How do we write a blog post when we have no words to describe the depth of sadness that blankets this tragic and profound loss of life? Somehow, though, we must try to find words to help begin to process this pain. While so many will discuss this loss as the death of Kobe Bryant, nine people died far too soon this past weekend. Every family member and friend is and will continue to be unquestionably changed and devastated by their personal and private losses. We are deeply sorry and extend our sympathies to the families and friends of—
Alyssa Altobelli
John Altobelli
Keri Altobelli
Gianna Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Payton Chester
Sarah Chester
Christina Mauser
Ara Zobayan
Sadly, we only know the public persona of Kobe Bryant—we did not know these other eight individuals. Out of respect to their families, we will focus this post on the public loss of the public Kobe Bryant, the celebrity and entrepreneurial leader whose accomplishments we have come to know. This is our small attempt to honor the aspects of his life and work that we believe Kobe Bryant would have wanted us to share as part of his legacy for students and educators everywhere.
Kobe Bryant was a leader, role model, father, athlete, husband, friend, son, and so very much more. Kobe was a success on the court and far beyond. Just as Kobe worked so hard on the court, once his basketball career was over, he set about to reinvent himself in many new ways—working equally hard on his new objectives. He applied the same level of drive, commitment, and focus to become an astute investor and champion of new business enterprises. Kobe Bryant became a business leader, in part, by learning, refining, and applying financial literacy skills to his work. He was an investor, author, entrepreneur, and even an Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Did you know that Kobe was an investor who helped to champion others and invested in businesses led by African-American entrepreneurs? That’s right. Kobe Bryant was a winner in business, too, setting powerful examples of success for others. Bryant launched a venture capital fund with another entrepreneur and investor that focused on technology, media, and data startups to help others and set strong examples for the next generation. He also founded a multimedia production company for his own podcast, television, book, and movie projects—all new kinds of work for him to learn about.
Bryant co-founded the Mamba Sports Academy with the goal of helping to change the way men, women and kids approach human performance by hosting workshops, camps and sports performance conferences. According to those who knew and worked closely with Kobe Bryant, he applied a philosophy and principle that he put into practice with the business and life decisions he made—he tried to put himself in the shoes of others. He also applied the same powerful work ethic he used on the basketball court to learn all he could about all of his projects, including learning about investing and business.
One big theme across all of the projects Kobe Bryant embraced was his desire to combine two things that mattered greatly to him and that he believed would make a difference to the successes that others could achieve—education and inspiration. It has been said that Kobe Bryant believed that to succeed, one needed both education and inspiration. He focused on creating companies and choosing projects that would help others to incorporate both education and inspiration into their lives.
Kobe often said he loved helping to educate others in very creative ways, like putting pieces of a puzzle together. Kobe knew the value of telling stories as a way of engaging others. In November, he was asked in a CBS interview about what he wanted his legacy to be 50 years from now. He said he wanted to be known as a person who could create stories to inspire families and children to connect and bond. Family first was clearly a philosophy Kobe Bryant lived by. Far too soon of his 50-year legacy goal, Kobe Bryant is sure to be known for inspiring families to bond together. His focus on and love for his own family was definitely an outstanding example for us all.
While he is gone far too soon, there is much we can all continue to learn from Kobe Bryant’s public life and accomplishments to inspire us to incorporate all that we can learn in order to grow to be our bests, reinventing ourselves all along the way. By making the best possible choices we can with the gift of each day and chances that we are each lucky enough to receive, we too can become models for others.
There are truly no words to capture or express the pain and sadness so many people are feeling at this time, though it is our hope that sharing these small puzzle pieces about Kobe Bryant’s expressed public and business priorities can somehow help. By focusing on Kobe Bryant’s passion for learning and contributing, perhaps we can all begin to take even just a few small steps to honor the memories of all of the victims of Sunday’s accident.
As Kobe Bryant did for others, let’s work to put ourselves into his shoes—by applying the same strategies he modeled for us. With renewed urgency, let’s fully embrace the opportunities that we can discover and achieve that are still in front of each of us. Granted, in so many ways, Kobe Bryant’s shoes are definitely larger than life, but as he no doubt would have supported, if we take one small step at a time, we will make progress towards our big future wins, one point at a time.
Thank you, Kobe Bryant, for these treasured life and business lessons.
You will surely continue to teach us and we will miss you always.
