Magic Johnson: Winning Mindset, Mentorship, and Building Legacy Beyond the Game

0:00This man is one of the greatest leaders in our country. No, I didn't shrink. This is Magic Johnson. This is Mr. Magic Johnson. And this man is a champion, a winner at every level in life, in love of God, in leadership and all of it. I cannot be more thrilled and honored. This moment on the Sean Callaghan Blinded Podcast with Magic Johnson was a remarkable moment. You got to watch this entire thing. Any final message, sir? No, first, God is so good. Thank you for what you're doing for everybody out here to help you grow, to help you understand that you can take your life, your business to a whole nother level.

0:36Please continue to pray and ask God to help you out. May God bless all of us and continue success. And this man is one of the greatest leaders in our country. God bless everybody. Thank you, Mr. Magic Jones. And beat Larry Bird two out of three. That's right. Beat Larry Bird two out of three. That's right, Larry. Straight to camera. That's right, Birdman. If you want to be successful, then you got to think that you can be successful and that you can do it. Well, let me tell you this story that very few people even know. So I'm probably seeing this for the first time. So this is great. So here we are with another spectacular guest on the Sean Callaghan Unblinded podcast where we on the Unblinded podcast are helping people see what they don't see about how to grow their financial abundance, time, freedom, magic, and impact in a space of integrity, growth, and possibility.

1:29And let's introduce our guest, Tink. Today on the Sean Calgian Blinded podcast, we welcome a living legend, a visionary, an artist, a master, whose life is a symphony of triumph and transformation. He is a sunrise that broke through the fog of limitation, illumining courts and communities with a brilliance that could not be contained. Where others saw boundaries, he saw blank canvases, turning hardwood into a stage where hope soared, and every past became a brushstroke of possibility. His journey is the epic tale of a young dreamer from Lansing, Michigan, who rewrote the laws of gravity, not just with his leap, but with his spirit, lifting teams, cities, and hearts to heights once thought unreachable.

2:16In the Crucible of Adversity, he became the alchemist, transmuting challenge into gold, setbacks into comebacks, and silence into the roar of millions. Off the court, he is the architect of new worlds, building bridges where walls once stood, planting seeds of opportunity in fields where others saw only stone. His legacy is not just measured in banners or medals, but in the constellation of lives he's touched, each one a star, shining brighter because of his light. Today we honor not just the legend, but the force of nature who reminds us that true greatness is not what we achieve, but what we awaken in others.

2:55Let's welcome to the Sean Callaghan Blinded Podcast, Magic Johnson. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. And thank you for that intro. Wow. Mike Tyson and Magic Johnson, wow, their intros. Back to back, wow. Two for two. Thank you for that. And we mean every word, though. And that wasn't created through AI. That was created with intentionality and heart for the honor and privilege of having you here today. Thank you. You stand for so many things. Such a unique champion, legend, master person of impact. What would you say is something, though, just for a little fun energy to start with, that a lot of people don't hear from you that you wish the world knew more about about you?

3:39I would probably say I'm emotional, you know, and cry at movies. things that really touched my heart people really don't know that about me you know so I would say that's probably the main thing is that I'm still an emotional guy even though I'm tough and I'm strong and those things that my dad passed on to me but probably one of the most emotional guys that you'll run into Wow. And what are some of your favorite movies? Well, they're all going to be shoot them up, bang them up now. So the number one movie of my life is Godfather. That's probably, I've seen The Godfather probably a million times, one, two, three.

4:25And I think it's the best in terms of well-written, the actors, director. I mean, and when you think about The Godfather, it just was just an amazing movie. And even if you watch it for me a million times, it's still great. It's still fantastic. It's still amazing. So that's my number one movie of all time. And what do you take away from The Godfather? I think people could take away more from The Godfather. I think the strategy. I like the strategy, like, you know, from the dad, pass it on to Michael. I mean, and it was never about, I just want to kill somebody, you know, or I want to, you know, control gambling or this or that.

5:19It was always a strategy to it. And I love when he said no, too. It was strategy for him saying yes, and it was strategy for him saying no. And then he told you the reason why he said no. And I think that's powerful. Well, thank you. And how should I refer to you? I feel like pulled towards Mr. Johnson. I know that was, would you prefer Mr. Johnson, magic? How should I refer to you? Whatever comes out of your mouth. Because I'm fine with magic is fine. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I always want to be deferential to your incredible success. Thank you, magic. Why have you been so successful off the court?

6:06So many incredible athletes, people of impact. Because what this show is all about is how people can increase with integrity their financial abundance, their time freedom, their building of impact. You've done all those things so incredibly, both on the court and off the court. And so many times players don't have that translation from on the court leadership and success off the court. and so many people say that you're every bit as successful off the court and you're impacting your business career as you were as an incredible legendary basketball player. Why do you think that is? Well, because I understood what I knew and what I didn't know, right?

6:46And so I know the pick and roll. I know the no-look pass. I know the hook shot. I know defense, offense, pick and roll. But what I didn't know was business. So what I decided to do was to make sure I got mentors to help me to learn business. Also helped me to understand how they became successful. I love meeting with people and understanding their journey. I'm attracted to knowledge. So I've always have been a guy who loved to learn and loved to improve and get better. So I asked Dr. Buss, who was the owner of the Lakers, to become my first mentor because I looked up to him and he decided to do that.

7:35And he really gave me a lot of great information and nuggets to take away. And he opened up the Laker books to me when that was unheard of and showed me all the revenue streams of the Lakers. And then he told me listen, it's not going to be easy You got to put the work in in the time and I said hey If that's what it's gonna take for me to be successful in business. I'm willing to do just that And so I was meeting with him all the time lunch Dinner see what people don't understand is you got to put that time in It's not gonna come easy to you. So you have to say to yourself okay, I'm willing to put the time in and willing to go where I have to go.

8:22See, that's another thing. A lot of breakfasts, a lot of luncheons, a lot of dinners you don't want to go to. Being in New Jersey in the winter, having this conversation. With you, right? So I was willing to put in the work and the time because I took that from basketball. and and so once I got to understand how to start a business then I took off from there and I think I'm successful because of the fact that I've been a winner my whole life I don't know nothing but winning and so that helped me to understand that I would do whatever it takes for me to win in business and then And then I said, what's missing in urban America?

9:14Let me start where I grew up, right? And so I started there, and I knew that there were, we were short on housing, we were short on retail, we were short on, in terms of places that people can go to have a meal or to go to the movies. So I just started in those areas where there were heavy demand, but nobody was meeting the demand. And so that's why I jumped into urban America. That's powerful and inspiring for sure. And we have the blessing and privilege of interviewing, I do, coming up shortly, Mr. Buss's daughter. Jeannie Buss, we're out in L.A. in a week. I love Jeannie. We grew up together, basically.

9:55And she'll probably tell you that, too. We'll go forward to it. And I did a lot of homework coming in, so I did hear that Mr. Buss was a mentor of yours. And if you were to share with people in the audience, because what this show is so much about is what you've just perfectly captured, is the fact that we don't know how to do things, right? You weren't born knowing how to do a no-look pass. You were genetically gifted for sure, but you learned how to do things. And I'm going to talk about Pat Riley in a little bit, if that's okay with you. But what is it do you think that people struggle with?

10:26I had this conversation with Mike Tyson the other day, and he and Customato. So how did you find your way to trusting Mr. Buss's advice and guidance? He's your employer, right? How did that work and what were the friction points around that with him and maybe even bridging into Pat Riley? Please, about people struggle to listen to him. There's Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, and the Karate Kid, right? He's fearful that Mr. Miyagi is using him and arming him. How did all that work out for you? Yeah, that's a great question, probably a question I've never really received or gotten from anybody else. Number one, you first got to understand that you belong in the room.

11:06A lot of times what happens is we're already defeated before we even get in the room because we, oh my God, do I really belong there? Do I have what it takes to become a business person, right? And I think that's number one. Number two, the trust issue, the trust will come as you meet with people. As I met with Dr. Buss, he was sincere. I saw that. Right. He really wanted to help me. So once you see that a person is sincere and they really open up to you and say, hey, I really want to help you reach your goals and dreams. right then that's where the trust you you say you take that deep breath and say okay now i can open up to that person and and sure enough there will be tests along the way right to make sure that person really uh believes in you and really want to help you and every test he was testing me i was testing him and then all of a sudden we let those guards down and then we just really became first great friends forget owner and player so we were that first but then we became friends off the court and then mentor and student after that so there were steps to that relationship that we took and listen I trust very few people right but you know those who are in my circle that I do trust it's a reason why I trust them right and and vice versa there's a reason why they trust me but you said something that started to show off integrity right you talked about that being a big part of your show sir well that's a big part of trust right it's a big part of us understanding that once a person have that and you see that in that person right and then you build your brand that way see I've always built my company my brand with with that we're gonna lead with that we're gonna lead with hey we believe in excellence best in class we're gonna lead with I'm a man of my word so I told you I was showing up here I'm here that's right that's that's that's who I am and you were here early that's right I'm a disciplined man I get up every morning at 4 o 'clock without a clock right and I go to the gym and then I'm in the office all day so that's who I am and so that's who I am as a ballplayer but also that's who I am as a CEO and a businessman so and when I shake your hand I'm gonna tell you what I can do also I'm gonna tell you what I can't do right and I think that goes a long way as well so my whether it's clients customers or my partners they trust me because the fact that I'm gonna shake their hand and say I'm gonna do these 10 things but really I'm gonna do 15 because I believe in one word over deliver.

14:25That's awesome. So I want to over deliver. I think you've done a pretty spectacular job of that your whole life. Very clear. Thank you. Certainly magic for that. So where did that come from? You know, we're going to keep this super tight on appropriate timing. Got a few topics to go still, but the power of this, I win. I'm going to win. And I know your dad is a mentor. For sure I saw that. Pat Riley, Chuck Daly, they'll talk a little about the Olympics and the complexity of that and a few, but where did that, like I win, I'm about excellence, I'm about discipline, like where'd that come from and please?

15:01Yeah, I think first it had to come from my father, passed on, then from there it went from my coaches that I played for, right, whether it's junior high, high school, Coach Fox, Coach T. Cody in college, and then Pat Riley, and so my father always said you got to do everything the right way and he didn't let me slide on that you know I remember a story that really changed my life forever so my father had two or three jobs because he had ten kids to support so we had a trash hauling service we would go pick up people's trash before now they got all the companies that do that for you at your home so it was snow I mean Michigan and we get a lot of snow and it's cold.

15:53So my job was to get all the loose trash around the barrels and then put it on the truck. So this day was so cold, I did a half job, right? And I then chopped the ice up and get the trash out of the ice and put it on the truck. So I ran to the cabin, I jump in, oh man, it's warm. By the time I got comfortable, my father opened that door, picked me up. With one hand. He took me back to the ice and said, son, if you do this job halfway, you'll do everything in your life halfway. You'll practice halfway. Everything at school, your homework, you're going to do halfway. And he said, you got to learn to do everything the right way.

16:39So get a shovel, chop that ice up, get that trash out of that ice and put it on the truck. That's when I became a perfectionist like my father. That means I do everything the right way. And so that's where it came from. And then my coaches pushing me. See, a lot of players don't want to get coached hard today, but I love being coached hard. So because of that, again, they helped me to develop not only on the court but off the court as well. So that's why I'm a worker today. my father, my coaches, if you give me assignment, trust me, it's going to get done in a timely fashion. As we all grew up, remember, we couldn't just look at our father like our kids today can say, well, why?

17:32We couldn't say why. Somebody tell you to go get that trash or go take it out. We had to get up and go take that trash out or something's going to happen to us. right now today my grandkids always want to leave with why I said you lucky you know my papers wouldn't lie today to hear you say that right so it even happens to you yeah yeah yeah and I had to tell him I said listen I'm gonna make you a deal I said I'm not gonna do something to you I get in trouble right child abuse child abuse but no I just let them know that listen you want what you want right and I don't never question that and I try to buy you the toy that you want this that you want the sneakers that you want and I don't question that and I don't want you to question me so when I ask you to do something please do it and see my parents never said please they had a belt waiting

18:40so can i jump into we have uh three three quick clips that i think will be positive uh for today so let's hit our first clip i think it's 1980 and something happened in 1980 okay let's see what happened here's the man of the hour magic johnson magic though what do you have that makes you perform like this in these championship games well I guess that's the thing I go in think we can win any game and I'll play despite you know green one then and we want to say hey we did it for you because you got us here now we don't want to take that away from America since over and the most valuable player is project johnson you know that guy i know that guy um pat riley lakers 80 kareem standards please share what's that all about well when you think about that clip uh number one we were in the finals, game five against Philadelphia.

19:45And my idol, I idolized Dr. J. That's crazy that I idolized the man, and now I'm playing against him in the world championship. Crazy. So Kareem springs his ankle in game five. That was a big game because the series was tied 2-2, so we had to win that game, which we did, to go back to Philly. So we're up 3-2. But Kareem has been pronounced that he's not going to play in game six. So once they announced that, we got to the airport, and I saw all my teammates' heads were down. I said, what's wrong? Didn't you hear Kareem can't play? I said, so what? We're going to win anyway. And they were like, go sit down, rookie.

20:26What are you talking about? We can't win and beat Philadelphia without Kareem. I said, we're going to win this game without Kareem. And so I had to do something because sometimes you got to do something to shake up the atmosphere, make sure that they know that I was serious about what I said. So I asked the stewardess, could I go on the plane first? Because Kareem sat in 1A, that's his seat, right? And so I sat in Kareem's seat, and as every Laker came by, I said, never fear magic is here so so they started laughing like you just did yeah and i said i got five hours to work on that mindset and attitude because your audience got to know that they got to have a mindset and an attitude of winning if you're going to be a business person if you want to start off being an entrepreneur if you want to be successful then you got to think that you can be successful and that you can do it and so I knew that if we went back and we had a mindset of that we're defeated before we even played the game they were gonna blow us out by 50 points but if we had that mindset of we can win we can still beat them that we had a chance to win and sure enough I talked to him by time we landed in Philly we played the game the next day I had their mindset they were ready and we end up winning now if i'm gonna say all that i gotta bag it up with action so i became the first rookie in nba history to be named finals mvp i scored 42 points 15 15 rebounds seven assists in that game and we end up winning and so i became the first rookie ever to be named nba nba finals mvp so playing center playing adul jabarn up in there yeah well i I play center guard and forward.

22:28Crazy. I believe that you have to have a winning mindset. But why do you think that you had that belief different from most of the players? Like, what was it? And we talked a little bit about your dad and the whole thing. But why was it different for you? Why does it always seem to be different for you? Where that happened, guys, we're not going to win. You're like, you're a rookie and we're going to win. And why do you think that's different for you, even among the most elite, masterful athletes on earth who had to have incredible mindsets, too? Why, as a rookie already, were you different? Well, it's all about, to me, preparation.

23:10I was always prepared for those moments. I lived for those moments. and if I feel, if I'm prepared and if I understand how we're going to win, it's not just we're going to win. You have to have strategy behind that, right? And so how are you going to do it? So like I told our teammates, we're going to be faster than them. They're going to be bigger than us, but we got to run them and run them and run them, and that's what we did. And that was our advantage, the fact that we were smaller and quicker than them, and we used that to our advantage to win the game. So, yeah, it's something that you can just say, oh, we're going to win.

23:55No, you've got to have strategy behind it. And then the number one thing, you've got to execute on the strategy. See, people have got to remember business is about execution, right? And so you've got to execute in business. And if you can do that, you give yourself a chance to win. How did Dr. J relate to you after that, during that, after that? You know, he's this superstar. You're this emerging superstar, but a rookie. How did that feel for you? How did he react towards you after you guys won? Well, let me tell you this story that very few people even know. So I'm probably saying this for the first time.

24:35So this is great. So I'm making a decision at Michigan State. we had just beat Larry Bird, that dude I hate, in the NCAA finals. And that game is still the number one watch college basketball game in history, Indiana State versus Michigan State. So now I'm making the decision to turn pro. So I needed somebody to talk to. So I asked my coach, I want to call Dr. J. He was like, what? Can you give me Dr. J's number? I want to call him. because I want to ask him what went in for him to make the decision to turn pro and leave college early. So he ended up finding a number. He called Philadelphia. They gave him Dr.

25:22J's personal number. I called him up, and we talked about it. I said, I'm trying to make this decision whether to leave Michigan State or turn pro. He said, I'm going to do you one better. Guess what he said? I'm gonna fly you out to Philadelphia. What? We're playing in the playoffs. I want you to come stay with me. What? What? I'm like fainting right now. I'm like going crazy. I'm gonna stay at Dr. J House. During the playoffs? Yeah, exactly. I ran in. I told everybody, oh, I'm staying at Dr. J House, you know. And so, sure enough, flew to Philly. He put me up at his house. You mean like we were running around talking about you coming here today.

26:08And so he gave me so much information. I watched him play against the Hawks in the playoffs, and then I flew home. And now six, eight months later, I'm playing them in the NBA. Is that a trip or what? I should have told you to stay in college. You're going to have a ring. And then I'm beating my idol in the championship. So I don't know how he felt. Did you guys ever talk about it? Yes, we did talk about it. And it was like a trip for him. I just hosted you at my house. That's bad matters. I want to win. Let me tell you this about me. I don't care who I'm playing. I can be playing my mother. My daughter played point guard for the local high school.

27:08My wife tells me, player one-on-one, you'll help her get better. I said, no, because I know who I am. I said, no, I don't want to play one-on-one. But when your wife tells you to do something twice, you better get to it, right? You better get to it. So I said, okay. We go to 10. I let her get to 9. That was hard for me. That was real hard. But I let her get to nine. And then I crushed her from then on. My wife was so mad at me. She's like, you could have let her win. No, I can't let nobody win. It's not who I am. It's not in my DNA. I'm not made up like that. Wow. Well, super. And I only feel like contextualizing this in my listening.

27:50So before I went blind, just real quick, I was a Division I college recruit in baseball and football. I was a four-year Division I starter at Columbia University. I was captain of my team senior. So I have a listening for what you're sharing. I had incredible mentors athletically. So long before business, my background was built on sports. So these stories, these dynamics, these elements, I was a three sport player in high school and I was one top 10 hitters division in the country my junior year. So I receive it and I'm present to it for what you're talking about, the mastery, the competitiveness, the spirit of it all.

28:18And - But more than that, you didn't let that hold you back. See, I came because I'm impressed with that. Thank you. That you got what I have, right? That gene of we're going to win despite. Amen. And you're winning right now despite of that. Yeah. You're allowing, but you're sharing it. And so that's a powerful tool when you can share that with other people in terms of trying to help them to become successful. So God is really blessing you and you're blessing other people. That's what it's about. Amen. And I feel like you're saying Mr. Johnson right now. So amen, Mr. Johnson. And for fun, I believe that influence is the only human attainable superpower.

29:03That's what Dr. Buss had. That's how he caused yeses. That's what you do off the court and on the court. He caused yeses in leadership. So for fun, I have a million-dollar bet out that I can't be influenced on a neutral set of facts that I challenge everybody out there for charity. So I love competing. So I amen to that. And I think that so much of business now and so much of sports and so much of all these challenges you have in the world are because people don't do what you did. Would you step on that court and say, we're going to go in and put yourself out there as that man in the arena? And that's why it's so inspiring to have conversations with just a champion like yourself.

29:39So thank you for that. And can we step into, you know what, actually, if you don't mind, Pat Riley. So I did a lot of research, five championships together. You know, he's somebody who speaks a lot about mindset, had a lot of conversations. same type of question how how is that evolution the doubts the challenge the trust build you know his his methodologies were unique i've heard there was moments of you know maybe not seeing things fully eye to eye and but you know what what do you feel like sharing please about pat riley and coaching mentorship and leadership from that perspective well he coached me hard and um You know, when you're going after the same goal and you have the same mindset, you're going to bump heads.

30:27That's just a natural. But in a good way. I understood who was the leader, right? And I understood my role. But I love Pat and still do. Pat's one of my best friends today. but when he coached he made it difficult because he he stayed on top of you to be great he knew that he had to push me every single day and what he did was he hold he held me to the standards of two guys right Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and so he said listen I'm never gonna let you take a day off take a game off I'm always stay on top of you because I'm holding you to those two standard right there and that was the measuring stick for me right and so there was a number that he always had and all three of us played over 700 that was like amazing if you got over 700 and so he made me so mad one day so here we are with Chicago and Boston played before the Lakers so when I got to the arena their game was over and we're getting ready to get started a couple hours from from now so Pat's on the board he's writing up the game plan and see he knew what buttons to push with me so he said he's talking to the assistant coach named Bill.

31:57Bill, did you see what Larry Bird did tonight? Man, 45 points, 20 rebounds, nine assists. Oh, man, that bird is something. So he knew I was sitting in my seat. I'm getting mad now. I'm steaming. Okay. So about 20 minutes later, he said, Bill, wait a minute, Bulletin material. Michael Jordan just scored 55 points. So he knew, oh, I'm mad now. I got to go out there and get a big triple-double. We got to win. So he knew sometimes it's what he said about those guys that would motivate me, right? And so what made him so great as a coach, he knew every single guy and what button to push with every single guy to make them go to their highest level, all right, and make sure that they understood that if you're going to play for the Lakers and we're going to win the championship, you've got to be the best sixth man, the seventh man, the fifth man, on and on and on, best point guard.

33:06Kareem, you've got to be the best center. James Worthy, you've got to be the best small forward. On and on, he just points to everybody. and everybody got to accept their role. He believed in that, right? And he believed in family. He preached family and team. Nothing goes outside the family. If we have an argument, it stays within the family. If we have a disagreement, it stays within the family. And so, but his main thing was, we're going to be the best conditioned team in all the NBA. And guess what? We work. That's awesome. We're going to be mentally and physically tough. And guess what? we were.

33:43That's how we're going to win the championship and that's why we were in the finals. Guess what? Nine times in 12 years. Crazy. Crazy. And beat Larry Bird two out of three. That's right. Beat Larry Bird two out of three. That's right, Larry. Straight to camera. That's right, Birdman. That's right. Two out of three in the NBA and the NCAA championship too. So when you have him on the show, you run this tape back to him. Let him see it. that the magic man had three out of four. Three out of four, excuse me. Three out of four because of the college. That's right. So thank you for that. We had Mike Arruzzioni from 1980 Miracle on Ice Team playing Herb Brooks on a couple months ago.

34:26And it's just the patterns, Mike Tyson, Customato, yourself, Pat Riley, you know, Mike Arruzzioni, Herb Brooks, it's the same things over and over again, that dynamic, it's just so powerful. So can we show you a second quick clip? Okay. Yeah, this is going to be now Chuck Daly stepping into the Olympics and bringing together the greatest, I believe, the greatest sports team ever assembled. And P.S., I'm very integrous. Basketball is my third favorite sport. I played a little basketball growing up and then I transitioned to wrestling in high school. But I do believe, I was a huge Knicks fan back in the day, Patrick Ewing, that this is the greatest sports team ever assembled on the court of players.