The Ant, The Elephant, And LeBron James

The best part of a great feature on LeBron James from the new Sports Illustrated:

↵↵On a table in James’s living room was a book about leadership called “The Ant and the Elephant,” a gift from a friend. James is not much of a reader, but he opted for the book over TV.

↵“It’s about an ant who is trying to find his way to this great place, this oasis, but the only way to get there is to train an elephant who wants to get there too,” James says. “At one point the ant is on the elephant’s back and they are walking through the sand and there is a pack of lions, and the elephant scares the lions off. The ant is like, I have the toughest friend in the world. But later that day the elephant sees a mouse, and he gets scared and runs away. The ant can’t understand how this big creature could be so dominant over a pack of lions but so scared of a mouse. The ant has to train the elephant to let him know, ‘You are the biggest, baddest thing out here.’” James pauses for a moment. As a member of a supposed juggernaut, he can relate to the ant. And as a 250-pound force of nature, he can relate to the elephant. “I took a lot from that,” he says.

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