I live in Boston. Today there is a parade. Apparently this town plays some sports and as of recently, the players are pretty good. In fact, they are good enough to be ranked the best, winning something called The World Series.
Yeah, chances are you know all that. But I am hoping there is at least one other person like me who, even though I often wear a t-shirt based on the Red Sox logotype, knows nothing about sports simply because they don't care about sports.
It's that 'ho-hum' attitude that makes my interest in a podcast about the Golden State Warriors perhaps a bit more interesting. Without Fail is a podcast by Gimlet Media. And on a recent episode, Alex Blumberg (@abexlumberg) talked with Andre Iguadala (@andre) of the Golden State Warriors (@warriors) about winning a championship.
Even when you have a team where everyone is doing the right thing, it's possible to get in a rut and miss what's important. For the Warriors, 300 or more passes in a game is the goal. When that happens, they often would win the game. They knew that, but sometimes even the biggest star players needed a reminder. And in a team like the Warriors, the biggest star is not above being reminded.
And the team can't excel if everyone is seeking the limelight. When everyone plays the role the team needs, and they are all really good at it, the team can excel over all others. Andre, as a member of a team that wins championships, now gets called on to speak at public events. And these are the topics he talks about. Knowing about the roles in a team and star players applies just as much to the court as it does to business.
This podcast episode covers Andre's early basketball career up to now, how he got involved in investing, and his role in Silicon Valley (the place, not the show). It's a great episode and well worth the listen.
https://www.gimletmedia.com/without-fail/golden-state-warrior-andre-iguodala#episode-player
Actually the whole podcast is great. I especially loved the episodes about Groupon CEO Andrew Mason. And then when you finish those, check out the rest from Gimlet. There is Reply All, a podcast about the internet, often with an amazing series in the series called Yes Yes No where they break down a tweet into a bazillion memes and make you a little less clueless about the world. There is Homecoming, the first podcast I know of that inspired a TV show. There is Every Little Thing where you learn the answers to questions you never knew you needed to know but are so glad you now know. And then of course, there is Science Vs, the show that puts science against fiction. Super cool and my wife and I even went to a live show for Science Vs. in Brooklyn a year or so ago. AMAZING!!