As the crowd roared, the entire Los Angeles Lakers team gathered in a huddle. This was a vastly different team than the one that started the season, and primarily because of their newest team member: former Dallas Maverick and Slovenian superstar Luka Doncic.
LeBron James, at 40 years old, the “elder statesman” and unofficial team leader, spoke up.
“Just hoop and be yourself,” James told Doncic in front of his teammates. “Don’t fit in, fit out,” James said—minus a couple of words for emphasis. In other words, James was encouraging Doncic not to worry about adapting to the team, and to let the team adapt to him.
It appears Doncic has tried to take those words to heart. His stats with the Lakers are almost identical to the stats he produced with the Mavericks over the past year and a half. And although the Lakers currently trail the Minnesota Timberwolves three games to one in a best of seven series, Doncic has played well, averaging almost 31 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists so far.
There’s a crucial lesson in James’s advice to Doncic, one that has to do with emotional intelligence—the ability to understand and manage emotions: Namely, a better understanding of emotions can help you empower your people.
How can you apply this lesson in your work as a business owner or leader? To help us answer that question, let’s take a closer look at the history and context behind James’s comments.
