Get Rice: Ronnie O'Brien Rice, Ph.D., Lawyer

After watching the ESPN documentary series, The Last Dance about the Chicago Bulls’ dynasty through the final championship season in 1997-98, I realized the lessons that many can take away from the show:   (1) there is no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘m’ ‘e’ [Kobe Bryant]; (2) it takes a system to win consistently,   regardless of how talented one player maybe; (3) celebrate each other differences, e.g., Dennis Rodman; and (4) look out for each other, e.g., Scottie Pippen. Firstly, Michael Jordan is undoubtedly a great player. And, too many times others downplay an individual’s talent for what it seems like the betterment of the team. However, the downplay is really about that person’s ego. But, if you have a talented team member, let them to perform while contributing to the overall organizational goal. With, if you want to get there quickly, go by yourself. If you want to get there and stay there, build a team. The Chicago Bulls, before Michael Jordan, Scottie Pipp...

There are three (3) habits that I do to make sure that I stay focused in a society with information overload:  (1) take recommendations from friends, family, mentors, and people who I want to be like; (2) when listening to or digesting information, (whether it’s podcasts, YouTube videos, or books) make sure to those books and podcasts are aligned with my overall objective. [There might be a lot of good books and podcasts, but they might not be in line with overall objective.]; (3) find different information outlets that provide a variety of information in short bits. One of the reasons why I love Twitter is because Twitter allows you to follow users. And each one person can only post a certain amount of information. It is like people posting little golden nuggets. Unlike Facebook and other social media platforms, Facebook allows users to write long posts. Depending on who you are following, the posts could be nothing of substance. Learning how to remain focus with so much i...

Birmingham City Councilman John Hilliard says try not to be a person of success, but a person of value. This holds true in present day society. Success is more than millions of dollars in the bank, thousands of followers on social media, or multiple post-secondary degrees. Don’t get me wrong, those achievements are important. However, someone who brings value is much more of an asset than a credential. You want to be some one of value. So, when you leave this earth, you have something to leave to your kids, significant others, or others in your community. If COVID-19 hasn't taught society anything, it has showed us the importance of family, savings, smart investing, and true job security. [side note:  true job security is being a person of value] You can have a lot of education and money without any type of value added; then your presence is worthless. There are a lot of people who are sitting on gold mines. But, many don’t do anything with them. Simply put, val...

The power of story telling can be dated by years and years even before verbal communication.   Well I’m not going to say language but before a lot of technology. The reason why story telling became such a powerful tool is because a lot of people could not read or write. And some of life’s principles, life lessons and morals could only be taught through story telling. Story telling teaches so many different levels of variable that a simple arithmetic or demanding person will ever be able to convey. Story telling is essential, regarding law, organizational development, investing, business. Primarily, those who may not have come from much, story telling is how you learn to be better. Role modeling, mentorship, and coaching is done through story telling. Whether it is real life experiences or hypotheticals, storytelling helps communicate difficult learning lessons. It’s a reason why movies, reality television, Netflix, etc. are so popular. All of these modes convey some t...