Slam dunk success

Byron Scott plays hoops with the women’s basketball team and talks to players about leadership. (Video produced by Isaiah Pule ’18)

On an early fall morning inside the University of Rochester’s Palestra, Byron Scott huddled with the men’s and women’s basketball teams. He spoke to them about leadership, teamwork, and success.

He should know.

Scott is a three-time NBA world champion player and coach. He’s played alongside some of the greatest, including Magic Johnson. He’s also the co-author of Slam Dunk Success: Leading from Ever Position on Life’s Court, co-written with Charles Norris ’68, an investor and business executive.

For both Scott and Norris—longtime yet unlikely friends who met each other at their local gym—great leadership begins with great understanding. Their advice is to be the best teammate you can be, whether you are on the basketball court or in the boardroom.

On the bleachers that morning, the players listened intently. Lucky for them they not only heard words of wisdom from both Scott and Norris, they even had the chance to shoot the ball around with this NBA basketball legend—a college experience they’ll remember forever.

Read more about Scott and Norris and their like-minded approach to leadership and success in this May-June 2017 Rochester Review article.

—Kristine Thompson, October 2017