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Kobe Bryant | Mamba Mentality | USC Performance Science Institute

Feb 27, 2020
please welcome our guests,

kobe

bryant

is like me. Thanks man, if I knew college was going to be like this I would have brought my ass to school, welcome, thanks for being here, thanks for coming to USC to check it out, because maybe your three daughters are on their way here , yeah, one for sure, one for sure others, like she's obsessed with going to UConn, so what we have to try to figure out is that she's obsessed with you, when she's old enough, USC women's basketball will be where UConn is now. right, that's what I'm talking about, that'll make my wife have our two babies home finally talking for the weekend, Arica, good boy, Wally, when he hit the winning shot in both the final and semi-final, he screamed Mom, serious

mentality

. was the head, it was that easy for you to hear, well, I mean, I love watching great players do phenomenal things, you know, and it always makes me feel good that what I've done throughout my career has inspired to the next generation, you know, but you know, my daughter sent me after the games because you know we probably stayed home because we were at the game, we went to the game to see you and you know, after she says maybe we should have done it.
kobe bryant mamba mentality usc performance science institute
I stayed home, great

performance

, it was a defining moment for both of us. Today, as I mentioned, we want to focus on three things primarily when we talk about mindset and mindset. We certainly want to talk about your competitive philosophy. We want to talk about leadership and then some of the lessons about basketball, we have a strict schedule, we will bring you here at 1:30 some students will ask questions at the end, but let's remember what we're diving into, okay, look, let's start with dear. basketball that started as a poem, you know, almost a love letter to basketball, can you tell us the origin of that writing and how it went from a written poem to a film?
kobe bryant mamba mentality usc performance science institute

More Interesting Facts About,

kobe bryant mamba mentality usc performance science institute...

Well, I mean, I was thinking about how it was going, how it was going to be. announce now that I'm retiring from the game and for the most part, you know as athletes we tend to think about that in terms of communicating it to the public or the fans and I realized that I really hadn't had a chance to talk about the game . and then I decided that was going to be my focus and once I had that focus the words came pretty quickly, I actually wrote two drafts in about 30 minutes, the first one was more confrontational in nature because I felt like I felt like the game was trying to tell me that you need me and you can't you can't walk away from this you know this is what you are and that's why the first tone was more confrontational it's like I can't walk away from you I can do something without you, you know, and then, as in every discussion, you calmed down and started to see all the beautiful things you learned from the game, which is the second draft.
kobe bryant mamba mentality usc performance science institute
You know you guys are here now, but I wanted to make sure it was visual. So it's easy to say "Tell the game I love you so much," but instead I wanted to paint a picture with that, so if a kid is rolling up his dad's stinky socks, chances are you liked the game enough How to do it, you know, so you try. to say things visually and unfortunately Glen Keane believed in the vision and John Williams believed in a vision and brought it back to an animated film and gives us a little bit of what it's like to be nominated and win an Academy Award , you already know. talk about being a kid and playing basketball your whole life when you were a kid have you ever dreamed of hearing the hip and the Oscar going to no no I grew up in Italy okay so late I don't even know the Oscars were the same?
kobe bryant mamba mentality usc performance science institute
I had no idea, you know, and when the nominations came, we were nominated and it was like, oh, that's nice, that's pretty crazy, that's crazy, and then, winning it, I remember winning and just looking at my wife to go on. , did you know? Okay, okay, this happened, okay, okay, and I remember after we wanted to get in the car and you know, it was like a night, so you all were hanging out and stuff, it was like the 4:00 in the morning, you know? The car comes back and I look at my wife and go. They followed me, let's talk to the studios and what project you have coming up, but you're right, you've set a pretty high bar, it's a bit.
I don't know what the hell you're doing, we're Glen Keane and John Williams. I saw downhill after that, it's like you know it's, uh, but no, it's been a fantastic experience, it's been wonderful, but even more important than that, I had a lot of fun. Look at my last year, what people said, okay, what are you going to do when you retire? At different stages, you'll be down the first week, the second week and they'd tell me this all the time, so I felt like domination was validation that this is real and I can do this.
Talent besides dribbling and shooting the basketball, I can actually write, yeah, so I think that was the most important thing, it's a great lesson, no matter what you do, there are other talents that you have cultivated that are waiting for you. let's talk about, you know, focus on basketball, since that was the predominant part of your life, when did you start playing basketball and at what age did it become your main focus? I was like two years old and my dad wasn't one of those dads that said you're going to play basketball and you know he wasn't one of those guys, he was just in the game a lot and gravitated. to the ball and I was completely excited about the smell of the ball and the way it sounds when it hits the concrete versus how it hits the parquet floor and the sound of the Nets and the different materials of the Nets and you know.
There are certain groups of basketball, like in high school gyms and college gyms, that sit slightly above the bottom of the backboard and it's like I'm going crazy. If I walked into a gym, we'd like the NBA with the backboard bottom bracket. and the hoop were completely parallel to each other and I was like that scared me, so to answer your question, I was born to do this at that time and I did it non-stop all day from the age of 2 to when I retired and it's interesting about the movie and you probably say it's like you know when you fall in love with something you really fall in love and you don't really have a choice, it chooses you well and then somehow you become indebted to it so it's interesting to see it come out like a love letter because probably no one would assume that that would be the way you would express it, well, no, I mean, that's the trick, no. it's finding what you like to do if we talk about hard work all the time tonight, you know, man, if you had to get up every morning, remember how hard you need to work, probably to choose a different profession, you know, because that doesn't should not be there.
I wake up in the morning excited to arrive. You know, if I'm not training, I'm missing out. I'm not watching the game. I miss him. You know, there's no place I'd rather be. and if you have that feeling then you are really doing it with God he has put you in his grass to give great advice and then you see who you left you went from high school you didn't get out of high school you graduated from high school you went straight to the NBA you were so young , you are 17 years old, your parents had to sign your first NBA contract here, so here you are the youngest person not only on the team but in the league, we have a group of graduating students.
Who is most likely going to their first full-time job? Do you have any advice for students coming into an organization and being the youngest person not in the room but in the entire company? Well, I mean, in business it's a little different, you know, I think. the best way to prove your worth to work is to learn is to absorb to be a sponge you always want to develop your potential as hard as you think you can work you can work harder than that and that's what I try to do when I first came and led but You know basketball is such a direct competitive sport that when I got to 17, I hated it when, as my teammates said, you know, I hit him with an elbow.
Shaq hit me with an elbow in practice and, as you know, Nick Van Exel will come up and say, are you okay, are you okay? What's wrong with you, you know, it's like I've always had that extra resentment on my shoulder, so every day I practice for me I was really trying to annihilate everyone that was there. I was playing against it because I wanted to show that you don't need to take care of me like I'm fine, you know, and like always, that competitive nature and work ethic and curiosity because I asked a lot of questions, you know, playing with barns, God.
I asked him a lot of questions, Eddie Jones, who was great at chasing cars off screens, and he didn't understand how to do it. I would sit with him before practice, after practice, magic James Worthy Kurt Rambis Kareem Abdul, all the Laker grades. I always sit there and ask questions about certain games that I've studied growing up, what really happened there, what you felt there, and why you know that's a tough bird to defend, because because you seem slow to me, I'm like I'm missing out. kind of tell me what I'm missing, you know what I mean, that's why I always asked questions and tried to learn everything I could, right, no, just a different generation, you guys probably never saw a bird play, we just We've done it.
I've seen Larry Bird play Hi everyone's seen Larry Bird that's not a high enough percentage that we have we have some work to do you know you're 18 at the moment but I thought that might be the best meme to send to Boston this afternoon. Well my kids have never seen Jordan play and they don't know AZ, they don't know, let's dive into your mindset because I really think you have a lot of things that translate beyond sports when we talk about mindset. and beliefs we talk about limiting beliefs as a kind of ceiling of your potential, you know how you think about yourself, whether positively or negatively, that is probably your potential, how do you stretch your beliefs and make sure that you are continually pushing the limits of your potential? your comfort zone and your abilities I only dream my dream they have dreams and dreams must be pure I think that many times we are born into this world and in reality we end up going backwards and it seems that the more we mature, the more Our dreams become more responsible and the more governors we put ourselves and our ability to dream and reimagine, it is always a struggle for your parents and for you to ensure that your dreams always remain pure, so it is not a question of going beyond. limitations and expectations, it's really a matter of protecting your dreams, protecting your imagination, that's really the key and when you do that the world seems limitless and when you set your dreams many times, especially in business and entrepreneurship, you have a big vision and people will instantly start asking you how you're going to do it and then what we tell people is you know, don't get caught up in the how, because if you know every step to achieve your dream, you haven't really dreamed big. . enough, you shouldn't know every step of the way and you will have a tendency to back off, so I would say yeah, don't be realistic in your dreams too, let's talk about a particular game, we're not going to cover basketball. stands out because we'd be here for months, but let's talk about a game that kind of breaks the notion of what some people might think was possible in 2006 against the Toronto Raptors, you scored 81 points, second only to Wilt Chamberlain's hundred points. no one has really come close to your total as people have it in the 60's including you, he made 28 of 46 shots, 18 of 20, 18 of 20 free throws, you made 55 in the second half and 28 of the last 31 your team's points, there's the score. book about us showing that the score book and the answer to the trivia question who was the second leading scorer in that game is smoosh parker he is so good so we have four he had hit a good 13 13 it was something that if you were watching it.
It just kept growing lately. I know why I had to score. You won difficult days. I was tough. If you look at that lineup, you understand. Lakers Jerry Buss said it was like watching a miracle happen and for those of us who watched it on TV or were there, it really was one of those things you just couldn't believe was possible. Did you do it during the game? Did you have to like it? reset your beliefs I know Lamar Odom was saying you can't get 60, you can't get 70 or you just let it flow and whatever happens or you really liked looking up numbers, no, you know, I always dreamed when I was a kid that you know it was possible to get 80 or 90 100 I was like, you know, I had a dream, you know, sometimes we lay in bed and you visualize things, you just know, that's how at least that's how I would go to sleep I lie down that I imagine playing for the Lakers and I imagine with the uniforms it looks like I imagine we would be playing you know the smell of the sand and all kinds of things and I saw myself you know warming up you know, scoring ten points in a row and then, but in the dream, what?
Why would you interrupt that? in a dream and then before I go to sleep I have a hundred and twenty points, no, and so, when you grow up, you will download that into your brain over and over again and then you will know that that summer I made a thousand shots today, a thousand,right, that's in addition to the weight training and my conditioning, I made a thousand shots and they weren't just shots, they were shots that you saw in that game, there were specific shots, I mean, it comes out of the corner, it goes to the pop-up post, game of feet on the next pole. off screen was very specific so when you download that into your system and you go out on the court and you're just executing things that you've done thousands of times before and you have that dream then that becomes possible yeah it's all been no It's choreographed but it's been practiced so many times that it's second nature, so I reinvent it like I don't understand that you go out and play and you're just trying to create something new no, no, this is what I do. what I do extremely well, you're going to have to stop me from doing that, and if you stop me from doing that, I'll have a counterattack for that.
You know, years later, you watched a replay of that game and live-tweeted it. what you were thinking and I thought students might like to see some of your IDC tweets, don't you remember this is awesome, so it says I'm watching the game now. I missed easy shots. I could have been a hundred minus fourteen. getting hot at this point I wouldn't pass a kidney stone and finally I should have been a comedian what the hell and I finally knew I should have gotten a new haircut for this game yeah, yeah, but missing two free throws is kind of Ridiculous though, Like if you make all those shots and you miss two free throws, you know, it kind of happens, yeah, let's talk about mindset and philosophy because we tell students that it's very important that you have a personal philosophy in your basketball career.
Did you have an articulated competitive philosophy? Something short that meant something to you that really represented what you interpreted. My philosophy was very simple. I am and this is where I think cinema plays a big part of my life. Rudy was one of my favorite movies growing up, if you haven't seen Rudy I suggest you go and watch Rudy. The reason why there is temperature, no problem, it's not a name, so I think the USC football program is fine, but after watching that movie. I came to understand if I could work as hard every day with the blessing of the physical tools that I have with my career and I made a promise to myself from that day that I would work as hard every day so that when I retired, I would have no regrets. and the most important thing for me was to leave no stone unturned, to improve every day and if I lived that way, in time you would know that I would have something beautiful, but that was my philosophy.
It seems simple enough, but you know, if you lived your life to get better every day and did it for 20 years. I mean, how are you right? Did you know that you seemed at peace both before and during the game? Before the game, you know, we saw you during the anthem, you seemed to be going to a place you know, you were building calm and confidence, do you have a mindfulness or meditation practice that you use while playing? Yeah, well, Phil introduced us to meditation when he came over. our team in 99mm and it was something that I was instantly drawn to because I could see the effects that I used to see, you know, studying the games of the Bulls teams and you know, watching their demeanor, watching their composure, you know, playing in a tough place like Utah got to the finals and was down 17 but everyone was like that you couldn't tell if they were down 17 or up 20 or a tied game and it never changed and I was wondering why the hell is that like that and that's why I started to investigate more. and when it came, I immediately gravitated towards it and then I took on the challenge of finding what that space is and for the 81 point game and to be honest, I wasn't even thinking about the game, my knee hurt so much that it didn't.
So I don't know, but you know how to shake a cartilage joint stuck in my joint line, so my mom was really trying to go to a place where she doesn't feel that pain and the game started and that's why I was in a different space, You know, I wasn't worried about what was coming, I was worried about what just happened, I was just here and when you're there in the moment playing plays right in front of you, your concentration increases because nothing else matters. and that's the space I've been trying to get into, it's a perfect definition of mindfulness in the present moment without judgment and not for nutrition, although I ate a pepperoni pizza the night before the game, full disclosure I also ate a quarter of pound with cheese. before the game so to be young at the champions dinner you wouldn't exactly eat that now yes, the nutrition didn't come until later, so you talk about practice.
I want to emphasize that you know Allen Iverson, who was a phenomenal player with the 76ers. famously ranted about you know, when a reporter asked him about missing practice and he just said, you know, practice, we're talking about practice, I mean, it's pressured, it's not a game and it was classic, it continued to be banned, ya You know, Iverson's approach is not the Kobe Bryant approach, you really focused in practice, tell us what you brought to practice and how you achieved that standard for the rest of your team. Well, I mean, this is what I practice, it was important to me, not from the point of view of justice, that I enjoy playing.
I enjoyed being there, I enjoy getting better, but as a team leader it's also your responsibility to elevate the rest of the guys and what people will tend to get stuck on, like saying, "Okay, the way to get players better is to pass." ". the ball when they are open, that is a very trivial way of looking at things, but what you have to do is get them to want to be better, you have to get them into an emotional space where they wake up every morning. Driven to be the best version of themselves, how do you do that?
In practice, for me it was an opportunity to push them to challenge them, and this is where you have to know your teammates, because if it's late, you just have their back. back and we had practice until the next day and you show up and the guys don't feel like going through the motions they don't feel like practicing, it's important to know each and every one of them individually because then you know it's shameless to touch them. some guys say okay come on let them know we can do this thing that will get them going. Guys know you have to figure out which button to press.
You know, friend, it was always Spain to tell them how they lost in a gold medal. us and how they are going to lose again. I'm going to beat your ass in practice just like I beat you in a gold medal game. Everything you take, you hate, but that's what you have to practice to push them, you absolutely have it. and if practice is more intense and difficult than a game seven, we'll be in a game seven, it will be easy, but if it's not, that's when teams start to fold and capitulate. You know it's actually a perfect transition to knowing how to create. a high

performance

culture with coaches and team leaders.
You know everyone needs to be on that page to help you become the best version of yourself. Speaking of which, we have someone who would like to ask you a question from Seattle. Please ask this question. Hello, I'm Pete Carroll of the Seahawks, joining Professor Belasco's class and one of the all-time greats, Kobe Bryant. I'm delighted to be a part of this evening, but I just have one simple question. Really, Kobe, you have been one of the great competitors of all time to have played any sport and I am very curious to know what it was like for you with all the courage and all the makeup that you had to be a great competitor, what was it like for you?
You played with people who weren't as brave as you, how did you deal with that? How did you set your expectations knowing you were so far away and how did you deal with the players she played with? You know, when you knew that they were still somewhere on the spectrum, but you're at the top, good question, that's a great question, my answer may sound a little harsh, but I'm just telling you about my funeral, you know it's You know, the tolerance for that and the type of culture that the Lakers organization represented in the championships is not tolerated.
You're going to show up to play and you're going to allow banter during practice during this drill that I'm going to beat. I'll let you know I beat you. I'm going to want you to reconsider your choice of professional life. Most people will say, Okay, that doesn't make him a great teammate. Well, I'm not going to be a great teammate. I'm here to help you win championships so it's a difference and you know, fortunately for us, for me, you know we had an organization that was championships or nothing and they were very good at identifying that and bringing players here that had competition. streak and you know, get rid of the ones that didn't, if I have a fight to get you to the gym, that's a problem, that's a problem, you want players that are gym rats, wannabe players in the gym that want to work and then , from there, build on that, but if you're lazy, I don't want to talk to you, I want to deal with you, you don't make me feel dumber, you know you're going to lower my standards, I don't think so. you can go there there are a lot of teams here where you will fit in perfectly that's what you mentioned at that time they were right down the hall from us how is your heart? they were you mentioned the organization and we're talking about leadership not just on the court and the players within a basketball franchise, the players that you know they were responsible to, we confront each other the coach, the coach reports to the general manager, the general manager reports to the owners, let's look at leadership from the perspective of both players. the organization, so to help us with that, please welcome the president and majority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers Genie bus.
Oh, it's so good you had me called upstairs, yes, I see you are welcome to the USC campus. When I heard you were going to be here I had to stop by to welcome you and say thank you for inspiring another generation and I'm sure everyone is enjoying having you here today thank you thank you I was family there but speaking of which can you share the relationship? between Coby and the bus family with you and your dad, your brothers and what he meant to the franchise in your family to us, you know Kobe was drafted at 17 years old and I will never forget meeting him, he was an enthusiastic young man and I .
I will never forget our weight or we went to lunch and our waiter Kobe asked if he spoke Spanish and the waiter said yes and Kobe said I'm going to learn Spanish and I thought it was very strange that someone so young would face a challenge like that and now you speak beautiful Spanish, Italian, you do your press conferences in both languages, so you know the idea that we had a franchise player in this, this child was a gift for our family and you know the idea that you have. having been a Laker for 20 years throughout his entire career, that meant a lot to my dad, doctor, to be a Laker for life anywhere, thank you, so what changes?
We're talking about leadership and I want you both to give two answers. What changes did you notice in Coby from when he got to 18 years old until he matured and became kind of a leader, not just like Shaq and Kobe, but what changes did you notice over time in him when you have your star player who Is he the first to arrive? the gym and the last one out sets the bar for everyone else. He made my job much easier thanks to his leadership. I don't think people really get credit for the amount of work he put in because he made it look easy and you know sometimes you know his teammates would get a little frustrated with you because you set the bar so high, but that's what made it so.
The Lakers were great for your tenure as a Laker and we miss you and, above all, you know it. like Kobe said, the Lakers play for world championships, they will play for division championships or conference championships, they play to win everything and from 1997, when Kobe came into the league until 2012, the Lakers were in the playoffs all but one year in the last years. of Kobe's career, they are a young team and they were not and were out of contention for the playoffs. How does his attitude and leadership approach the change of objectives? You know, I know it's nice to say that you want to win the championship everywhere, but it probably wasn't really realistic, so how would you adapt?
How do you fit in as a team leader and then what conversations do owners have with coaches? Teenie Geenie so sweet that she watched me work so hard for so many years and the last few years, her and Rob, that at the time my agent called me and said, listen, we're so sorry about what happened to this team, we're sorry we didn't have you on Seriously, it's like no, we're sorry we don't have it. I don't have a team around you. I can compete for a championship. You know, it's so we can make some calls and get you on a contending team.
That's all because we feel terrible seeing you still out there and Chicago. Remember this. I said they are not on the list. I said you know we haven't known each other for a long time. Now I'm questioning myself because I'm wondering what it is about me that makes you think I would jump ship. We don't do that. because you'll do that, we couldn't stand to lose and and and how angry do you think that's probably going to be, yeah, maybe I'll put up the tea tables. tomorrow some tables not bad for tomorrowWhen would we lose to the Celtics in 2008?
You and Phil Jackson used to say that it's worse to lose in the finals than not to make the playoffs and losing especially to the Celtics was a lot harder, but you took that right off the court and went to the Olympics and led the team to a medal. of gold, so you just took that and then you had the mission to get back to the finals and win, and you did it and we played, it's big, but for me it's a family, it's not like the Lakers. I've been a Lakers fan since I was five years old.
I could always know the history of the Lakers from Minneapolis. I will always wear this today and that's why it's in my blood. this family his father believes in me and is by my side and also things like I don't, I don't go anywhere like this is my home, you know, we work together on things and, as you know, as a leader I will be able to take what good with bad, you can't just because the ship sinks and all of a sudden you could jump from one swim to another like that, you don't do well, you can win championships in front of everyone, then you can miss the playoffs in front of everyone.
You have to be able to move ships or sign with Golden State, but in negotiating there we were not losing, that's recognizing, recognizing that it's the opposite opinion, it's the opposite, you know, it's hard to stand your ground and that's why. I said at the jersey retirement ceremony that I talked about how it could have been easier for you to leave and you know you didn't because you know if you're doing something that's that easy then you might want to reconsider what you're doing. acting like I don't like it I can't you know Durant has been a friend of mine for a long, long time yeah I mean I know he's been a friend of mine for a long time so as a girlfriend I would make all those guys the same decision no but That's your decision, that's your choice.
I would have stayed, but it is what it is, yeah, people have to do what's right for them, you know, I mean, it's not a judgment, it's just a fact, so it is what it is, so Jeannie. mentioned the retirement ceremony and it was unique because it came very early, he had only been retired for a year and you know, as people know, Kobe changed numbers from 8 to 24 during his career, why did you decide to retire two jerseys with both numbers? Well, it was kind of a debate that we had internally and really the idea of ​​retiring a number for a player is that you know that no one else can use that number again because you will always think that the former player is great at that number and so we knew that no one would wear eight or 24 again for the Los Angeles Lakers, but if we take the work of Kobe wearing the number eight and Kobe wearing the number 24, both players would qualify to be on the wall and turned out to be someone who had such an incredible career that He deserved to be there twice.
I am very grateful that that genius was able to come here. I know you have another commitment you have to go to. With this, I'm going to say this off the record, would you ever come back and talk about your business with our students at some point? Let's thank GD Bus for coming with so much GD Bus. You can see why Kobe, you know some of these Kobe. Jordan, phenomenal players, probably doesn't train well. I train my daughter. She is fine. I do. I do. Of course. My trainer. My daughter's team. This use. It's a sixth grade basketball team.
We run a triangular offensive. We do. We do. And you know you can. Don't tell the kids the scores there. I made it too young for that, the first teaching how to burn to the ground, so you have to fundamentally teach them how to pass with your left hand, how to make layups with your left hand, how to dribble properly. of adequate space and first you know all the basics and then when they get to seventeen and eighteen minutes, you meet Jack Aris, so let's make a note for admission seven years, let's put it on the radar.
Game, we have a couple more. minutes and I'll have the students ask you some questions, but I want to dive into your business now that you're sort of transitioning from basketball. It's interesting because most athletes and retired athletes focus their business efforts on building their own brand. personal brand and you certainly know that you have a brand, you have a shoe, but you have chosen to do something else, something that is more daring, something that you haven't really done before, can you tell us why you are doing this? I'm going to pursue a creative endeavor like Granite II Studios because I love doing it.
It's that easy. You know you have to sit on the hash. What will really get you up in the morning. What will keep you awake at night. that answer is: if you stay true to that, you know I've built a brand over the last 20 years. Personal brand, which is great, but our focus won't be that in the next 50 years, it's what we're doing now. Are we taking a big risk? Yes, but I believe that if we focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well, we won't fail at that thing, so sometimes you have to put other things aside and focus on what you believe in.
This is the core of the company and it always starts with what you love to do most, so let's focus on the granite. II Bryant Style Partners is primarily a venture fund that invests in early and growth stage companies. His partner Jeff Style is a very experienced investor. You've already had some wins with some great companies, but I want to spend some time on granite because I think that's where most of your creativity is expressed. We talked about setting limits and artificial boundaries and beliefs in ourselves. Granitic Studios, what does the word granite mean? I mean it means greater than infinity and I just took those words and then made a new word um and the idea is you know, when I started playing the game, it was all about trying to be the best when this guy, you know, when you have many. championships as you can score yada yada yada as you get older you start to understand that it's really about the next generation, that these championships come and go and there will be other people who win championships, but the most important thing you can do is pay it all off what you've learned to the next generation and that's how you really create something that lasts forever and that's why the company's core belief is to create forever now, how do you do that and that's how you create something that's better ? that infinity inspires one that inspires the next conspires the next and you go on and on and that's the basis of it all that's great and Grammy Studios are two different areas of content production and publishing, can you tell us about the content? detail with Kobe Bryant and it's insignificant Pete and his friends, the beauty of Pete and his friends, so the detail will be released on April 12 on ESPN Plus and what I watched a lot during my career is how players study film because now they It has become like watching game movies. look at what you do right, see what would be wrong, okay, let's do more of that, let's do less of that right, but the way I grew up from Texas winner Phil Jackson, the way the movie was broken down, It was broken down to the smallest detail. to the right angle, you've broken down the timing of your foot placement, you watch a teammate's stance, you know, what they might be thinking, what they might be feeling the same way with the opponent, you know, you watch the feed, you watch to the players going into timeouts, who's talking.
For those who don't talk, you start looking at every little thing, so watching the game would take me like five hours and what's missing is the attention to detail, so I felt like if I can put that into a show, I've got the next generation. Eleven year old kids I hope they are watching the game at that level, what will they be when they are 25? they know what level they would be at then and it's one of my passions to make that work like I said, April 12th would be The first episode is very interesting, you know, we learned a lot of things when we were younger and then we never learned how to learn again, for so this is a tool to learn to learn and learn to be great, and then what about insignificant?
Pete and his friends, Puny P, it's like that, it's easy to create a sports version of the peanut gang, which is the most fun, it's amazing, there are these little kids, this kid called RIP and God bless his heart, no No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to. seems to do it well, but it tries and tries and tries and tries and it's a podcast and what I wanted to do with the podcast is that normally you listen to a person talk and in the podcast it almost becomes white noise because you cut it off, you hear someone talking. and then you're going to pay attention, but what I wanted to do is go back to where there was no television and sports were on the radio, so we have these two characters, Clarke and Kimberley Spice, and they are the announcers.
So they are our view of the world and they want to grow to become the best broadcasters of all time, and so they comment on what it is that we see and we have these kids that are playing all these sports, baseball, football. basketball, it's really about the relationship between all of them and the power of dreams, success and failures, it's a series about their journey, but it's fun, it's a podcast in the right pocket, yes, and on the editorial side I heard they like it. Nine different novels, yes, in development, can you tell us what ROM they are in and what role you play in generating the characters in the content?
Espionage and everything is sports and fantasy, so you know, having children, if I try to tell my daughters. I have to work hard and also things like they just look at me like, dad, yeah, we get it, we get it and it just goes from one ear to the other, so I had to start trying to figure out how to plant. that in the stories and the content of the short stories that I can read to them before bed and that's when the messages sink in because they pay more attention to a character than to what the hell I'm saying. you know, but I fooled them because I wrote the story, ha ha ha, and that's where this whole idea started and from there, you know, I started outlining different characters and creating a whole world that focused on sports and fantasy and magic and the first series of novels that will launch your role as a magician's self and is a magical trainer who comes to teach these children the magic that is within them and use the fundamentals of play and emotion within each character and how they navigate those emotions to reach their full potential those are universal themes it sounds like you're using the Disney model you're building a studio in Orange County getting Hollywood talent to come there and join you well we need We need big writers, editors, anyone here in this room who fits that asshole?
We're in Costa Mesa, so anyone who loves sports, love stories, and fantasy, there's a home for you, you know, we just happen to have number one. film school in the world, probably the most storied athletic heritage in all of college sports, great business school, great engineering, so I think there will be a lot of people who will probably join you at Granite II, awesome and I'd like to do it. before my turn. I turn to students to ask questions. I really find it fascinating that they've immersed themselves in something that's very different than professional sports, that hasn't really been done before, and that I hope feeds their creative side through granite.
I like that you've fueled your competitive side through sports, I only wish you all the best, thank you, thank you, let's start with some students, can you stand up, tell them who you are, you have about six or seven for yourself, hey Toby , I mean on behalf of Thank you all so much for being here today. My name is Sarah Hughes. I am a master's student in the Entrepreneurship program. I played on the beach volleyball team when I was a student and now I play professionally for the USA team. My question to you is what did you do?
Know and learn at the end of your career what you wish you knew at the beginning, understanding empathy and compassion, because as a kid, when I came into the league, it was like I was driving this way and I would either be in training or be in the league. clue but there was no such thing as understanding that people have lives outside of the game us rich people apparently I didn't but I like it if I understood it at a young age and it helps me as a leader to communicate better I came to understand that later and by knowing to people on a personal level, whether it's their fears, their insecurities, their dreams and ambitions, their desires, that kind of thing, you come to understand that about a person, then you can help them achieve the best version of themselves.
I wish I had known sooner thanks, oh thanks Kofi, how are you? I'm Jordan McLaughlin. I am a final year student here and working on my master's degree in communications management. I played on the USC basketball team. My question for you is. I'm preparing for the NBA Draft right now, so what recommendations do you have for someone on choosing an agent? Not because it's a dying business. I hope there are no agents here. Finally he is an agent. lucky because Rob was the type of agent that worked collaboratively with his players, so my advice to you is find an agent that will collaborate with you, don't point you here, point you there, well, work behind the scenes in the shadowswithout you knowing what.
What the hell is going on, an agent who will make you be part of the meetings, will have you in that room, discuss with you, not only present you with a contract, but also explain to you clause by clause what you are getting into and get your feedback on it, so if I could find an agent like that man who is You're doing well, I appreciate you getting it, good luck. Hi, my name is Waverly, I'm a senior majoring in International Asia and Global Business, and I really enjoyed hearing about your different projects and new businesses, and I was wondering if I had to tone down your competitiveness in your approach in the new work environment um, yes, yes, more than a little, no, well, bat like I said, basketball is different because it is such a direct competition, what we do now there is not because of the competitiveness that I have. bringing to work every day really helps people, in a sense, be competitive with themselves.
If you're animating something or writing a script or composing a piece of music, it's the best you can do. do it right, don't ask me, don't say, okay, do you approve, don't ask me? I'm not the musician, I'm not the songwriter, you know, okay, so the competitiveness is more from an individual perspective, are you this? the best thing you can do and the answer is yes then we're leaving so it's different thank you very much yes it's very welcome hello Kobe my name is vittorio Eric I'm Jewish my owner came to watch don't play by the way volleyball and she was sitting there and He said, "My goodness, they hit that ball so hard, it's the first time I've seen them play, although thanks for coming, you're always welcome.
My question for you is players like Kevin Love and Demar Derozan coming up to share." her stories about mental health What is your opinion on this and why is it important for elite athletes to join this universal conversation? Well, that's a great question. I think it's important for athletes to own what they're going through, their awareness and I think a lot of times we try to tell kids, tell young athletes in particular, that you have those thoughts and those feelings that are weaknesses, that they are bad, that you shouldn't feel that, what then makes them feel some way about themselves and they carry that will be with them for the rest of their lives and I think the most important thing is that we are aware of what is happening here, not that it is bad, good and different, but it is awareness and once you are aware of it, then you can choose to walk hand in hand with it or you can choose to fight against it, but you are making that choice if you can constantly bury it in the distance, then it starts to rot and it arises in different ways and manifests itself in different ways. ways so I think it's amazing tomorrow and what Kevin is doing and I hope to see more of that thank you hey are you awesome?
I'm Satori, I'm a dance student here at USC. I will be the first generation to graduate and I am a junior now, so of course I have to ask. Many times dancers and athletes find themselves at odds with each other even though their craft demands the same of them, so I have to know how you see the dance and other things. art forms and athletics are aligned with each other, well there was one year they played the Indiana Pacers in the finals. I sprained my ankle really bad. Jalen Rose stepped on me on purpose, admits now I finally broke my ankle really, really bad.
I am back. I finished the series but couldn't touch a basketball until mid-September, which was driving me crazy. I couldn't train, but I looked at this, it was like the 10th time I've sprained my ankle and in one season, so I'm looking at that. I'm saying okay I have to address that and since I couldn't get on the basketball court what I did was I took tap dancing lessons, no joke I took tap and tap was like the best workout for me in the world . because it strengthened my feet, changed my rhythm and my approach to the game.
I was able to change gears when I came back the following season. You know, I think dancers put a lot more trainer into their body than athletes and I think there are a lot of things that can be learned from my daughter studying ballet for several years and I was sitting there in class and I didn't know what I was going to do. in his class. I don't know anything about ballet, but I'm sitting there. the class and I'm watching and watching to get first position second position. Sorry, I'm learning the structure and the rules that go along with that and as athletes there's a lot to learn from that because if you just go out there and perform and play, yeah, you're going to be great from time to time, but if you play with the structure, yeah understand the rules that come with it, the discipline that comes with it, then you will reach another level, but you. have my respect if other people don't see that's what's going on by the way I was a horrible tap dancer the way my

mentality

didn't translate to that man I wasn't going to get coffee good man are you doing it right with someone?
My name was Malik, I am a final year student studying communication. I will be getting my master's degree in communication management on the soccer team, so I was wondering what is the most important thing I can learn from soccer that would translate to my life afterward. Sports, well, I mean, they're different for everyone. You know, I think for me it was discipline, teamwork. I mean, I think teamwork is the most important thing in the sense that you know, sports is a place where you can have so many people of different ethnicities. of different religious beliefs, political beliefs that are based on one approach but achieve one thing well, so being able to put those things aside to achieve a goal and that is one of the strongest lessons that I think you should learn from sports team, thank you always.
You got lucky? I'm Captain Corbin Pierce, I'm an active duty Reconnaissance Marine and I'm also a father, so I have one last family question for you off the court. How do you inspire and foster that vision of greatness? in a child, you talked a little bit about your storage, you tell them I'm in the city, it's very different than what they see every day on social media, etc., no, yeah. I try to get my children to see the beauty in the process. So when he got big enough, I used to take him with me to training and he used to be there kicking a soccer ball or whatever, but they would see that he's not sitting there and looking upset, but they would see, you know, they know that I.
I would get up at 4 in the morning, you know I'm training again, you know, and there's a basketball movie with deer. I mean, they were there with me as I wrote it and went through the animation process, step by step. I think the important thing we can do as parents is lead by example, but also encourage our children to think incrementally so they don't say "okay", I want to be like you, you know Jonna, for example, my daughter who plays basketball. Now you said your teacher has to play. so I made sure it was okay, I want to be better than you.
I poop, you know, you just know that was the beginning, we'll start with 15 minutes a day up to 15 minutes a day and we'll stay right at the front. of the rim and we just shot right under the rim, we didn't move, we didn't do any dribbling in just 15 minutes a day, we just shot right here and you do it for a month and a half and then next month you take a step back. the next month you take a step back again and then you start working on dribbling correctly, so I think through practical things is how we teach our kids because we can sit there and tell them, tell them, tell them, tell them to win.
You know, we're kicking it. Listen well, but through sports you can teach them to think about things incrementally because that is the way they behave and it becomes part of their process in sports, it will also become part of their process in life. , thank you, it has already been discussed, thank you. Yes, amazing questions, imagining you training your daughter to play basketball. I kind of thought of a Karate Kid, sir. Miyagi, well, just cut off those legs, just do this for a month, so for a month his daughters shot like three-foot bunnies, that's the edge, that's it, you know, it's been a great time.
I told you and talking about Corbin's last time. Quench the question about Baba's fatherhood and mentality. I want you to share why we promise to get you out of here and what you need to do today. What is your other obligation? Okay, I don't like being second in carpool one. No, I'm joking, but I'm really not, so you know, my schedule is always the same. I get up very early, you know, I write, I exercise, I take the kids to school and I go to the office, who works more and then every day I'm there. I carpool to pick up my baby from school and by that, I mean, I don't miss him, sometimes I don't miss him competitively when I pull over and there's a car in front of them, so now you're here in front of me. as if I were. here 50 minutes early like what the hell yeah yeah well it can always be AG imagine if you know you get cut off on the rideshare just like you dodge at the last minute cut your mom yeah always competing in some way way against yourself.
I was just upset, upset, well at USC. we also compete for the best students, the best businessmen, the best dancers, the best athletes, the best engineers, the best guest speakers, we really try to bring everyone here, yeah, it's kind of interesting because he went straight from high school to the professionals. He technically has eligibility left, so I thought I'd bring in a great USC rep to help. Thank you, please welcome football coach Clay Helton Clay, you would be the prettiest target on the face of the planet. Toby, thank you very much. for what you have done for the city of Los Angeles for what you have done for this Trojan family today I am going to tell you that the greatest gift you can give someone is your time and today you gave your time in your way of thinking.
I always thought you were one of the fiercest competitors in the history of any game today. Now I know that you are the fiercest competitor and we teach these young people that to be great you have to welcome competition, it is something innate in all great people and it doesn't matter what field you are in and we would like to thank you on behalf of our trojan family and we would like to make you an honorary trojan. Okay, thank you, yes, thank you. I appreciate you being a Friend, thank you, thank you, thank you, stay here, say the students are last in the questions, come up here for a quick photo, this will show the weapons very well right here, be nice, the students who ask the questions , upload very quickly, guys, thanks for Today has been a great day at USC.
It's great to be a Trojan. Have a great week. Struggle. Thank you, thank you Colby.

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