The skanner., May 11, 2011, Page 9, Image 9

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NBA’s James Donaldson writes Self-Help Book
Former all-star shares the secrets that have kept him successful in three career changes
By Brian Stimson
Of The Skanner News
F
ormer
NBA
All-Star
James
Donaldson wants to share his secrets
to success. In his new book, “Standing
Above the Crowd,” Donaldson opens up
about not backing down from a challenge,
the importance of mentors and the keys to
keep yourself focused during a time when
many people are switching careers.
With three different distinct career
changes under his belt – professional bas-
ketball player, small business owner and
candidate for Seattle mayor’s office –
Donaldson says he knows what it’s like
keeping on task.
Here, the all-star talks to the Skanner
news about his awkward and uncertain
youth, career transitions and how he fed
into an interesting piece of trivia from his
days as a pro baller.
the Skanner News: What is your secret
to success?
James Donaldson: I credit a lot the suc-
cess I’ve had over the years with mentors
who have helped me make good decisions
and given me a lot of insight and expertise
along the way.
tSN: Does that extend to your career in
basketball, as well as your business and pro-
fessional career?
JD: Yes, exactly, it started in basketball of
course and helped to get that career under-
way, but along the way, I was able to meet
new mentors and professional mentors that
helped keep me going and on the right
track.
tSN: Can you share some of the secrets
to success from your book?
JD: One of the biggest lessons I learned
was from an assistant coach who taught me
never to be satisfied. I think nowadays a lot
of us get satisfied and complacent, we quit
pushing ourselves to excellence. I learned
that at an early age, well before I became a
professional athlete, that reaching a certain
level isn’t good enough if I really want to
reach the top of my profession. My lesson
of never being satisfied, which is a chapter
in the book, is one that I carry to this day.
tSN: Do you mentor a lot of young peo-
ple yourself?
JD: I do. I do. Both officially and unoffi-
cially, there’s not a day that goes by where I
don’t bump into a young person who wants
to ask me questions or understand what I’m
doing and what I’ve had to do to accom-
plish what I’ve accomplished through my
years. And I’m always willing to offer a
helping hand, or some suggestions or some
advice or words of encouragement. I think I
do a lto of mentoring in that regard, even
more than officially mentoring someone.
tSN: What is it that motivated you to
write this book?
JD: As I’ve gone through two or three
careers in my working life, as far as being a
professional athlete and a small-business
entrepreneur, and political candidate in the
city of Seattle and very involved as a mem-
ber of my community, I just got to a point in
my life, here I am in my early ’50s where I
have been looking back to whence I’ve
come and understanding what it took to stay
on track in the first place. And I just wanted
to offer that advice to young people who are
going to be following in my footsteps just
as I followed in a lot of other people’s foot-
steps along the way. I look out there on
societal landscape as a whole and I see a lot
of our younger generation really struggling,
trying to focus in on what they’re going to
do, what they’re going to be and how
they’re going to accomplish that. There’s so
many more distractions nowadays and
temptations and pitfalls than there were
when I was a youngster, so I really want ot
help younger folks navigate on that path to
becoming successful.
tSN: When you were a young man, was
your future career pretty well mapped out
on the way to a
JD: Not at all, I actually didn’t play bas-
ketball until my last year of high school.
Simply because I was a youngster like other
youngster, where I was full of insecutiries,
lack of confidence, very uncoordinated with
my height and size and weight. DIdn’t have
a high self esteem with myself. Most
youngsters to through that phase at some
point. It wasn’t until I met the great mentor,
my high school basketball coach, Chuck
Calhoun was his name down in Sacramento,
See DONalDSON on page 12
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