When Magic Johnson was little his favorite thing was to hit the court and play one-on-one basketball with his Dad.  You can imagine the sweet game of playing with your Dad and hearing, “Good shot” or “Wow, you really got by me with that one” as his Dad encouraged him and complimented.

Well, think again.  Magic said his Dad played tough and NOT ALWAYS FAIR! Can you imagine that?  Aren’t we suppose to let our children win?

Remember what I said about the brain- you learn best from mistakes and Earvin (Magic’s Dad) was going to make sure his son learned how to continually improve.  In Magic’s words, “But that was the point (in not playing fair). Dad was teaching me that I wouldn’t always get the calls, that I had to play above the contact. He taught me to win AGAINST ALL ODDS, and NEVER TO QUIT.”

Now those are lessons worth learning.  What lessons are you teaching your kids?  Your employees?  Do you push them to reach their highest levels or do you let them get by performing at a lower standard?

By the way, Magic Johnson is one of the few successful sports figures to make it in the business world.  His outside businesses produce over $700 million in revenue a year.  That’s some lessons absorbed and acted on!

My motto is “Fail early and fail often so you learn how to rebound, renew and re-energize yourself.”

TAKE ACTION: Look at what lessons you are teaching that are hurting you and your team.  Make a decision today to reverse just one and see the impact it has!