Intelligences and Michael Jordans Career :: Basketball Science Papers

In Creating Minds, by Howard Gardner, three organizing themes are introduced. Gardner proposes that the creative activity of an individual is broken down into relationships: between the child and the master, between an individual and his work, and between an individual and other people. When studying Michael Jordan, three key moments in his life appear to represent these three principles and explain his success. First, proof of his level of dominance should be presented. Michael Jeffrey Jordan has experienced success at the highest level of his domain. Jordan began his career as the National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1984-85. He led his team to six NBA championships, and was named the Finals Most Valuable Player each time. Jordan won ten scoring titles, including seven straight from the 1986-87 to 1992-93 season. He also received the regular season MVP five times. In the year 2001, a panel of sports experts was organized in order to vote for the greatest athlete of the twentieth century. This distinguished 48-member panel voted Michael Jordan number one ahead of such greats as Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali. What does it take to be the greatest? In order to be a master of any domain, you must possess an added characteristic that your peers do not. There may be another person who can jump as high as you can, or who can run as fast as you, or who can bench press more weight than you. But you can make sure that there is no one who practices more than you. The ability to push yourself to your limit and maybe a bit further is going to give you the advantage over your competitors. This is an aspect of the intrapersonal intelligence discussed by Howard Gardner is his book Creating Minds. I propose that Michael Jordan’s success is not solely due to his athletic ability, but rather to the interaction between his bodily/kinesthetic and intrapersonal intelligences. One without the other would not have allowed him to accomplish all that he has in his career.