Issue #12: What Everyone Gets Wrong About Kobe Bryant's Mamba Mentality & How You Can Make Money From It
Accounting Your Life #12
I’ve been a Lakers fan for as long as I can remember. The Shaq and Kobe era was my absolute favorite! The dominance, the brilliance, the one-two punch, the perfect duo.
I wore Kobe’s jersey, went to Lakers games, and even had a Carl’s Jr. poster of him alongside Jerry West and Kareem that read:
“Those who endure, conquer.”
That poster came in 2006, before his championships without Shaq. This poster was from when Kobe was still chasing respect. And that’s where most people misunderstand Mamba Mentality. It’s not about endlessly working hard. It’s about evolving.
Everyone believes that stages happen in stages but usually there is an overlap in change.
Proving Himself
Early Kobe was unstoppable but raw. He came into the league at 17 with something to prove. A lot of people believed he was too young, too cocky, too untested.
That chip on his shoulder fueled moments we’ll never forget:
81 points against Toronto.
A few weeks prior to that, outscoring the entire Dallas Mavericks by himself through three quarters.
End of the 3rd Quarter: Kobe 62 — Dallas 61.
This was still the phase where his ego drove him. He believed he had to carry everything, could carry everything, because he could. But as Phil Jackson once wrote in his book, Kobe was “uncoachable” at this stage. Too locked into proving, not enough into trusting.
Critics stated: He will never win without Shaq.
And many of us in life and business get stuck in that same stage chasing validation rather than building something lasting.
Letting Go of Ego
Kobe Bryant did single-handedly bring the Lakers to the playoffs. He had no reason to prove what he could do to win.
The real shift came when Kobe learned to let go of that ego and embraced Phil Jackson’s system. He brought Phil Jackson back within a year, knowing very well he needed him the first step of his ego dropping.
The triangle offense demanded trust, patience, and flow. At first, it frustrated Kobe. Why wait for the ball when he could take over?
But here’s the evolution: he realized that to win, he didn’t need to prove himself every possession. He needed to elevate the entire team.
That shift started to give the Lakers a real shot. These were different from the first three with Shaq. These were Kobe-led, but not Kobe-alone.
“Mamba mentality is all about focusing on the process and trusting in the hard work when it matters most.”
That’s the lesson for leadership. Ego gets you to the proving ground. Humility gets you to victory.
Leading Beyond Himself
The clearest sign of Kobe’s maturity was the 2008 Olympics. Surrounded by superstars like LeBron, Wade, and Carmelo, he wasn’t the leading scorer. He didn’t have to be.
Instead, he set the tone with defense, grit, and accountability. He became the glue, the leader who turned the Redeem Team into gold medalists.
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
This was Kobe at his best no longer obsessed with proving, but committed to leading. He came back and entered the true Mamba Mentality where all of the hard work paid off. That is when he got his back-to-back championships without Shaq his fourth and fifth championships.
Why This Evolution Matters
That evolution from ego-driven proving to humble winning to inspiring leading is why Kobe’s Mamba Mentality applies to business and life.
At first, you hustle to show the world you belong. But staying there burns you out. The next level comes when you:
Build trust.
Scale beyond yourself.
Inspire others to play their part.
That’s how you win championships. That’s also how you build wealth, companies, and legacies.
The Real Mamba Mentality
People think Mamba Mentality is about obsession. And it is, being obsessive about the craft, the best version of yourself. The start is to having the grit, the grind, and that killer instinct. Honing this craft but the eventually it is: It’s about refusing to stay the same.
Young Kobe proved.
Prime Kobe won.
Veteran Kobe led.
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”
“Rest at the end, not in the middle.”
A Note on Overlap
It’s easy to tell Kobe’s story in neat chapters:
Early Kobe proving himself.
Prime Kobe winning.
Veteran Kobe leading.
But the truth is more complicated. These weren’t clean breaks, they overlapped.
Even as Kobe was dropping 81 points (pure “prove yourself” mode), he was already experimenting with leadership and trust. Even while winning championships with Pau Gasol, he still carried that edge of wanting to prove people wrong. And in the Redeem Team, even though he was leading, when the gold medal game got tight, he flipped back into killer scorer mode and buried Spain with a dagger three.
That’s the deeper truth of the Mamba Mentality: it wasn’t about replacing one mindset with another, it was about layering them. Kobe didn’t stop proving himself he just learned how to channel that energy into winning and leading.
When Most People Think of Kobe
When most people think of Kobe Bryant’s Mamba Mentality, they picture the scoring explosions 81 points, buzzer-beaters, impossible fadeaways. They imagine obsession, grit, and the chip on his shoulder.
But the real money lesson in the Mamba Mentality isn’t about endless hustle. It’s about learning when to overlap your mindsets: hustler, manager, and leader.
Intangible Assets Are Everything
In basketball, Kobe’s stats were tangible: points, rebounds, wins.
But what separated him and what made him a global icon were the intangibles:
Work Ethic — the hours nobody saw.
Reputation — feared by opponents, respected by the game.
Leadership — evolving from “uncoachable” to inspiring the Redeem Team.
Mindset — never satisfied, always adapting.
In business, it’s the same. Companies aren’t valued only by revenue (the scoreboard). They’re valued by intangible assets:
Brand equity.
Culture and leadership.
Intellectual property and strategy.
Trust with clients and stakeholders.
Kobe shows us that the intangible drives the tangible. His mentality made his performance possible. For businesses, your intangible assets make revenue scalable.
The Strategy: Overlap, Don’t Replace
Business growth isn’t a tidy path. It’s not: Hustler → Manager → Leader.
It’s messy. It overlaps. You need to keep pieces of each mode alive:
Hustler Mode: still needed in negotiations, deal-making, and proving your edge in the market. That’s where new revenue sparks.
Manager Mode: creating processes, delegating, and building systems that keep money flowing consistently.
Leader Mode: inspiring people to believe in the mission, attracting talent, and multiplying wealth.
Kobe mastered all three at once. He could score 40 when needed (hustler), trust Phil Jackson’s triangle (manager), and lead Team USA with defense and accountability (leader).
That’s the real Mamba Mentality for business: knowing which part of yourself to bring forward at the right time.
From Money to Wealth
Here’s how that translates into dollars:
Short-term money comes from hustling. Outworking competitors. Closing the deal.
Sustained revenue comes from systems. Turning client work into repeatable process, or product sales into scalable operations.
Wealth and legacy come from leadership. Building a brand that outlasts you, creating culture, and inspiring people to deliver even when you’re not there.
Just like Kobe didn’t stop scoring when he became a leader, you don’t stop hustling when you scale. But you learn to channel your energy differently.
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
That’s not just a mentality for winning games. That’s a business strategy for building wealth.
As a kid, I loved Kobe because of the highlights — the dunks, the buzzer-beaters, the impossible shots.
But as I grew older, I realized the deeper lesson was in his evolution. He endured. He adapted. He let go of ego.
And in doing so, he conquered not just as a scorer, but as a leader.
That’s the real Mamba Mentality. Not proving forever. Not carrying it all alone. But becoming the kind of leader who makes everyone around him greater.
Great Lessons from the late great Kobe.
Kobe Bryant’s birthday is coming up on Saturday the 23rd, and the following day 8/24 is Kobe Day.
A perfect time to honor not only his highlights, but the mindset that made him a legend.
Next: Something entertaining and fun. if you think you are surrounded by idiots I have something good in store for you.