# Michael Jordan's Journey: Greatness, Setbacks and the Will to Rise

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2121018724262293539
- Source account: [@a16z](https://x.com/a16z)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 2:18
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise) I'm gonna look you in the eyes, and I'm gonna tell you the future.

[0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=3) You were cut from your high school basketball team.

[0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=7) You willed your way to the NBA. You're gonna win championships.

[0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=12) It's an American story, and that's why Americans are gonna love it.

[0:16](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=16) People are gonna build you up. God, are they going to.

[0:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=20) Because when you're great and new, we love you.

[0:25](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=25) Man, we'll build you into something that doesn't even exist.

[0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=28) You're gonna change the fucking world. But you know what?

[0:33](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=33) Once they've built you as high as they possibly can, they're gonna tear you back down.

[0:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=38) It's the most predictable pattern. We build you into something that doesn't exist, and that means you have to try to be that thing all day, every day.

[0:48](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=48) That's how it works. And we do it again and again and again.

[0:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=53) And I'm gonna tell you the truth. You're gonna be attacked, betrayed, exposed, and humiliated, and you'll survive that.

[1:04](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=64) A lot of people can climb that mountain.

[1:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=67) It's the way down that breaks them, 'cause that's the moment when you are truly alone.

[1:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=78) And what will you do then? Can you summon the will to fight on through all the pain and rise again?

[1:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=87) Who are you, Michael? That will be the defining question of your life, and I think you already know the answer, and that's why we're all here.

[1:38](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=98) A shoe is just a shoe until somebody steps into it.

[1:44](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=104) Then it has meaning. The rest of us just want a chance to touch that greatness, and we need you in these shoes, not so you have meaning in your life, but so that we have meaning in ours.

[1:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=115) Everyone at this table will be forgotten as soon as our time here is up, except for you.

[2:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=123) You're gonna be remembered forever because some things are eternal.

[2:08](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/8BFEqRl93eBj/en/michael-jordan-s-journey-greatness-setbacks-and-the-will-to-rise?t=128) You're Michael Jordan, and your story is gonna make us want to fly.