On Sunday evening, May 12th Kawhi Leonard made the most famous shot in Toronto Raptors history. In an epic 7-game series with the Philadelphia 76ers with 10 lead changes and six ties in the decisive game, the following events took place as shown in the video below:
Simply incredible!!! In this ESPN article, several quotes were captured after the game giving an oral history to the final moments of Game 7. As I read the comments, I gleaned the following 12 Leadership Lessons From Kawhi Leonard’s Game-Winning Shot:
- Our Greatest Accomplishments Are Often Proceeded By Great Failure – Someone needs to be reminded of this lesson today. With 10.8 seconds remaining, Leonard missed a free throw. Jimmy Butler turned that miscue into a fast-break layup tying the score 90-90 with 4.2 seconds remaining. Leonard said, “I was disappointed missing that free throw. I was very mad.”
- Great Leaders Have Great Confidence – Leonard said, “I tried to race down and get the rebound. Probably should have sprinted back to give some help on that layup that Jimmy made. But after that, I was just like, whatever play he drew up, I’m gonna have to get to my spot and shoot it with confidence.”
- Successful Leaders Are Trusted With Important Decisions – Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said, “We run Kyle [Lowry] off there first as the first option. Then, Kawhi loops under there and gets it at the top and it’s his call from there what to do.”
- A Leader’s Greatest Weapon Is Their Memory – Leonard recounted, “We ran a similar play during the Magic series and I ended up just catch-and-shooting the ball. It was probably about three seconds so, I just remembered that moment, knowing I had time at least to pump fake and take a dribble.”
- Successful Leaders Remove Things From Their Lives – Successful leaders create space in their lives. Also, successful are defined more by what they say “No” to than what they say “Yes” to. 76ers player Ben Simmons was guarding Leonard on the inbound pass. Leonard, a wily veteran, bumped Simmons. This created space for him to catch the ball. Leonard said, “I knew I had some time to get some space rather than just catch and shoot the ball.”
- Successful Leaders Are Decisive – Notice as Leonard caught the ball he was already moving towards his right allowing him to get to his preferred spot on the floor for the decisive shot.
- Successful Leaders Put Others In Their Sweet Spots, The Areas Where They Can Have The Most Success – Leonard said, “I ended up finding a spot that I like … that I work on.”
- Successful Leaders Are Always Making Game-Day Adjustments – One of my favorite phrases comes from the military, “Everyone has a plan until the first shot is fired.” Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Kawhi Leonard said, “I knew I had to shoot it high. A couple of possessions before that I had the same kind of shot from 3 and it ended up coming short. I had to put it up even higher than that.”
- It Takes A Little Luck To Be A Successful Leader – Luck smells a lot like sweat. Luck smells a lot like preparation. Luck smells a lot like practice. But the 76ers worked hard and prepared as well. Job 1:21 says, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (ESV). The ball hit the rim four times before going in. Sometimes we just need things to fall our way.
- Successful Leaders Know How To Celebrate – As the video shown above, smart leaders work hard and then play hard. A leader who cannot celebrate is a leader not worth following.
- Failure Does Not Have To Be Final – It will be interesting to see how the young 76ers respond next year to this heartbreaking defeat, particularly Joel Embiid. Hopefully, they will use this disappointment to work harder, get better, and achieve greater results than they otherwise would have.
- What Made You Successful Today Will Not Make You Successful Tomorrow – Kawhi Leonard is a free agent at the end of the year. Rumors have him going to the Los Angeles Clippers or New York Knicks. I know the fans in Toronto hope he resigns assuring success in the 2019-2020 season.
What is a leadership lesson you learned from Kawhi Leonard’s shot?
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