A legion of media outlets reported that President Obama playfully ripped into Magic Johnson about sports when the Los Angeles Lakers were honored at the White House on Monday.
Predictably, what Obama said about Johnson immediately after the jokes was hardly mentioned. Obama praised Johnson at length for achieving nearly as much notoriety and success in the business world as he accomplished with the Lakers in the 1980s.
There are a number of ways that the examples set by Obama, Magic and Kobe Bryant can help your children become millionaires:
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Life after basketball: Magic Johnson, whom President Obama paid the highest personal honor by calling him a great “businessman” who provided jobs, opportunities and inspiration for countless members of the minority community.
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The president plays basket ball in the White House. He unabashedly devotes much time to his hobby and off-duty passion, as he has all his life, yet he was able to obtain the highest educational distinctions.
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This is something that you can share with your son. Basketball is something that can help strengthen emotional bonds between father and son. Basketball is also a sport that can be played frequently and for minimal costs.
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It has value in our lives. But, as the example set forth by President Obama and Magic Johnson shows, basketball shouldn’t be the centerpiece of our existence. Even while he was collecting championships, riches and individual accolades, Johnson said he was searching for a way into business long before his career came to a conclusion.
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It teaches discipline: Success in basketball requires hard work, perseverance and discipline, characteristics that can be transferred into other areas of your life and will ultimately lead to success in business.
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Teamwork: Basketball is a team sport that teaches individuals to subvert self-centered aims to accomplish a team goal.
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Work towards something greater than self: Athletes in a team sport almost always say that achieving success within a team framework was infinitely more pleasurable than individual honors.
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Helping others reach potential they weren’t aware they had.
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Use sports to catapult themselves to bigger things in life. Much like Johnson did during and after his playing days, sports success can provide a social and/or financial platform to branch into business.
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Use it to get a free and/or top-notch education. Success at prep sports has enabled tens of thousands of amateur athletes to procure the type of education that may have been impossible to acquire otherwise. Armed with education, infinite possibilities abound. Remember, one of Obama’s trusted assistants was a Duke basketball player who got the job not long after graduation. –terry shropshire
