Slam-Dunk Success

Introduction

BYRON SCOTT

I love basketball. I was out on the court shooting every day from the time I was physically able to pick up a ball. When I was twelve years old my dad asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I immediately said I wanted to be a professional basketball player.

"That's great, that's great," he said. "But what if you don't make it?"

"I'm going to make it."

He laughed in my face. My mom was standing right there and started yelling at me about school.

"Oh, but you gotta keep going to school, you gotta get your education, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta…"

There were a lot of you gottas before I could turn pro, and I heard all that, but as a twelve-year-old the only thing I could focus on was that I gotta be great.

From that day on, I worked every day and did everything I could to become the best basketball player that I could be. I practiced hard and I loved it. I pushed myself to be the best version of me both on and off the court. I gave everything to basketball.

Through high school in Los Angeles and college at Arizona State University, all I thought about was the NBA. "You got a chance" was what everyone would tell me. I started believing it. If there was a party that got in the way of what I was trying to achieve, then I wouldn't go. I wouldn't drink. I wouldn't smoke. I was determined and focused, and nothing was going to stand in my way. It was hard work, but when I finally did make it to the NBA, I realized that that was just the beginning.

CHARLIE NORRIS

I never had a long-term plan as a kid to become a CEO. Even in college at the University of Rochester I majored first in psychology and then in history. Business really crept into my mind as a career direction only when I was in graduate school at Northeastern University. I wasn't even sure I wanted to get an MBA, but I'm glad I did.

My whole life, though, I was interested in people. Even as a kid I wanted to know everything about the people around me, and I wanted them to know I was a hard worker. When I was shoveling snow, I made sure everyone in the neighborhood thought of me as the kid who would shovel snow.

As a teenager I bagged groceries, and I always talked to the customers. I found their lives fascinating, and in the back of my mind I always felt that they would think about me if there were other job opportunities in the community. I was driven by the thought of moving from bagging groceries to running the register, because I always wanted to try something different. I always wanted more responsibility.

My dad worked very hard and he worked very intelligently. I saw that and became a person who just enjoyed hitting a goal. I did whatever it took to get there.

In a co-op program at Northeastern I realized how I could apply what I was learning in school to the workplace. It made me realize that the business world didn't stop at the checkout line. There was room to grow from salesman to manager and CEO. The sky was the limit, and I wanted to shoot for the stars. I liked working hard. There was a satisfaction to that. I wanted to be the best at whatever it was I was doing, and if that led me to being a CEO, then I would find a way to be the best at that.

BYRON SCOTT

In fourteen seasons in the NBA, I won three championships playing alongside the great Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, and the Showtime Lakers—a nickname we earned from our fast-paced, flashy style of play. Day in and day out Coach Pat Riley pushed me to be my best, and in every season my best was needed in different ways. In one of those years I was the team's leading scorer. In other years I was called on to be more of a defensive specialist. When I returned to the Lakers for one final season, I was more of a coach on the court, as young players like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were now the stars of the show.

Being a leader not only means doing whatever it takes to win, it also means making everyone around you better. Winning a championship takes all fifteen guys playing their best basketball. When I transitioned to coaching I focused on whatever was needed to turn each of those fifteen guys into the best version of themselves.

When I was a coach with the New Jersey Nets, we went to the NBA Finals twice. In New Orleans I won Coach of the Year with Chris Paul and the Hornets as we turned a once-mediocre team into a top contender in the Western Conference. In both cases I helped to mold young stars, squeezed a little extra out of aging veterans, and learned what made each player tick. It led to a lot of winning.

There were mistakes along the way. At times I was too tough. At times I was too stubborn. Other times maybe I was a bit too trusting. It led to losing—in small doses in New Jersey and New Orleans, and larger ones in Cleveland and Los Angeles.

Through it all I learned a lot about myself, including what it takes to be a leader in nearly any circumstance and how to push the right buttons to find greatness in every player. Mostly, though, I learned that I'd never stop learning.

CHARLIE NORRIS

I climbed the ranks as an executive, starting with the Scott Paper Company, where I worked as a sales rep while I was still in school. There I saw the value in marketing, but I also learned how to form business relationships. Negotiating by way of understanding people's wants and needs was a skill that I would use for the rest of my life.

I knew the only way to expand my horizons and meet all types of people was to explore the world. I took a job as a marketing manager at Rank Hovis McDougall in the UK and then became a project leader for Nestlé, a job that took me around the globe. I learned how different cultures interacted, conducted business everywhere from local markets to corporate headquarters, and put my foot in my mouth a number of times.

Growing as a leader means screwing up and learning from your mistakes. I did plenty of that, and by the time I was president of Deer Park Spring Water I had a better grasp of how to motivate people to strive for greatness.

There were a lot of great business wins over the years. I bought Deer Park for $3.5 million and sold it for over $20 million in twenty months. At McKesson Water we went from $220 million to over $400 million in sales, and sold the water division to Danone for $1.1 billion ten years later. Twenty months after partnering with a private equity firm to pay $12 million for Day Runner, we sold it for $45 million.

There were also failures and missteps, but the lessons learned from the good and the bad all led me to Freshpet, where I'm now chairman of the board of a company that I truly believe will reshape the pet food industry. The opportunity to be chairman of a publicly traded company was a new one for me, and even at my age, I'm still learning.

BYRON SCOTT

When I go to the gym, I'm there to exercise. It's been part of my routine nearly my whole life. Staying in shape is important to me not only on a personal level but also as a coach. I want to be on the court with the guys so they know I'm one of them—an older version, but one of them nonetheless.

At the Lakers' facility I talked to everyone. I enjoyed it and I learned from them. Most importantly, they are all part of the team, and each Lakers employee plays a role in the team's success. At Equinox I'm on my own time, but as a leader I feel I should always be trying to better myself. Working out is part of that, but being part of the community, meeting new people, and creating new partnerships are also key to growing as a leader.

When I was introduced to Charlie, I liked him right away, but I had no idea where the friendship would go. He wanted to work out and valued his time at the gym in the same way that I did mine. When we starting working out together I saw how competitive he was—a characteristic I see all the time now when we play backgammon and boules (the French form of bocce) and even have the occasional shooting contest.

The friendship could have stopped there. That's what happens with most people. There's the surface-level friendship that develops where you become gym buddies or guys who go drinking together or whatever the case may be. What is important for all relationships (and what we want you to learn in this book) is that when you take relationships to a deeper level, you find more opportunities below the surface.

Charlie and I don't look alike, we don't have similar backgrounds, we're not even close in age, but we think almost exactly alike. He's my brother from another mother, and when I tell people about us they don't get it. But when they see us, they can feel our vibe. He's made me a better coach, a better businessman, and an all-around better person.

CHARLIE NORRIS

I feel the same way about my relationship with Byron. He made me better at my job by allowing me to observe how he does his job and by talking with me about both life and work situations. He's also made me a better backgammon and cards player—or at least I feel as if I'm better when I win.

When I met Byron, I was intrigued. Having grown up in Boston, I had been a Lakers hater all my life, but he was such a presence in the gym. Being a hometown hero and a person of his stature, Byron was a guy everyone at Equinox wanted to know. When I saw his ability to smile, shake hands, and have everyone in the room like him without its interrupting his workout, I knew he possessed qualities that I admired.

I didn't know what to expect when we first met. I had no idea what would come from it. I didn't even know if he really liked me or not. But once we started talking, we saw that despite our differences, we share a similar set of values and rules for success.

I noticed early on how cerebral Byron is. He analyzes situations, thinks about everything he says before he says it, and always seems to have a plan for himself and for the team. As a team-first guy myself, I usually had similar plans, so I knew pretty early we were going to do great things together.

Now we still push each other at the gym and crack jokes at each other's expense while doing it, but we also talk business strategy and ways we can work together to better each other's career. Running a basketball team and sitting on the board of a publicly traded company, surprisingly, have many similarities. Once we discovered that our collective set of rules for success in life were ultimately universal, we realized our potential to grow as leaders together was endless.

BYRON SCOTT

There was a time in my last season with the Lakers that I decided to bench Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell. They weren't playing well, and they needed to earn their minutes back. I got beaten up in the media and by some in management who thought I was too old school. I just wanted the guys to play better.

One day I was with Charlie, who sat in on practices and on film sessions, so he'd seen what I was dealing with. We were on the elliptical machines at Equinox, and I was talking to him about connecting with these young guys. I was trying to communicate with them and they just weren't getting it.

"I'm just trying to figure out a way that they can really get it," I said.

"Why don't you put it in question form to them?" he asked. "Ask them, 'What's blocking you from being great?' and see how they respond."

I just smiled. I liked where this was going, and because I knew Charlie so well I knew exactly what he was going to say next.

"After they answer," he said, "ask them, 'How can I help you get there?'"

So I went to each of those players and did just that. I gave them time to think about it too. Julius Randle's answer was phenomenal. He said he was blocking himself and pointed out the mistakes he was making. Then, when I asked how I could help, he said, "Coach, hold me accountable." I jumped up and gave him a big hug.

But all the young guys took to the exercise, and it helped them grow. It opened their minds up to thinking about what they need to do to be successful, and it will stay with them their entire careers. Five years from now, if they are struggling at some point in their season, they'll ask themselves, "What's blocking me?"

I was looking for a new way to connect with them and for a new perspective on it, so I went to Charlie, who helped me get to the hearts and minds of these kids. If that's old school, then I'm old school and I'm proud of it.

Charlie and I have similar leadership models. His work in the business world isn't about short-term victories; it's focused on long-term championships. One or two bad financial years to ultimately turn a company into something worth ten times its original value is worth it, especially if the employees become better at what they do along the way.

It's what we do, and it's what you should do too. That's why this book is necessary. It brings together our two very different worlds and shows that the concepts behind solid leadership are the same in any arena. Life isn't about small victories, it's about figuring out what's blocking you from greatness and finding a way to be a champion. This book is our way of asking, "How can we help?"

CHARLIE NORRIS

Byron has truly always cared about his players and wanted them to be successful. He knows which of them can handle his really getting on them, and which need a hug sometimes. He puts them first and thinks about their long-term success and how it helps the team.

Leadership isn't about what's best for right now. It's not even about what's best for the leader. It's about doing the right thing for the team and making sure the future remains bright for everyone involved. That's what has made Byron a success.

That winning mentality has translated to success off the court as well. Just as with the players, Byron has a way with business leaders. He'll come with me to meetings and wow investors with his charm and knowledge of our industry.

He's a huge asset to have in business, and it's worked in both our favors, as he's invested in a number of the projects I'm working on. Yes, we have fun going to dinners, traveling, and playing all sorts of games for high stakes—sometimes as much as five dollars changes hands at a time—but at my age it's nice to have a new person around who helps me to be a better leader as well.

This book isn't about making new friends. We are using the foundation of our friendship to show you how two people from different worlds can have the same leadership qualities. If you want to be an NBA champion, an all-star in the boardroom, or anything in between, you will likely live by these same core values. Our joint knowledge proves that no matter what your profession, the ball is always in your court when it comes to leadership.

There will always be an obstacle between you and success, whether it's the need to motivate others, negotiate, build a winning organization, or improve your own personal leadership skills, but there's always a path to victory. Even in failure there is victory, and both Byron and I have experienced that and later found success because of it.

Leadership is a 24-7 quality. You should never turn it off. To be an effective leader you have to be an effective listener, treat people with respect, and find learning opportunities within every experience at the workplace and everywhere else life takes you.

As you read this book about what was blocking us and how we dealt with it, think about what's blocking you. Hop on the metaphorical elliptical with us, and let's figure it out together.