If you’re a sports fan, you might remember the story of Jay Williams, the star point guard for the Chicago Bulls who got into a motorcycle crash that cut his career short. Maybe you haven’t heard the story of what happened after, of how he picked up the pieces and rebuilt his life. In a podcast with Oprah Winfrey, he opened up about how he moved on from the accident. And at about the 32:30 mark, he said something that echoes with something I’ve written about before on the blog: How much it matters to surround yourself with amazing people.
Oprah Winfrey: Anybody who’s going through their own setback, their own challenge, their own difficulty, their own crash, what is your best advice to them?
Jay Williams: I was lucky enough to form a committee. For every successful business, they have a board, a board of advisors. My mother was on my board. My dad was on my board. My girlfriend at the time was on my board. Coach K was on my board. I had some other really good people. And what I did with them is that I sat down and went through the pros and cons about, “What is Jason good at? What is Jason like?” I never took time to actually think about what are my passions.
Oprah Winfrey: You built another kind of team.
Jay Williams: Exactly.
Give the whole thing a listen — it’s a fascinating conversation.