision on how he can get everyone working together for their team to win. This was all planned by the front office and Lebron as it is very important to have veterans because they have playoff experience and they know how to react in late game situations. Now when you see Lebron James putting up large amount of points such as 51 points in game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals you should also look at the team high 8 assists as well.There is a famous quote by Lebron that goes by "you have to accept failure to get better" and this really relates to the situation we are witnessing in the NBA Finals because in the regular season the Cavs were seen as a terrible team that will not make it past the 1st round, but Lebron saw this sign of failure as inspiration and the whole team improved to develop a strong core that was actually able to make it to the finals. Lebron James being such a skilled player inspired the rest of his teammates to play their role and succeed in their individual asset. Since they knew Lebron James would always find a way for them to score they had to keep working hard on the court as well.
This leadership quality of being inclusive shows that Lebron James is an effective leader because as a leader you should be able to include all your followers and help them succeed as well. As a leader having a vision in where you wanna see your followers succeed is a main key for why people would want to support you. We see this in Lebron James throughout the whole playoffs he single handedly acted as a leader and led his team to the finals. Personally he really earned my respect as a leader when he was able to defeat favourite team which were the Toronto Raptors. If you compare these 2 teams the Raptors have way more all stars and skilled players than Cleveland but what they were lacking in was a leader that can include all the players on the court. Throughout the whole series between these 2 teams Lebron James was able to analyze the courts and make mesmerizing players for his teammates. This really proved how Lebron James is a team-minded player. The rest of the players on the Cleveland Cavaliers saw how skilled Lebron James was that they played their individual role since they knew Lebron was going to find them. Lebron James left such a big mark on the Raptors that after the series many people called the Team the “Lebronto Raptors” which I found somewhat funny and annoying. But even though no matter how much you hate him you still have to respect his character his leadership quality of being inclusive since many people in the NBA do not thrive through this mindset.
A connection I can make to another text is to Ender Wiggins who is the main character in the book Enders Game. Both Ender and Lebron demonstrate the leadership quality of being inclusive similarly. For example from my evidence I stated how Lebron has a vision for how he always want to see his teammates doing well and succeeding, he does this by motivating them and pushing them to reach their full potential. This connects to Ender Wiggins because he also has a vision to see his friends improve and have the same success as him. For example when Ender was ranked up to the Salamander Army he took the decision to train along side his launchies so he can help improve himself, but he did this on purpose because during the training he would give his friends in the launchies different tips and techniques on how to get better and be effective in the battle school. I feel that having the leadership quality of being inclusive and wanting everyone around you to get better is very important as it shows your selfishness as a leader. Many corrupt leaders we see around the world only care about themselves and forget to even think about the well being of their citizens.
In a Book...
