What the NBA Championship Teaches Us About Leadership

After the Mavericks stunned the Miami Heat and won the 2011 NBA Championship, NBA Commissioner David Stern went to present the Larry O'Brien Trophy. Traditionally, Stern would have handed the trophy to the winning team's owner, in this case Mark Cuban.

However, Mark Cuban showed incredible class and leadership by allowing Don Carter, the original Maverick's owners, to accept it.  Such an action is un-precedented in professional sports. 

So what does this show?

Carter brought professional basketball to Dallas when he founded the Mavericks as an expansion team in 1980. Certainly, Cuban's deference was a sign of gratitude for laying the original foundation for the Mavericks' championship. However, Cuban's act showed much more. It showed him to be a strong leader.

Even as infants, people have a need for achievement. Think of how proud children look when their "art" project gets hung on the refrigerator. It is a genetically-based need. As children grow up, the need for achievement doesn't diminish. In some, it is well balanced but in others it reaches to the extreme.

A good leader looks to praise and share the limelight. On the other hand, when the need runs amok, the leader takes credit for everything, is showy and even may take bad risks to continue to feed his or her achievement need. Cuban's simple gesture showed that he has the right balance of this important aspect of leadership.

Bravo and congrats on the Championship!