Do you feel like there’s always been something different about Phil Jackson? I mean, first off, he won 11 NBA championships. More than anyone else! Perhaps that’s why his journey towards a unique practice of leadership is all the more remarkable. In this book he shares how he grew up under deeply religious preachers (“dad preached in the mornings, mom preached at nights”) and then how, as an NBA player, he began his own seeking quest. This is a graceful, peaceful, open-hearted book sharing how he discovered and developed principles from zen philosophy, the Lakota Sioux, and his own unique stirring-together-of-other-things which helped him to create deep egalitarianism and connection within his teams. “More than anything else, what allowed the Bulls to sustain a high level of excellence was the players’ compassion for each other,” he writes. He tells the story of how he had the team circle around Scottie Pippen after he came back after his father died and shower him with love, how he taught players to meditate to quiet their judging minds, and how he created practices to avoid media following the team so they could create their own bubble. All was in service of creating an unbeatable team mind. A unique lens on leadership.

This is exactly what you would expect. Not a book focused on spirituality or basketball per se but on the interaction of the two. It does not really go into great depths about either his spiritual beliefs or his basketball career (as a player or a coach) but it does give a different insight compared to his later books. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very easy to read.

Written back in '95, this book actually describe Phil's life and basketball career up to the middle of his second three-peat with the bulls. I lived in Chicago back then, so I really enjoyed being transposed back to that era once again.

!!!Spoiler alert!!!
Phil Jackson is a genius.

It is so interesting for me to reflect back on this book now, reading it so many years ago, and realizing wtf Phil Jackson was actually talking about.

When I first read this at age 19, never would I have imagined how meditation and leading a life of mindful behavior could have such profound affects on anyone, let alone pro athletes.

But now that I, too, practice meditation and other spiritual techniques, I'm seeing it all come full circle.