Phil Jackson the Zen Master who conquered basketball

“Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.”

Phil Jackson has won more championships than any other coach in the history of basketball with success at both the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. His coaching methods never altered from his underlying belief on the importance of deep value among his teams. He was given the nickname as the “Zen master” which can be considered as quite relevant as he was a coach who inspired and not dictated. He challenged his players’ nature but not their egos or fears. Jackson in his quest to become an innovative leader, studied human psychology , native american philosophy as well as Zen meditation. This allowed him to come up with a fresh approach to leadership which was based on freedom and selfless teamwork. His approach would be considered to be going against the competitive nature of sport.

As a player, Jackson describes how he learned about mindfulness and team chemistry playing in the 1970s. He was able to manage Michael Jordan (the greatest basketballer in the world) into understanding the importance of selflessness so that the team benefits rather than an individual. More proof of his amazing coaching approach was his ability to inspire “un-coachable players” and strong personalities such as Dennis Rodman and Kobe Bryant. He was able to get them to devote to an ideology that was bigger than themselves. Eleven times, Phil Jackson was able to lead his team to the NBA championship (six times with Chicago Bulls and five times with the Los Angeles Lakers).