Passing of Kobe Bryant - When Going Viral SUCKS!

This past week the world lost an iconic sports figure. Kobe Bryant passed away under the most unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances. His personal helicopter crashed into a mountain while traveling to take his daughter to her basketball game killing the two of them along with seven others who were on the plane. The world seemed to freeze in its tracks upon learning the news and people are still trying to gather themselves emotionally since.

This horrifying news personally impacted me and five days later I'm still grieving. I'm struggling to grasp the fact that a 41 year old heroic superstar, who seemed to be invincible, and who had been one of the most successful individuals over the last 20 years could lose his life so quickly and unexpectedly. I'm struggling with the fact that one of my favorite idols and superheroes growing up during the prime of my childhood is now all of a sudden gone.

When Kobe was drafted into the NBA in 1996 I was 7 years old and just beginning to fall in love with the game of basketball. I can remember so many childhood memories that center around Kobe such as getting the video game “NBA Courtside With Kobe Bryant” for Nintendo 64 and playing it non stop. Or there was my regular local park visits as a 10 year old practicing and re-enacting Kobe Bryant dribbling and jump shot moves on the court with no defenders on me. In 8th grade I would then try bringing these same Kobe Bryant moves to my middle school basketball team unfortunately with much less success. As a 13 year old during my bar-mitzvah party the theme was basketball. Families and friends were placed at dinner tables with blown up cardboard basketball players on each table. One of those tables was the Kobe Bryant table which some of my closest friends sat at.

As I got older I began to appreciate a new characteristic of Kobe Bryant. His premiere work ethic began to inspire and motivate me. The stories you would hear of Kobe always being first in the gym ahead of practice, and being the last to leave the gym after all his team-mates left were remarkable to hear as a teenager, college student and then young professional. It was these stories that began to help shape me into the person I've turned into today. In most of the companies I've ever worked for I've always prided myself on being one of the first in the office and the last to leave, so that I can get in the extra hours of work and be as productive and effective as possible at my job. On multiple occasions during job interviews I've been asked the question, "If you could choose any person in the world to meet with for 30 minutes over lunch who would you choose and why?" My answer would be Kobe Bryant and I would reference his impeccable work ethic as my reason.

The world lost an incredible human five days ago and even though I never knew Kobe personally, it genuinely feels like he is a close family member or friend that has been stripped away from my life. That's what feels so surreal about this viral sad story. When I've spoken with my friends about it the reactions and responses are the same. So many people never actually knew Kobe Bryant but yet it felt like they were connected to him and friends with him from afar.

As you can imagine the death of Kobe Bryant and how it has captured the world is certainly a "When Going Viral SUCKS" moment. As I was trying to think through why this story has captivated the world for all the wrong reasons and received so much viral global attention I came up with the following three reasons. I think these reasons speak to how special of an individual Kobe Bryant was to so many millions and perhaps even billions of people.

Reason #1, Love People Had For Him: People globally felt an authentic direct and indirect love for Kobe Bryant. Whether it was people who loved his basketball skills on the court, his smile off the court, or his hyper competitive mamba mentality, there were ultimately dozens of different reasons why people loved Kobe Bryant. When people experience an authentic passionate love for a person, product, or company it creates a connection that feels unbreakable. There’s only a select number of things that surmount love in this world and the loving connection people had for Kobe Bryant was one of the core reasons why this upsetting story went as viral as it did.

Reason #2, Global Iconic Figure: Kobe Bryant spent 7 plus years as a child living in Italy where his father Joe Bryant played professional basketball. When Kobe was drafted into the NBA the country of Italy felt like they had one of their first basketball superstars make it into the pros. As the NBA continued to turn into a global sport across Europe, Africa and China under the leadership of former commissioner David Stern, Kobe was the poster child of the sport’s mass global adoption. Combine this with his appearances as the starting shooting guard during the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and you really start to realize how much global exposure Kobe Bryant had. Being the most talented player over a 20 year period during a time when the sport was rapidly expanding and being adopted around the world is a key reason why this sad story has impacted countless people globally and had the viral effect it has.

Reason #3, A 24 Year Personal Brand Maturation: In Kobe Bryant's case we got to witness the growth, evolution, and maturation of the person, athlete, producer, and brand over 24 years. From his initial drafting into the NBA in 1996 all the way through winning an academy award at the Oscars in 2018. We got to witness Kobe take pop singer superstar Brandy to his high school prom as an 18 year old. We saw Kobe dominate the NBA with Shaquille O’Neal winning 3 straight NBA championships and then snag another 2 championships without Shaq. We saw Kobe as the star on all the commercials for major sponsors through his endorsement deals with global brands such as Adidas, Nike, McDonalds, Sprite and Nintendo. For 24 straight years Kobe was consistently in the spotlight and serving as the face of so many remarkable entities. This level of personal brand building has absolutely been a contributing factor as to why so many people have been affected by this dreadful story.

Thank you for inspiring me Kobe and I’ll be sure to remember and reference you for the rest of my life. I wish your family and the other families affected by this tragic event a strong recovery during what must be the most difficult time of their lives.