 Hi, I'm Alan Stein, Jr., professional keynote speaker and the author of Raise Your Game, High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best. The last several weeks have been an incredibly challenging time for everyone in the conference industry, and many believe these tough times will continue for months to come. As a gesture of goodwill to those affected by canceled and postponed events, I've recorded an abbreviated version of my most popular keynote to add value to meeting and event planners, bureau partners, corporate clients, and the thousands of eager attendees that have had to miss their favorite events. Please feel free to share this liberally with your clients, partners, and colleagues, anyone you believe that would benefit from these timeless principles. Don't forget, during times of crisis and adversity, we are all in this together. So please sit back, relax, and let me raise your game. For more than 15 years, Alan Stein, Jr. worked with the highest performing basketball players on the planet, including iconic superstars such as Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, and Kobe Bryant. He is here today to share proven strategies on how you can utilize the same mindset, habits, and routines that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. Using proven principles from his book, Raise Your Game, Alan has worked with global brands such as American Express, Pepsi, and Starbucks, as well as championship caliber sports programs like Penn State Football and UConn Men's Basketball. He is excited to provide you with a series of practical, actionable lessons you can implement immediately to improve organizational performance and achieve higher levels of personal influence, impact, and significance. Alan is a passionate father of three, and he never lets his kids beat him in anything, ever. Please help me welcome Alan Stein, Jr. Back in 2007, Nike flew me out to Los Angeles to work the first ever Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. Nike brought in the top high school and college players from around the country for an intense three-day mini-camp with the best player in the world. For any of you watching that don't follow basketball, just know that in 2007, Kobe was the best player in the game. Well, an important fact about me is basketball was my first identifiable passion. I fell in love with the game at four or five years old, and I'm truly grateful that here, four decades later, basketball is still a major pillar in my life. While having grown up in this basketball bubble, I had always heard the urban legend of how insanely intense Kobe's individual workouts were. Well, since I was on camp staff, I figured this was my chance. This was my shot, so at my earliest opportunity, I walked up to him and asked if I could watch one of his private workouts. He was incredibly gracious, and smiled and said, sure, man, no problem. I'm going tomorrow at four, and I got a little bit confused because I had just got done looking through the camp schedule, and the camp schedule clearly said that the first workout with the players was the following day at 3.30. Well, Kobe recognized that confused look on my face, and he clarified that with, that's four AM. I wasn't smart enough or quick enough to come up with an excuse on why I couldn't be somewhere at four in the morning, at least not an excuse that a guy like Kobe's going to accept. So I pretty much committed myself to being there, and I figured if I'm going to be there anyway, I may as well try and impress Kobe. I may as well show him how serious of a trainer I was. So I came up with the plan to beat him to the gym. So I set my alarm for 3 AM. The alarm goes off, I jump up, I get myself dressed, I hop in a taxi, and I head to the gym. And when I arrive, it's 3.30 in the morning, so it's pitch black outside. And the moment I step out of the taxi, I can see the gym lights already on. Even from the parking lot, I could faintly hear a ball bouncing and sneakers squeaking. I walked in the side door, Kobe was already in a full sweat. See, he was going through an intense warm-up before his scheduled workout with his trainer started at four. Well, out of professional courtesy, I didn't say anything to him. I didn't say anything to his trainer. I just sat down to watch. And for the first 45 minutes, I was shocked. For the first 45 minutes, I watched the best player in the world do the most basic footwork in offensive moves. Kobe was doing stuff that I had routinely taught to middle school age players. Now, don't get it twisted. This is Kobe Bryant. So he was doing everything at an unparalleled level of intensity. And he was doing everything with surgical precision. But the drills he was doing were incredibly basic. His whole workout lasted a few hours. And when it was over, once again, I didn't say anything to him. And I didn't say anything to his trainer. I just quietly left. But my curiosity got the best of me. Later that day, I just had to know. So I went up to him and said, Kobe, I don't understand. You're the best player in the world. Why are you doing such basic drills? And he was incredibly gracious and flashed that million-dollar smile, but said with all seriousness, why do you think I'm the best player in the world? Because I never get bored with the basics. I never get bored with the basics. Kobe Bryant, the best player in the world and someone that has truly mastered his craft, said his secret is that he never gets bored with the basics. And as obvious as that may sound, that was a life-changing lesson for me. It's because that's when I realized that just because something's basic, it doesn't mean that it's easy. Those are not synonyms, and yet people often use those words interchangeably. Just because something is basic, it doesn't mean that it's easy. If it was easy, everyone else would be doing it. And as you all know, we're constantly told that it's OK to skip steps. We're constantly told that we need to be searching for a hack or a shortcut. We're constantly told to be chasing what's new and what's flashy and what's shiny and sexy and just ignore what's basic. But doing so is a grave mistake, because the basics work. They always have, and they always will. And the very first step to improving performance in any area of your life, whether it's personal or professional, whether it's individual or organizational, the very first step is admitting that the basics work. But it's also having the humility to acknowledge that implementing them every single day will never, ever be easy. I was recently in Las Vegas giving a keynote for 200 store managers and sales associates. And the theme of their event was Be Extraordinary. Well, I've always had a love for language and been fascinated by words. And I've always really liked the word Extraordinary. But as I was doing my due diligence before the event, and I was interviewing a lot of the attendees, I found that they have the common misconception that a lot of people have. And that's that the word Extraordinary means doing something grandiose and massive. That's not what Extraordinary actually means. Extraordinary means making a commitment to the basics. It's being relentless during the unseen hours of pursuing mastery in your chosen craft. And it's doing the little things right every single day. See, if you can do the little things right every single day, and you can pursue mastery of your craft during the unseen hours, and you can make a commitment to the basics, trust me, you'll be more than Extraordinary. I decided to do this abbreviated keynote for one reason and one reason only. And that's to add value to your life. And I can do that certainly by sharing some stories and some stats, but more importantly, I wanna give you some practical and actionable takeaways that you can implement immediately to improve your leadership and influence and impact, to improve your sales performance, to improve your team's culture and cohesion. And most importantly, give you the tools that you need to improve customer and client experience. I've had an opportunity to work with the best basketball players in the world, and I'm here to share with you the same things that I shared with them to help them raise their game. But I had the humility in knowing that the stuff I'm going to share with you, you've heard before. The stuff I'm gonna share during this abbreviated keynote are things that you know intuitively and intellectually, but I caution you. I caution you not to sit there thinking, I already know this, but instead I wanna challenge you and empower you to ask yourself a much more important question. How well am I actually doing this? See, therein lies what's called a performance gap. And that's the gap between what we know we're supposed to do and what we actually do. And a key to high performance is closing that gap. Regardless of the industry you're in or the product or service that you sell, I can promise you, you are in the relationship business. And there are three relationships that will determine your long-term success. The first is the relationship that you have with yourself. Are you self-aware? Are you self-disciplined? Do you have self-compassion and can you move to the next play whenever you make a mistake? But more importantly, are you making the time, especially on the bookends of your day, your morning and evening routine, to do the things that you know fill your bucket mentally, physically, and emotionally? See, it's your job to show up every single day as the best version of yourself. The second relationship is the relationship that you have with your team members, your colleagues and coworkers. Are you doing everything you can to empower them and support them, to take friction off of their plate? Are you the type of teammate that you want to play with? And lastly, are your customers? Are you doing everything you can to provide them with an unparalleled customer experience? Are you just going through the motions and making assumptions? Are you asking insightful questions and anticipating their needs and then offering customized solutions? Jay Billis of ESPN has been a long time friend and mentor. And as the face of ESPN College Game Day, part of his responsibility before he's going to call a game is he watches both teams practice the day before so that he can learn their personnel and their strategies to victory. Well, in December of 2010, there was an early season game that had a lot of hype around it and it was Duke versus Butler. And the reason this game had so much hype was because those were the two teams that met eight months previously in the national championship game where Duke narrowly escaped with a victory. Because Jay's a Duke alum, he decided to go watch Duke practice first, who's led by Hall of Fame coach, Coach K. The winningest coach in the history of college basketball. And as Coach K addressed his team, he said, guys, we're going to be fine tomorrow because we clearly have the competitive advantage. We are bigger, stronger and more powerful than they are. We're going to pound the ball down low and get easy layups and dunks. We're going to out rebound them and we're going to contest every shot. If you stick to the game plan, we'll be fine because we clearly have the competitive advantage. And Jay left that practice and was thinking, this could be a bloodbath tomorrow. Coach K, one of the best to ever hold a clipboard or blow a whistle, just told his team definitively why they have the competitive advantage. But he needed to do his due diligence so he goes over to watch the Butler Bulldogs practice, who at the time was led by Brad Stevens. Brad Stevens is now the current head coach of the Boston Celtics and is an absolute basketball savant, one of the brightest minds I've ever met. As Coach Stevens addressed his team, he said, guys, don't worry, we're going to be fine because we clearly have the competitive advantage. We are smaller, quicker and faster than they are. There's no way their big guys will get out to our corner shooters. We'll get tons of points on fast breaks and transitions and we'll put on a smothering full court press. If you stick to the game plan, we'll be fine tomorrow because we clearly have the competitive advantage. And as Jay left that practice, he was thinking, I have no idea who's going to win this game. Both of these brilliant coaches have the self-awareness and team awareness to know what gives them a competitive edge. And I tell you that story for two reasons. One, regardless of industry, it's so important that you constantly, internally reflect on what gives you a competitive edge over your competition. What is it that you do differently? What is it that makes you unique? And you need to double down on those things. But I also tell you that because I want to make sure that you make relationships part of that equation, that your ability to deliver unparalleled service and experience to your customers through caring more than everyone else can be a huge differentiator and separator. That can be your competitive advantage. I just shared with you the three most important relationships that will determine your long-term success. I now want to share with you three relationship mantras that I learned very early in my coaching career that directly apply to business. The first is waking up every single day with the mindset of, it's not about me, it's about you. That is leadership 101, teamwork 101. It is the mindset that it is not about me, it's about you. It's about you understanding the language that everyone else speaks and then going above and beyond to speak that language. It's about going to their sandbox to play, not making them come to yours. The second is you connect first and you coach second. Now you can certainly replace the word coach with lead, manage, advise, but the key is creating a connection first before you try to teach, instruct, or tell someone what to do. And how do you create that connection? We go back to the first concept. You show them how much you care by going and speaking their language. You make whatever's important to them important to you. Their goals, their dreams, their desires, those have to be things that you keep top of mind in order to create the type of connection required to push people and challenge people to high performance. And the third, when it comes to relationships, you either accept it or you correct it. Every single behavior someone has in a relationship is either something you accept or it's something that you need to correct. And if you're going to accept it, then you need to praise it because that which gets praised gets repeated. And if you're going to correct it, you have to use the connection that you've already established to coach them and lead them to higher performance. When it comes to building relationships, daily deposits and constant touches are incredibly important. Steve Nash is my favorite basketball player of all time. And back in the early 2000, Steve Nash won back-to-back MVP titles. And in the first year that he won the MVP, he only led the league statistically in two categories. The first was assists. He likes to share the sugar and pass the pill and get other people involved. Certainly the sign of a great leader and a great teammate. But he also led the NBA in touches. Yes, high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. How could I possibly know that Steve Nash led the NBA in touches? Well, it just so happens, there was a research team from UC Berkeley and they were conducting an official study to measure if showing signs of enthusiasm actually led to more wins on the court. So they hired a team of researchers to watch every minute of every NBA game and make a tally mark every time a player gave a high five, a fist bump or a pat on the backside. Well, the Phoenix sons who Steve Nash played for were so enamored with this study that they hired a full-time intern to count just for Steve Nash. And in the first game that the intern counted, Steve Nash delivered 239 high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside. He was a furnace of human connection. Now clearly in a sport like basketball where physicality is appropriate, it's been physiologically proven that you can raise someone's game and improve someone's mood and performance by transferring energy through physical touch. That you can actually improve someone's on court play with a well-placed high five or fist bump. For the vast majority of you watching right now, I realize you're not in the world of sport. So I don't want you thinking in terms of actual high fives, fist bumps and pats on the backside, but instead I want you thinking of emotional deposits and connections. What can you do that would give someone the emotional lift or encouragement of an actual high five fist bump or pat on the backside? And I wanna challenge you with what I call 10 assists. I've done this with both sports organizations and business organizations around the world. Every single morning when you wake up, I want you to put 10 rubber bands on your left wrist. And every time you give a teammate, a colleague or a coworker an assist, and an assist is anything that you do that adds value to their life, but it has to be unexpected. It can't be part of what you're supposed to do. It has to go above and beyond. And every time you give a colleague or a coworker an assist, you take one rubber band off of your left wrist and you put it on your right wrist. But here's the rub. You can't go home for the night until all 10 rubber bands are on your right wrist, until you know for a fact that you've done nothing short of giving 10 assists, of adding value, tangible value to the people that matter most. If you're willing to dish out 10 assists and you can make that contagious within your organization, you will see culture and cohesion explode exponentially. When it comes to developing a winning culture and championship cohesion, there are three pillars and three keys that we want to look at. The first is role clarity. Does everyone in your organization not only know what they're supposed to do and what's expected of them, but do they embrace it and do they aim to star in that role? One of the hardest things about role clarity is not everyone has the role that they would like. They have the role that the team needs for the team to be successful. And it's also important that no matter where you fall on the org chart, that everyone in your organization values, respects and appreciates everyone else's role. The second key is accountability. I believe this is the biggest difference between good organizations and great organizations and great to elite. The first thing is making sure that everyone on the team understands that holding someone accountable is not something you do to them. It's something you do for them. That holding someone accountable to the standards of excellence that you've said is the best gift that you can give someone else. Well, most organizations have what's called vertical accountability. That is, they look at the org chart and from the top down, hold everyone accountable. But elite level organizations also have what's called horizontal accountability, which means no matter where you fall on the org chart, everyone not only has the right, but must make the obligation to hold everyone else accountable. And when teams can hold each other accountable through love and grace and compassion and hold people to the highest standards of excellence, now you're on your way to creating a winning team. And lastly is communication. When it comes to any relationship, whether it's one-on-one or if it's with an entire group or team, every single dysfunction is within a couple degrees of miscommunication, lack of communication, or poor communication. And the most important part to understand as a leader is that you are always communicating something. Even when you're not saying anything, you are still communicating a message. We communicate messages with our nonverbals, but we also communicate messages unconsciously. See, when you take time to listen to someone, actively listen and be fully present, make great eye contact, have warm body language and open posture, you're communicating the unconscious message that I care about you, that you are important to me, that what you say matters. And when we can actively listen and be fully present with those that matter most, now we're strengthening human connection. And please know that every time you come in contact with another human being, whether it's a stranger and an elevator for 30 seconds or someone that you've been married to for 30 years, every time you come in contact with another human being, you're either gonna strengthen a human connection or you're going to erode it. And in order to build championship level culture and cohesion, you have to practice strengthening as many relationships as possible every single day. Back in 2008, I was working as the head performance coach at Montrose Christian, a small school just north of Washington DC. It's where Kevin Durant graduated from. And I was getting myself ready to go up to what I thought would be a normal day of practice. But when I entered the gym, I was standing 10 feet away from my idol. I was standing 10 feet away from the one person on earth that I wanted to meet the most. Coach K, the head basketball coach at Duke. Coach K and I talked for about 10 minutes and I find it funny because looking back, I didn't quite have the mindfulness or awareness then that I'd like to believe I have now because I don't remember a single word that either one of us said. But I'll never forget how he made me feel. He made me feel like I was the most important person in the gym. I wasn't. The kid he was recruiting was the most important but he made me feel like I was. He had a warm smile and made great eye contact. He had very positive body language and kept asking me insightful question after question and would nod in acknowledgement. Well, I was raised old school. I was taught that when someone goes out of their way to do something nice for you, you hand write them a thank you note. So I've been home that night and I wrote him a note. Coach K, thank you so much for your time today. You have no idea how much this meant to me. I'll continue to root for you and Duke wishing you all the best. I signed it, put a stamp on it and sent it off to Durham, North Carolina and figured that would be that. Three weeks later, I go to my mailbox and I get a letter back from Coach K. How long do you think it took him to write this? Maybe 60 seconds if he's slow? Can we agree that over the course of our life 60 seconds is a little thing? This little thing is the reason I'm personally relentless about returning voicemails, text messages and emails. I figure if the greatest coach in the history of college basketball can make time to return my handwritten letter, you better believe I can call you back. You better believe I can return your email. This little thing is also the reason that I aim to have an attitude of gratitude every single day until as many people as possible I appreciate you. Because if the busiest man in college basketball can make time to show me a sign of appreciation then you better believe I can do that for others as well. At the beginning of this presentation I told you about performance gaps. That's the gap between what you know and what you do. And I'm pretty sure that everything I've shared with you so far are things that you already know. But I hope as you're watching this you're reflecting with humility and asking yourself how well am I doing these things? And then of course this would lead the question why would someone not do the things that they know they're supposed to do? Well the answer is it's not easy. If these things were easy you would already be doing them. And the other reason is in order to make these things happen you're going to have to make a change. And change is something that makes most people really uncomfortable. But you have to realize if you keep doing what you've been doing you will keep getting what you've been getting. If you don't like what you've been getting you need to change what you've been doing. You have to be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace the fact that you're going to be uncomfortable and make sacrifices to get where you want to go. Don't ever forget if nothing changes nothing changes. I had a chance to meet Kevin Durant when he was 15 years old and I watched him play for just a few minutes and I made the following observation. This kid loves to play basketball. He was playing his tail off but he was smiling the whole time. He also had incredible footwork and shooting mechanics. I mean they were pristine for somebody his age. I noticed that Kevin had a very high basketball IQ that would rival most high school coaches. But I also noticed that Kevin was rather sleight of frame. He used to get irritated with me when I would call him skinny. But it was clear to me that the only thing that would prevent this young man from playing basketball at a very high level would be lack of strength and power. Well as a strength and conditioning and performance coach that was my area of expertise. So I got excited at the thought of Kevin coming in for a workout. Now up until that point he had never gone through any type of organized or structured strength and conditioning workout. It took a few months of convincing before his wonderful mom Wanda let him come in for a workout. And I got so excited and so amped up to have him in. In about 30 minutes into the workout I had absolutely crushed him. He was laying in a pile on the floor. And Kevin was always very soft-spoken. A man of very few words. So I had no idea whether or not he actually liked the workout. So I asked him. And I remember vividly he looked up and said, No, I didn't. But I know this is what I need to do if I ever want to play in the NBA. So when can I see you again coach? I remember being blown away by the maturity of this 15-year-old who recognized that he was going to have to make a change. And that change was going to come with a tremendous amount of mental, emotional, and in this case physical discomfort. But Kevin recognized that that was simply a temporary prerequisite to getting where he wanted to go and getting what he wanted most. So far with my love of threes I've shared with you the three relationships that are most important to your success. Three mantras to build those relationships. And the three keys to building a winning culture. And I'd now like to tie everything together and put a big bow tie on it by teaching you what I believe is the most important mindset and skill set to unlocking high performance. And that is the ability to live in the present moment. The short definition of living present means be where your feet are. Wherever your feet are, make sure that's where your head and your heart are as well. But as we expand to the three pillars, the first is the ability to move to the next play. Then no matter what happens, you can refocus your lids and concentrate on the next most important thing. The best basketball players in the world know how to live present and move to the next play. If they miss a shot, next play. They turn the ball over, next play. The referee misses a call, next play. The reason they focus on the next play is because there's nothing they can do about the play that just happened. The next play is the only one that they can have an effect on. The next pillar is controlling the controllables. When you break it down, there's only two things in this world you have 100% control over 100% of the time. That is your effort and your attitude. Most people will acknowledge that working hard is a choice. But they don't quickly acknowledge the fact there has to be another side to that coin that if working hard is a choice, then not working hard is also a choice. And yet when you hold most people accountable for not working hard or giving their best effort, they usually blame someone else, make an excuse, or simply complain. But effort is always your choice. Same thing with attitude. As you all know, we don't control the vast majority of things that go on in this world, but we always control our response. And in order to be a high performer, you have to consistently choose responses that move you forward and improve your situation. And the last pillar is process. You have to trust, respect, and appreciate the process. It's wonderful to set outcome goals and to have sales quotas. But it's more important to focus on what you can do every single day from a process standpoint to increase the chance that you'll achieve those goals. The best analogy I can think of is building a brick wall. That instead of thinking about how long the wall is going to be or how tall the wall is going to be, put all of your focus on laying bricks perfectly and precisely. Take one brick and lay it exactly where it needs to go. And then shift your focus to taking the next brick and setting it exactly where it needs to go. And as long as you stay focused on each and every brick and laying them with care and precision, inevitably the wall will take care of itself. You have to trust the process. The best reminder of how important it is to live present, I learned back in the summer of 2017 when I was invited to run an endurance event at the home of Jesse Yitzler and Sarah Blakely. The backyard of their home in New Fairfield, Connecticut is 85 yards long and is at a 40 degree slope. And there were 70 of us that were invited to participate. And our task for the day was to run up and down that hill a hundred times. The event was appropriately called Hell on the Hill. And that it was. When I got to about Rep 70, I was ready to quit. I could feel blisters forming under each big toe. My knees and my back were throbbing. And to be quite honest, I had a little bit of a chafing situation going on. I was miserable. And I didn't think that I was going to be able to finish. But thankfully a good friend of mine named Steve Wojahowski, who's a Duke basketball icon and the head coach of Marquette's men's basketball team happened to be running as well. And Steve and I have been friends for over a decade. He's one of the best people I know. And I guess to commiserate in misery, I asked him how many reps he had left. And he smiled, which certainly irritated me, and he said, one. And I got really confused until he clarified his statement. I have one rep 30 more times. That is the definition of living present. So you don't focus on the hundred. You just focus on the next rep. All you got to do is get up and down that hill one more time. You don't focus on your blisters and your back and your chafing situation, but instead you focus on your own effort and your own attitude. And while I'm not very mathematically inclined, even I know that you cannot get to number 100 until you go through number 71. You have to trust and respect the process. And that gentle reminder from Steve is what allowed me to finish the race in just over four hours. I started this virtual keynote by telling you about the Kobe Bryant Skills Academy. What I didn't tell you was there was a very special college counselor there. Although at the time, no one knew he was special. He was completely unknown. He had just finished his freshman year in college. But all of the coaches quickly learned there was something different about this young man. Something palpable. At the end of the first workout, just based on near proximity, he and I had not been introduced. He came over to me and said, Coach, will you rebound for me? Because I don't leave the gym until I swish if I freed those in a row. For anyone watching that's never shot a basketball yourself, let me tell you that is a really high standard. A swish is a perfect shot. It doesn't touch the rim. It doesn't touch the backboard. It gets its name from the sound it makes by going nothing but net. And this young man had such a high standard that he wasn't going to leave the gym until he swished five in a row. There were a few times where he would swish four in a row. He'd hit a little bit of the rim on the fifth one. It would still go in. He was still mathematically perfect. He was still five for five. But that wasn't good enough for him. He would start over. And if memory serves, it never took him longer than 12 to 15 minutes to swish five in a row. That young man's name was Stephen Curry. And Stephen Curry will go down in history as the greatest shooter that the game has ever seen. And it's not by accident. It's not by luck. It's not because his dad played in the NBA. It's because he's willing to hold himself to unparalleled standards. And that's the thought that I'd like to leave you with during this virtual keynote. That the standards of excellence you set today for yourself and for your organization will determine who and where you'll be tomorrow. Thank you so much for investing your attention with me. I hope you enjoyed this virtual keynote. But more importantly, I hope you found it helpful and full of ideas you can implement immediately. I know these strategies have high utility as I've used customized versions of them effectively in every industry. If you'd like additional key themes, notes and takeaways from my full-length keynotes, half-day workshops or full-day trainings, please email me or visit alansteiningjr.com. I'd be honored to serve you and help you raise your game. Michael, I need to do my facial and vocal warmups. I just need to make sure the camera is off because I don't ever want someone to see this. It's embarrassing. Oh, perfect. Okay, cool. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! New York. The arsonist has oddly shaped feet. The human torch was denied a bank loan. You