The Game of Life

Nov 9, 2023
6 min read

Shooting Free Throws as a Metaphor for Leadership

For today's blog, I wanted to share with you all the transcript for my TedTalk that I gave in my leadership class yesterday. The prompt for this assignment asked us to address all that we have learned over the course semester. I applied to President Harris' leadership class last year when I was struggling to figure out who I was in college and what mattered most to me. President Harris is the president of the university I attend, and I was so blessed to be given the chance to take this class with him as the instructor. He shared his humble beginnings with us and the lessons he has learned that have made him who he is. I am constantly inspired by how present he is in his life and how hard he works to make my school as special as it is. I am so excited to share this with all of you, I hope you can find something in it that resonates with you!

"Good afternoon everyone! My name is Gracie LaKose, and I have so enjoyed being in this leadership class with all of you this semester! As our class comes to a close, I realized that I would have to share all of the brilliance and wisdom I have gained from this class in five to seven minutes. A daunting task, for sure, but one I am willing to tackle head on! One important thing to know about me is that I am a sucker for a good metaphor. Another thing to know about me is that my dad is my leadership hero, and he also happens to work as a collegiate basketball coach for Dominican University of California. My formative summers were spent at all of these cool basketball camps that he led with the athletes he had recruited, and I cherished that time spent with him and this empowering group of women! I have also volunteered for an organization called PAASS, which stands for Project Awareness and Special Sports, for over five years now which focuses on adapting sports for children with special needs. Now, I know that basketball is not my gift, but I assure you that one thing I was always good at free throws. I was the reigning queen of knockout for three years in a row, so I feel like I know a thing or two about shooting free throws. So, I ask you all to spend the next six minutes of your life with an open mind and an open heart as I teach you how to shoot a free throw. You may think you know how already, but I assure you that you have never learned to shoot a free throw Gracie style!

I’m going to begin by asking all of you to stand up. As you are able, please bend your legs like this. This is our foundation. Get comfortable here, get loose. We spend so much of our time being so uptight. In basketball terms, this is referred to as the attack position. From here, my dad always teaches that you have three options, you can pass, you can shoot, or you can attack (dribble). Early in this class, we discussed Robert Kennedy. There are many things to be said about him as a leader, but I was struck by his ability to speak from the heart when addressing the public about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. His speech was vulnerable and authentic to his life experience, the core of who he is as a person, and his foundation. If we do not have a solid foundation, we don’t have any choices. If you are going to be a strong leader, make sure you always start in attack position, give yourself the options you need to succeed.

Alright. From here I want you to be aware of where you are looking. Are you looking at each other? Are you looking at me? Are you looking at the clock? In basketball, you have to keep your eyes on the prize, you have to put the ball in the basket. This is the name of the game. What’s your prize? What gets you out of bed in the morning? What sets you on fire with excitement? In this world, it can be so easy to be distracted by the prizes everyone else is seeking. Look inward, identify what makes you happy and orient yourself in that direction. Look at that which brings you authentic joy, lock in on that, let that be your anchor.

Perfect. Now we move to the dominant arm, the shooting arm. I want you to make an L-shape with your arm and flick your wrist backwards like this. This is going to be the most critical part of your shot. This is meant to represent how you strong arm your opponents and obstacles into getting the things you want? What skills do you have? What talents do you have that shine when you try to get what you want? How do you prove yourself? Right now, I know creativity is one of my strong suits. I was inspired by Jesse Perez, and I think he was so impactful to all of us because he took a different approach than most of the other speakers. Go before you are ready but also identify where you hope to be going to. We have taken both the EQ and Enneagram tests in this class, and we are all very well antiquated with the strengths that we have. Just as it is important to continue to foster the values we hope to grow in as leaders, it is vital to remember the strengths that are integral to who we are. Our reading from Parker Palmer would tell us to remember to let our lives speak. Your heart knows exactly what you want, sometimes your brain just gets in the way. Outline your top three values and your top three strengths and let this be how you wield your dominating force. You’re never going to make this shot if you don’t believe in your abilities.

Now we are going to move on to the supporting hand. Envision a ball in your hands and cup the side of it like so. This is called the support arm that serves to guide the ball. This hand represents our support systems. Even when you stand at the free throw line, you aren’t standing there alone. Just as a free throw shooter is surrounded by her teammates, the best leaders are surrounded by the best team as well. We can’t win a game of basketball without a team who trains just as hard as we do. We can’t lead effectively if we don’t trust in our support system’s ability to lead just as powerfully as we can. Even Henry V had to have faith in his team when the challenge seemed impossible. Research shows that you become the five people you surround yourself with the most. Choose your team wisely.

The final component of our free throw is the follow through. This is the fun part of the shot because all of the hard work we have done to get to this point has proven to be worthwhile. But this is the part that becomes the most fleeting and has the most potential to be overlooked. You have to flick your wrist and keep your eyes on the prize. Like with anything else you do in life, you have to commit to your follow through. Remember to say thank you, remember the names of the people who helped get you where you are and bring them up often, remember what moves the people on your team. Take Emilio’s AI classes, pin Margarita’s butterflies on the wall next to your bed as a reminder, support Nathalie in her philanthropic tabling events for Pi Phi, and say hi back to me when I wave at you all frantically long after this class is over. If you’re going to be a strong leader, commit to helping the people around you and follow through.

Life is going to foul you brutally and life is going to foul you often. Life will slap you in the face. Just when you think you have a wide open shot, life throws another obstacle your way. That’s the bad news. The good news is, life also gives you free throws everyday you get to wake up. I’ll say that again: every day you wake up again is a free throw. It’s not like yesterday’s, and you can’t spend time worrying about tomorrow. All you have is the shot staring you right in the face right here and right now. Each day is a new opportunity, now it’s just up to us to make the shot. Thank you."

I had so much fun creating this TedTalk just as I had so much fun taking this class! I think it's so important to take the classes that inspire you to think outside the box and embrace your passions. When we are able to do this, we come that much closer to knowing who we are. I've included pictures below of President Harris, my dad, and me, and it's important to me to bring us these men as role models in leadership for me. We all have the potential to profoundly impact the world around us, so it is important to cultivate those talents that come so naturally to us. The world needs all that you have to give. Remember that you are one of a kind, this is simply the game of life, and I'm so fortunate to have you all on my team!