Driven from Within

by Michael Jordan

'A part of all those people who helped me along the way can be found in everything I have done and continue to do. I had some great teachers - and I listened to what they had to say.' - Michael Jordan A global icon in sports, style and business, Michael Jordan is famous for his unrivalled athletic ability, his fierce determination, and his grace under pressure. In DRIVEN FROM WITHIN, he makes it clear that his phenomenal success is thanks in large part to the teachers, mentors and friends who have guided him throughout his life. Here is a book about the power of collaboration and teamwork, the energy that is released when people share their gifts and hard-won knowledge. With almost two million copies of his three previous books in print, Michael Jordan has proven himself to be as strong a performer in bookstores as he is on the court. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully designed, this is Michael Jordan's most intimate book to date. Organized around the qualities that Jordan demonstrates in his own life and that he looks for in others - qualities like authenticity, integrity, passion and commitment - DRIVEN FROM WITHIN is an inspiring record of an extraordinary life.

Genres: Sports, Biography, Nonfiction, Basketball, Personal Development, Autobiography, Business

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 24, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a retired American professional basketball player and active businessman. His biography on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website states, "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time." Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s.

After a stand-out career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he led the Tar Heels to a National Championship in 1982, Jordan joined the NBA's Chicago Bulls in 1984. He quickly emerged as a league star, entertaining crowds with his prolific scoring. His leaping ability, illustrated by performing slam dunks from the free throw line at Slam Dunk Contests, earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness". He also gained a reputation for being one of the best defensive players in basketball. In 1991, he won his first NBA championship with the Bulls, and followed that achievement with titles in 1992 and 1993, securing a "three-peat". Although Jordan abruptly retired from basketball at the beginning of the 1993–94 NBA season to pursue a career in baseball, he rejoined the Bulls in 1995 and led them to three additional championships (1996, 1997, and 1998) as well as an NBA-record 72 regular-season wins in the 1995–96 season. Jordan retired for a second time in 1999, but returned for two more NBA seasons in 2001 as a member of the Washington Wizards.

Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include five MVP awards, ten All-NBA First Team designations, nine All-Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances, three All-Star Game MVP awards, ten scoring titles, three steals titles, six NBA Finals MVP awards, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular-season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.4 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press's list of athletes of the century. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame on April 6, 2009 and will be inducted in September 2009.

Jordan is also noted for his product endorsements. He fueled the success of Nike's Air Jordan sneakers, which were introduced in 1985 and remain popular today. Jordan also starred in the 1996 feature film Space Jam. He is currently a part-owner and Managing Member of Basketball Operations of the Charlotte Bobcats in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was curious to learn about what drove Michael Jordan internally to accomplish everything in his career.

The book is very straightforward and chronological. I really liked how they weaved commentary from Michael Jordan, Tinker Hatfield (The designer of the Jordan Shoes) and other people into the book.

Tinker Hatfield did a great job explaining much of what went into each Jordan shoe ranging from events happening in Jordan's life, to changing the material to increase the basketball shoe durability. I was surprised to learn that Tinker Hatfield did not start designing the Jordan shoe till III, which is when it started to get good. Furthermore, that Jordan had to use a new pair for each game until Jordan XI came out. The book also talks a lot about the evolution of 'Brand Jordan' and how building on the Jordan line it came to stand on its own.

Michael's commentary constantly came back to 'being true to yourself' A lot of the marketing campaigns tried to market Michael Jordan in a way that was not him.

I really enjoyed the book. I love Jordan, Jordan shoes, and learning lessons about how to become successful. This book did a great job weaving all three of these things together.

[Yung · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is no one in sports that I love more than MJ, being a Bulls fan. I still love Michael, but this book was a supreme disappointment. it is an all too detailed history of the design and sales success of his shoes and newer clothing line, and also includes Michael's passages about being determined and "driven". If you really want to learn about MJ, I would suggest Playing for Keeps by David Halberstam or The Golden Boys by Cameron Stauth, which profiles the members of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team. The profiles on MJ and the other team members are probably the best I have read on elite professional athletes. If you want some great photos and a book written by MJ, Rare Air is much better than this one.

[Jeff Delices · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good and Inspiring

I completed Phil Jackson’s 11 Rings and followed it up with Driven from Within to understand their mindset and I learned what I need and more. Very good book.

[TheBookWarren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael on Michael- What more need I say!

[Subhanga Upadhyay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course a book written in collaboration with Brand Jordan, Nike, and Michael goddamned Jordan himself would be the most stylish book I've ever read.


Most books are dry pages upon pages. This book is a hybrid, filled with visuals, colors, intimate photos from Mike's life, never seen before. And of course, glimpses from MJ's own opinions on the way he approaches life, the most valuable thing ever. We hear from MJ's close inner circle, Tinker Hatfield, coach Dean Smith, and most importantly James and Deloris Jordan, the most influential people in MJ's life, his parents...


It all came out of a desire to prove. To impress people with what he could do. To take their expectations, and exceed them beyond their wildest beliefs. Because his expectations of himself were higher than whatever any of them could ever impose on him. And much more. Looking forward to writing the blog post that will distill everything into one piece, to be re-read by me over and over and over

[Michaela Paule · Rating 4 out of 5]

MJ is an incredible athlete, and his story, approach to sport, or life is very motivational. I loved the part of the book about him and the people around him. There was surprising a lot of writing about shoe design and got to be too much to be enjoyable for me. Also a bit repetitive. 4* Overall

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Driven From Within is an intriguing autobiography by Michael Jordan. This book is meant to give the reader an inside look on Jordan’s life on and off the court. I think anybody could read this book and enjoy it. The title fits appropriately because his sense of motivation and drive to be great came from within himself. He was always silencing the critics, for example people said no major college would take Jordan. He ended up going to North Carolina and won the NCAA championship in 1982. Things like that separate “the boys from the men” as some would say. The important people featured in this book are Michael Jordan, Tinker Hatfield, and Delores Jordan (Michael’s mother). Tinker was the person who was essential in the creation of Air Jordan shoes. It’s interesting seeing the inside look of dedication and work from Michael Jordan. He was a mastermind on the court and off of it. Jordan made intelligent business decisions and was the same way with his choice of words when speaking to media. The book also shows the process and inspiration for the Air Jordan shoes. These shoes were so well thought out and abstract from any other shoes of that time its difficult not to be interested. Most athletic shoes found during that time were very high and chunky. Air Jordan's were usually medium cut,looked futuristic, had 3 way color schemes (not seen often back then), and just had a sense of speed. Overall, I usually do not enjoy reading but I found this book difficult to put down. Driven From Within never left me bored, there was something to learn on every page. This book exemplifies that “hard work will get you anywhere”.

[Lucas Holm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. The parts focusing on MJ and his parents are awesome, and you learn a lot about how Michael views his game and how he approached both his business brand and his sports brand to attain the success he achieved.
Where it lost a full point for me was in its lengthy parts going over the innovations to the Air Jordan shoe.
At first these segments were interesting, but as they were at least a third of the book consistently, when you’re in the last pages of the book and they’re still talking about the Jordan 20 shoe you’re kind of like “come on bro, let’s get back to the actual superstar” since this part of the book is entirely written by Jordan’s partner in shoe design.
All in all, great book that I would recommend. I’d maybe just skim the parts about the shoe past the Jordan 15 or so.

[Lauren (: · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Only be accountable for what you can control”
“The first impression you make is the way you are dressed”
“Once you make assumptions about something that might happen, or might not happen, then you open up the possibility of making mistakes. You start limiting the potential outcomes”

A book with lots of good quotes and motivation about Michael’s work ethic and loyalty. It was interesting to read about how the Jordan brand evolved with the different shoes. I wish the pictures had more explanation with them as well as more history included for the actual Jordan brand as I’m only familiar with what was shown in the Air movie that came out in May. It was good to read from Michael and those around him that were important.

[Nate Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Driven from with in By micheal Jordan guides you through his life and his amazing NBA carrer. His dedication to basketball and his desire to be great prove that with hard work you can acheive anything. I thought this was a very inspiring book. I loved how some of the parts of the book where written by family member or co workers at Brand Jordan. It showed you how much recpect they had for Micheal and all that he had acccomplished. In my opinion Micheal Jordans life exemplifies the american dream. I would strongly recomend this book any basketball fan, or just any one who is looking for a great book.

[Godfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

1) Have an internal compass that is driven from the inside
2) No shortcuts, step by step, one layer at a time
3) Be authentic and real in your representation, show who you are
4) Believe in your own ideals, and leading
5) If you are a good person, with good ethics, that is enough, the result will take care of itself
6) If you have done your best, and put in the work, let the future emerge and see
7) Don't worry about what you cannot control

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve probably owned this book over 12 years and finally read it. It took me 4 days.

Interesting overall, nice photos and it is a high quality looking book with fold out pages and a lot of nice design features.

Also has some good motivational tidbits from MJ which can be used in everyday life, not just basketball/basketball shoe design (which is the premise of this book)

Would recommend to NBA fans, MJ fans, Air Jordan and Nike fans.

[Morris Bankston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Bulls stories and insights overall. The book is a little redundant towards the end and the details about gym shoe designs become overkill at a certain point. But what makes this book still a good read is the insight from MJs mom provides about MJ. You gain a tremendous amount of respect for Michael Jordan's parents reading this book.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give it 3.5 rounded up. It was a quick read. I was intrigued by Jordan’s approach and mentality of various things within his life. There was a lot of focus on his shoes and brand rather than the basketball which was a little disappointing. Towards the end I felt it was repetitive especially when he would talk about today’s generation of players.

[Jacob Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite what I was looking for. Mostly about the 20 or so shoes that the Jordan brand made. Half or less of the book was actually written by Michael, and the design (with its myriad of fonts types, colors, & sizes) made it difficult to read.

[Pavlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It became immediately apparent that the style of Kobe's Mamba Mentality book was based on this one.

This book is approximately 60% about the Jordan brand, and the rest on MJ's life and career.

If you're into marketing and design, or a huge MJ fan, you will enjoy the book.

[Reynis Khan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just couldn't decide what this book was actually about, about MJ or the brand jordan or his game attitude or perception that people have of MJ... a nice read but ends like it's incomplete.

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The NBA started in 1947 and till this day it is very popular and i’m doing my research on Michael Jordan. Two books i have read are Driven From Within Michael Jordan by Mark Vancil the genre of the book is non-fiction and the other book that i have read was The Sixth Man by John Feinstein and the genre is realistic fiction. The Michael Jordan book was about his life and how became the greatest basketball player and well known. The The Sixth Man is about how a kid that plays basketball in middle school and they win the championship. My opinion about these two books are that they are both about basketball and they both deal with going threw age and going threw their lives. I was inspired by these books because i always loved basketball as a little kid growing up and i played it too and until today i still play basketball.
Both books explain how both of their lives changed when they started to play basketball and how basketball change their lives. Basketball today is so popular and it’s one of the biggest sports back in the day and today. Superstars are so well known around the world like Michael Jordan or Lebron James. The two books are similar but different at the same time because the Michael Jordan book explains about his life and his culture and the book Sixth man talks about how a kid changed his life and going over the years with struggles and found basketball as a sport to play.
This book influences me because it talks about who Michael Jordan is. The book states Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963 also known by his initials MJ and is an American retired professional basketball player, businessman, and principal owner and chairman of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards and he has 6 championship rings over his career. "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.Jordan was one of the most effectively marketed athletes of his generation and was considered instrumental in popularizing the NBA around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Michael Jordan is one of the best basketball players to ever play. You might say Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, or Kevin Durant are better. In my opinion it’s between Lebron and Michael Jordan. Jordan is one of the best player of NBA and he has 14 all star appearances, his two dunk contest titles, his six NBA Finals MVPs all tell me Jordan is the best to ever play. If you look at his stats, achievements, his consistency and his rating. You would probably agree he’s one of the best NBA player ever lived.

[Джан Тефик · Rating 5 out of 5]

Името на книгата е много точно и описва за какво се говори в нея, а именно какво е мотивирало Джордан през цялата му кариера. Как и какво го е зареждало , за да може да играе всеки един мач като последен на такова високо ниво. Самото негово Въздушно превъзходителство споделя много свои принципи и мисли относно себе си и живота, майка му също така разказва от трето лице какъв е бил като малък, какво възпитание са му дали и т.н. Ценни съвети почти на всяка страница за това как бъдеш човек преди всичко и как трябва да имаш цели в живота. Самата книга е направена доста интересно, има доста илюстрации или снимки и половината книга засяга марката Джордан. Хауърд Тинкъл , който е с най-голям принос в създаването на линията кецове Джордан, обяснява за всеки един модел от I до XX ( книгата е издадаена 2005г ) как се е родила идеята за самия модел, какво го е вдъхновило по това време, какви материали са използвали и защо....Естествено доста скрит маркетинг, но фенове на марката има по цял свят , които едва ли не боготворят някои от моделите, така че информацията е доста ценна и колекционерска - така да се каже. Задължителна за всеки един фен Майк :)

[Kaden George · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I am talking about is a book about Michael Jordan. A little background knowledge on him is that he used to be a professional basketball player, and is known as the greatest of all time. He played for the Chicago Bulls, and has a very popular brand called "Air Jordan". This book is about him and what he did. It talks about how he got cut from his Junior Varsity basketball team. It also shows and talks about how he overcame these challenges and how it shaped him into the person he is today.
I would recommend this book to anyone, and I would do that because this book can show people his motivation, and maybe the reader can take from him and apply it to their life. I think basketball players would like it a lot because of the connection he has to basketball. I liked that this book went deep into his life on and off the court. Something I wish was different about the book is that I wish they talked more about his Highschool basketball.

[Casey D. Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Jordan the 🐐!!!!!! His experience created a vision that obscured the hard work & commitment. With all the attention on the surface; it easy to become confused about the source of money and glamor. A lot of players noticed him because of everything he was doing off the court, and that was the wrong reason to pay attention to him. They should’ve payed attention to the way he played the game. Pay attention to his passion. Pay attention to the ideal of focusing on improvement everyday. Pay attention to his commitment. Commitment cannot be compromised by rewards. Excellent isn’t a one - week or one - year ideal. It’s a CONSTANT. There will be day days when you don’t feel on top of your game, or meetings in which you aren’t at your best, but your commitment remains constant. No compromises.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a fan of Michael Jordan and everything he has done on the court and as an individual who has excelled at his craft and life. This book is a unique look in to Michael Jordan from the perspective of numerous reflections about Michael Jordan in various scenarios from people close to him, such as his Mother and individuals he worked with at Brand Jordan. Michael then adds his commentary on those dialogues and from this you learn so much!

I would say this is the best book I have read about Michael Jordan and one of the top motivational books covering insight from a person who has achieved the heights of their profession and life, and what kind of a mindset, commitment and discipline is required to get there. Highly recommended. Way more than 5 stars.

[Avishay Kadouri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was incredible to read about Michael Jordan. I admire his work ethic. He authentic, confident, hard worker, uncompromising and a great person with great values in life. I enjoyed to read about his career and how his shoe became what it is today! Michael Jordan is a role model for anyone who want to success in sports and business!

[Andres Brenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

MJ no lo obtuvo todo fácil, primero lo hizo bien como deportista y luego tuvo unos padres que le ayudaron a tomar buenas decisiones. Este libro es muy bueno, me agradó que mezcla el proceso de mercadeo de las Air Jordan con un avance cronológico de la vida de Michael. A como el avanza en su carrera y va tomando decisiones también así se va viendo el desarrollo de la marca de tenis.

[suzanne fairchild · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was good

It was good and it was a really good book it was really good and a really good story and

[Carlos Lem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely he's not only good playing basketball, this guy is a crack at all... Love, passion and dedication!!!!

[Chad M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight and teachings that can apply to others.

[Lyndsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The GOAT.

[Mr L Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read. Interesting,

Good read. Interesting, especially after watching the last dance. Would recommend for any MJ fan. Well worth a read. Happy this is now in my collection

[Harj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to have on your shelf, could even be a coffee-table book. But I felt as though I didn't get enough of Jordan and instead more of his close circle. A good book for any 'sneakerheads'