Habits and Hustle - Episode 21: Jerry West – NBA legend, Greatest NBA Executive of All Time – Competitive Mindset and Dreaming

Episode Date: July 23, 2019

The list for Jerry West goes on and on. He’s literally NBA Logo. He’s undeniably the greatest NBA Executive of all time. The Laker legend is responsible for trading for Kobe Bryant, signing Shaquille O’Neal, he’s was a big part of assembling the Golden State Warriors Dynasty, and most recently he worked his magic again by trading for superstar Paul George and signing Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to the LA Clippers. In this episode, Jerry opens up about his tough childhood and the struggles he encountered growing up in rural West Virginia, how he found basketball and even his superstitions. We talk about the importance of a competitive mindset and the power of being a dreamer. The Youtube Link to this Episode ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Our guest is Jerry West. Yes, Mr. Clutch himself. Jerry played on the LA Lakers for 14 years and is one of the highest scoring players of all time. He is also probably the most successful executive after his basketball career. Jerry opens up about his childhood and the struggles he encountered growing up, how we found basketball and even his superstitions. You definitely don't want to miss this one.

So stay tuned and find out how the Jerry West used his attitude and habits to achieve all of his successes. So today's podcast is one for the books in my opinion, and probably a lot of other people's opinions, because we have Jerry West on, who really does represent the statement, the man, the myth, the legend, because you really do transcend that.

You are someone who's had success, and virtually seems like everything you've done. And I think what you were saying before we even started rolling was that's not even like, you don't define yourself by basketball. That's just what people always wanna talk about. So I guess it's a good place to start. Like who is Jerry West?

And what drives you, what drives him, you to be so good in virtually everything that you touch. Well, you know, that's a really interesting question. And I think it all started back in my childhood. I think many times you go up in an environment that's less than desirable, things that you would want in a family, probably didn't exist in my family.

And I think it changes your perspective on things, because at that point in time, I was just trying to survive. My family is trying to survive. And I think the negativity issue in life as a child certainly scars you. You can go two ways. You can either try to choose a path and that's pleasing for you. More importantly, to have these dreams that you don't dare tell anyone because growing up in a small place at that point in

time someone will laugh at you. But that's the only thing I, when I look back to my life of any success I've had in my life, it was really because I was a dreamer when I was a little boy. I was a complete loner. None of the kids going up in this little smaller community like to do anything I like. I loved the outdoors, I loved to go into mountains

by myself, wondering what I love the outdoors. I love to go into mountains by myself. Wondering what I was going to see. Every time I would go, I would always get up to the top of the mountain. And it's probably a lesson I've learned for life. Sometimes you get to top the mountain and you see the very same thing that you saw when you're climbing up the mountain. And a lot of people think by getting to the top of the mountain, climbing the top of peak, that's very rewarding. Sometimes the view up there is not so good. Right. And I think people have a real misconception of what's important in people's lives.

And what's been important to me in my life is that, as I say, I might dreams where something I was able to live. You know, I picked up a basketball when I was 10, 9, 10 years old and just out by myself, picked it up and, you know, propelling it up between your legs like when you're a little kid and you couldn't get it up there once strong enough. All the baskets were 10 feet. But I know this sound corny, very rarely did I play on a court that was anything other than dirt.

And if it be rainy or muddy for some reason, this lured this game, this crazy ball that I picked up changed my life forever and I was so glad that You know I have people and I'll never forget probably one of the coolest things that I think I've ever heard And particularly when I was young. I was like 11 years old and my next door neighbor and everyone ran through each one's lawn To get home and I never walked anywhere. We. I ran. We never had a car. Never went on a vacation. Never have a bicycle until later in my life. And so I was like forced to go at an early age to be honest with you. And there wasn't anywhere I wouldn't run up the hill, down the hills. And there wasn't anywhere I wouldn't run, up the hill, down the hills. It was just this enormous energy that I had.

But these people I'm sitting in, and they're my next door neighbors. And here I am not bothering anyone, and one of the things that came out of their mouth was, oh my God, what is Jerry ever going to do in his life, or to work well? I'm 10 years old, okay? When I heard that, it hurt, okay? It hurt because I had to go home and everything was going to face at home. I grew up in abusive household as my other siblings did.

And I think that I learned a lot of lessons that day. Never, never give up, okay? Never. And I was determined that somewhere along the way something positive is going to happen in my life. And all of a sudden I picked up this basketball as I mentioned before. And I had always, as that was a dreamer, I could put myself in situation at a very vivid imagination. And the thing that was probably something that I've taken with me forever is that for some reason,

when people say no, I used to say yes. And it has served me well. But from then on, when I was picked up a basketball, I was a coach. I was the announcer first and foremost, but most importantly, I was the official. Wow. And so, in my life, to feel good for I went home, I could miss 10 straight shots, and I'd make the last one. I find a way to put a second back on the clock. When I went home, you know, I'd conquer the world and going my house, I never knew what I was going to face.

But I'm sure there's a lot of kids out there that experience the same thing when you're by yourself. Basketball, the rudiments of basketball can be learned by yourself. And this was before, way before, we had all these instructional videos going to camps, which I could have never gone to one because I was good enough for a day ago. But it was a pretty remarkable time in my life. And I did always say, it was a feel good thing. I used to love to fish.

Some people fishing would be slow, hot, summer day, humid. You said there'd be roasting. Right. But I would always stay out there until I caught something. And it made any difference when I started. I wasn't going to quit. And it sounds like you were very persevered.

And you had a mental toughness and a discipline to always just kind of keep on going no matter what. Even as a young, that was pretty much the through-line your personality. There's no question. The other thing, you know, to earn money because it was, this was a sparse household. In terms of money being around, I used to do all the jobs that no one wanted to do. I heard people say, well, it was minimum wage.

I don't know why I was making for doing these things, but I cut everyone's lawn. I dig anyone's ditch. It was always going to be perfect. So consequently, any time that a neighbor had something to do, they'd ask me to do it because they know I'd do it. And I'd get paid sometime the dollar and I'm going, oh my gosh, it's all the money in the world.

And I used to take that money and it was a rug in our house, a little tiny place we lived in. And I would take this money and put it under the rug. And sometimes, you know, I forget about it. And my mother would be taking a sweeper and going around. And here she was, she did a lump in the thing. And here it might be $10 or $15 there that I had earned. And that's how I bought a basketball.

That's how I bought my fishing stuff. And then I started to get into hunting and there wasn't much around to hunt. But it was just a unique childhood that unfortunately I had to share with myself. No one knew what was going on behind this crazy thought process as I had in my hand as a young age. But you feel that because you had a difficult childhood and you had abuse and all that stuff, that kind of also propelled you to 160.

Like, it gave you that drive to kind of get out of there, that fear or failure that you would still stay there if you didn't make it somewhere. So, did that help you kind of push? Well yes, but a lot of the way there's so many obstacles, I was really little, I was tiny and real, if a wind blew, blew me away, I was so skinny, but I think the thing that was really interesting to me and maybe the first time I'd ever felt incredible rejection for trying to be an athlete. I was always really fast.

No one could catch me. And so that was a strength. I could run and jump even a little age. But I remember the first time I tried out for the basketball team. I I remember the first time I tried out for the basketball team I was in the seventh grade and I was so tiny and so almost intimidated by anyone who was in command. I was brought up and still very much today and yes or no sir thank you please person. And it wasn't until I got to be in the ninth grade

that I had a chance to play on my junior high school team. And I was looking the other day, I don't know why, I saw this old picture of me in this uniform, and I said to myself, oh my God, what happened here, okay? All these skinny little kids look like waifs, trying to do something that made you feel good. And even then, I had no clue that I would ever be good enough. I was just somebody who loved to compete and play.

So my life changed that summer. My summer or my ninth and going into high school 10th grade. I grew about six inches one summer. And it was like, but I didn't gain any weight. I looked like, it looked like if the blood of crane, I was just skinny. But, you know, I'd gotten to the point where, at Groose so fast, we had this set of stairs

and this little house we lived in. I would run up them and fall down, run down them and fall down. So it was pretty funny to all of a sudden I grew and I was happy about it, but not to be able to, you know, you had no balance, you had nothing. It was like everything happened overnight. But I think one of the interesting things was,

is that all of a sudden, because I got taller, you know, I felt like I belonged in the real world. And then when I got to high, that year, I got to high school. I was like 6'3", 148 pounds. And I played on the junior varsity team and we played all the same schools at our high school teams played. And obviously I wasn't good enough then to play on the varsity team. But something happened, I started playing real well in these games, these JB games, and the coach decided to promote me up to the varsity.

And the two coaches, head coach and the assistant coach, they were both football coaches. And so they bring me up there, and the first game I played in, I scored 14 points in the last quarter of a high school game against one of our rivals when we won a game. I wanted to play one more game that was another rival over here of our Charleston High School, the big Charleston High School in the state capital. I go down there and I broke the Nivika, not the None, but the Meditarsal bone. And so they put me in a cast. And so my whatever left of my varsity career was done. And the doctor, it was a walking cast.

And the doctor says, well, what should you do? And I said, well, he said, he's new pretty much. You can't break these things, OK? Well, I broke seven of them. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And the funny part ever was, I broke seven of them. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. And the funny part ever was, I would still play basketball with this cast on.

And there was really some funny things. Oh my gosh, you played on baskets that were not stationary. And I remember one day I was playing and some guy I was shooting a shot and I remember the character Peg Lake Bates, okay, long ago he was the dancer and I got hit on this thing and it knocks me out in the school principals there, I almost hit him when I went out the door and that was kind, one of the funny things that can happen with that. But it fortunately healed without any other problems. And then my junior year, again, I just got in better.

And I've learned to shoot myself. And always it was a pretty good shooter. But I got to the point where I was much more confident confident and still had not lost my ability to run and jump. And so by the time I got to be a senior in high school, by the way, in a junior in high school, I had average about 28 points a game. I had not won college all for it and playing in the best competition in the state. And then by the time I was a senior, we went to state championship and played at West Virginia University where of course we recruited two and went to school. I wanted to go to my

state university. And I'll never forget that those in the state term. And I said all the state scoring records, all the rebounding records. And I fouled out of both games with a lot of time in one game. And I often wondered, I think I scored 40 points and had about 20 rebound. And this is years ago, but I didn't play hard the whole last quarter. I had fouled out, but we'd had a big lead and we won the state championship, which wasn't expected. And all of a sudden, these offers started coming in. There's some incredible stories about the recruiting process.

And frankly, I couldn't take it anymore. I went home one day and there was four coaches from four big universities sitting in this little chair as outside of my house on a little tiny porch. My mother was over there drinking coffee and a hot and human. And she said to all four of these guys,

and again, I was really quiet and shy. She said, I'll leave for a guy. She said, you know, I don't really care where he goes, but I want him to go to West Virginia. So obviously she was swayed by that. But it was probably the best choice I could have made with all the crazy offers I got. obviously that point in time people were pretty loose in their recruiting. Right. What was it like back then?

What kind of offers would you be getting back then versus how it is now? There must be a huge discrepancy. Well, for me then, it was, I don't really want to get into it because it doesn't make any difference, but my father didn't make a lot of money, but I actually got paid about three times what he got paid to go into school by a number of schools. And it's something I've always been reticent to talk about because it really wasn't, there wasn't a lot of governance on athletes going to school, but it was flattering to me, but I didn't get one thing for going to West Virginia University but it's the best decision I made in my life. If you

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what are you ever going to make of yourself? Do you think this was another one of those moments? And I'm pretty loyal, okay, and always have been. And it was just, I'd gone up there one time when I always have been and it was just I I'd gone up there one time when I was a kid with my brother-in-law at the point in time He he sent to see obviously and they took me to a game up there And I just the fun excitement in this little gym that was about 6,400 people jam pack And I couldn't sleep after the game and I said that's pretty exciting but I wasn't

thinking about playing at West Virginia at 12 years of age but it's the best season I've ever made. I love the state of West Virginia. I love how people are back there. It's really is probably the foundation of who I am today. I'll never forgive where I came from. The state is important to me. The university is particularly important to me and it's frankly been a charity of my choice. And I will never shirk that responsibility because again, the foundation of my life

what I learned there, the foundation of my life, what I learned there, the people, they don't have a lot, and particularly today, the coal industry has faded out and not as viable. It's a state that needs a real waiting. They have a workforce there, hardworking people, and the thing they know is hard work. And it's not there anymore. So I have a home in West Virginia. He's been three months there, and yes, you're, I can't do it because I have a son who's

going to get married on August 10th. Congratulations. I saw that. Congratulations. He's a nice young man, and she's a nice young lady, so I'm hopeful that this will be He's engaged your son. He works with the Golden State Warriors, correct? And he's marrying Johnny West and he's marrying he and Michelle we professional golfer and It looks like a pretty impressive match. You can just feel the

the closeness they have. And somebody always says soulmates. I've had a couple of people in my life and that have been my soulmates. And you just, there's something special about those people that you don't ever forget. It Doesn't happen very often, but- No, it doesn't. And a hundred percent. So, I was going to ask you a question a little bit earlier about your opinion.

Do you believe that raw talent or mindset is more important when becoming great at anything? Just basketball, I know you, you seem to have a very strong discipline and competitive nature, but how much of that was also talent, or did you was it more the mindset of your drive and your wanting to be the best and... Well, I would say that there's a couple things, you know, some people are born differently, their minds are organized differently. And particularly athletes. And the one thing that if I was going to ever pat myself on the back, that I've always been competitive, no matter what that is. No losing is not in my vocabulary.

And I've learned how to lose, but I still don't like it. And I think just raised how I was raised. It taught me the significance of how important it was to compete at a high level. You know, a lot of players at point in time. I hardly ever went out of my room when I played. It was all basketball. And I think the thing that mattered most was after games. I was really hard on myself. And when I got to the point in my career when I felt I could affect the outcome of games, and it was a number of years, I could affect

the outcome of the game, if we lost, I would go back to my room and I would kill myself in criticism. Not a healthy thing to do. And it's a curse to live with, but that's how I was raised. I'm not raised, but that's how my mindset was. And getting to a different level, I thought that was one thing was very important. But once you get to where you physically mature and when I came into the NBA, I weighed 172 pounds. 172 pounds. And I was six, four and a half.

Everyone used to say I was six, two and a half. And I had 40 in sleeve length that makes you a lot bigger. Yeah. And I had 40-inch sleevelength, that makes you a lot bigger. And it's just something that as I competed against certain players, I started to get to the point where they didn't concern me. And I don't mean that in this respectful way. No, I know even. I just felt that I had an edge, and not only physically, but competitively.

Yeah, mentally, mentally. Well, absolutely. As I say, in my mind, I don't forget what players do. I can go back over the years and talk about players and their strengths and weaknesses. In my mind, it's like an encyclopedia. So even for the games in it, you don't have the same kind of preparation to do.

The games where, you know, you might play three or sometimes four nights in a row in different cities. That's hard to do, a part on your body. But as you go along and if you're more experienced you have, you don't have to worry about what someone will tell you about what this player is going to do. You have in your mind. And I think that's one of the things that, when I look at my life, well maybe it would have been simpler for me to play the game. I've always said that one thing that determines

players who stand out in every era would be the people who see the game in slow motion. If you're going fast all the time, it's too fast. That allows these people that truly are above the others, regardless of what people, you know, we throw the term superstar around so loosely today that it doesn't, I don't think it's so. There might be four or five in any given time.

Who would you say the top five Superstars are? Like true Superstars. You know, I would never go there because I was slight some people along the way. There's just players I've had respect for in all generations, you know, starting from 60s to 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000, 2010, 2020 coming. Every period you see a difference in the players and we're starting to see really very gifted players at early age. They have been so schooled in terms of A.E.U.

camps, camps that are skilled camps. And the ones who identify themselves, obviously, are going to get the most attention. And sometimes when I see the ones who get the most attention, you watch them go to college and some a lot of them hit that wall. They can't be get beyond that wall. And that's why they get into NBA as great as they were and going up and all the accolades they received going up they hit that wall and they can't break through it. Is there one quality that you look for when you could you have such a great eye obviously for talent they'd say probably the best ever of all time is there it's obviously I got instinct that you feel it, but is there something that you're specifically looking for? Is it?

Well, people always talk about basketball, Iq. Unfortunately, we have, I don't say unfortunately, a part of the game today is the fact that we have so many analytical people involved in the league. And many times they sway people into thinking that, or presenting facts that this guy is truly better than someone else. I don't, I'm not a big fan of analytics, and let me tell you why. They, I think they're great teaching tools.

I think they're great for coaches, as this guy likes to go left 90% of the time. If a guy is good enough and he's really a star, he might go left 90% of the time, you're still not going to stop him. He's going to find a way to get over there. But there is so versatile that they're going to get to the other side too. But I think the one thing you can't look at, you can't look at a heart, you can't look at a mind. I think there's a lot of mistakes made and there have been for years in people overestimating and drafting for need. To me, it's about skill and a person's desire to compete and excel.

Right, so it's about their mindset about their mental toughness again and how competitive they are, how driven they are to be the best I guess, right? Would you say you were more competitive in your, while you're playing basketball or as an executive now. We're certainly as a player. It's a different kind of competitive. You know, you're not only playing for your team, you're playing for the city and you're playing for the fans.

So I don't know how players think today, but that was, I felt that was a great sense of responsibility to try to win for your fans. You know, you see the free agency today, as a sad, always been a pretty loyal person in my life. I would have loved to have had an opportunity to be a free agent, to see if I could be tempted to go somewhere else. And someone would not be able to try to influence my thinking if I were going to be a free agent by a presentation, showing me the city, you live in, the glamour,

all the other opportunities. It was strictly about basketball to me, strictly. And today because the enormous amount of money, the agents and the game, the way it's played today, have been the most significant change in basketball that I have seen in all my 50 some years in this game, the agents. They dictate where players go. I feel sorry from some of the small market team, but I don't know how you level the playing field. I really don't. But it's okay for people to seek, and I'm not critical players at all. If you want to

go somewhere else, you go. And there's one time in my career, I definitely did not want to play for the Lakers because the owner told me a lie. Really? Oh, yes. What happened? Well, that's the matter of what happens. Just don't lie to me, say yes or no. That's the most important thing.

Right. Oh, wow. And I wanted to leave so badly, but yet I didn't have the opportunity, but I would have left. It might have been a mistake, but I would have left. A city I love playing for the fans watching the game grow, being involved only team in the West Coast and look at the first team, the Lakers today. Look at what happened to this franchise since they've been in the city.

The first team here, I'll never forget when I got here, hell no one even knew what basketball was in, was about baseball and football. That's true. That's right. I'll never forget the first two games we played here, the old sports arena. There was a counter over the thing. And so first night there, I think it was like 4,820. The next night, it was like 4,200.

And you get there and playing. And I was used to playing and sell out crowds everywhere. I went to college. Right, right. And the atmosphere. We had to be playing the New York Knicks back to back name. And, you know, off course, certainly we wanted to win. And I almost felt that there were 4,800 transplanted New Yorkers, they were rooting for the Knicks. And to see the way the franchises grown and

to see what's happened to the Lakers here, those obviously the most special years of my life. To be able to play there, be able to coach there for three years, and have an opportunity to work with any cred borne and Jerry Busce was really pretty special. He believed in me, he trusted in me, and we had such a different relationship for someone who's working for someone. And I learned a lot from him. He was a good guy.

He was a man of the people. And so my years there were filled with a lot of fun excitement. It's all awful, a lot of winning. And I saw this city become a Laker city, not a Dodger city, not a Ram city. They eventually left town. And at one time, I can remember the dominant, we were on the last page of three newspapers in town.

Now all of a sudden we have one daily newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, another newspapers in smaller areas that don't have the same circulation they used to have. And, and all of a sudden, I can remember the Harold Examiner, and he saw the Lakers creeping up from the last page to the second page and all of a sudden, most dominant team in the town. And that was a great thing for me to see and witness. I can imagine. That's kind of like, as I'm telling you, I'm Canadian. My first job was with the Raptors. And it was the same thing because it was a first-year,

it was an expansion team. And Toronto's also about hockey and baseball. And it was the same thing and slowly but surely, you know, the Raptors will now. I mean, I was going to even, I didn't want to even start asking you, of course, about the obvious current affair of, you know, the coup that you were able to accomplish with, well, you know, of course, what's going on with the Clippers, because I figured it's all over the place anyway, but that was a quite an amazing thing that you accomplished. Well, it was me, and it's never one person.

It's never one person, but you were still a part of it. You know, to be part of it was really fun. I worked from incredible people now. I mean, really incredible. As good as any front office I've ever seen in Italy, an impeccable owner in Steve Bomber. And, you know, I don't know if I'll get fine for this, but I won't say it anyway. If I were a young player and I was ever able to

get involved with Steve Bomber at this point in time, I'd have to listen to him. He's a pretty amazing man for the enormous success he's had. And everyone always talks about his his wealth. He's like Jerry Bus. Really? He's like Jerry Bus. He's a people person. Jerry was more conservative, but this one is more enthusiastic. But if you're with him and his wife, it's just amazing how, how ground the day are. It really is pretty ground. I love hearing that because exactly what you said, from what my perception is, he's Steve Bommer. He's known to being one of the wealthiest men in the country. And then when you say he's also down to earth and seems very normal, that's a good big compliment

to give somebody. Well, he's great. He really is. I don't like to go overboard on people because I've said it a number of times about him, but his philanthropy is beyond belief. Really? And he keeps it quiet. And he and his wife together, I don't even know what they do in terms of giving, but he's

just one of those people, he's like your next door neighbor. Right, you never know. I don't know if we get to know our next door neighbor anymore. You're probably right, not very often, that's very true. But it's nice to know, because I feel like that actually means it's very authentic and genuine. He's not doing it for a braggate tip to brag or to look at me, but it's more coming from the right place,

which is his heart. And like I said, when you have that kind of wealth and that kind of success, you tend to not really know the person. So to hear that, to hear that he's so kind and authentic and genuine and generous, I think, to be honest with that. Well, as I say, he would be, if you were in a meeting with him and rounding the CIA acts with people, how he treats people, he's pretty amazing.

And as I have fortunate enough to be now here with him, this is my third year. Obviously, I'm getting to the end of my time as involved in this sport. I've been around a lot. But as I think you're final resting place sometimes I've been three other teams in Memphis with Lake Mike Heistley who is an incredible guy himself, very philanthropic himself. And with the Warriors, a unique ownership group up there with the Warriors, a unique ownership group up there to see the success they've had.

And the friends I've made up here, and to be involved with this group, I am today the Clippers. The front office they have, as I mentioned for, oh my goodness, they've hired the best of the best. It doesn't make any difference. Steve will leave no stone unturned in order to have the best of the best care of the players, treatment of the players, is paramount in his mind.

And when he gets this arena built, it will be the best arena in town. It will be the best arena in the league. He is, as I say, he's a man of vision. And the thing that I love about him is the fact he is competitive. I mean, really competitive. Where other people, you know, does he take an active part very, very much so? Does he tell us who to draft? No. But there's such interaction. We have meetings over there. I don't know what team in the league would do this.

We have meetings over there that are all the basketball people, a lot of them are former coaches or scouts and people who contribute. We might have 20 people, 25 people in the room, discussing players, discussing how can we get to this point in time? Would we be able to move here to get this player? The openness of this organization is amazing.

It's not a close shop. And when you get in environments like that, those are really healthy, really healthy. And again, I don't want to say that there's other organizations not like that because they're more closed, you know, everyone's afraid of wheat leaks. Well, the leaks many time come from the same people who want to close shop. I've often, you know, you look at a very popular figure in this league to report stuff, Adrian Wojłgianowski.

He has stories come out before they're even out there. And how's he getting it? He maintains a great relationship with agents. He maintains a great relationship with GMs and so if you're going to tell people to press those things, why exclude people in the front office? That's absolutely true. Why exclude them? But I have fun with our guys.

It's not ego driven. It's, oh my gosh, they're kidding and ribbing that I get which I love I don't like anyone to be benevolent to me I don't want them to be it's uncomfortable for me and I don't want anyone to think I'm any better than anyone I'm not I want to rebound people that want to have fun and don't take themselves too seriously but take what they do seriously yeah that's actually that's also a great life lesson as well, right? Like, everything you're saying,

I think it doesn't just apply to basketball, it applies to everything in life, and the traits, the qualities, it doesn't matter what industry you're in. Hey, hope you're enjoying this episode. We just wanna take a quick break to tell you about an awesome sponsor, where we're back to habitsossel in just a moment.

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I read that you're very superstitious. And since this podcast is all about people's habits and rituals to be super successful, what are your superstitions? What were they back then? Are they the same? Did they? Well, I'll give you one. It's really stupid. Okay. Before game, I used to chew two sticks of gum, okay? But at a tearment half, and I put two halves over here, and I had one whole thing. It was like a, you know, it's like a stress reliever, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so I would come in and half time, I'd do the same thing, get a fresh one, put them up there. I always ran out third. Always, I would kill to get that right out third. Really, so where would you see, put them over there, where you're putting them, are they like, you sticking them somewhere? No, they put them up in the top,

we had a little shelf. Oh, a little shelf, okay. At the end of the year, at the end of the year, there was a big pile of half sticks of gum up there. Really? That's a cute one. Give us one more. I'm sorry?

Give me one more superstition. OK. I used to drive the same way to the game every day. And here in Los Angeles, because of the traffic, there would be a 50 car wreck. I wouldn't get off. I wouldn't get off. You would just stay on that right, the matter would be.

I was going to stay there. I don't say it's a superstition, but my eating habits were really different. When I first started everyone used to have like a steak and a salad, right? Right. As I went on, I couldn't eat anything. I wouldn't physically get sick. And so I used to eat it like one o'clock.

Right. And I had the same thing every day. I'd have a turkey sandwich. Right. And I would have water and a half a scoop of an L.I. screen. That was my pre-game meal. Really? Not a full scoop, always a half a scoop. That part of the soup had to be eaten. And again, I could eat anything then and never gave away. But, and obviously as you get older, for some reason, you don't want to eat as much. And with me, I went, that was one of the things I was, if I didn't

do the same thing, I took a nap every afternoon, I would tape around the curtain if it was a peak of light coming through. I would carry tape with me on the road from the trainer so I could tape my windows up so I could take an app. And one time I would never forget one of the funniest things ever happened. We had a Friday night game in Los Angeles and we had a first game of a double header in New York the next night. That's when they used to have double headers. Right, double headers, yeah. So we flew there, we get there by the time we got the hotel, it was a traffic in New York.

It was like maybe a quarter to seven. And I get in the hotel room, I take my windows up, and I was really tired because I couldn't sleep after games anyway, I never slept on a plane. So I'd been up all night. And I finally went to sleep and all of a sudden, I hear all this barking, barking, barking, barking. So I called down the manager and I said,

you know, I said, there's the dog barking next door. And I was, again, always very polite. And I said, is there any way that someone could just go check? And this gentleman said to me, he said, well, I'm sorry, we're having the Westminster dog show. And they're all staying here at the hotel. Oh my God.

It wasn't fun. I can imagine that was quite a lot. It wasn't fun. But the worst part, we played the next day in Boston after a new game in Boston. Right. Oh gosh. Anyway, it wasn't fun traveling that way.

That was not at all. Wow. So then, what are some superstitions? Or, how about this? What are some habits that you do now? Are they, like, you still have similar ones? You still have a, well, I guess you're not playing. So you can have that turkey sandwich or the board.

Oh, well, no. I have a very similar app. It's okay. I do. To me, when I go to a game now, I look at it from a different perspective. I try to be a scout, particularly with younger players. Are they getting better?

Does our coach need another player? I think one of the things that was important to me when I was involved in making decisions for a team. I have a voice today and I do really express my opinions or important to me if I want to be working for someone. And one of the things that I've always felt that when you go to the game, you watch these young kids and some of them coming out so young today, they lose their confidence very quickly. But more importantly, you know, sometimes you see mistakes they make over and over. And you point them out to our, you know, I do, to our, to Lawrence Frank, who's our President, GM.

I point them out to him, and so to me, to get to the point where you're communicating things that you see that maybe we'll help this kid get better so you're going to eat someone to work with him. You need to get better at this. You need to get better at this. You need to be more alert here. A stupid thing like the sideline. How many guys at times do you see a guy step out of the bound?

Normally it's the same person all the time. So it's about footwork. Oh, and take out those small shoes. Even with veterans, okay? And on the corner of the region, there's not a lot of room down there. So your footwork has to be impeccable. Another thing, you know, watching the ball,

you have to be a lurk, your head has to be on a swivel. But I think the thing that I most enjoyed when I was being involved with the team was going to coaches and say, is it a particular player you'd like to have? Maybe we could try to require him for you. And you'd be surprised how many times in communicating with other people. And obviously the general managers were the ones you communicated with in. Now you have agents calling. I think you should call him about this player.

You can't do that. That's not the way this league works. You should communicate with the executives who are running these chains. But unfortunately, landscape has really changed. Right, it sounds like it. But it seems like you still keep it old school. Like you still are doing it the way it used to be down more and it's succeeding. You're succeeding. Well, the kids have so many different people training them.

I goodness, they have their own trainers. They come to training camp with their own trainers. And they seem to have confidence in them. But you add a lot more people. And sometimes when you add a lot more people, you have people in the staff. Maybe that's their specialty. and do they feel slided? I don't know that answer to that question but I think with the players today the power

the players have today and I think you know who was it said this is talent driven league. Unfortunately the talent in all leagues is what makes leagues go away. Right, right, right. You know, what's this person saying when he said that? I think it was Mark Cuban. Right. Is that what he said? But it's always a talent driven way.

And the players today, or, you know, they're my goodness, are getting more bouncy. They have a lot more craftiness to their game. They have some zig-zag in it, which makes them better. This game is the second largest game in the world today behind soccer. Yeah, behind soccer, right? And I do not think it's going to stop growing. Yeah.

I think it's going to become, they're playing basketball in India. Who are with all that? At one time when the Alming was playing in his league, there were seven, I think it was 100 young Chinese kids that were seven feet tall or more, who were playing basketball. What was the impetus for that? Yalming.

Right, exactly. Yalming. They played basketball in the Philippines. They love basketball, and they have professional leagues. Australia is producing some good players and certainly Europe is a fertile place for many NBA players today so it's becoming a worldwide game. The NBA has done a great job in Africa because you know we need if you look at the players today in long-rangey players come, there's so many big kids in that Ukraine area over there.

I mean, they're huge. And in South Africa today, these kids are really tall. But the NBA has gotten so involved. And some of the African players who played very successfully in this league have gone about their way to try to contribute back to their countries. That's a good thing. It's a great thing. Yeah, it's a great thing.

I mean, that's great. Opportunity in life is the most important. And it's not always about athletics, okay? Right. People need, people we have so many displaced kids today. And they might have completely different interests. And it's great for me to see people get involved or influential who can provide resources for these kids

to have a chance to live their dreams very much like myself and tons of NBA players, tons of other athletes in all sports. Absolutely, it's really important to pay it forward and give it back to your community to give other people the opportunity. Because a lot of it is opportunity. A lot of people can be very talented

and have all the other characteristics, but if they're not given that opportunity, it's kind of, it was unnoticed. Well, as a site, we have, you know, we have so much money and a lot of few hands if those people would be a little bit more disciplined, I think, and where they usually give their money. I'd like to give, see them again, I'm not preaching to people, but I'm going to see these people who have enormous well,

get involved in youth today in this country. And participate, right? Absolutely. Yeah. It's probably the best feeling in the world to do something, give something to young kids. They never forget it. They never forget it. Absolutely.

And that's what makes the world go around, right? If you're given that opportunity and have the ability, I always think it's, if you have the ability to help somebody, why wouldn't you help somebody? What you should? Right, absolutely. Life is about getting. 100% and you get when you give, right? That's what they're saying.

So what's the day in the life now? So of course we know what the clippers and what you do, but what time do you wake up in the morning? Like what's your, like would you work out? Do you exercise? You must. You still, you probably don't run like for a scump anymore, but what time do you wake up in the morning? Like, what's your, like, would you work out, do exercise? You must. You still, you probably don't run like for a scump anymore, but maybe close.

You know, I try, I try to work out when I have the time. But, you know, being here today, that's one day else, the line, when I'm, I'm always attractive, pound the flasket, when your fingers are all, but now I try to do that. And, and when I'm always attractive, pound the flask at when your fingers are all. But no, I try to do that. And when I'm traveling and sometimes it's not personal, it's not for me, you find it's difficult to keep doing those things.

And I have my own gym and home. I stretch. I lift weights. I get on a treadmill. When I'm in town a lot, I have a young lady who comes and stretches me, I try to be disciplined and what I eat. I'm not much of a dissipator, I used to like wine very much, but I've even cut way back on that. But the thing that probably I love to do most is read.

I've learned so much from reading about leaders and about giving stories of people. People should go back and look at the days in the South when we had slavery. People should study some of the leaders back there. It's pretty remarkable what these people have done for a cause. And the players, frankly, that I most admired when I was playing the ones that would take a stand.

And today's players have an incredible platform. Right. Oh, with social media and everything else now. Incredible platform. And I wish there were more that would because of the enormity of their popularity and their wealth today. That's the best feel good. Forget all their careers. Okay. If you're good at something, you don't have to tell anyone you're good. Right. You don't have to tell anyone. But the thing that will, you know, their their one but the thing that will you know they're there images of player their records will live forever but the greatest impact in the

world they can make are helping others absolutely is there is there one book that you recommend to people to read that you are oh my gosh so many I read probably three books a week. Wow, okay. What are you reading right now? What are the three books that you're reading? I guess you got through reading a book on Malcolm X, was fascinating.

Just got through reading a book on George Washington and during the war in the 1979, 59s, during the war in the 1979, 59s, plot to kill him by his own soldiers. I just got through watching a documentary on Martin Luther King, it was pretty stirring. I read things that sometimes when I travel, I might read a mystery book, but I try to read things that are meaningful I travel I might read a mystery book. But I try to read things that are meaningful for me.

Leaders, why they were great leaders, and some of them have commonalities, and they're different. And people, we see players that are out there jumping around, oh look at this leadership ability. Trust me, there's many more quiet ones that are better leaders and tougher minded and those guys are constantly calling attention to them. Oh, absolutely. I actually agree with what you say. If you're good people will know this. You don't have to tell everyone.

Yes. Yeah. But that's not really the society we live in, right? Where people feel they... Well, as I say, society is changing all the time. Yeah. It's constantly changing, absolutely. But I think there's lessons to be learned

regardless of what area you have going up your life. I've listened, as I told you before, I've seen time when there's no phones in the house, no TV in the house, no air conditioning. And I see all the amenities that people have today with all the smart people in the world. I wonder if artificial intelligence is not gonna run this world.

And it's a scary thought. Absolutely, and that's what's happening. That's the way to run this world. And it's a scary thought. Absolutely. And that's what's happening. That's the wave of what's going on. It gets to be that way more and more. Why would Albert Einstein say years ago, he's concerned about artificial intelligence years ago? Right. Pretty amazing.

Isn't that kind of scary? I mean, how are we doing? No, we're talking about five more minutes. Okay, I want to be respectful of your time. Attention, Croger Shoppers. Did you know there's a world of innovative services and patient care right in store? It's where an award-winning pharmacy

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Okay, so when I was at an Albert Einstein, yes. Oh, yeah, I also saw that you're a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. Oh, yes. I like him to another fellow Canadian, by the way. Oh, I know that. He's different. He's very different. The one book, Blink, in particular, was really good because I'm kind of a Blink person.

It seems like he's even asking me quick decisions. Are they always right? No, but they are more nearly right because I trust my own personal judgment. But again, the more you read, the more you study people, the more you experience as an exposure you've had to, people of all shapes, all kinds, all nationalities. You can learn from a lot of people. And the one thing that I know is that I have learned more from people who have been, or just the average person.

And I've learned from people who are supposed to be leaders and some people are leaders by definition only. the average person and I've learned from people who are supposed to be leaders and some people are leaders by definition only Absolutely true. What would you say then considering that you're considered to be a leader and an icon? What would you say your best and most proud accomplishment is of everything? It doesn't have to be profession. It could be anything. I think the balance I have in my life with myself, because you're going to be not careful you'll get overwhelmed with. When his player rarely did I get criticized. It was hard to criticize me, because I played the game at a level

that during my period of time that was really high. I was a great late game player, but I'm really not sure. I think the one thing is that I'm pretty balanced. I don't like publicity at all. A lot of people would say that's not true. I get embarrassed by it. And it gets to the point sometimes you just, all the praise you get for certain things, other people have contributed more to me than a lot of things that I've been

involved with. And yet I end up getting the credit. I have written letters of apology to people I've written, what work for, for the fact that I get so much credit and they don't get enough. Wow, that's very unusual to feel that. I mean, where do you think that comes from? Do you think that's from your childhood feeling? It comes out of the darkness. People don't want you to be honest.

That's true. There's a lot of times I'd really like to be, and I always thought I'd like to write a final chapter in my life, okay? Wouldn't do it. Because I'm too honest to write things that I see that I just wish people would do a little more differently. Respect the people that you work with, okay?

Respect them. There's some people that I don't care for But I don't hate them Period, I will never I don't hate people period The way they treat people the disrespects them time you see People who work in this league Everyone wants to win. I hope everyone went.

I hope everyone went. But this is so hard to win in this league, getting more difficult because of the rules. The way the game has changed, the way it's officiated. It's just a cycle sometimes that we go through, but I just, I love people, I really do. And I wish I were enormously wealthy because I would give it all away, every penny. Well, I think that you should be writing a book called Life Lessons by Jerry West because I think like we said what you took from basketball can be, you can use that and transcend any industry personally or am professionally.

And I think what I got from this is that you are really good at picking up on, you're very good with emotional intelligence, picking up on nuance of how to deal with people like you're very good with emotional intelligence picking up on new ones of how to deal with people and you're very empathetic and I think that's probably from what I got this is my opinion that's probably what makes you so good and what you do. Well again you know I say praise that you get I had someone to send me a seal with a ball on the snow. I had really been getting a lot of criticism for a couple of things. One trade in particular that people were fans of writers. and they felt like it was, I had a vindictive mode to a dis person. I coached him and had great respect for him.

But anyway, to make a long story short, this person sent me his seal, this seal with a ball on his nose. I still have it on my bathroom counter. You too. They said, life is about balance. That starts thinking life is about balance. And I said to myself, oh my gosh, all the incredible things that have been said about me, some way too praiseworthy. And now I'm getting this uncomfortable version that really was, I felt bad about trading

that person, we traded him, I didn't trade him, we traded him. And I just want to realize, I said, oh my gosh, life is really about balance. If people say great things about you all the time, it's not reality. It's not. And particularly people in the press, for people who have a social venue, it's not always true. Well, people always, what happens then people tend to believe their own hype, right? Because the more people praise you,

you get an unrealistic sense of self, right? That's what happens. So do not believe the hype, but you try to stay grounded. There's something that you do, even as a ritual, to kind of keep you stay humble and grounded besides the seal that you look at every day. I guess that could be what it is. It reminds you every day to stay balanced. Well I remember every day. I'm just like everyone else. Yeah.

Okay, I had a life that was a fairy tale life in terms of my basketball life. As I say, those days are coming to an end and I will will look back and say, thank God, I've met some incredible people in my life. And I will also look back and I will say, for some people in my life, that I was deceived by. And but on balance, everything has been like, oh my gosh, how did someone come from a place of 500 and have met the people in my life, have experienced the things I had in my life? There's very few that can say that, and no one gave me anything along the way.

I earned everything that I've received in my life. Right, hard work. Hard work ought to be where you want. Hard work in the skill. And yeah, in the combination of both, right? Well, if you have skill and you don't have hard work, you're not gonna do anything, okay? Right, exactly.

You're gonna tease everybody. Yeah, exactly. So I guess basically, I don't wanna keep you any longer than I have to. So what is that one? What is, to describe you, give me your strongest trait and your weakest trait. And then you're free. You're a free agent. My weakest trait, self-worth.

Self-worth. Never felt I was worthy of anything. And again, I attribute that to how I grew up. My strongest trait is that I love to give, and I really like people a lot. There would be a two answers to that. Two answers. Well, I'll say, I really like you a lot. Thank a two answers to that. Two answers. Well, I'll say, I really like you a lot.

Thank you very much for coming on this podcast. It was an honor. I know you don't want to be praised. I guess you get uncomfortable. So I'll say, I really liked having you. You're a really cool guy. And maybe, you know, we can do this again sometime, if it works out. Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate it. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you very much. Jerry West, guys, you can find them basically anywhere online. And I don't think you have Instagram and Facebook, do you? No. No, I didn't think so. That's not me. Yeah, I didn't think so.

Thank you very much, Jerry West. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm Heather Monahan, host of Creating Confidence, a part of the YAP Media Network, the number one business and self-improvement podcast network. Okay, so I want to tell you a little bit about my show. We are all about elevating your confidence to its highest level ever and taking your business right there with you.

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