THEN I RUSHED TO MY LAPTOP TO CHECK THE WEPAY SITE

THEN I READ THAT THERE WAS A SOCIAL MEDIA POSITION OPEN

THEN I SAW THAT IT WAS AN INTERNSHIP

AND THOUGHT TO MYSELF, “I’M TOO OLD FOR AN INTERNSHIP.“

BUT THEN THOUGHT TO MYSELF, “HMM..WHAT IF THEY LIKE ME AND WANT TO TALK?“

SO I APPLIED  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SO I HOPE THIS IS YOUR REACTION

LET’S TALK?

Inspired by this

Marco Henry Negrete’s Resume (PDF)

Last week, she used Instagram to announce that Kobe has officially joined Twitter.

Today, she used Instagram to announce to the world that her and Kobe have reconciled their marriage and dismissed all divorce actions.

These type of announcements have traditionally been left in the hands of celebrity publicists but today we are seeing more and more celebrities cutting out the middle man and addressing their fans directly. Its amazing how social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook Pages, and Instagram have become so powerful in public relations from celebrities and brands.

As a fan of Kobe Bryant, I personally enjoy this new standard of “PR” practices from celebrities. It offers fans a chance to feel a personal connection with their favorite celebrities and allows them to speak to their fans directly without any potential media spinning.

This quote from Kobe was originally posted to his personal Facebook fan page last October but I just read it today on Dime Magazine’s “Kobe Bryant’s 10 Most Bad Ass Quotes This Season”

Here’s what Kobe said in response to the Laker’s struggles at the time and his reputation as a bad teammate:

Leadership is responsibility.
There comes a point when one must make a decision. Are YOU willing to do what it takes to push the right buttons to elevate those around you? If the answer is YES, are you willing to push the right buttons even if it means being perceived as the villain? Here’s where the true responsibility of being a leader lies. Sometimes you must prioritize the success of the team ahead of how your own image is perceived. The ability to elevate those around you is more than simply sharing the ball or making teammates feel a certain level of comfort. It’s pushing them to find their inner beast, even if they end up resenting you for it at the time.

I’d rather be perceived as a winner than a good teammate. I wish they both went hand in hand all the time but that’s just not reality. I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.

This is my way. It might not be right for YOU but all I can do is share my thoughts. It’s on YOU to figure out which leadership style suits you best.

Will check back in with you soon.. Till then
Mamba out

This particular statement from Kobe stands out to me a lot because I can personally relate to it from my experiences as a leader. Here are my key take aways:

1. Sometimes you have to be the villain in order to push your teammates, brothers, colleagues, etc. to grow and challenge them to do better. While this might make you look like the bad guy, your intentions are good because you are challenging that person to do more for both themselves AND the team, organization, company, etc. I can recall multiple times where I was in a top leadership position and disliked by many members because I wouldn’t allow us to be content and settle. Instead I tried to push everyone to do more than what they might have believed they were capable of doing.

2. You always need to put the team first. This means prioritizing the teams success over your own personally. As a leader this is something that comes with the territory but not everyone sees it that way. I think this way of thinking is essential for all members, not just leaders. I remember taking care of organizational related tasks before personal ones including academic responsibilities. Now that is an extreme case and I don’t recommend doing that but sometimes as a leader you must put those things first. The way I saw it was I had 90 members depending on me and I would rather let myself down than let them down. Luckily, I was always able to get both things done but it came with some personal sacrifices.

3. Being a leader doesn’t always equal being a good friend or teammate. As Kobe points out, he would rather be seen as a winner than a good teammate. Although this sounds selfish, its based off of achieving team and group success. Pushing your teammates to be better will hopefully result in winning (success) which benefits everyone. This is one of those cases where your teammates will thank you later because they will realize that you had theirs and the team’s best interest in mind all along. Not every single person is going to have the same passion for your goals as you so you must do everything you can to push and motivate them to strive to be better.

This style of leadership ISN’T necessarily the best but it is effective, as shown by Kobe’s career success. I can guarantee that there are a lot of teammates that didn’t necessarily like Kobe but learned and got better because of him. I can only hope that the same could be said for those I lead. Note: I didn’t always use this style of leadership but did at times when it was necessary.

1. “Surround yourself with the right people.” This is crucial to continuing to grow as a person and exposing yourself to new things. I am who I am today because of the people I’ve met throughout my life and Pharrell is the same way.

2. “Be unafraid to learn.” We need to make sure to always challenge ourselves to grow and learn and never feel like we’ve reached a peak in our knowledge and expertise. There’s always room to learn more and you can always learn about something new, even if it’s scary and unfamiliar.

3. “All great things are made from a functional viewpoint.” This is especially relevant to Myth as a brand. We aim to make art and apparel that is more than just visually appealing; we want it to be functional. In today’s fashion landscape, there are countless brands and a lot of them might focus on appearance before functionality, which is what separates the classic, timeless brands from those that seem to pop up and fade out every single day with the trends. Functionality to me means two main things, quality and how it protects you from the environment from a purely clothing standpoint and how it is functional from a messaging standpoint. This means what do our products and designs mean to you spiritually, what messages do you get from them and how does that impact you when you wear it.

This post originally appeared on the Myth Worldwide Blog

It doesn’t get better than this shoe. Even Kobe was rocking them! These have the perfect balance of style, comfort and performance. I wore these during basketball season in high school than continued to wear them outdoors until they couldn’t go any more. They were foam based at the bottom so it allowed them to be worn longer without the sole falling off. Stoked that you can Nike ID these now so might have to get another pair soon. ALSO, I actually only got this shoe because they were sold out of the Jordan Stealth 5s (2006) and it ended up being a blessing in disguise (at least from a comfort standpoint because the 5s are NOT comfortable to play in.

2. Kobe Kay Yow 6s

Like a lot of people I was scared to make the move to low tops because I thought it would make me more prone to ankle injuries. When I was playing in Hong Kong I noticed that most of my teammates were using them and I started developing a fondness for the design. I love the python skin texture. A lot of my teammates were sponsored by Nike so they were playing in super exclusives like the Grinch’s and Kay Yows. By the time I returned back to the states I knew that the Kobe 6s would be my next hoop shoe. I searched far and wide for a pair of Grinch’s and even bought (and returned) a fake pair on Ebay -__- I ended up going with the Kay Yows because I love the message it sends about strength and even more coming from a man, dismissing any sort of traditional and unhealthy masculinity. I’m still hooping in these and I love them! Easily the lightest shoes I’ve ever played in and super comfortable. Check out the blog I wrote about them: The Guy With The Pink Shoes

3. Nike Hyperfuse (Rajon Rondo Player Edition)

This shoe was definitely an upgrade from the Hyperfuse and I really like the mesh design. Despite my hate for the Celtics I got that all green Rondo edition to match my Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity basketball jerseys. I got a lot of slack from my fellow Laker fans for these lol. This shoe is one of the most comfortable I’ve ever played in and I loved the way it looked in all green.

4. Nike Hyperdunk (USA Edition)

I remember the Hyperdunk being really hyped up because they were introducing all sorts of new technology with the flywire and stuff. To top things off the entire 2008 Olympic team was laced up in them so that made the appeal even greater. This was one of the first times I bought a shoe based on performance and not just style. This shoe really changed the game for me when it comes to basketball shoes. The USA color way was dope too because it was very subtle.

#5. Team Jordan 10/8

I cannot find a picture of these anywhere but this was the first and last Team Jordan shoe I bought and it started to change my opinion on performance shoes. I bought them because they had a dope white and royal blue color way that matched perfectly with my high school jerseys. This was a shoe designed specifically for the college season and therefore named 10/8 to mark the start of the season.

#6. Jordan Steel 10s

I started hooping in a beat up pair of these strictly outdoors and it is the most comfortable shoe for playing outside. The cushion they provide is perfect for harsh blacktop conditions and they are still light enough to play in. They are pretty durable too and mine definitely took a beating. I loved these so much that I bought another pair just to wear.

#7. Nike Flight 89 White and Royal Blue

Finding this shoe back in 2005 was a like hitting the jack pot. Lucky for me the one pair left at Sporty LA was a size 12. It was a display pair and definitely a little weathered from being on the wall for a few years probably. The slight yellowing was only fitting considering that shoe hadn’t released in years. It had some white patent leather too. This shoe was definitely not one of the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever played in but one of the best looking. It’s recently been back in the spotlight because Kanye has been wearing them.

#8. Adidas KB8 II (White)

This was the first $100 pair of shoes I ever owned. In like 1997 this was A LOT. I can’t even remember if these were comfortable or not but they were so fresh. I got the white color way which was a lot less common than the blacks and they were just perfect. The light purple on them was a game changer because I don’t know if I would have bought them if the purple was darker because back then I got two pairs of shoes a year, one when school started and one for basketball season.  After the season my hoops shoes would become my everyday shoe and I don’t know if I would have been down to rock a loud purple shoe back then. I was also big on Adidas basketball shoes during this era because of Kobe and my uncle Estevan was also a big advocate for Adidas basketball shoes. Those are two of my favorite players of all time!

For this post I’ll dig deep into some of the lyrics from “Why I Love You” from Jay-z and Kanye West’s 2011 album, Watch the Throne, and explain how these words relate to my experiences as a leader and the lessons I’ve taken away from it.

Jay-z starts off the song with:

“Picture if you will, that the throne was burning
Rome was burning, and I’m sitting in the corner all alone burning”

When you’re leading a group, no matter how well you are doing and how much that group is thriving there will always be members that try to bring you down. Now, I’m not talking about people who disagree with you, I’m referring to people who try to create the illusion that there is a problem with you or the group instead of trying to help. Sometimes this comes out of jealousy when people think they deserve more credit for the work they do- but this already marks a quality of a weak leader because they value personal glory over collective success. These people will try to recruit others to go against you by trying to convince them that you are doing bad. I was faced with this situation as president of an organization. I was trying to build the best group possible while others put themselves before the group. The most important thing to remember in this situation is to always put the group before yourself. Did the things people were saying about me hurt? Yes (sitting in the corner all alone burning), but I knew responding would not only make matters worse but it would be me putting my personal feelings over my role as president. During these times it is important to stay strong and NEVER sacrifice the integrity of your organization by getting into a war of words with others. That would only make you, as well as the entire group look bad.

“Same people that I fought for
That I fight for, that I ride for
That I live for, that I die for”

You’ll find that sometimes the very people who you are dedicating your time to helping will not appreciate this. This again can be attributed to their personal discontent with themselves or jealousy. Its heartbreaking to know that people you care about so much turn on you but being a strong leader means handling this appropriately and still delivering the best leadership practices for the whole group, including those who are against you.

“I tried to teach them how to be kings
And all they ever wanted to be was soldiers”

This soldiers vs kings line is probably my favorite in the whole song. Its the classic example who how you can do so much for people but at the end of the day they can only reach their full potential by personally working at it. Over the years I have taken countless people under my wing to try to share my experiences with them. It has been great to see a lot of these people grow into strong leaders but sometimes they fall short. That’s not to say that everyone needs to be a “king” or strong leader because every member plays an important role but sometimes those who fall short of their potential or expectations blame others for it. At the end of the day you can only do so much for people as a leader and sometimes they will appreciate it and sometimes they won’t.

“And truth be told after all that said
I still got love for you”

Despite all of the bad things done and said to me, I still care about those people. As a leader you are a caring person by nature and you want to see everyone in your group succeed regardless of the fact that those feelings might not be mutual.

So what can you learn from this song? Being a leader isn’t easy and sometimes the best decisions are the hardest. You’ll find that not everyone will appreciate this because their intentions may not be as pure as yours but you cannot let negativity or backlash change you or cause you to sacrifice your integrity because at the end of the day, the group comes first.

6. Jordan Military 4s (2006)
So there is an interesting story about this pair. I really didn’t start wearing them regularly until this year. For some reason I didn’t like the way they looked on feet after I bought them so never wore them much. Then all of a sudden I decided I liked them and started wearing them all the time. This might be because I knew they were dropping again so I knew it wouldn’t be long before everyone had them. Either way I love wearing these with grey or khaki pants matched with anything blue for a cool casual look.

5. Jordan Varsity 6s (2010)
These are pretty much my Infrared 6s! They came out and it seemed like the only option to get that Infrared classic look then out of nowhere they dropped the Infrared back. Whatever, I was mad but then again probably wouldn’t have even bought the pack. I love this shoe with pretty much anything. I was definitely inspired by Kanye West and how he wears them so causally yet fashionable. I tend to wear them with Khakis a lot like he does and I think those colors just mesh well together. Mine are super beat up but its one of those pairs that looks good like that cause its a classic, or at least almost a classic because of the whole varsity red vs infrared red deal -___-

4. Nike Roshe Runs (2012)
Man do I love this shoe. I’m a big fan of the Nike free run series but these are some good-looking runners. Since the day I laid eyes on them I knew they would be a hit. They have become quite popular this summer and I’m proud to say I got my first pair when they released in spring. I wear this as a casual shoe but also when I work out or go for a run. This is my go to shoe for heading to the store or grabbing a bite to eat. Comfort and style, great combination and awesome shoe. I have the black and whites and the platinum and teal pair. Beauties!

3. Nike Air Yeezy II (2012) Black and Solar Red
I know what you’re thinking. I must be crazy to actually wear my Yeezys or that I haven’t sold them by now. Let me clear this up, I got these because I love the shoe and I bought them to wear them like every shoe I own. I wish I could say this shoe was number one on my rotation but I’ll admit I still don’t wear them as much as I’d like to. I still get a little paranoid knowing I have a couple grand on my feet cause c’mon, people still rob!I hope to get to a level where I wear these on the regular without thinking twice. I want these to become like my Aqua 8s that I wear everywhere. I’ve definitely spent as much time admiring them as I have wearing them. Love wearing these with khaki or grey pants and keeping it casual with a denim shirt or Myth tee. It also makes me happy when I enter a dark area and see them glow, so what!

2. Jordan Space Jam 11 (2009)
This is a shoe I’m pretty much in love with. I remember being a kid and going to every store I could think of and asking them if they had the Space Jam Jordans. People looked at me like I was a dumb little kid! I guess Jordan hadn’t started branding them as the “Space Jams” until the next release but whatever, I saw them in Space Jam so that’s what I called them. Guess that shows I had an eye for branding at a young age (winks at Jordan Brand HR people, hit me up!) So needless to say I never got these as a kid so when they dropped in 2009 there was no doubt I was camping out. Just my luck it was the coldest night of the year in Ventura, CA (Pacific View Mall.) It was worth it though, no doubt. I wear them regularly and still get the nod of respect from sneaker heads. I’ve dressed them up and down, casual and fancy. Man, you can wear these anywhere and make it work.

1. Jordan Aqua 8s (2007)
Hand down, my most worn pair of shoes. It’s no secret that this is one of Kanye’s favorite pairs and not going to lie, that influenced me to get them and wear them. I am not ashamed to say that he has influenced my life in many ways, especially style. I remember him rocking them with some khakis and a varsity jacket. Such a dope and effortless fit. I wear mine a lot with khakis and really wear them with ANYTHING. I think the color way is so dope its awesome for it not match. Not to say I haven’t matched it with stuff. It is the motivational colors for my entire fraternity family line. Also check out my Aqua 8 fraternity paddle! That’s love.