A glimpse into greatness - starts with BELIEF

An 11 year old boy from Italy came back home to Philadelphia for the summer with his parents to visit with family and he competed in a prestigious city summer basketball league, Sonny Hill League.

The boy was pretty good at basketball but he went scoreless the entire summer as a scrawny 11 year old. The competition was much tougher in Philadelphia than Italy.

The Sonny Hill League had a counselor on staff and decided to pull this boy from Italy aside because he seemed to have a career plan that was a bit whimsical.

The boy had listed as his career plan: “NBA.”

The counselor addressed the lofty goal: “Only one in a million make it to the NBA… so you have to plan on a future other than basketball.”

The Boy: “I’m going to be that one in a million.” He thought if Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson could do it why couldn’t he?

This young boy was Kobe Bryant.

Imagine how this counselor could have popped Kobe’s dream. The counselor was planting seeds of doubt in Kobe when he was vulnerable. Kobe did not make a single basket the entire summer.

Kobe believed so strongly in his vision. He wouldn’t let a counselor or anyone redirect his focus and belief.

His unwavering belief in himself ultimately led to his abilities to be the one in a million.

Belief precedes ability.

As business leaders, BELIEF in a bold vision is the first step to growing into the abilities required of the vision.

Century’s vision: To be the “go to” specialty contractor throughout the U.S. with an unrelenting commitment to building people, trust, technology, & community.

I believe this will be a reality. I don’t know every step to get there. But I do know belief in the vision leads to the ability.

Onward,

Matt