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- 🤸 The highest plus-minus in NBA history, Marissa Meyer’s top career advice, & the queen herself
🤸 The highest plus-minus in NBA history, Marissa Meyer’s top career advice, & the queen herself
Cristina & Jenni
November 16, 2023
Hey — it’s Cristina & Jenni.
This week, we’re:
learning how to win big from an NBA all-star 🏀
reflecting on “right” vs. “good” choices with a former Yahoo CEO 🏆
appreciating the wisdom and comedy of Meryl Streep đźŽ
Enjoy!
What we’re reflecting on this week:
Even if you’re not a big basketball fan, you might be familiar with Tim Duncan.
Let’s just say he’s really good at what he does - across a 19-year NBA career, he led the San Antonio Spurs to five NBA championships between 1999 and 2014.
People called him “The Stone Buddha” for his stoic demeanor on the court. Amidst all the emotion and trash-talking, Tim had the ability to perform at the highest level while acting as a force of steady calm for his team.
And on top of all that, Tim has the highest plus-minus in NBA history.
“What on earth does that mean?” you might ask.
“The plus-minus (PM) stat reflects how the team did while that player was on the court. If a player has a +5 PM, it means his team outscored the opponent by 5 points while he was on the court. If he has a -3, then the opposing team outscored his team by 3 points while he was on the court.”
While I’m not a huge basketball junkie myself, I remember coming across this concept and thinking, “wow, such a powerful teamwork and leadership stat beyond the court as well.”
And the Tim Duncan example is especially strong because he’s also on the top 20 leaderboard for total points scored… BUT not everyone on that list has a great plus-minus.
When he’s on the court, he scores a lot himself AND he makes his team better overall.
Let’s apply this to the workplace.
Think about the role you play at your company: the team you’re on, the people you manage, the projects you’re involved in, etc.
What is your net impact on each of those areas? Are there better outcomes when you’re involved?
Are you a top scorer, shouldering a lot of responsibility and making sure that you do a great job at delivering items that you fully own?
Are you a team player, taking pride in your ability to bring people together for a group project and get the job done on time?
Are there times when you take the ball yourself when maybe a pass would’ve been better? Or lean in on defense and struggle to get back on offense?
How can you balance out your efforts so that the team and company win more often and by a higher margin?
To bring this to life a bit, when I first did this thought exercise, I realized that - while I felt I was adding value by being very detail-oriented on a group project - I was actually being a perfectionist and delaying our ability to get the project across the finish line. By recognizing that my net impact was neutral at best, I was able to tweak my behavior and get the project shipped.
Another way to apply this as a leader is to assess your team with a plus-minus mentality: who on your team has the highest plus-minus? And the lowest?
As a manager, thinking about your team members by their impact on outcomes (and not just their individual contributions) can enhance your personal development approach with them.
To illustrate this point, on one of my teams, I realized that the least vocal team member (kind of like “The Stone Buddha” himself!) was putting in a bunch of work behind the scenes to become an expert in our product and help other teammates do the same, which was creating more success for the team overall. If I looked at his output alone, I would’ve missed the bigger picture of how he was helping the whole team win.
→ Take some time this week to think about your own plus-minus - where do you shine when it comes to generating great results and where could you adapt to create more positive outcomes? How’s the plus-minus of your direct reports?
What we’re learning this week:
👀 Video: “The best advice I’ve ever received” – Marissa Mayer, former Yahoo CEO and tech industry powerhouse, shares the best advice she’s gotten in her career. Even better? The lesson ties in nicely with our reflection this week, and just might help you boost your own plus-minus 💪
🎙️ Podcast: Org leadership expert Liz Wiseman on “impact players” – Liz talks about the characteristics of the highest-impact employees, how they operate, and the personal advantages of being (or becoming!) an “impact player.”
🗓️ Virtual event: 2024 Career Growth Strategy workshop – Have ambitious career goals for 2024? Thinking of a career change or simply want more? Be intentional, think strategically, and gain some clarity on your action plan by taking part in this interactive session run by our very own Cristina + LIP community member Alexandra Coulson.
What we’re enjoying this week:
We leave you with this concise motivational takeaway from the queen herself 👸
That’s it for this week — thanks for reading.
See you next Thursday! 🤸‍♀️
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