Phil Jackson

The book titled Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson and Hugh Delehanty is about a coach by the name of Phil Jackson who coached the Chicago Bulls and was able to guide them to win six championships. He uses Zen principles and ideals of the Lakota Sioux warrior, to educate his players how to communicate better with one another and most importantly work as a team to accomplish their goals. Jackson coaching is formed around Zen principles. Zen principles make your aware of your thoughts. He practices meditation on his players that would empty up their minds and make them ready for anything. Yet, this allowed players to not think, just do. In the book it talks about his own NBA career as a player for the Knicks and all of his coaching experiences before becoming head coach of the Bulls. He was able to obtain the knowledge that he learned from his own NBA career and later use it on his understanding to coach his teams. Phil focused on self awareness and the action of showing compassion towards the players on the team.
When Jackson was named head coach of the Bulls he formed a vision for the team. When we look at the five practices of Kouzes and Posner, Jackson was able to inspire a shared vision. Through what he learned from the Lakota and his past coaching experience, gave him this essence of leadership. His vision was to have a selfless team. His goal was to give everyone on the team a vital role, so each player can blend in naturally. Jackson incorporated the triangle offense with the Bulls where anyone can shoot, can score, can make a pass. What made the Chicago Bulls a successful team was their connection with each other as a team, and the ability of Michael Jordan to set his ego aside and realize that he couldn’t do it by himself but trust his team. Phil Jackson wanted to get the most out of his team, he was able to make his players disconnect from him and connect his players to their teammates and the love for the game.
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