Good Saturday morning everyone. You may have noticed that recently, I brought on, a contributor to the show - Milton Espinoza. I asked him nicely to help me out and make this show a lot better. I did that because that is what Alex Rodriguez did. And if Alex can do it, so can I. A-Rod started a podcast. What he did, was he went to the best. He found the best podcaster out in the business, and he teamed up with that guy. He is sitting at that guy's feet. Alex is learning from him how to do a podcast. Alex went to this guy and said hey teach me how to podcast.
That is why I'm going to have to make Alex Rodriguez this week's Person of the Week. He is someone who you would think is really arrogant, and would think that he is the best. Instead, he displayed humility. He is a student of the game, or rather, he is a student of the podcasting world.
If you don't know who A-Rod is, he played baseball for many years for the New York Yankees. He was highly regarded as a awkward weird dude that nobody liked. He has now made a big turnaround. It has been fun to learn from the things that he's done and his approach to starting off new endeavors.
I’m gonna get right into Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant is a guy that was very similar to Alex Rodriguez. He had a very successful career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe Bryant played for them for many many years before he retired. Now he is starting a new endeavor. I came across an article with him and he is talking to Arianna Huffington. She runs the Huffington post website.
A reporter for the New York Times sat down with Arianna Huffington and Kobe Bryant The reporter asked Kobe Bryant how he goes about meeting someone like Arianna Huffington.
Kobe‘s response was wonderful. He said he’s known for sending out cold emails. He loves learning from people who take on giants and slay them. He wanted to know how Arianna did what she did and why. Arianmakes responded by saying that Kobe came to her house six months ago for tea. Right away they hit it off. Kobe said that it’s because no matter whtat industry you look at, and people who do phenomenal things, there’s a common thread to them. He’s always been curious about that common thread. That is the way he became a better basketball player.
Right there are he is saying that it’s not necessarily the specific craft you are undertaking. There is a way, an approach, a philosophy. I want to say growth mentality. He didn’t exactly say that, but he’s displaying humility. Again, this man was world champion several times over. Excuse me, he was an NBA champion. They don’t call it world champion in the NBA. He is the man, and you would expect him to be a little bit arrogant. Instead, what’s he doing? He is being humble. He is finding the person that is the best at what they do. He’s asking them for help. He wants to learn from them. They quote Kobe at the end of this article.
Kobe says he is interested in the details. If you watch him when he takes his jumper, you’ll notice that his leg is always extended. He says he had problems making that shot in the past. One day, he was watching the Discovery Channel and saw a cheetah hunting. He explains - when a cheetah runs its tail always gives it balance even if it’s cutting a sharp angle.
Kobe says that’s when the lightbulb went off. He said his leg could be the tail. He’s always looking for inspiration. He’s always either looking to learn. Hilary Swank is another person he talked to about how she masters her craft, and he’s even sitting watching the Discovery Channel nature program. A lot of people would watch a nature program. They sit and relax. They take it for what it’s worth. He’s taking it one step further.
