When Phil Jackson was appointed Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls, the team was far from being a championship team. Michael Jordan, however, was winning all the individual awards such as Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Scoring Title for highest points averaged per game, etc.

Jackson wanted to put in place the Triangle Offense, which would involve other Bulls players more than they had been. He had the following conversation with Jordan, which he shared on the episode of Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin.

Jackson: Michael, you are not going to have the ball all the time. You are not going to get 37 shots a game. We have to share the ball. We have to distribute the ball. Everybody’s just playing for you here.

Jordan: Is this an equal opportunity offense?

Jackson: Kind of.

Jordan: I can still win the Scoring Title. That’s not a big deal. I only have to get 8 points a quarter, 32 points a game. I’ll still win Scoring.

Jackson: Nobody that’s won a Scoring Title has won a Championship since Rick Barry. And that’s almost 20 years ago.

Jordan (thinks about it): I could win Scoring and also the Championship.

Jackson: That’s a great challenge. No one’s done it for 20 years. Let’s see you do that.

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My takeaways from this:

1. Open and Clear Communication

Jackson communicated very clearly what the new offensive strategy would mean for Jordan, that he would take fewer shots per game. He made it clear in no uncertain terms that for the team to succeed, other players would have to be involved in the offense. In the new scheme of things Jordan would have to share and distribute the ball.

It was important that Jordan understood his role within the larger context of the team’s success.

2. Reframing from Individual Glory to Team Success

Phil Jackson’s Northstar metric was about winning championships. Jordan having played on a team that was struggling to win more than 0.500 had made his Northstar metric about winning as many of the individual awards as possible.

Jackson cited the statistic about Rick Barry and reframed Jordan’s Northstar metric. That led Jordan himself to conclude that winning individual glory would not mean a whole lot if the team did not achieve its goal.

3. Challenge & Motivation

Jackson created a new ambitious goal for Jordan by highlighting the rarity of his achievement, to be the first player in more than 20 years to win both the Scoring Title & the Championship. This was a new challenge for Jordan, and one that would still be within the context of the team goal.

What do you think?