Allen Iverson is one of my favorite athletes of all time. To me (and everyone I knew), he was the definition of cool and he was an amazing player. In fact, if you knew me back in middle school, chances are you saw me rocking Iverson gear. The headbands. The wrist bands. And of course the sneakers.
So when his new book came out, Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson
For those of you who don’t follow sports, Allen Iverson is one of the most paradoxical figures to ever step foot on an NBA court. On one end of the spectrum he was Allen Iverson, the 6 foot guard out of Georgetown with blazing speed who was without a doubt one of the most lethal scorers the game has ever seen.
He came in at a time of great uncertainty. Who would replace Michael Jordan as the next global ambassador for the game and face of the NBA? Allen Iverson was The Answer.
On the other end of the spectrum, he was Allen Iverson… a man of many vices who never followed the rules. Drinking. Gambling. Spousal Abuse. Multiple run ins with the law. Fighting with teammates. Fighting with coaches. Unparalleled selfishness. Everything wrong that a man could do to prevent himself from fulfilling his potential and ultimately destroy himself, Allen Iverson did.
Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Allen Iverson was one of those rare, once in a lifetime figures that transcended sports and represented something more. He not only revolutionized the game itself, he revolutionized the culture of the NBA by bringing a hip-hop element to it.
The overall style and street element was cool. The baggy clothes. The du-rags. The bling. The flashy cars. Allen Iverson was an appealing brand for so many young men but he was especially appealing to kids from the streets because in their eyes he was them. One of their own had made it out.
Allen Iverson represented hope above all else. He proved that the rags to riches story line was very real.
Because of his impact both on and off the court, Allen Iverson is an incredible figure to study from a branding standpoint. Here are the 4 most important branding lessons I learned from his book.
1. You can never truly be yourself. You have to learn how and when to “vanilla” yourself.
What does it mean to vanilla yourself? It means to dumb down anything that is extreme about your brand. In other words, anything that is loud/flashy or just downright off putting about yourself, you need to neutralize it.
Stupid people think “just be yourself” or “fuck what anybody thinks”. Smart people know that certain situations require adjustments in how you talk, how you dress, and how you behave.
Unfortunately, Allen Iverson could never grasp this important lesson. You could take him out of the hood but you couldn’t take the hood out of him.
One thing you can never say about Allen Iverson: He never “sold out.” He always kept it real and he took pride in this.
It didn’t matter who he was with. Friends. Family. Teammates. Coaches. Owners. Powerful executives of companies. He was a man of only one look and remained the kid who grew up in the streets of Hampton, Virginia.
His unwillingness to leave the streets ruined many relationships and contributed to his downfall.
2. Incredible talent (value) is both a gift and a curse.
There is no denying that the Allen Iverson brand was very valuable. He was an incredible talent on the basketball court. He was a cultural icon who was the definition of cool for a generation. He was a trail blazer whose unique street style made kids (and fellow athletes) want to be just like him.
Allen Iverson knew of his incredible value. He knew just how much of an impact he made. Unfortunately, he also knew that because of his incredible value, he was a powerful man and that he could “get away” with a lot.
Getting in trouble with the law. Going out drinking and gambling. Showing up to practices late or missing them completely. Skipping warm ups and showing up to games minutes before tipoff. If a regular player tried to pull that off on the regular, he would be out of job.
But there are always exceptions, especially for superstar athletes such as Allen Iverson. He did all of those things (and much more). It usually resulted in being yelled at or receiving a slap on the wrist. That’s it.
He learned early on that people can be very lenient if you bring a lot to the table. He knew he did. As a result, Allen Iverson’s world was not one of much consequence.
The coach, the general manager, and the owner could be pissed off all they wanted. But at the end of the day, the goal was to win games. You could hate him all you want but Allen Iverson gave you the best chance to win.
As a result, throughout his entire career, people caved in for him because he was a great basketball player who gave his team a chance to win.
You might think this was a sweet deal for him but it was not. He had YES men. He needed advisors who would keep him in check and tell him when he was making poor decisions (especially from a financial standpoint). This was another thing that contributed to his downfall.
3. The Past is the Past… Exactly
Everyone always throws out those cliché lines. “The past is the past.” “Don’t judge anyone on the past.”
I’ve got news for you. The past is one of the main things people use to judge others. If someone has a history of poor behavior, what are the chances they are going to exhibit poor behavior in the future? Pretty high.
Throughout his entire playing career, Allen Iverson was all about Allen Iverson. You could label him as a trouble maker or a locker room cancer. Great team chemistry was not possible because it was all about him and what he wanted.
It was all good when he was a force to be reckoned with. But what happens when the talent and athleticism start to dwindle away?
Allen Iverson found out the hard way. Towards the end of his career, his poor financial decisions were finally catching up with him and the money was starting to run out. This is when he needed help the most. He needed teams to “work with him.”
However, teams had had enough. They were more willing to trade him and less likely to give him a chance. They looked to his past and decided that he just wasn’t worth it. Eventually, the phones stopped ringing. Had he displayed a better track record, it would have been a different story.
4. A Lack of Discipline is a Recipe for Disaster (and unfulfilled potential)
One can’t help but look at the career of Allen Iverson and wonder… what if? What if he didn’t have problems with drinking and gambling? What if he didn’t burn through his money? What if he knew when to cut certain people out of his life? What if he actually worked out and cared about practice?
What if Allen Iverson had the discipline and dedication to his craft of someone like JJ Watt?
Could you imagine an Allen Iverson that lived a disciplined lifestyle? Now that would have been force in the NBA.
We’re left with all these questions but we’ll never know what could have been…
Sonny
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