The goal of my speech was to help your summit audience connect in a deeper way, collaborate across housing divisions, and champion the shared vision of human connection.
Being in housing, no matter our role, it is our job to make human connections all day every day.
It’s Wednesday, April 18th, 2007.
19,580 people at TD garden are chanting “Fire Doc. Fire Doc”.
The Boston Celtics, a once-storied franchise, have had a run of bad luck. They've finished the season wit
h one of the worst records in the NBA, a dismal 24-58.
“Fire Doc. Fire Doc”. Their talking about Boston’s Head Coach, Doc Rivers.
How many of you have ever had tens of thousands of people rooting for your untimely departure from the workplace?
To turn the tide in the offseason, the franchise trades for a core of superstar players, bringing in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce. Even that decision was fraught with uncertainty - all three were superstar leaders with previous interpersonal conflict.
Doc Rivers, knew he faced a monumental task. A task that went beyond drawing up plays and managing minutes. He had to turn individual stars into a unified team.
He needed a philosophy, a guiding principle that could transform this collection of talent into a cohesive unit.
At pre-season training camp in Rome, Italy, Doc introduced "Ubuntu", a South African philosophy that embodies the ideas of connection, community, and mutual caring for all. The term is often translated as "I am because we are," or "humanity towards others,".
Desmond Tutu says “Ubuntu is the essence of being human.” He and Nelson Mandela used Ubuntu as a rallying cry to unite South Africa after Apartheid.
To Doc Rivers, the philosophy meant, “I can’t be all I can be unless you are all you can be. I can never be threatened by you because you’re good, because the better you are, the better I am.
Doc broke the word down into different parts and chose the rookies to be the perfect messenger. He said, “I’m going to teach you this word, and I need you guys to sell this to the team.” You guys are going to get up in front of the team and give a presentation. They did it with passion, a little bit of humor…and swag.
At the end, due to the success of their presentation, Kevin Garnett in the back of the room said, “Ubuntu on three.”