（附带文稿）科比·布莱恩特 | 南加州大学演讲

文稿：

please welcome our guests kobe bryant's

[Applause]

like me

Thank You Man

man if I knew College was gonna be like

this I would have took my butt to school

welcome thanks for being here thanks for

coming to USC checking it out for maybe

your three daughters are on their way

here yeah one for sure one for sure of

other ones like she's obsessed about

going to UConn so what we have to try to

figure that out

she's obsessed with you come by the time

she's old enough USC women's basketball

will be where UConn is now all right

that's what I'm talking about

that'll make my wife extremely have both

of our babies homes speaking at last

over the weekend Arica good boy Wally

when she hit the winning shot both in

the final and the semi-final yelled mama

meant mentality was the head was that

easy for you to listen to well I mean I

love watching great players do

phenomenal things you know and it's

always it always makes me feel good that

what I've done throughout my career has

inspired the next generation you know

but you know my daughter just like sent

me after the games cause you know we

probably stayed home because we're at

the game we went to the game to see you

kind of and you know after she says that

she's like maybe we should've just

stayed home great performance it was

such a clutch shot both of them um today

as I mentioned we want to focus on like

three things primarily when we talk

about mindset and mentality we certainly

want to talk about your competitive

philosophy we want to talk about

leadership and then some of the lessons

through basketball we're on a strict

time schedule we're gonna get you out

here by 1:30 some students will ask

questions at the end but let's remind

what we dive right in all right see

let's start with dear basketball which

began as a poem you know almost a love

letter to basketball can you tell us the

origin of that of that writing and how

it went from a written poem to a movie

well I mean was thinking about how was

going how was I going to announce now

to walk away from the game and for the

most part you know as athletes we tend

to think about that in terms of

communicating that to the public or to

fans and I realized I hadn't really had

a chance to speak to the game itself and

and so I decided that was going to be my

focus and once I had that focus the

words came pretty quickly actually wrote

two drafts within about 30 minutes the

first one was more confrontational in

nature because it felt like I felt like

the game was trying to tell me you need

me and you can't you can't walk away

from this you know this is who you are

and so the first tone was more

confrontational is like no I can I can

walk away from you I can do something

without you you know and then like in

every argument you kind of calm down and

you started seeing all the beautiful

things that you've learned from the game

which is the second draft you know you

guys here now but I wanted to make sure

it's visual so it's easy to say tell the

game I love you so much but instead I

wanted to paint a picture with that so

if a kid is rolling his dad's stinky

tube socks up chances are you loved the

game enough to do that you know so it's

trying to say things visually and

unfortunate enough Glen Keane was

believed in the vision and John Williams

believed in a vision and returned it

into an animated film and give us a

little bit of what's it like to be

nominated and to win an Academy Award

you know you talk about being a kid and

rolling up and playing basketball your

whole life when you were a kid did you

ever dream hip hearing and the Oscar

goes to no no I grew up in Italy okay so

late I don't even know Oscars was the

same I had no idea you know and so when

the nominations came on we were

nominated it was like oh that's that's

pretty that's pretty crazy that's pretty

insane and then to actually win it I

remember winning and just looking at my

wife to go on

you know what okay all right this

happened all right all right

and I remember after we wanted we got in

the car and you know it was like a late

night right so y'all hanging out and

stuff it's like 4:00 in the morning you

know in the car going back and I look at

my wife and I go I got followed up

we're gonna talk about by the studios

and what project you have coming but

you're right you've set a pretty high

it's a little bit I don't know what the

hell you do what we're Glen Keane and

John Williams I saw downhill after

that's like you know it's uh but no it's

been a fantastic experience has been

wonderful but even more important than

that it was I got a lot of funny looks

my last year what people said okay what

are you gonna do when you retire and I

say well I'm gonna be a storyteller okay

that's cute what is that you know I tell

stories okay all right but so when you

retire you gonna go through different

stages you're gonna be depressed the

first week the second week and they

would tell me this all the time and so I

felt like the domination was it was it

was a validation that this thing is real

and I can do this I do have talent

other than dribbling and shooting the

basketball I can actually write yeah and

so I think that was the most important

thing that is a great lesson no matter

what you do there's other talents that

you have a nurtured yet that are sort of

waiting there for you let's talk about

you know focus on basketball since that

was the predominant part of your life

when did you start playing basketball

and at what age did it become your

primary focus um you know I was I think

was just born to play man I started

playing it like two years old and my

father wasn't one of these fathers that

was like you're gonna play basketball

and you know he wasn't one of those guys

it was just kind of I was just around

the game a lot and I gravitated to the

ball and I was completely geeking out

about like the smell of the ball and

like the way it sounds when it hits

concrete versus how it hits a parquet

floor and like the sound of the Nets and

the different material of the Nets and

you know there's certain basketball

groups like in high school gyms and in

college gyms the

sits slightly above the lower part of

the backboard and there's like I was

geeking out if I got into a gym we'll

just like the NBA with the lower

stanchion of the backboard and the hoop

were completely parallel with each other

and I got like little like that

would freak me out like ah so to answer

your question I was born to do this

thing then and and I did it

non-stop all day long from the age of 2

to when I retired man and it's

interesting from the from the movie and

probably you say it is as though you

know when you fall in love with

something truly fall in love and you

don't really have a choice it chooses

you right and then you sort of become

you know indebted to that so it's

interesting to see it come out as a love

letter because no one probably would

assume that that would be the way you

would express it

sure well no I mean it's it's that's the

trick isn't it it's finding what you

love to do if we talk about hard work

all the time this night you know man if

you had to get up every single morning

remind yourself how hard you need to

work probably to choose a different

profession you know because that

shouldn't be there is I wake up in the

morning excited to get to it you know if

I'm not training I'm missing it I'm not

watching the game about I miss it you

know there's no place I'd rather be

and if you have that feeling then you're

truly doing with God has put you in his

herb to do great advice and then you see

who you left you went to from high

school we didn't leave high school you

graduate high school you went directly

to the NBA you were so young you're 17

that your parents had to sign your first

NBA contract here so right here you're

the youngest person not only on the team

but in the league we've got a bunch of

graduating students who are probably

going to their first full-time job do

you have any advice for students

entering an organization and being the

youngest person not in the room but in

the whole company well I mean in

business it's a little different you

know it's it's I think the best way to

prove your value this to work is to

learn is to absorb to be a sponge

you always want to outwork your

potential as hard as you believe you can

work you can work harder than that and

that's what I try to do when I first

came and lead but you know basketball is

such a direct competition sport that me

coming in at 17 I hated when like my

teammates would say you know I did hit

with an elbow right Shaq with hit me

with an elbow in practice and like you

know Nick Van Exel will come up and say

are you okay wow are you okay hell's

wrong with you you know it's so like I

always had that extra chip on my

shoulder so like every day I practice

for me was really trying to annihilate

everybody that was that I was playing

against because I wanted to prove you

don't need to babysit me like I'm fine

you know and and so as always that

competitive nature the work ethic and

curiosity because I asked a lot of

questions you know playing with barns

God I asked him a lot of questions Eddie

Jones who was great at chasing cars off

the screens and I didn't understand how

to do that I would sit with him before

practice after practice magic James

Worthy Kurt Rambis Kareem Abdul all the

Laker grades I would always sit down and

just asking questions about certain

games that I've studied growing up what

actually happened there what did you

feel there and why you know bird tough

to defend why cuz you look slow as

to me I'm like I'm missing something so

like tell me what I'm missing you know

what I mean and so I would always ask

questions and try to learn as much as I

could right no I just different

generation you guys probably never seen

a bird play we just I've seen Larry Bird

play hey everybody's seen Larry Bird

that's that's not a high enough

percentage we got we got some work to do

they are you know they are 18 for the

time but I just thought that could be

the greatest meme to send to Boston this

afternoon well my kids have never seen

Jordan play so and they don't know AZ

they don't know we're let's let's dive

into your your mindset because I really

think that you have so many things that

translate beyond sports when we talk

about mindset and beliefs we talk about

limiting beliefs as sort of being the

ceiling of your potential you know how

you think about yourself whether

positively or negatively that's probably

what your potential is how do you

stretch your beliefs and make sure you

are continually continually pushing the

boundaries of your comfort zone and your

capabilities I just dream my dream they

have dreams and dreams is they should be

pure I think a lot of times we're born

into this world we actually wound up

going backwards and it seems like the

more we mature the more responsible our

dreams become and the more governors we

put on ourselves and our ability to

dream and to reimagine and it's always a

fight for his parents and for you guys

to make sure that your dreams always

stay pure so it's not a matter of

pushing beyond the limitations and

expectations it's really a matter of

protecting your dreams protecting your

imagination that's really the key and

when you do that then the world just

seems limitless and when you when you

set your dreams a lot of times

especially in business and

entrepreneurship you have a big vision

and people will instantly start asking

you how you'll do it and so what we tell

people is like you know don't get caught

up with the how because if you know

every step to accomplish your dream you

haven't really dream big enough you

shouldn't know every step of the way and

you'll have a tendency to walk it back

and so I would say yeah be unrealistic

in your dreams as well let's talk about

one game in particular we're not going

to cover basketball highlights because

we'd be here for months but let's talk

about one game that how that sort of

shatters the notion of what some people

might think as possible in 2006 against

the Toronto Raptors you scored 81 points

which is second only to Wilt

Chamberlain's hundred points no one has

really come close to your total since

people have it in the 60s including you

he went 28 of 46 shooting 18 to 20 18 of

20 free throws you scored 55 in the

second half and 28 of your team's final

31 points there's the score book above

us that shows that the score book and

the answer to the trivia question who

was the second leading scorer of that

game is smoosh Parker it's so good so we

have four he had hit 13 good 13 it was

something that if you were watching it

it just kept building lately I know why

I had to score you won tough days man I

was tough if you do look at that lineup

you do understand it see that's yeah I'm

not getting but at the time at the time

the owner of the Lakers Jerry Buss said

it was like watching a miracle happen

and for those of us watching on TV or

were there it really was one of those

things you just couldn't believe was

possible did you do during the game did

you have to sort of like reset your

beliefs I know

Lamar Odom was saying you can't get 60

you can't get 70 or did you just let it

flow and whatever happen happen or were

you really like gunning for numbers no I

you know I always dreamed as a kid that

you know it was possible to score 80 or

90 100 I was just like you know had a

dream you know like sometimes we lay

down in bed and you visualize things you

just kind of you know just that's how

that's at least how I would go to sleep

I lay down that imagine playing for the

Lakers and I'll imagine with the

uniforms looks like I'll imagine we

would be playing you know the smell of

the arena and all sort of stuff and I

would see myself you know getting hot

you know score ten straight points and

then but in the dream like why would you

ever interrupt that like you're not

gonna have a dream and be like okay the

new missus is next six but it's not

gonna happen so you just keep dreaming a

dream in a dream and then before I go to

sleep I'm I got a hundred and twenty

points no and so so when you grow up

downloading that into your brain over

and over and over

and then you know that summer I made a

thousand shot today a thousand right

that's on top of weight training and my

conditioning I made a thousand shots and

it weren't just shots

it was shots that you saw in that game

there were specific shots I mean it's

coming out of the corner going to the

pinch post footwork in the post coming

off the screen it was very specific so

when you download that into your system

and you go out on the court and you're

just executing things that you've done

thousands of times before and you have

that dream then that becomes possible

yeah everything's been not choreographed

but it's been practiced so many times

that it's second nature there's why

reinvent it like I don't understand that

you go out and play the game and you're

just trying to create something news no

no this is what I do this is what I do

extremely well you're gonna have to stop

me from doing that and if you do stop me

from doing that I have a counter to that

done you know years later you uh you

watched a replay of that game and you

live-tweeted what you were thinking and

I thought that the students would like

to see some of your tweets from IDC they

don't remember this is awesome so it

says watching the game now

I missed easy shots I could have had a

hundred down fourteen I'm heating up at

this point I wouldn't pass a kidney

stone

and then lastly should have been a

comedian man what the hell and then

lastly I knew I should have got a fresh

haircut for this game

[Laughter]

yeah yeah but missing two free throws is

kind of ridiculous though like you make

all those shots and you missed two free

throws you know it's kind of it's so

it's it happens yeah let's let's talk

about mindset and philosophy because we

tell students that it's very important

that you have a personal philosophy in

your basketball career did you have an

articulated competitive philosophy

something short that meant something to

you that really stood for what you what

you played my philosophy was a very

simple one I am and this is where I

think film plays a big part of my life

Rudy was one of my favorite films

growing up if you guys haven't seen Rudy

I suggest you go you watch Rudy the

reason why there's a temperature it's no

problem it's not a name so you I think

the USC football program is done okay

but after watching that film I come to

understand if I could work that hard

every day with the being blessed with

the physical tools that I have with my

career being and I made a promise to

myself from that day that I was going to

work that hard

every single day so that when I do

retire I have no regrets and that was

the most important thing for me is leave

no stone unturned get better every

single day and if I live that way then

over time you know I'd have something

that was beautiful but that was my

philosophy it seems like a pretty simple

one but you know if you lived your life

to just get better every single day and

do that for 20 years I mean what do you

have right did you uh you know you

seemed at peace both before and during

the game pregame I you know we watched

you during the anthem you seemed to go

to a place you know were you generating

calm focused confidence do you have a

mindfulness or meditative practice that

you use while you play yeah well Phil

introduced meditation to us when he came

it's our team in 99 mm and it was

something that I instantly gravitated to

because I could see the effects you I

used to watch you know studying the

games the Bulls teams and you know

watching their demeanor watching their

composure you know playing in a tough

place like Utah doing the finals and

being down 17 but everybody was like

this you couldn't tell if they were down

17 or up 20 or a tie game and never

changed and I was wondering why the hell

that is

and that's why I started doing more

research and when til came I immediately

gravitated to it then found myself

accepted the challenge of finding what

that space is and for the 81 point game

and to be honest I was wasn't even

thinking about the game my knee was

hurting so much I didn't know then but

you know how to flap a joint of

cartilage stuck in my joint line and so

my mom was really trying to go to a

place where I don't feel that pain and

game started and because of that I was

just in a different space you know I

wasn't worried about what was to come I

was worried about what just happened I

was just here and when you're just there

in the moment playing plays right in

front of you your focus is heightened

because nothing else matters and that's

the space I've tried to get to it's a

perfect definition of mindfulness in the

present moment without judgment and not

for nutrition though cuz I did have a

pepperoni pizza the night before the

game

full disclosure also had a plain quarter

pounder with cheese before the game so

to be young dinner of Champions exactly

you wouldn't eat that now yeah nutrition

didn't come till later so you talk about

practice I wanna I want to underscore

that you know Allen Iverson who was a

phenomenal player with the 76ers

famously ranted about you know when

asked by a reporter about missing

practice and he just went you know

practice we're talking about practice I

mean it's pressed it's not a game and it

was classic he went on forbidden you

know the Iverson approach is not the

Kobe Bryant approach you you really

focused on practice tell us what you

brought to practice and how you sort of

made that standard for the rest of your

team well I mean here's what I practice

was important me not from the justice

standpoint that I enjoy playing like I

enjoyed being there I enjoy getting

better but as a leader of a team it's

also your responsibility to elevate the

rest of the guys and what people will

tend to get stuck on a lot as saying

okay the way to make players better

there's the pass on the ball when

they're open that's a very trivial way

to look at things but you have to do is

you have to get them emotionally to want

to be better you want you have to get

them to an emotional space where they

wake up every morning driven to be the

best version of themselves right how do

you do that and in practice for me it

was a chance to drive them to challenge

them right if their and this is where

you have to know your teammates because

if it's late just had a back to back and

we had practice to next day and you show

up and guys don't feel like going

through the motions don't feel like

practicing it's important to know each

and every one of them individually

personally because then you know it

nerve to touch some guys it's like okay

come on let's you know we can do this

that'll get them going are the guys know

you got to figure out what button to

push you know pal was always Spain

about tell them how they lost in a gold

medal to us and how they're gonna lose

again I'm gonna beat your ass in

practice just like I beat you in a gold

medal game all that all you take that

you hate that but that's what practice

what you have to drive them you

absolutely have to and if practice is

more intense and harder than a game

seven we'll be in a game seven will be

easy but if it's not then that's when

teams start folding and capitulating you

know you actually it's a perfect segue

to you know how to create a high

performance culture with coaches and

team leaders you know everybody sort of

got to be on that page of helping you

become the best version of yourself

speaking of that we have someone who'd

like to ask you a question from Seattle

please roll this question hi this is

Pete Carroll from the Seahawks joining

in with Professor Belasco's class and

with one of the all-time greats

Kobe Bryant I'm thrilled to be part of

this night but I just have one simple

question really Kobe you have been one

of the all-time great competitors that

have ever played in in any sport and I'm

real curious to know what it was like

for you with all of the grit and all of

the makeup that you had to be such a

great competitor what was it like for

you to play with people that that

weren't as gritty as you were how did

you deal with that how did you set your

expectations knowing that that you were

so far out there and and how did you

deal with the players that she played

with you know when knowing that they

they were still kind of somewhere on the

spectrum but but you're on the top of it

good question that's a great question um

my response might sound a little tough

but I just I tell him my burial

you know it's you know tolerance for

that and the kind of culture that the

Laker organization stood for when in

Championships is not tolerated you're

gonna show up to play and you're gonna

allow the gags with the scrimmage

through this drill I'm going to beat you

I'm going to let you know I beat you I'm

gonna want you to reconsider your

professional life choice for the most

part people will say okay that doesn't

make a great teammate well I'm not gonna

be a great teammate I'm here to help you

win championships so it's a difference

and you know fortunately for us for me

you know we had an organization that it

was Championships or nothing and they

were really good about identifying that

and bringing players in here that had a

competitive streak and you know getting

rid of the ones that did not if I got a

fight to get you in the gym that's a

problem that's a problem you want

players that are gym rats players at

wannabe in the gym that wanna work and

then from there you build on top of that

but if you're lazy man I don't wanna

talk to you I want to deal with you you

don't make me feel Dumber you know

you're gonna lower my level I don't

think so you can go over there there's

plenty of teams in here where you'll fit

right in

that's what you mentioned at the time

they were right down the hall from us

how is your heart

they were you you mentioned the

organization and we're talking about

leadership not just on the floor and the

players within a basketball franchise

the players you know they were

accountable to we out to each other to

the coach the coach reports to the GM

the GM reports to ownership let's let's

look at leadership from both the players

perspective in the organization so to

help us with that please welcome the

president and the controlling owner of

Los Angeles Lakers Genie bus

[Laughter]

oh it's so good to have had me to call

upstairs yeah I see

welcome to USC campus I when I heard

that you were going to be here I had to

to stop by and welcome you and tell you

thank you for inspiring another

generation and I'm sure everybody's

enjoying having you here today thank you

thank you it was family there but the

speaking of that so can you you share

the relationship between Coby and the

bus family with your dad and you your

brothers and what he's meant to the

franchise in your family for us you know

Kobe was drafted at 17 and I'll never

forget meeting him he was a eager young

man and he I'll never forget our weight

or we went to lunch and our waiter

Kobe asked him if he spoke Spanish and

the waiter said yes I do and Kobe said

I'm going to learn Spanish and I thought

that was so odd for somebody so young to

give himself a challenge like that and

now you speak beautiful Spanish Italian

you do your press conferences in both

languages so you know the idea that we

had a franchise player in this this

young kid was a gift for our family and

you know the idea that you have been a

Laker for 20 years throughout your

entire career that meant a lot to my

father doctor bas that you were a Laker

for life anywhere thank you

so what what changes it we're talking

about leadership and I want you both to

sort of two answers what changes did you

notice in Coby from coming in at 18 to

maturing becoming sort of the leader not

just sort of Shaq and Kobe but what what

changes did you notice over time in him

when you have a your star player who is

the first one at the gym and the last

one to leave it sets the bar for

everybody else

he made my job so much easier because of

his leadership I don't think people he

ever really gets the credit for the

amount of work that he puts in because

he made it look effortless and you know

sometimes you know his teammates would

get a little frustrated with you because

you did set the bar so high but that's

that's what made the Lakers great for

your tenure as a Laker and we miss you

and most in most you know as Kobe said

the Lakers play for world championships

they'll play for division championships

or conference championships they play to

win it all and from 1997 when Kobe came

in the league through 2012 the Lakers

were in the playoffs all but one year

the last few years of Kobe's run they're

a young team and they weren't and they

were out of playoff contention how does

your attitude and leadership deal with

changing goals you know I know it's good

to say that you want to win the

championship everywhere but it probably

wasn't really a realistic one so how do

you would adjust how do you adjust as a

team leader and then how what

conversations does ownership have with

the coaches teenie geenie so sweet she

saw me worked so hard for so many years

and the last few years her and Rob who

was at the time my agent called me and

said listen we are so sorry for what

happened to this team we're sorry that

we don't have seriously it's like we

don't we're sorry we don't have a team

around you

I can contend for a championship ya know

it's it's so we could make a few calls

and get you on a contending team that's

all because we just feel horrible about

seeing you go on out there and Chicago

remember this and and I said they're not

listed I said you know we don't each

other for a very long time up now I'm

questioning myself because I'm wondering

what about me makes you think I would

jump ship we don't do that because

you'll do that we couldn't take losing

and and and how angry you think that's

probably what it is

yeah I'll put the tea tables maybe

morning a few tables it's no bad for

tomorrow when would we lost to the

Celtics in 2008 you and Phil Jackson

used to say it's worse to lose in the

finals than to not make the playoffs at

all and losing especially to the Celtics

was that much more difficult but you

just took that right from the court and

went to the Olympics and led the team to

a gold medal so you just you took that

and then then you were on a mission to

get back into the finals and win and and

you did and we played it's fat but to me

it's family it's not like the Lakers

I've been a Laker fan since five years

old man I could I know the Laker history

always from Minneapolis I'll always wear

this today and so it's in my blood and

this family her father believing in me

and standing by me and also stuff like

I'm not I don't go anywhere like this is

home to me you know we work through the

stuff together and like you know as a

leader I'll be able to take the good

with the bad man you can't just cuz the

ship sink and all of a sudden I might

jump off a swim to another like

that you don't do that right you can win

championships in front of everybody then

you can miss the playoffs in front of

everybody you gotta be able to take

boats out

[Laughter]

or or signed with Golden State but

dealing there weren't losing that's

acknowledge acknowledge it's it's the

opposite view it's the opposite you know

it's it's hard to stand and that's why

in the jersey retirement ceremony I said

I talked about that it might have been

easier for you to leave and you know you

didn't in that you know if you're doing

something that's so easy then you might

want to reconsider what you're doing

like I don't like I can't you know

Durant's been a friend of mine for a

very very long time yeah I mean I know

he's been a friend of mine for a long

time so as a bride all those guys would

I make the same decision no but that's

their decision that's their choice I

would have stayed but is what it is yeah

people have to do what's right for them

you know I mean it's not a judgment it's

just a fact so

it is what it is so Jeannie

you mentioned the retirement ceremony

and it was unique one because it came

very early he'd only been retired for a

year and you know as people know Kobe

switched numbers from 8 to 24 during his

career why did you decide to retire two

jerseys in both numbers well it that was

a kind of a debate that we had

internally and really the the whole idea

of retiring a number for a player is

that you know no one else can ever wear

that number again because you will

always think of the former player great

in that number and so we knew that no

one was ever going to wear eight or 24

for the Los Angeles Lakers ever again

but if you took the body of work of Kobe

wearing number eight and Kobe wearing

number 24 both of those players would

qualify to be on the wall and he just

happened to be one who had such an

amazing career he deserved to be up

there twice

I am so grateful that that genie was

able to come here I know you've got

another a commitment that you have to go

to with it I'm gonna say this off the

record

would you ever come back and talk about

your businesses with our students at

some point let's let's thank Gd bus for

coming by

so much GD bus

you can see why Kobe you know some of

these Kobe Jordan phenomenal players

probably not

coaches well I do coach my daughter's do

okay i do i do of course my coach my

daughter's team this use uh it's a sixth

grade basketball team we run a triangle

offense we do we do and and and you know

you can't tell kids scores there I made

it too young for that right the first

teach of how to scorch to earth right so

you you gotta teach them fundamentally

how to pass with your left hand how to

make left-handed layups how the dribble

appropriately out of proper spacing and

you know all the basics first and then

when they get to seventeen eighteen

minutes you know Jack Aris all right so

let's just make a note for admission

seven years let's put her on the radar I

play we've got a couple more minutes and

I'm gonna have students ask you some

questions but I want to want to dive

into your businesses now that you're

sort of transition from basketball it's

interesting cuz most athletes and

retired athletes focus their business

efforts around building their own brand

their personal brand and certainly you

know you have a brand you have a shoe

but you've chosen to do something else

something that's that's more bold

something that you really haven't done

before can you tell us why you're doing

this why you're going into a creative

endeavor like granite II Studios because

I love doing it it's that simple you

know you have to sit in the hash

yourself what is truly gonna get you up

in the morning what's gonna keep you up

at night and when you find what that

answer is you stay true to that

you know I've built a brand for the last

20-some years personal brand which is

great but that is not where our focus is

going to be for the next 50 years it's

what we are doing now are we taking a

big risk yeah but I think that if we

focus on one thing and do that one thing

exceptionally well we won't fail at that

one thing so sometimes you got to put

the other stuff to bed and focus on what

you believe is is the core of the

company and that always starts from what

you love to do the most

so let's focus on on granite II Bryant

style partners is a primarily a venture

fund invest in early stage and growth

stage companies your partner Jeff style

very experienced investor you has had

some wins already with some great

companies but I want to spend some time

on granite because I think that's where

most of your your creativity is

expressed we talked about setting limits

and artificial limits and beliefs on

ourselves granitic Studios what does the

word granite II mean it means greater

than infinity and I just took those

words and then made a new word um and

the whole idea is that you know when I

started playing the game everything was

about trying to be the best when this

men you know when his many championships

as you can jot yada yada yada you get

older you start to understand that

really it's about the next generation

that these Championships do come and go

right and there'll be other people that

win championships but the most important

thing you can do is to pay everything

that you've learned forward to the next

generation to come and that's truly how

you create something that lasts forever

right and so the fundamental belief of

the company is create forever now how do

you do that and that's how you create

something that's greater than infinity

inspire one who inspires the next

conspires the next and on and on you go

and that's the foundation of it all

that's great and Grammy Studios sort of

two different areas content production

and publishing right can you tell us on

the content side tell us about detail

with Kobe Bryant and is it puny Pete and

Friends Beauty Pete and Friends so well

detail will launch that April 12 on ESPN

Plus and what I observed a lot of my

career is how players study film because

now has become like you watch Game film

you see what you do right you see which

would be wrong okay let's do more of

that let's do less of that right but the

way I grew up from Texas winner Phil

Jackson the way film was broken down it

was broken down to the smallest detail

was broken down to the right angle

he's broken down to foot placement

timing looking at the posture of a

teammate you know what could he be

thinking what could he be feeling same

thing with the opposition you know you

watch the feed watch players going to

the timeouts who's talking to who who's

not talking you start looking at every

little thing and so watching the game

for me would take like five hours and

that attention to detail is what's

missing so I felt like if I can put that

in a show I have the next generation the

eleven year old kids hope you are

watching the game at that level what are

they gonna be when they're 25 you know

what level would they be at then and

it's a passion of mine to get that thing

going like I said April 12th would be

the first episode it's so interesting

you know we learned so many things when

were younger and then we never really

turned back to learn how to learn and so

this is a tool to learn how to learn and

learn how to become great and then what

about puny Pete and friends puny P is

like this is sy to create like a sports

version of the peanut gang which is like

the funniest thing it's awesome there's

these little kids this kid named QEP and

God bless his heart no matter how hard

he tries he can never seem to get

right but he tries he tries and tries

and tries and it's a podcast and what I

wanted to do with the podcast is you

know typically you hear a person talking

and in the podcast almost becomes white

noise because you cut it hear somebody

talking and then you're gonna did you

pay attention but what I wanted to do is

take it back to you know where there was

no TV and sports was telecast in radio

so we have these two characters Clarke

and Kimberley spice and they're the

announcers so they're our vision into

the world and so they want to grow up to

be the greatest announcers ever right

and so they're commentating on what it

is that we see and have these kids that

are out there playing all these sports

baseball football basketball it's really

about the relationship between them all

and about the power of dreams and

success and failures it's a series about

their journey but it's it's a it's fun

it's podcast right pocket yes and on the

on the publishing side I've heard they

have like nine different novels yeah in

in development can you tell us what ROM

they're in

and what role do you play in generating

the characters in the content spying and

it's all sports and fantasy so you know

having kids if I try to tell my

daughters you have to work hard and also

stuff like they just kind of look at me

like yeah dad yeah we get it we get it

and it just kind of going one ear out

the other

so I've had to start trying to figure

out how to seed that into stories and

the content in the short stories stories

I can read to them at no bedtime and

then that's when the messages would sink

in because they pay attention to a

character more so than they would pay

attention to what the hell I'm saying

you know but I trick them because I

wrote the story ha ha ha and so that's

what this is where this whole idea kind

of started and from there we you know I

started kind of outlining different

characters and creating an entire world

that centered around sports and fantasy

and magic and the first novel series

that will release his car role of a

wizard and it's a it's a magical coach

that comes in to teach these kids the

magic that's within them and use

fundamentals of the game and the emotion

within each character and how they

navigate those emotions to reach their

full potential those are universal

themes it sounds like you're you're sort

of using the Disney model you're

building a studio in Orange County

getting Hollywood talent to come down

there and join you well we need we need

great writers editors does anybody in

here in this room that fits that pendejo

we're in Costa Mesa so anybody that

loves sports and love story and loves

fantasy so it's got a home for you you

know we just happen to have the number

one cinema school in the world probably

the most storied athletic heritage in

all of college sports great business

school great engineering so I think

there'll be plenty of people that will

probably be joining you at granite II

awesome and I'd like to before I turn

over to students to ask questions I I

really find it fascinating that you have

you know sort of immersed yourself in

something that has you know very

different than professional sports it

hasn't really been done before and that

I hope you feed your creative side

through granite II like you fed your

competitive side through sports

just wish you all the best thank you

thank you let's start off with some

students you can stand up stand up tell

them who you are got about six or seven

for you hey Toby I mean on behalf of

everyone thank you so much for being

here today my name is Sarah Hughes I'm a

master's student in the Entrepreneurship

program I played on the beach volleyball

team as an undergrad and now I play

professionally for Team USA my question

for you is what did you know and learn

at the end of your career that you wish

you knew at the beginning understanding

empathy and compassion because as a

young kid when I came in the league it

was like I'm driving this way and either

you're gonna be on the train or be on

the track but there was no such thing as

understanding that people have lives

outside of the game

we rich apparently I did not but like if

I understood at an early age and I'm it

helps me as a leader to communicate

better I came to understand that later

and getting to know people on a personal

level whether their fears where their

insecurities where their dreams and

ambitions desires those sorts of things

you come to understand that about a

person then you can help them reach the

best version of themselves so I wish I'd

known that earlier thank you oh thank

you

[Laughter]

so Kofi how you doing I'm Jordan

mcLaughlin I'm a senior here working on

my master's in communication management

I played on the USC basketball team here

my question for you is I'm preparing for

the NBA Draft right now

so what recommend what recommendations

do you have for someone on picking an

agent don't cuz it's a dying business I

hope there are no agents in here it's

finally agent not kidding you know I was

very fortunate because Rob was the kind

of agent that worked in collaboration

with his players so my advice to you is

find an agent that's going to

collaborate with you not point you here

points you there all right work behind

the scenes in the shadows without your

knowing what the hell's going on right

an agent that's going to have you be a

part of the meetings right have you in

that room discuss with you not just pop

a contract in front of you but actually

walk you through clause by clause what

it is that you're signing are getting

into and get your feedback on it so if

you could find an agent like that man

you're you're doing well man appreciate

you got it good luck

[Laughter]

hi my name is Waverly I'm a senior

majoring in international Asians and

global business um and I really enjoyed

hearing about your different projects

and new businesses and I was wondering

if you've had to tone down your

competitiveness in your approach in the

new work environment um yeah yeah more

than a little bit no well bat like I

said basketball it's different because

it's such a direct competition what we

do now there isn't because the

competitiveness that I bring to work

every day is really helping people in a

sense be competitive with themselves

right if you're if you're animating

something or or you're writing a

screenplay or you're composing a piece

of music is that the best you can do

alright don't ask me don't say okay do

you approve don't ask me I'm not the

musician I'm not the composer you know

all right so the competitiveness is more

from an individual perspective are you

is this the best you can do and the

answer is yes then off we go so it's

different thank you so much yeah it's

very welcome

[Laughter]

hi Kobe my name is vittorio Eric I'm a

Jew my owner came to watch don't play by

the way volleyball and she were sitting

right there she was like oh my god they

hit that ball so hard that's the first

time watching you guys plays though

thanks for coming you're always welcome

my question for you is players like

Kevin Love and demar derozan are coming

forward sharing their stories about

mental health what is your take on this

and why is it important that elite

athletes join in on this universal

conversation well that's a great

question I think it's important for

athletes to own what it is that they're

going through it's awareness and I think

a lot of times we try to tell children

tell young athletes in particular that

you have those thoughts and those

feelings that's weakness that's bad you

shouldn't be feeling that which then

causes them to feel some type of way

about themselves and they carry that

around with them for the rest of their

lives and I think the most important

thing is for us to be aware of what's

going on in here

not that it's bad good and different but

it's awareness and once you're aware of

it then you can choose to walk

hand-in-hand with it or you can choose

to fight it but you're making that

decision if you just can constantly bury

that in the distance then it starts

festering and it comes up in different

ways and manifests itself in different

ways so I think it's unbelievable with

tomorrow and what Kevin are doing

and hope to see more of it thank you hey

are you it fantastic

I'm Satori I'm a dance major here at USC

I'll be the first graduating class and

I'm a junior now so of course I have to

ask a lot of times dancers and athletes

find themselves at odds with each other

even though their craft sort of demand

the same thing from them so I have to

know how do you see dance and other art

forms and athletics in alignment with

one another well there was a there was a

year played Indiana Pacers in the finals

I rolled my ankle really bad Jalen Rose

stepped under me on purpose he admits it

now finally broke my ankle really really

bad I came back finished the series but

I couldn't touch a basketball till

mid-september which was driving me crazy

I couldn't train but I looked at this

was like the tenth time I rolled my

ankle and in one season so I'm looking

at that I'm saying okay I got to address

that and so being that I couldn't get on

the basketball court what I did was I

took tap-dancing lessons no kidding I

took tap and tap was like the best

training for me in the world because it

strengthened my feet

it changed my rhythm and my approach to

the game I was able to change speeds

when I came back the following season

you know I think dancers put way more

trainer in their body than athletes do

and I think there's a lot that can be

learned from that my daughter took

ballet for several years and I was sit

there in the class right and I didn't

know what I was going to into his I

don't know anything about ballet ready

but I'm sitting there in the class and

I'm watching her and watching to get the

first position the second position I'm

sorry I'm learning the structure and the

rules that go along with that and as

athletes there's a lot to be learned

from that because if you simply go out

there and perform and play yeah you'll

be great every now and then but if you

play with the structure if you

understand the rules that come along

with that the discipline that comes

along with that then you reach another

level but you guys have my respect if

other people don't see that there it is

that's on

by the way I was a horrible tap dancer

by the way my mentality didn't translate

to that man I wasn't gonna coffee

good man are you doing good

someone name was Malik I'm a senior

studying communication I'll be earning

my master's at communication management

on the football team so I was just

wondering um what is the most important

thing that I can take away from football

that would translate into my life after

sports well I mean it's different for

everyone you know I think for me it was

the the discipline the teamwork I mean I

think team works the most important

thing in a sense of you know sports is a

place where you can have so many

different ethnicities people from

different religious beliefs political

beliefs which are grounded with one

focus but achieving one thing right so

being able to put those things to the

side to accomplish a goal and that's one

of the strongest lessons I think you

should take from team sports thank you

for good luck

[Laughter]

are you doing I'm captain Corbin Pierce

I'm a active-duty reconnaissance marine

right and also a father so I have a last

question of a family question for you

off the court now how do you inspire and

foster that vision of greatness in a

child you talked a little bit about your

this storage you tell him I'm in town

it's very different than what they see

every day in social media and so on

no yeah I try to get my kids to see the

beauty in the process so when it got old

enough I used to take him with me to

workouts and it used to be over there

kicking a soccer ball around or whatever

but they would see it's not there

sitting there and watching upset but

they would see you know they know I'd

get up at 4 o'clock in the morning they

know I'm training again you know and

there's film deer basketball I mean they

were there with me as I was writing it

and going through the animation process

going through step by step I think the

important thing that we can do as

parents is to lead by example but also

encourage our children to think

incrementally not to say okay I want to

be like you know Jonna for example my

daughter who plays basketball now you

said that your teach gotta play by so I

made sure like okay I want to be better

than you am i I poo you know I'm just

you know was the start we'll start with

15 minutes a day right until 15 minutes

a day we just stood right in front of

the hoop and just shot right under the

hoop we didn't move around we didn't do

any dribble in just 15 minutes a day

just shoot here right and you do that

for a month and a half and then next

month you step back the next month you

step back again and then you start

working on dribbling right so I think

through actionable things is how we

teach our children because we could sit

there and tell them tell them tell them

tell them win I you know we're kicking

it listen right but it through sports

you can teach them how to think things

incrementally

because that's the way they behave and

it becomes a part of their process in

sports it'll become a part of their

process in life as well

thank you it's already talked thank you

yeah amazing questions imagining you

training your daughter to play

basketball I sort of thought of a Karate

Kid mr. Miyagi well just do that legs

off just do this one thing for a month

so for a month his daughters just

shooting like three foot bunnies for

that's way the rim that's it

you know it's been a great time I told

you we and speaking of Corbin's last

quench question about parenting and Baba

mentality I want you to share why we

promise to get you out of here and what

you have to do today what's your other

obligation okay I don't like being

second in carpool one no I'm joking but

I'm really not no so you know my

schedule is always the same I get up

super early you know I write I work out

I take the kids to school and I go to

the office who work more and then every

day I'm there in carpool to pick up my

baby from school and and so I I mean I

don't miss that I don't miss it

competitively sometimes when I pull up

and there's a car in front of them like

so now you here before me like I'm here

50 minutes before like what the hell

yeah yeah good always can be AG imagine

if you know cutting you off at carpool

just like you dodging in the last minute

cut you mom

yes always competing some way against

yourself I was just annoying annoying

well at USC we compete as well we

compete for the best students the best

entrepreneurs the best dancers the best

athletes the best engineers the best

guest speakers we really try and bring

everybody here

yeah it's sort of interesting because

because he went directly from high

school to the pros you technically he

has eligibility left does so so I

thought I would bring a great

representative from USC to help thank

you please welcome the head football

coach clay Helton clay

you would be the prettiest white out on

the face of the planet

Toby thank you so much thank you for

what you've done for the city of Los

Angeles for what you have done for this

Trojan family today I'm going to tell

you the greatest gift you can give

somebody is your time and you gave your

time today into your mindset I've always

thought that you were one of the most

fierce competitors in the history of any

game today I now know that you are the

fiercest competitor and we taught these

young people that to be great

you have to welcome competition it's

something that is innate in all the

great people and no matter what field

you're in and we'd like to thank you

from our Trojan family to you and we'd

like to make you an honorary Trojan all

right about that thank you yeah thank

you appreciate you being you buddy thank

you thank you thank you stay up here say

students last the questions get up here

for a quick picture this will show off

the guns nicely right here this will be

nice students who ask the questions come

on up really quickly guys thank you for

coming today it's been a great day at

USC it's great to be a Trojan have a

great week fight on

thank you thank you Colby