Alan Stein Jr. is a coach, speaker, and author with an expertise in improving organizational performance, cohesion, and accountability. He spent more than 15 years working with highest-performing basketball players on the planet; including NBA superstar, Kevin Durant. Alan now travels the world teaching organizations how to utilize the same strategies in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. Alan has a brand-new book called Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best.
In this episode, Alan discusses the work he did with high-performing basketball players and how that’s translated to the work he does with worldwide organizations, how an experience with Kobe Bryant taught him about the importance of mastering basic skills no matter what industry you’re in, why building relationships are the foundation of successful athletes and businesses, the main basic skill that will help you improve any relationship, how to determine your identity as a business, the benefits of collectively creating standards as a group instead of passing down rules from the top of the organization, and more! Take a listen to the episode below!
Mentioned in this episode:
- Alan Stein Jr.’s Website
- Alan Stein Jr.’s Book | Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best
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Transcript
Hey, hey! It’s Andrea, and welcome to the Voice of Influence podcast. Today I have with me Alan Stein, Jr., who is a coach, speaker, and author with an expertise in improving organizational performance, cohesion and accountability. He spent 15 plus years working with the highest performing basketball players on the planet, including NBA superstar, Kevin Durant, which I’m excited to hear about in a little bit.
He now travels the world teaching organizations how to utilize the same strategies in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world class level. Alan has a brand new book out called Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from theBest of the Best.
Andrea: So good to have you on the podcast with me today, Alan.
Alan Stein Jr.: Hey, I’m equally thrilled. This is going to be fun.
Andrea: Alright, so now coming from a family who loves basketball, I have to ask you, what kind of work did you do with these highest performing basketball players in the world?
Alan Stein Jr.: I was actually a performance coach, which most people would probably know as strength and conditioning coach. So I’ve focused on helping players improve their athleticism, their mind-body connection, their movement efficiency; and help them bulletproof their bodies so they’d be resilient to injury.
And I did that mostly at the youth and high school level, but was able to work with some pretty good players that ended up being really, really excellent players as they got older. So I really enjoyed working with, working alongside and serving the basketball community for almost two decades.
Andrea: Okay. So what led you to write this particular book about Raising your Game and high performance strategies? What kind of brought you to this point?
Alan Stein Jr.: Sure. Well, about two years ago I decided that I was ready to take everything that I was learning through the world’s best players and coaches of the things they were teaching me on leadership and team cohesion and accountability and winning mindsets and creating championship level culture. And to take all of that, pivot and apply that to the business world and show folks in business how to utilize those same strategies and mindsets.
When I made that decision to kind of change my audience, I quickly came up with a professional bucket list item of writing a book and I did it for a couple of reasons. One, I’ve always felt that I’ve had a book inside of me. I’ve been a voracious reader for my entire adult life and I know I’ve read so many books, countless books that have had a really profound impact on me, in my life and in my perspective. So the thought that I might be able to pen something that could offer that to someone else, you know, was something I was interested in pursuing.
But equally important as I entered the world of being a professional speaker in the business world, writing the book actually forced me to curate all of my content and look back over 20 years and really put pen to paper and write down all of the lessons I’d learned, you know, all of the stories that I’d seen and I’d heard, you know, action steps, everything and really organize that material. And that’s what, you know, writing the book did for me.
Funny enough, I’m very proud of the book. I’m excited to get it in the hands of some readers. But even if I decided not to publish the book, the process of writing, it was still worth every ounce of effort because it really forced me to get organized and get clear on my message, which I use now as a professional speaker.
Andrea: Oh yeah, I can completely understand that. So what would you say the core of your message really is?
Alan Stein Jr.: Well, the core of my message whether I’m speaking or in the book is that the basics work, they always have and they always will. And if you want to be elite in any area of your life, you have to commit to doing the basics and in understanding that just because something is basic, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy. A lot of people think those are synonyms and they’re not.
You know, the principles in this book are incredibly basic. However, implementing them with consistency in everything you do in your life is definitely not easy. It’s not easy for me. It’s not easy for you and it’s not easy for any of your listeners because if it was easy, we’d all already be doing that stuff. So it’s making sure that people understand that there’s a difference between basic and easy.
And you know, the high performing basketball players that I’ve been around, they never get bored with the basics. You know, they still take 10 to 15 to 20 minutes every single day to work on basic footwork and basic offensive moves and things that middle school age players do routinely because they know that the basics are the foundation and their fundamentals are the foundation of everything else that they do.
Andrea: You know, I know you tell this story about Kobe Bryant. Could you share that just real quickly with us because I think it really applies to what you’re talking about right now?
Alan Stein Jr.: Absolutely. Well, it’s hard to believe it’s already been a decade. But back in 2007, Nike flew me out to Los Angeles to be the performance coach for the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. Nike brought in the top high school and college players from around the country for an intense 3-day mini camp with the best player in the world.
And I know you and your family follows basketball but if any of your listeners don’t, let me just tell you that in 2007, Kobe was the best player in the game. I mean, Michael Jordan knew everybody’s heard of. He’d already retired a couple of times at that point. And Lebron James was great, let’s not get it twisted, but he was still climbing that mountain. I mean, Kobe was the best player. And you know, I, like your family, have lived in a basketball bubble my entire life, so I had heard this urban legend of how insanely intense Kobe’s individual workouts were.
Well, now that I was on camp staff, you know, I figured this was my chance and this was my shot. So at my earliest opportunity, I walked right up to Kobe and asked if I could watch one of his workouts. And he was incredibly gracious and kind and said, “Sure man, no problem. I’m going tomorrow at 4:00,” and I quickly got confused because the nerd that I am, I was studying the camp schedule and it said that the first workout with the kids was the next day at 3:30, and he noticed the confused look on my face and quickly clarified that with a wink and said, “Yeah, that’s 4:00 a.m.”
Andrea: That’s awesome!
Alan Stein Jr.: Well, Andrea, I know as you can appreciate and so can your listeners, yeah. There’s not really an excuse on why you can’t be somewhere at 4:00 in the morning, at least not an excuse that somebody like Kobe Bryant is going to accept. So I basically committed myself to being there. And I just figured, if I’m going to be there anyway, you know, I might as well try and impress Kobe. I might as well leave my mark and show him how serious of a trainer I was.
So I made the plan to beat him to the gym. So I set my alarm for 3:00 a.m. When the alarm goes off, I jumped up, I quickly get myself together and I hopped in the cab. Remember, this is 2007. This is pre Uber and ore Lifts. So I got in an old fashioned yellow taxi and I get out of the taxi, it was 3:30 in the morning.
Of course, it was pitch black outside, and yet from the parking lot I can see that the gym light is already on, and I can even hear a ball bouncing and sneakers squeaking. I walked in the side door; Kobe was already in a full sweat. He was going through an intense warm-up with his trainer before his scheduled workout started at 4:00.
Now, out of professional courtesy and because I was thankful to be there, I didn’t say anything to him and I didn’t say anything to his trainer, I just sat down to watch. And for the first 45 minutes I was really surprised. For the first 45 minutes I watched the best player in the world do the most basic footwork and offensive moves. He was doing pivoting drills that I had done with middle school age players.
Now this is Kobe Bryant, so he was doing everything with an unparalleled level of focus and intensity and everything with surgical precision, but the stuff he was doing was very, very basic. The whole workout lasted a couple of hours. And again, when it was over, I didn’t say anything to him. I didn’t say anything to his trainer, I quietly left. But my curiosity as a young coach got the best of me because later that day I had to know.
So I went up to him again and said politely, “Kobe, I don’t understand you’re the best player in the world, you know, why are you doing such basic drills?” And that was again when he was incredibly gracious but said very seriously, “Why do you think I’m the best player in the world, because I never get bored with the basics.” And that was a pivotal and for me a life-changing lesson and that was what I had said earlier, that just because something’s basic, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy.
You know, here you are, you’re talking about a multi-time all star, a champion, a multimillionaire many times over. Somebody in the conversation is one of the greatest players ever. And in NBA off season, he was still getting up incredibly early to go in and continue to master the basics. And I think there’s an important lesson that if somebody that’s in the upper 10th of one percent and his craft can commit to the basics then all of us should be doing the same thing.
You know, in the world of sports, I actually find it a little bit comical, you know at the time of this recording, we’re in primetime NFL season and inevitably when an NFL team loses two or three games in a row at one of the post game press conferences, the coach will say something to the effect of, you know, “On Monday at practice we’re gonna get back to the basics.”
And I’m certainly not implying that I know anything more than an NFL head coach. But I always laugh because I’m thinking, why did you ever leave them in the first place? If your answer to solving your problem is to get back to the basics then, hey, don’t ever leave the basics. Make them a foundational principle that you live by every day and that’s something in my own life, in my own business, you know, I certainly try to adhere too is never getting bored with the basics.
Andrea: Alan, why do you think that people do get bored, or why do they stray away from the basics?
Alan Stein Jr.:One, the basics are usually mundane and they’re routine and they’re monotonous and they’re boring. But you have to fall in love with that process if you want to get the outcome that you desire. The other thing and, you know, I’m not one of those guys that likes to blame technology. I think technology can be an amazing tool for us, but I do think technology in general with social media and everything going on online, it makes it much easier for us to be distracted.
We get distracted by the things that are hot, flashy, sexy and new. And we skip over the things that are tried and true that we know work and all of us, at some point, fall victim to that. But I think if you can have the discipline to figure out whatever it is that you’re trying to improve, whether you’re trying to personally improve your level of fitness, you’re trying to grow your business, or you’re trying to lead others more effectively, whatever it is you’re trying to improve, actually look at what are the basics of that. What are the foundational principles that are needed to improve this and then make sure that you’re working on those every day.
And like I said earlier, it doesn’t mean that Kobe has to be doing basic footwork for seven hours a day, he just needs to do it for 10, 15, 20 minutes a day, but it’s the consistency of doing it every single day that adds up over time.
Andrea: Do you feel like there’s a way to kind of generalize the basics? So, you know somebody who’s in one area of business versus somebody who’s in another area of business. You know, somebody who’s in customer service on the front lines versus an executive who is trying to determine the strategy of the customer service for example, do you see that there are similarities in the basics of what they need to focus on? Are there a lot differences? How do you kind of talk to that?
Alan Stein Jr.: More often than not, there’ll be similarities and really in any area of business and even in sport, if you look at coaches and the teams, you know, relationships are the foundation of everything that we’re trying to build. I mean, if you look at a business, for example, there’s two crucial relationships that determine how successful your business will be and how sustainable those results will be.
One relationship is with the folks that you work with, those of your colleagues and your coworkers. You know all the way from the top to the bottom of the org chart, everybody that’s within the organization you’d want to consider a teammate. And your relationship with each of the people in that group is vital to your success. Then of course, the other relationship is with your customers or your clients, the people that you serve. And clearly the more quality your relationship with those that you serve and those that you work with, the better your culture and the better your business will be. And I found that one of the foundational basics of improving any relationship is the ability to listen, to actively listen.
If you want to improve any relationship in your life immediately, whether you’re a parent and you want to improve the relationship with your children or your spouse or you’re in business and you want to improve your relationship with your customers and clients or coworkers and colleagues, all you have to do is improve your ability to actively listen.
Now, of course I say that in a very matter of fact tone, because improving the skill of listening is very basic, but doing so is definitely not easy. It takes a ton of practice, but practicing the skill of active listening is one of the best investments you can make. You know, if you want to be a great leader, actively listen. If you want to be great at customer service, the best tool, the number one tool you have in customer service is the ability to listen and then ask insightful questions as a followup.
You know, most of the times, especially in customer service, people just want to be heard. You know, if you allow them to vent their frustrations or whatever was bothering them or the issue they’re having, that in and of itself if you listen with an empathetic ear, usually you’ll start to inch towards a resolution. And then if you can ask insightful questions and then you’re able to come up with a resolution by working with them instead of talking at them, then you’ve really created something special. So active listening is something that all of us need to consider as one of the basics for whatever it is that we’re trying to do.
Andrea: Do you have an idea of a drill per se or a way to practice that particular basic of listening?
Alan Stein Jr.: I do. And it’s one that’s served me well over the years, because in full transparency many years ago I was a less than mediocre active listener and once that was brought to my attention…
Andrea: Less than mediocre is a pretty good description.
Alan Stein Jr.:Yeah.
Andrea: Not for you but just an interesting description.
Alan Stein Jr.: Yeah, I was going to say crappy, but I just decided to go with less than mediocre. And once that was brought to my attention then I realized there was something that I really needed to work on because the relationships in my life, you know, as a father, as a business owner, as a professional speaker, I mean these relationships are really important to me. And once I knew that improving my ability to listen would actually nourish those relationships then it was something I took a lot of pride in improving.
And what I do and still continue to do, although now, it’s so much more natural. In the beginning it was somewhat robotic enforced, which I think happens a lot when we’re trying to master a new skill, and it’s called a list back. And when you list back, you when you wait for an appropriate break in the conversation because clearly if you interrupt someone while they’re talking then you’re not active listening.
When there’s an appropriate break, you list back in their words the exact way they said it what they just said. And you do that for a couple of reasons. One, to make sure that you have the correct information, to make sure that you heard them correctly. It’s common for any of us in any conversation to get distracted or space out for 20 to 30 seconds. Well, if the speaker shared something incredibly important in those 20 to 30 seconds, you missed it. So a list back will help make sure that it’s more accurate. But a list back also shows the person that you were actively listening and that unconsciously tells them that you care about them, that you value what they had to say, that they’re important to you.
So a perfect example would be something to the effect of, “Andrea, I want to make sure I heard you correctly; you said A B C and D, is that right?” And then that’s your chance to either correct me and say, “No, Alan, I must have misspoke because I said A, B, C, and E.” So either way I’m going to make sure I have the correct information or you’re going to say “Yes, Alan, that’s exactly what I said.” And unconsciously you’re going to smile internally because you’re going to think, “Man, Alan really cares about me. He’s listening to what I have to say. He values what I have to say and he’s treating me as if I’m important.” And that’s the glue that binds any relationship. So by organically doing these list backs, you really improve your ability to actively listen.
Andrea: That’s great tip. Okay, so let’s go in a little bit different direction right now. One of the things that you say is that identity drives standards. Standards need accountability. Accountability creates culture and culture produces long term sustainable results. I’d love to hear about how you get from identity to sustainable results, but let’s start with this. What is identity?
Alan Stein Jr.: Identity – and we could do this personally or we could do it organizationally, so let’s tackle it from a team standpoint. Let’s tackle it from the business perspective.
Andrea: That’d be great.
Alan Stein Jr.: It’s a series of these questions and there’s no right or wrong to these questions and this certainly isn’t a completely comprehensive list. But ultimately you want to figure out why you’re is in existence as a business, like what do we do? What problem do we solve? Who do we solve it for? Why does everyone on our team, why are they going to make personal sacrifices to pour into something bigger than themselves? What’s their reason for doing that? What is our purpose and vision as a business? And once you can kind of collectively answer that, that is your identity. This is who we are. This is the problem we solve. This is the target audience that we solve it for. This is why we’re in business. This is how we’re going to turn a profit, and that is your identity.
And it’s incredibly important to get clarity on that and to make sure that everyone in the organization from the founder and CEO all the way down to whoever would be considered the lowest on the org chart understands and can buy in and believe in to that identity. And what I found is interesting, I mean if you have a, let’s say, you have a small business now that has 30 folks on the team and you ask every one of them those questions and get them to write it down, I guarantee you’ll see some differences.
You’ll see some people that believe your business is in existence for different reasons than other people do. And it’s not about whether someone’s right or wrong or someone’s good or bad, but in order for a team to be successful, everybody’s got to be swimming in the same direction. So if we have three people that think the business exists because of this and another five think it’s because of this, and you know, I’m the CEO and founder and I know it’s for this, that’s why I founded the company, we need everybody on the same page. So it’s okay for people to have different perspectives and different advantage points and use different terminology, but everybody needs to know to their core what is the identity of this business.
Andrea: Have you found that when you talk to owners, for example, or founders, that if they have a different kind of identity that they’re seeing or mission or even if they’ve communicated it if it’s different than what the rest of the company or somebody else in the company is seeing, is there a way to kind of reconcile that? Have you found a really good way to collaboratively come to consensus on that?
Alan Stein Jr.: Yeah, your number one tool would be going back to actively listen because when you actively listen, you’re looking at life through an empathetic and humble lens that you’re willing to say, “You know, I may have started this company with this mission and this vision and this purpose in mind, but I’m still open to hearing the perspectives of everybody else.” And this is where it’s really important to get the perspective of people in different departments.
You know, if you’re in the marketing department, you need to break down the barriers to talk to the folks in the customer service department or the folks in the sales department or the folks, you know, in R&D, like the more we can get everyone on the same page, the better. And you need to be open to hearing their feedback, but it doesn’t mean that you have to go with it.
I mean, as a leader, you have to be decisive. And if you feel adamantly that the identity of the business is this and yet everybody else feels that something else then your job as a leader is to get rid of the ambiguity and speak with great clarity on why you feel so strongly that this is what it is and get everybody on board and make sure that it’s explained with great clarity. You know, lots of times that’s where the issue is, it’s the communication. Like I know every morning when I wake up that I created this business for this. But if I’m not consistently with great repetition, communicating that to everybody else then it’s going to get foggy.
So again, we don’t want to think in terms of right or wrong or good or bad. We want to think in terms of let’s all agree on what the North Star is and then let’s get everybody moving in alignment and harmony towards that North Star. And I’m a big believer that open, effective communication can resolve almost every problem within an organization
Andrea: And yet, it’s so common that we’re afraid of that open and honest communication. Why do you think that is?
Alan Stein Jr.: Well, again, it goes back to the difference between basic and easy. I mean, you and I being open and honest and transparent and empathetic with each other is very, very basic. But that’s not easy to do because we’re human beings we’re rot with emotions and tempers and all sorts of things. You know, one, I think it comes down to terminology. Most people have a negative connotation of the word confrontation that if I know that I have to confront you about something, that that’s going to be uncomfortable for me and it’s going to be uncomfortable for you. And most human beings do everything they can to run from and resist discomfort.
Well, if we can kind of flip the switch on and say, well, confrontation is really nothing more than meeting the truth head on. It’s two people that care enough about each other to speak openly and transparently with each other so that they can come to some type of resolution. And that takes a level of respect. It takes professional courtesy and I think just being able to flip that where I say, “Hey, you know, I need to confront Andrea about something.” This has nothing to do with whether or not I like her or not. This has to do with there’s a certain behavior that I believe needs to change in our organization and we need to confront it head on and we need to discuss it.” And we can do that in a very respectable and professional way.
So no one needs to raise their voice, no one needs to use foul language, we just simply need to be able to speak from the heart and talk about this issue and let’s both be committed regardless of which side of the fence we’re on, let’s both be committed to resolving this. And if groups would be much more open to that, you’d see a lot of these problems go away. And really this is a way of describing accountability and I know we’re not at that level yet because we haven’t even talked about standards. But accountability, we have to realize that it’s something that you do for someone, it’s not something you do to them. That when you get everyone in the organization to realize when someone holds them accountable, that’s a good thing because it means that person cares then we’re in business.
Because usually people look at that the other way, they think if Andrea is holding me accountable, why is she always busting my chops? Why is she always nitpicking? Why does she care if I’m three minutes late? Why does she care if I send out an email that’s grammatically incorrect? Why don’t she just leave me alone and stay in her lane instead of saying, “Man, thank you Andrea. You’re right, that email, I should have spelled check it before I send it out. That was not a great representation of us or our business. I appreciate you caring enough to call me on that.”
Andrea: Alright. So you said that there was something in between identity and accountability and that standards, so let’s go back there and explain that briefly.
Alan Stein Jr.: Sure. The old school level of leadership and management is top down, which means I’m the founder, I’m the CEO, I’m the top of the org chart; I’m going to come up with a list of rules and everybody below me is going to follow them and if they don’t, they will leave. Instead of rules being passed from the top down, I like the idea of a group collectively creating standards and standards are basically the code which the organization will live by in order to uphold the identity that we already talked about.
So we would collectively discuss what standards do we need to live by every single day in order to make our identity come true. And if you have a small business, you have 15, 20 people, you can literally put everybody in the same room and discuss and come up with your standards. If you have a bigger organization, you have a thousand people that’s probably not doable. But that’s when you can get representation from each of the departments. Let me get someone from sales, someone from customer service, someone from marketing, someone from R&D and make sure that each group is represented and put those people in a room and say, “Okay, what are the standards that we need to live up to to make our identity happen?”
And I use being prompt just as an example because it’s one that people can easily visualize. Let’s say that in this meeting, Andrea, you raise your hand and say, “Hey, I think it’s really important that everybody is on time for all of our company functions, meetings and events because being on time shows that you respect the other person. So I think being on time should be one of our standards.” And we all look around the room and, you know, “Does anyone think it’s not important to be on time?” Nope, nobody says anything. “Okay then being on time is one of our standards.”
And now, we have a standard that being prompt is important to us and we’ve all agreed that we’re going to live up to these standards, which means when we hold a company function or we have a Monday morning meeting and you show up 3 minutes late, it is crystal clear, it is in black and white that you just violated one of our standards. You just violated one of the standards necessary for us to live out our identity. So you should actually expect now that someone is going to hold you accountable for that.
And again, once we’ve created this level of accountability where it’s not just vertical but it’s horizontal and everyone knows that if they violate any of the standards that we’ve all agreed to, that someone’s going to hold them accountable now you’ve got the makings of a winning culture.
Andrea: And then that culture then can produce those long term sustainable results that you’re talking about, right?
Alan Stein Jr.: Absolutely, and culture is really how well your organization holds each other accountable to the standards that you created to uphold your identity. That’s where the success flow comes together. You know, people sometimes think culture is a variety of different things. It’s kind of the window dressing. You know, we have casual jeans Friday, and that’s part of our culture. We put a ping pong table in the break room, that’s part of our culture. We want to be young and hip. That’s not culture. Those are some nice accouterments that you can add if that’s what your people want.
Your culture is how well everybody holds each other accountable to the standards that you agreed upon to uphold your identity. And what epitomizes your culture is how the organization behaves when the CEO or I say the head coach is not there. How does the team behave when the manager is not there or when one of the directors or supervisors is not there? If you have a winning culture, it’s business as usual. Everybody’s in their role. They’re fulfilling their role. They’re starring in their role, you know there’s active communication and everybody’s holding each other accountable and everything’s fine.
If you have a dysfunctional culture, that’s when the whole house crumbles if the person in charge is not there, so that’s really what will determine your sustainable long term results is how well you’re able to thrive in this culture where you don’t have to have the head honcho there looking over everybody’s shoulder. Everyone’s going to do what’s right all the time because that’s the way the company is built.
Andrea: Yeah, I love this, I guess you call it the success flow. I really love that. I love how it flows. I love that it starts with identity because I’m absolutely in agreement with you on that. You know, I wish that we had more time to dig even more into that book. There’s so much to look at, but hopefully the listener will go ahead and purchase that book and possibly even have you come speak at their organization. So tell us how can they get a hold of you or how can they find your book?
Alan Stein Jr.: Oh, I appreciate that very much and I would love that as well. If someone’s interested in the book, you can go to raiseyourgamebook.com. And if they’re interested in my speaking or anything else I have going on or social media, I’m at Alan Stein, Jr.on Instagram and in Linkedin and alansteinjr.com is the website.
But, you know, I’m not trying to push a book or even promote my speaking, I just love sharing and connecting with people. So if you heard this interview and something resonated, you know, drop me a line on Instagram or Linkedin, or shoot me a message, it would be great to connect.
Andrea: Well, thank you for your focused and intense Voice of Influence, Alan. It’s great to have you here today.
Alan Stein Jr.: My pleasure!