My career as a mem­ber of the Utah Jazz bas­ket­ball team is some­thing for which I am eter­nal­ly grate­ful. For 12 sea­sons I played for one of the most sto­ried and classy fran­chis­es in the NBA and all of pro­fes­sion­al sports. That fran­chise, and the peo­ple in it, helped to mold me into the man and pro­fes­sion­al I am today. Every time I step on stage for my speak­ing events I make sure to rep­re­sent myself as a Utah Jazz speak­er by talk­ing to the audi­ence about the expe­ri­ences that I had while work­ing with that incred­i­ble fran­chise.

Lessons Learned

The most impor­tant lessons I learned as a mem­ber of the Utah Jazz were how to be a pro­fes­sion­al and how to work in a team envi­ron­ment in order to be suc­cess­ful. These were two things that were con­stant­ly talked about and prac­ticed in and around the Utah Jazz orga­ni­za­tion. As a speak­er, I relay what I learned about these top­ics and more.

Being a Professional

Let’s first talk about how to be a true pro­fes­sion­al in any field or indus­try. When I speak about how to be a true pro­fes­sion­al I usu­al­ly talk about when I first entered the NBA and how I was influ­enced by my first head coach, the great Frank Lay­den. He was a hard-work­ing, blue col­lar, and pro­fes­sion­al coach. He made sure his teams and his play­ers act­ed like pro­fes­sion­als both on and off the court.

When I first entered the NBA I thought I had to be per­fect all the time. When­ev­er I messed up on a play or made a mis­take I would get vis­i­bly frus­trat­ed. Imme­di­ate­ly after, Frank would tell me, “Mark, stop get­ting mad about the mis­take you just made. No one cares and it is dis­tract­ing from your job.” That was how I learned that being a pro­fes­sion­al meant mov­ing on from past mis­takes. This is some­thing that I talk about as a Utah Jazz speak­er.

Anoth­er thing I teach is how to work well in a team envi­ron­ment. Since the fran­chise began back in 1974, team­work, coop­er­a­tion, and team suc­cess have always been a part of the franchise’s frame­work. When I speak, I make sure to empha­size those three top­ics dur­ing my speak­ing pro­gram.

Speaking to Your Team

The Utah Jazz orga­ni­za­tion taught me that exe­cut­ing my role would help our team gain suc­cess and pros­per­i­ty over­all. I would pro­tect the rim, grab the rebound, and throw the out­let pass to the guards who would go and score. That was my role and it helped my team win. As a Utah Jazz speak­er, I talk to cor­po­ra­tions and their employ­ees about how they can find out what their role is.

The Next Step

Thank you for con­sid­er­ing me as the speak­er for your event. When you hear me speak, you’ll get the inside sto­ry on what it takes to win and dis­cov­er how to turn your peo­ple into top per­form­ers! To hear more about my expe­ri­ence as a mem­ber of the Utah Jazz and how what I learned can help your cor­po­ra­tion, call or email:

Call 800–998-7067Email to Book Mark

To check my avail­abil­i­ty, com­plete the form to the right. A mem­ber of my team will con­tact you direct­ly.