Are winners arseholes? I feel this is a fair question but is it true. I am going to use the hottest topic in sports at the moment to explore this further.
Right, Michael Jordan is the biggest and baddest bully in the world. All because of his determination to win and get the best out of his team mates. There’s articles at all levels. From blogs to national/international media reporting on The Last Dance documentary currently on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it then you are missing out on the greatest sports documentary of all time. Not an opinion, fact!
The Last Dance is about the final year of the second time the Chicago Bulls won the championship 3 times in a row with Michael Jordan being the main man. Threepeat. It flashes back throughout Jordan’s career leading up to the 1998 play off finals. I won’t go into anymore details about the documentary as whole, just watch it. But one of the main takeaways from the documentary is Michael Jordan’s mindset.
Talking about mindset is extremely popular in sports at the moment. We can debate all day about what makes a positive mindset for athletes to have. That’s great, but I want to focus on winners. That winning mentality. I was deeply intrigued by the backlash to Jordan’s behaviour to his team mates (calling them out, putting pressure on them, demanding more and often using inflammatory language). We also, have to take into context the era this was and the acceptability of this. All my sporting icons that I looked up to had that ability to lift their team mates up to their level. They never went down to their level, if they did, they wouldn’t be an icon.
I purchased Tim Grover‘s book Relentless. Tim Grover was Michael Jordan’s strength and conditioning coach and worked with a host of hall of fame athletes across multiple sports. The book provided a key insight into this elite winning mentality. What people see as bullying winners see as setting standards and if you can’t lift your standard to theirs then its going to be hard for you to be around them. Tim Grover speaks of coolers, closers and cleaners. Different levels of mentality. A cooler will do what is asked of them, nothing more, nothing less; a closer will perform well, can finish deals/games and craves adulation; a cleaner raises their own standard and is never satisfied, they always want more. This is were we dip back to the bullying debate. Michael Jordan, like all other top level elite athletes always want more. They are above being highly driven, have high standards and take no shit. This attitude can be seen as aggressive which is often seen as a negative trait these days. They are comfortable getting up in your ass (Jordan’s own words) to get the best out of you. The motivation is completely different to a bully. A bully wants you to feel like shit and for them to look great, when realistically they are the biggest dickheads about. A cleaner’s motivation can push boundaries but their motivation comes from a whole different place. They want you to succeed, but in the same instance they won’t tolerate lack of effort, dedication and so on.
People will say, ‘it doesn’t give them an excuse to be an arsehole’. And sometimes in the documentary Jordan can teeter on being an arsehole. However, look at how his team mates remember him. They are all thankful for how he was and what he gave to them on and off the court.
That’s just a very basic insight into winning mentality. People like to think that they have it. They think they will do whatever it takes to win at all costs. But most of those are wrong. You don’t have it yet. How do I know? Because I had it and I lost it. I’m working hard to get it back. And I have an article that will give you the first step in developing this mindset.
For those that do have it, don’t lose it. Keep that attitude, that mindset. Keep raising standards, just don’t be a total dick.
Bastards of Iron 
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