when there's big decisions that need to be made it seems like everybody looks for the [Music] scapegoat hey everyone welcome back to onp purpose the number one Health podcast in the world thanks to each and every single one of you that come back every week to listen learn and grow I love the community with creating the
purposeful conversations we've been having over the past few weeks have just been absolutely phenomenal and today's guest is going to take us to another level I've been looking forward to this conversation for quite some time since we connected on Instagram and through a mutual friend and today I'm getting to hear about a story that I think a lot of
us may know very little about but has had such a big impact on our lives today's guest is the one and only jeie bus one of the most respected names in all of basketball she's the controlling owner of the Beloved NBA franchise the LA Lakers Jeanie started her Stellar business career at a young age learning from her father who's widely considered
to be the greatest owner in the history of the sport she's also shown that she's unafraid to make big moves and under her leadership the Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship their first championship since 2010 please welcome to on purpose jeie jeie thank you so much for doing this and Jay thank you for all the inspiration that you provide um you know
on an everyday basis you know Little Gems that you know sometimes just write when you really need to hear something your your voice is so inspiring and your messages are you know well received and very appreciated well that means the world coming from you uh you inspire so many through the work that you do and so if my Works touched you in any way I
feel extremely blessed and and grateful but I wanted to start off first of all by thanking you for the championship from last year and all the success I've been a I I always talk about this there's there's very few teams that are known internationally I was born and raised in London and so the only two teams we ever really heard about were
the Chicago Bulls and the LA Lakers those were the the two biggest teams I've been a Lakers fan since and when I moved to LA only two years ago I think I moved here at the same time LeBron came across and I was thinking oh this is this is I was like this is great timing for me and and it was absolutely amazing to watch but I saw that Adam Silva the
NBA commissioner recently called you NBA royalty uh what does that mean to you how does that feel I guess you could say I was born into into this position and so maybe that's how royalty um uh fits into the equation because I don't feel um you know I don't feel that I've privileged or you know have just been given something without a lot of work
and but you know to to have you know Adam Silver say that about me I think it's just because I've been around 40 years in this business no I I completely agree with you and that's what I want to dive in today I think uh from what I know of you what I've learned about you uh you have so much depth and such a journey to share with us today and you're
absolutely right that of in the media and the news like in in the three minute interview you miss that context of someone and who they are and today I hope we get to learn that I I wanted to start with your childhood and because I think childhood is so important in framing who we are tell us about a memory that you have from being a young
girl that you feel has had such a big impact or impression on your life today growing up I always wanted to work in the family business that I loved being around family and being connected and contributing some way to the whole to the unit to the family and um you know I think my dad saw that Um passion that I had for work at that time when he was
building his wealth he was in real estate um that's how he made his money and so I always thought someday I would be working in real estate and and development um but uh as as soon as he had the opportunity Sports was his love and he felt that um you know if he could um you know buy the Lakers um he also bought the Kings hockey team and
the Forum where they played that he wanted um the opportunity to um build a team um and make them successful he wasn't born in Los Angeles but he um moved here like so many people who live here have and the city embraced him and he loved the city and he wanted to give back and do something that he felt was important and he felt at that time there
was such a bias um uh for teams on the East Coast we heard about the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers that that um you know he wanted to make the Lakers great and that would be his his love letter to the city of Los Angeles and that's what he did and in 1979 um I was a high high school senior and uh he he purchased the team and our
B family business pivoted from Real Estate into sports and entertainment and that's you know that's when I started to work and um you know I've loved it ever since I I never um thought I would be sitting here today as the reigning you know controlling owner of a championship team but here we are that's beautiful what do you think was one of
the biggest lessons or skills you obviously have so much love for him and and the work he did and the path he took what was one of the biggest things you learned from him and what do you think one of the biggest things you taught him that that maybe you shared back with him he taught me how to treat people how important it was to um to give people
respect no matter what their circumstance was and um you know he you know I still to this day I love hearing stories of people who who met him along the way and um you know he he treated you know the the most powerful business tycoons the same way he treated the guys um you know pulling up his car at the valet always treated people with love
and respect and kindness and um that was something that you know I I will continue to carry on you instilled that value in me I think when you asked me what did I um teach him that no one's ever asked me that question before I would say that um he was always um um inspired by my my sense of calm about myself about um you know learning you know through different kinds of
therapy and um you know just really um you know kind of taking uh responsibility for me as a person and being disciplined and um you know I think sometimes he kind of said you know you work too hard you know take a weekend off don't you know uh so as a as as uh my dad I think he he he kind of got a kick out of how much I worked and
how much I applied myself and uh I think he appreciated that yeah that's wonderful I I always think that teaching and learning is an exchange isn't it it's whoever it is whether that person's your parent or your partner or your friend it's it's always a two-way thing and I'm sure I'm sure he was so inspired by you and and learned so much from you
as well so thank you for sharing that with us I'm really glad that we went there now I read that you obviously became general manager of the LA strings at the age of 19 and I'm thinking to myself wow that is that's that's incredible first of all at that age uh at that time to do that what if has there been a similar
experience from that time that has felt very true today like have you found some connection or parallel where you're like oh we went through that when I was 19 and I'm experiencing the same thing today what are some of those leadership parallels that you're seeing in your journey when my dad named me general manager of the LA strings um at the age of
19 um you know I was like oh great I now i' i' I've got a team to run and and and team tennis consisted of four players Two Men and two women that you drafted and they played each kind of tennis meaning women's singles men's singles men's doubles women's doubles and mixed doubles five sets and the scoring was cumulative so um it was the brainchild
of Billy Jin King who was one of my mentors because it was a uh a way of um men and women competing together where they equally contributed to the outcome of the match and you know that's the kind of thinking that she does about gender equality and I so appreciated it so now I'm in charge I go to my dad and I say hey Dad I have to draft a team you
know let's let's go over the draft and let's pick players and he said you know I really want you to to pick the team I want you to know what it feels like to to have success and also if it doesn't work out what it feels like to fail so that you'll know you'll learn learn that lesson and I was kind of taken aback by that but he he wanted me to to either
own the success or experience the failure and that was such a gift because he wasn't going to you know try to you know put training wheels on me he wanted me to to take responsibility to feel that uh position and I I so appreciated that and uh luckily in that first year I um drafted Martina neova and we won a championship that
year so um I guess I um I got a taste for winning early on but I I really appreciated the the faith that he had in me and that he empowered me and when I look back and I think wow you know that he took a big risk because he he really didn't know how things would turn out but um you know there's people along the way who who believe in you and that that
that changes your whole dynamic of how you envision yourself and so you know I I I learned that lesson of of you know when people you know see you a certain way that that you know you can accept that and and believe it yourself sometimes you're your own worst critic and your own fears are what hold you back and you know allow you know to to
be you know people opinion of you to be reflected and accepted yeah I love what you just said there there was so many things that you said and I hope everyone who's listening is taking notes right now uh because there's a there was a beautiful thing you said your father shared with you which was he wanted you to own the success and experience the
failure and when you when you said that I thought wow what a powerful lesson to allow someone to do and and to learn to do where we own our success we we celebrate it we value it we take responsibility for it but that we experience our failure and then what you just said there at the end Genie I feel you're so right that we live in a world
today where everyone has an opinion about everyone and everything and it can be really hard for our self-esteem because we already have an inner critic and now on top of that we have external critics and that can become a really loud voice you started leading so early on what was one of the first times you experienced that you know far before where you are now where
you start to realize that your relationship with yourself had to be a priority I truly believe that and you said it so well um you know that um I mean I've I've been inspired by so many great leaders you know Billy J King David Stern Phil Jackson um you know people who um didn't let the critics or the the outside um detractors um
feed you know the the outcome in other words it's like you have to be fearless and sometimes it's hard to do and sometimes you could you you might say I got to put on a face today for the the the people I'm leading and maybe I have some doubts but they can't see that and I have to be strong and I have to stand my ground and you know I guess I I um
you know learned that because believe me I I I had many failures along the way on my path and I'm I'm sure I'll have more coming up in my future that's just part of of being a leader and is and and not being afraid to stand up for what you believe in but know what you're you have to know what direction you're going because if if your doubts might be about
which decision you're making and you can't you can't be a leader like standing on two different sides of the defense you you have to be decisive and you have to to to believe and stand for what your values are and you know I I I feel like I'm I'm a a values oriented leader that that my values dictate my decisions and and when you are clear
about what you value then the decisions become very easy I love that you just spoke about values I in my book last year my first chapter is entirely about setting your defining your values so hearing you say that ring so true how did you jie develop your values because I think a lot of people hear that today but they don't really know how someone
chooses their values how you define them and and also then how you use them and it sounds like you're absolutely right as a leader you have to make some really big decisions you don't get to kind of tow the line and sit on the fence as you said tell us about what what your values are in leadership and and how did you develop them where did they come from I
think the most important uh value that drives me is integrity and it's about being truthful um and and you know and you know like you know the cliche like say what you wait uh do what you say and say what you do you know like that you you um are consistent in the in your decision making and um you know you don't look for
excuses and that if if you if you didn't live up to your expectation that you can accept it instead of trying to find someone to blame in this day and age you can't sit by the sidelines you can't see something that's wrong and ignore it and so that that that's really important to me and that that's like Integrity throughout an organization throughout
society and that's really holding yourself accountable and you know speaking the truth and not trying to you know lay off blame if things don't go your way such a powerful quality such a hard thing to truly like embody every day and it takes work I'm sure it takes work to even practice that on a daily basis and the amount of attention it
takes well you know I I I think we all continue to evolve and that's why like like what you bring to the world is so valuable because you help people learn about themselves and continue to evolve um and you know just from all the the um social unrest that we experienced this past year and um I I had to make a decision um you know I I post poed on my
social media a letter like a horribly and I get a lot of them unfortunately but it was a letter um using words that you know discust me and um I decided to post it on my social media with the the words blacked out so that it didn't offend anybody but I I did that because I wanted my white friends to see that racism exists in this world and that you
know it it we can't turn a blind eye anymore and and and living that with that example and and you know whatever I can do you know I'm I'm willing to do because I think it's important and I think that so so many people just you know if it doesn't affect me then I don't what do I care well if it affects one person then it affects us all like
we have to to realize that we're all part of a community and that if if there's unfairness then then we're not living up to what we can truly be as human beings I'm so glad you raised that I'm so glad you shared that I I saw you post that letter and if anyone hasn't seen it first of all I highly recommend you follow genie on Instagram but then go
and see that piece too because uh I felt and and I I love sports I I I consume a lot of sport but I felt that the NBA and the Lakers did a phenomenal job of standing up with Integrity as activist through the sport I really felt that I mean when you're consuming this sport you could see the NBA had taken a really clear stance and
then of course the Lakers had taken such a clear stance and and I'm and that's not an easy decision and and it's a big decision but as you said it came from a powerful Place why do you think it's really interesting because what you what you just said it's like you know a lot of people can say well yeah it's not our space it doesn't affect me why did you
and the Lakers feel it was so important to be a part of that messaging in the sense where you felt we feel this is going to have an impact were you thinking about younger viewers were you thinking about all viewers like where was your mindset when you're making a decision like that well you know and when I talk talked about my dad you know
and what I learned from him and the values that he instilled in me and and the respect for human beings that he had no matter what their circumstance was you know that's you know this is just you know the next step this is what um you know the Lakers are you know champions of the NBA and and a wellknown brand around the world um but we also
belong to a community and um you know there are people in our community that are suffering and if there are people who are suffering then what can we do and we can stand up for what we feel is right and um you know I don't think of myself or organization as activists I think we're just Illuminating what needs to be known and what needs to be seen
and um you know to have a play like LeBron James who I am so proud of and so um honored to stand beside in so many things um I think he represents um so much of what the Lakers stand for um he is our leader he has you know led us back to the the top of the NBA and um you know and when we lost our uh beloved Kobe and and Gian Bryant he was there to lead us through the
darkness and the pain and you know brought ler Nation together so that we could mourn our um our favorite son Kobe Bryant yeah no and and this is why I I love hearing you speak about these themes and topics it's it shows me what a what an incredible leader you are and what what breath of vision you have like it's such a it's such a wide vision it's
you know we could be sitting here just talking about sports and stats and numbers and you know that kind of stuff and and obviously I we knew we weren't going to talk about any of those things that's why we did this but but I love hearing that because I think anyone who's listening and watching right now can see that becoming a leader of an
organization in an industry doesn't stop you from Illuminating on things that are meaningful to you it doesn't stop you from being who you are and caring for people I think often we feel that when you become a leader you have to kind of tow the line and be really specific and then you can't go out of your area but what you said there beautifully is you
don't see yourself as an activist you see yourself as Illuminating things that are important to your community and and I'm guessing that you felt a lot of support but I'm sure the players also felt a lot of confidence knowing that the team felt that way knowing that you felt that way like I'm sure that builds a lot of trust how have you built trust
over the years because I think that's one of the hardest things in leadership like it's you can have a group of people that win you can have a group of people that succeed but trust especially these kind of themes require a lot more trust tell me a bit about what you've learned about trust over the years Genie and how
that's been built well I think in in my business um you know there's there's a lot of ego involved and when there's big decisions that need to be made it it seems like everybody you know looks for the scapegoat like you know and um and unfortunately the media can be complicit in posting um you know a reporting on an unnamed source and so what what what
I've seen in my experience is I've seen um when a team has to trade a a player and well what if that player goes on to the next team and does better well then that's going to make me look bad so now they have to create a narrative that this guy doesn't work hard enough or this guy you know was bad in the locker room and that I cannot tolerate I cannot
tolerate um a person um you know destroying someone else's character to pump up their own value and you know so when when the media quotes you know unnamed sources I throw that out the window like I don't I don't listen to that I would never be a part of that um but I know even in in my own organization when we were struggling um for a few years there were
there were so many leaks in our organization that that you know now you can't have integrity you can't have trust because when you're bringing your your leadership together to talk about something and then the next thing it's there's an there's something in the media that was spoken behind closed doors now nobody trusts each other well
who was it finger pointing and um you know it's it's completely undermining to an organization to try to build any kind of success so you know we have extinguished the the the leaks we have built a level of trust and now we don't have that um you know who's stabbing me in the back who who's supposed to be on my side but is setting me up for failure
and you know when that with all that distraction aside now this is what can be accomplished you can accomplish great things and it doesn't mean that oh we have the formula of how to win a championship but what H what happens is is that we experience each other in in the best way possible that we can let down our guard and and rely on one
another and allow each other to to complement you know my skill set with your skill set because I know you're not going to you know make me look bad and um you know that's how the Pieces come together to to be stronger than the sum of its parts and um you know we we got lucky that we we won a championship because it it does take luck it takes um
you know injuries you know avoiding injuries and all that but um you know we came out on top and um we've we've got a really special thing going a team that truly cares about each other and LeBron signing an extension and Anthony Davis sign finding and extension is really a great reflection on that you know what we're building here and that that's
what for me that's what is the fulfilling part of it is the is the trust and the the connections and the relationships that we build and then the winning happens right so um you know that's that's how I yeah that's your metric of success like that's like winning the championship of course is an incredible metric of success but the
deeper metric of success is that trust that that Rebuilding Together that desire for people to want to commit and stay on those are those are the real signs of something truly being created is is what I'm hearing and and yeah and what you were saying around it sounds like you've just created really clear boundaries uh of of what your
expectations are because I feel when you were talking about the idea of you know having people around you that don't trust you or having people where there are challenges and conflict I think anyone who's listening and watching can relate to that in whatever workplace they're in like everyone goes through that on a daily basis where you don't
know if that person's going to stab you in the back to get promoted or or that and so I feel people can relate to that but it sounds like you've just created really clear boundaries for you and your team and you're trying to hold everyone to a high standard tell me about what do you think Genie's been your personal biggest and I use the word challenge
because I think failure often paints a negative view but what would you say is being your personal biggest challenge in your life and how have you worked to overcome it where have you had to go internally to overcome that challenge that's a great question because I recently experienced that it was you know when when uh Magic Johnson stepped
down as the head of our basketball um it really took me by surprise and again like that I don't know really what's happening right now and that's when um you know the people that I I truly trust that are close to me said you know you're you have to you have to have an organization that reflects what's important to you and you know you're you
can't fight what's happening out with all this speculation in the media don't fight it just just be quiet and do your work and and that's what we did and and you know so um it and and it was the hardest thing I ever did was you know reading horrible things about me or other people I work with and you know your your your first instinct is to punch back you want
to you know you want to get you know tell people to shut up and like and and you know so but you know what for as much as they know that's they're reacting to what they see so you have to let people own their opinion but you know what the truth is and so I had to just keep my mouth shut and not react to to the negative and do the work and
that's um you know that's what we did and and again we we were the fortunate winners of the the the championship which is always the goal but um really what I learned was that I could trust um the people that I'm surrounded with and that that was always what was important to me to have um was that that trust that that I give that I would get back
and and it's it's such a pleasure to work with the people that I work with now and I you know there there was you know a moment when when magic stepped down because he was such a an important part of why LeBron came to the Lakers to begin with that I thought LeBron might decide hey you know this isn't what I signed up for you know um you know I
want to be traded you know he didn't he didn't do that instead he he um he knew what the truth was he knew that the organization was well-run he believed in what we were doing he believed in me and that was that was such a turning point I can't imagine the levels of uncertainty when something like that happens like the the level of uncertainty and
um the the the questioning and the insecurity about what and if and what's this person going to think and say and how's this going to react then when you're dealing with all of that it's uh I I wonder what does genie have to do before she's in the boardroom right it's like what do you have to do behind closed doors behind the scenes what are
your what are your practices and some of your habits maybe Genie that you do that that allow you to stay you were saying that the biggest thing your father loved about you was your ability to work hard but be calm and and he he liked your calming presence even today I I feel such a you you have and I've seen interviews with you before I've you
celebrate and I've I've watched you many times but you have this beautiful calming energy about you even even through this screen and and I wonder what are some of your practices and habits what are some of the uh internal rituals that you've created for yourself that are that are not there in the boardroom that aren't there on the
news but but that you're doing every day or every week or every month that are helping you be calm during that that chaos having a routine in the morning is really important and before you go to sleep I think that's that's valuable but um you know at I was um with Phil Jackson um for over 15 years living with him and um you know he you know they call him the Zen master
so you know I I got a lot of of my um you know kind of clarity about what's important and how to focus and um watching him um you know that you know there's a lot of ups and downs in our business you know just in everyday life there's ups and downs and he he's uh so consistent in um how he approached things he never um he always looked forward there was
always a path he never dwell on what had just happened if the team had lost by 60 points you know it was you know it was forgotten about or not forgotten it was you know okay well now what do we we have another game coming up it's always looking forward and I guess that's that's the beauty is that we always have the next day we
always have um you know we we do our morning routine we we we deal with what we deal with in the day and then we we go home and we we have our routine and and we go to sleep to the next day and we can make things better so I I guess there's like an optimism with that but also that staying in the moment that a a routine allows you and and you know that you're
going to have the next moment and you're going to do better and you're going to have another opportunity so there's no reason to collapse now because you're going to have another chance and um I guess that's where I you know the calmness comes because it's like you know there there isn't anything that we can't um you know overcome or
take on you know things might not always go our way but you know we have another day yeah I really appreciate you saying that I think I think that's something we often forget that we often forget that there's another opportunity you can take another shot you can try again you can rebuild you can recreate you can change this you can adapt and sometimes we live
too in the moment where we're just like oh no this is all there is and it's not going right right now re not realizing that there's always a growth now one of the areas we don't see growth is that you know there aren't many other women yet that are general managers of of franchises and uh I think that that's something that we are going
to see change it is something that you're a Forefront leader in and will inspire so many do you ever feel though that and and this is a an honest question do you ever find that lonely or do you find that inspiring like how do you see that do you see that as like oh no one understands me and no one can relate to me because there's not many of
us and as you said you've had such amazing mentors uh in that space who've also felt that loneliness or inspir how do you process that I know what it meant to me as a a young person to see women in positions of power and how inspiring that was for me so um you know I I you know in the last 40 years I've seen a lot of change in uh women um um having
powerful positions in all areas of sports and entertainment um and you know it it's just you know I my advice to to young women is to follow your passion and you know that will lead you to where you want to be um and and you know if if you you feel that that being a woman you know it's such a competitive business that if if if
somebody you know wants to get an edge on you and they think that if they can push your buttons because you're a woman because you you might think you're less than than they are than a than a man then they theyve found your button they found a way to get to you so you know I I can tell you that gender doesn't matter you know it's you know people are
what matter Talent is what matters and that's what you know will take you to where you want to go how much how much have you engaged with Genie with whether it's therapy or mindfulness in your own practice in your own life like how much of that has been useful to you because of the extreme pressure you've had to handle throughout has that been a tool
that you've reached to into your toolkit that has been that has been powerful for you absolutely I think therapy um has been a huge benefit for me I um even um had the experience of going through group therapy which was really really valuable and I I think there are so many um opportunities for people now you know before it was like um I think therapy
was something that people kept quiet or didn't talk about but I I think the more we can shine a light on it and and show how valuable a tool it is about um learning about yourself um you know in in group therapy one of the the things that I learned was um it was a co-ed group probably about um 10 or 12 people I forget and these are people you knew
or people you didn't know no didn't know W just like around the same age um you know uh experience um I was going through my divorce um and um so a co-ed group was good for me and um you know people just dealing with everyday problems and finding a place where they could discuss it well there was there was one guy that he no matter what I
couldn't connect with him like everything I said he made a face at he just didn't like anything and and I knew it was I was coming to a point where I was going to have to confront him and and ask him what is it about me that you don't like because it it was driving me crazy it was Haunting my dreams like you know like I I could always find common
ground with people and um you know I finally you know got up the courage to say to him like I I I just get the feeling you don't like me no matter what I say or what I do or you know can you tell me about that and he said oh it's not you it's just that you look like someone that I went to high school with that I asked out and she didn't go out
with me and and and like he was kind of surprised that he he didn't realize that he had an attitude towards me not for anything that I did just because I reminded him of somebody he he had a a situation with and that that just like I was like oh wow you know it's like the whole world doesn't revolve around me it's not always me that's the problem
right and so you just you kind of open my eyes to like you know you know sometimes people aren't going to like you and it has nothing to do with you and you can't spend all your time worrying about making sure everybody does like you because it just is may just not happen that's such a good story I love that thank you for sharing that
that's such a good story yeah it's it's such a truth not to take things personally and not to make everything about you and and and what you just finished with that even if you did everything right not everyone's going to like you and that's just not possible and that that that addiction we have to hoping that every person we meet loves
us uh giving that up allows us to receive love from the people who do love us and love the people who who do love us in our lives it really frees up so much mental space because otherwise we're just pursuing this one person or two people that we want to impress and we want them to think we're amazing and it can be a a whole life can be wasted
doing that I was going to ask you uh the same question that I asked you earlier about your father and you've mentioned LeBron a few times what's something that LeBron's taught you and what do you think you've taught LeBron I wish I could teach LeBron something he's he I off the court off the court or on the court or on the court he's he's he is um you know he is
he is fearless and I I you know i' I've watched him and he everything he he says or does has a purpose you know it isn't just wasted words or to get on camera it's it's like if he says something it he's thought about it and it it it means something and he's very consistent in his message and he's he's you know I think he's like a real life superhero
because he he fights for what he believes in and he's the strongest person I've ever seen on the court and you know he's he's just he's been just uh you know an inspiration and I enjoyed getting to know him as a person and he has um inspired me and I hope that I've inspired him because he's he has a daughter and I hope that you know as a
father he sees what is possible for his daughter because you know the collaboration that we have in winning a championship yeah thank you for sharing yeah it's beautiful and and and I love hearing the the genuine friendship you have with so many of the team and the and the players and I wanted to ask you because it's such a deep and dear memory of mine and
obviously such a big impact on all of Leake a nation when I think about Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryan it's uh uh when when I sat with him for the interview I've I've never felt that energy in the room before it was it was different it was it was completely different and I I say that to people and I said that as soon as I'd interviewed him but and I'm
not and I just want everyone to know I am not over amplifying it it was that in the moment it is not based on um the events afterwards that make me say that it was very real what was one of your memories with him that you think people may not be aware of or something he shared with you or a moment you guys shared that that you think really
embodies just who he was and and how important his legacy and message is you have to remember like we met Kobe when he was 17 you know and he he grew into this he evolved into this great man this great leader um and he learned so much about himself through basketball and you know his lovely Oscar winning film you know dear basketball
where he talks about that love and what experience he had and um you know um he I I I I I guess the story I would share is um when he had made the decision to retire from the game um and at that time I I I didn't oversee any of the basketball um and you know but I obviously ran the business side of the team and Kobe asked to meet with me privately
and he had never done that before and you know was unusual because I didn't run the basketball side I mean obviously I knew Kobe but that was my first you know meeting that he asked for and at that meeting he you know shared with me that he he wanted to announce his retirement from the game he loved and he had a very specific way he wanted to do it and it
required U planning and Logistics to make sure because he wanted he wanted a letter to be given to every fan at in attendance at the game I think it was two weeks in advance that we had and um he wanted you know nobody would know anything that he was going to make this announcement until he made it there was no leaks there was nothing and I knew
who I could trust in the organization to execute this that it wouldn't get out and that it it would the announcement would be on his terms and that's when I think he he really he knew that I was there in his corner for him and you know that that gift that he gave us by announcing his retirement at the end of November of that season
allowed the whole NBA to pay you know tribute to him so every G every town we went to it was you know because the at the the T the team at the time was you know we were in last place we were not doing well and um but you know the Lakers sold out every Arena that we went to because the fans that you know booed him and didn't want him
showed him their love and I think he was so moved by that like I don't think he even he you know saw that coming but he gave all of us such such a gift because he shared with us something so personal and allowed us to show him our love um you know that that just meant the world to me that you know that he trusted me and he knew that I would do the right
right thing so that he could retire on his terms which was so important for his mental well-being to leave the game on his terms so um you know he he uh I know the energy that you're talking about he had the Charisma um the knowing who he was um and he and you know we all know the mama mentality and the T but it all was from love everything came
from love the competitiveness he loved playing he loved when an opponent you know was he loved playing the Celtics he you know it was all love that was that wasn't anger and you know that that determination just was who he was like he wanted everybody to challenge him because it brought out the best in him and that that was uh such a beautiful
part of about him was um appreciating the journey and um appreciating the game and appreciating the opponents that were willing to to lace him up and take him on and and and try to stop him from scoring 81 points G that's amazing thank you for sharing that and thank you just this this whole interview I appreciate your your candidness your your
open-heartedness you've been raw and vulnerable and open and I'm always going to remember this interview for having felt that I've experienced heartfelt and egoless Leadership from you and and I really appreciate that like I think that's very rare today and often we we think that that doesn't exist and even the mentors you mentioned or the people
in your life you mentioned it's amazing to see that the people that have risen to the top have all had that in common they were fighting for something greater than themselves they were working for a purpose higher than themselves and that it was all heartfelt and it was egoless and fearless and so I want to thank you for your time we end every interview
with a Fast Five this means these questions have to be one word or one sentence answers uh so these are your Fast Five Genie last five minutes you've been so generous with your time you usually do short interviews you gave us an whole hour which I which I really value uh but these are your fast fives so gennie what's the best piece of
advice you've ever received tell the truth you know face the cameras just own it amazing and what's what's the worst advice you've ever received I I I I I don't have a good answer for you I'm sorry no that's fine you just don't remember it right yeah you just you don't remember it that's fine uh I would say the third question is um what's been
the biggest surprise in your career what's been the biggest like moment where you felt an element of surprise winning the at that Championship um you know you know I my goal was to to see the team do well in the playoffs and and to you know to be the last team standing in what LeBron has said you know was one of the hardest championships ever to win
after living in a bubble during a pandemic um you know that was that the championship of 2020 I love that question number four what's something that you're so confident about but other people may disagree with or may they may not understand yet but what's something you're so sure about you got to have passion you got to have
passion that's what will attract people to you that's it you know you you have to you have to find what inspires you and and you know and be authentic about it you can't create that great answer all right Fifth and final question for you is if you could if you could create one law that everyone in the world had to follow what would it be no lying just
I I can't stand liar I can't stand uh hypocrisy and and you know stop lying tell the truth own the truth it'll set you free amazing everyone that is jeie bus Genie thank you so much for doing this interview and on purpose today I'm so excited to share it with my community I loved your lessons on leadership I thought the Insight you gave about
making difficult decisions and overcoming failures was huge and it's so wonderful to get to know you on a deeper level and I hope everyone's felt that today to hear your heart uh to see your tenacity and Relentless desire for success and growth but also balanced with this idea of doing it with integrity and love I think that's such a beautiful tapestry and message you're
creating with your life and I hope everyone takes a moment to get to know you at that level because I I think when we look at what we see in news and little clips and everything you don't really understand a human so thank you for allowing us to spend this much time with you well Jay I'm I'm a fan I I count myself as one of your listeners
and I look forward to meeting you in person and hopefully hosting you at a Lakers game if we're ever allowed to get back to staple center and play with fans um you know I I just I really appreciate what you do keep up the the good message yeah thank you so much no I look forward to that too I really really do and uh I
I can't wait to see you go from strength to strength and for you to hopefully one day share all of your lessons in many different ways and uh teach classes write books and uh help other people because it's uh it's it's really special the way you're doing what you're doing and I think that's what I'm I admire so much is your way and and uh that's what
we need more of so thank you so much Genie from the bottom of my heart uh everyone who's listening and watching please share on Instagram on Twitter on Facebook whatever you're learning from this conversation make sure you tag jinnie and I so we can see the incredible insights you've gained from this conversation and as always we will
see you again next week for another episode thank you Genie and thanks everyone for listening if you want even more videos just like this one make sure you subscribe and click on the boxes over here I'm also excited to let you know that you can now get my book think like a monk from think like a monk book.com check Below in the description to make sure you order today