Athena Profile picture
May 19, 2025 13 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Jordan, Kobe, and Shaq wouldn’t have become champions without this guy.

As a coach, he won the most NBA championships in history.

Here are the 5 principles that turned Phil into the leader he was: Image
Phil Jackson understood human behavior.
His coaching philosophy was profoundly insightful:

1. "I don't call plays"
2. Meditation and mental strength
3. No micromanagement
4. Empower others
5. Listen to your players Image
1. “I don’t call plays.”

Phil implemented the famous Triangle Offense:

A rare system that demanded the players to read the floor, adapt to defense, and make decisions.

It gives a structure and complete freedom within it.
Michael Jordan once asked Phil why he didn’t call more plays.

“Because I want you to learn how to read the game.”

That lesson turned MJ into not just a scorer but a thinker as well.

The Bulls won 6 titles under Jackson's leadership. Image
2. Meditation and mental strength.

Jackson earned the nickname "Zen Master.”
He taught players meditation to improve focus and emotional control.

Kobe Bryant credited mindfulness for elevating his game:

"Phil taught me to focus on the moment. It changed everything."
3. No micromanagement, especially in chaos.

Jordan and Scottie Pippen had their clashes.
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s feud was legendary.

But Jackson rarely intervened.

“You can’t force growth. You can only create an environment for it to happen.”
Lakers won the 2001 championship with the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history (15-1).

Shaq later admitted:

“We didn’t see eye to eye, but on the court, we made magic.
That’s what Phil helped us realize.” Image
4. Empowering others.

Jackson believed in empowering leaders to take charge on and off the court.

Shaq and Kobe clashed in front of the entire team.
He trusted veteran Derek Fisher to mediate, and it saved their season.

“Phil trusted us to handle it as men.”
In the 1997 NBA Finals, Phil encouraged Steve Kerr, a role player, to step into the spotlight.

Kerr hit the game-winning shot.

"Michael didn’t want to take the shot. So I said, I guess I’ll do it."

Phil's trust gave role players the confidence to shine when it mattered most.
5. A leader who listened.

Phil didn’t impose his will. He valued his players’ input.

During the Finals, Shaq suggested more post-touches to exploit mismatches. Phil agreed.

Shaq dominated, averaging 38 points and leading the Lakers to their first championship under Jackson.
Phil listened to everyone, not only the superstars.

In the NBA Finals, Scottie Pippen suggested they focus on exploiting mismatches.
Phil adjusted the game plan, and the rest is history.

“The best ideas don’t always come from the top. Leaders must learn to listen.”
It’s not about doing everything yourself.

It’s about creating an environment where others can thrive to their max potential.

Start delegating smarter and focus on what matters most.

Athena helps leaders like you win championships.
athena.com
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More from @athenago

May 31, 2025
Ritz-Carlton gives minimum-wage employees more spending power than most corporate executives.

$2,000 per guest, zero approval needed. Competitors think they are insane.

But this gives them 12,400% potential return per employee.

Thread Image
This wasn't always the case.

In the 1980s, hotels had a massive service problem.

When guests complained, staff would say "I'll call the manager." Then guests waited forever without a quick solution.

Horst Schulze realized the whole system was killing hospitality. Image
Think about it.

At home, when your toilet breaks, do you call a manager? Obviously not. You fix it immediately.

But hotels had trained guests to expect bureaucracy instead of solutions. Something had to change.
Read 16 tweets
May 28, 2025
Warren Buffett bought shares in a company for $5.75 per share.

Forty years later, they were worth $12,000.

The CEO who delivered that 2,087x return ran his $19 billion empire with just 36 headquarters employees and one management principle:

Extreme delegation 🧵 Image
In 1969, Warren Buffett bought shares in Capital Cities, the media company Tom Murphy led.

“I learned more about management from Tom than anyone else.”

No ego. No micromanaging. Just a simple winning formula:

Find great people, trust them fully, and let them work.
Their 50-year relationship began with Capital Cities owning a single TV station valued at $5.75 per share.

It skyrocketed to $12,000 per share.

“My only regret is that I didn’t meet him earlier.”

Buffett learned delegation almost to the point of abdication from Murphy. Image
Read 16 tweets
May 23, 2025
NASA pays $8 billion every year to companies whose rockets never launch.

This "wasteful" strategy just saved American taxpayers $20 billion.

Why this is the smartest thing NASA has ever done.

Thread Image
NASA used to be like every other govt agency.

They hired contractors, told them what to build, and paid all the bills when things went wrong.

Each Space Shuttle flight cost $1.5 billion.

Crazy, right? Image
When the Shuttle ended in 2011, America had zero ability to send people to space.

Zero.

We were stuck buying seats on Russian rockets for $86 million each.

NASA realized they had to change how they do business. Image
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May 22, 2025
In 2009, Netflix shocked everyone with a slide deck that gave employees:

• No vacation rules
• No expense limits
• And no fixed hours

Sheryl Sandberg called it "the most important document ever to come out of the Valley."

How Netflix's culture created a $356B empire: 🧵 Image
Image
The slide deck is 125 pages long and has been viewed 20M times to date.
It shows the company's culture in its rawest form.

How to create a high-performance environment, run autonomous groups, focus on what matters, find intelligent people, and how to keep them.

Let's dive in 👇 Image
Business growth brings two major problems:

-Complexity skyrockets.
-Talent density decreases.

That's why managers implement processes, to keep things in check. Image
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May 21, 2025
Warren Buffett touted Henry Singleton as his greatest mentor:

A chess master who turned $450K into $3.5B while running 130+ companies at a time. How did he do it?

By mastering the same art that made Buffett the greatest investor alive... 🧵 Image
Image
Buffett once said:

If you took the top 100 business school grads and collected ALL of their achievements...

... they still couldn't compare to Henry Singleton.
Singleton was insanely smart:

He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from MIT.

Programmed his university's first computer (in the 1940s).

Achieved near-Grandmaster skill in chess — and played blindfolded for the challenge. Image
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May 16, 2025
Wikipedia makes over $165 million a year without spending money on ads, writers, or investors.

Still, they’ve built the fastest-evolving platform and largest knowledge bank on the planet.

Here’s exactly how they did it: 🧵 Image
The story began in 2001 when Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger had a bold idea:

An online encyclopedia anyone could edit.

At the time, everything was for-profit and access was centralized, so this was a shocking concept.
Wikipedia has:

• 6.7 billion visits per month
• 61+ million articles in 300+ languages
• 98% of contributors work for free

The real genius? Delegating everything to users, volunteers, and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Read 12 tweets

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