Man to Man: Ben Kenyon
There is a fantastical element to watching another person celebrate something they’ve worked hard on. That’s where my mind was at interviewing and photographing NBA performance coach Mr. Ben Kenyon. As soon as he walks into a room, he doesn’t have to say one word, but you know he is FOCUSED. I was truly honored to see what goes on in the world of Mr. Kenyon.
Photographs and Interview by Marquan Nesmith
For the people who don’t know yet, Who is Ben Kenyon?
I am an NBA performance coach, author of Climb, speaker, and motivator. I’m an inspired human being who wants to impact all of humanity through performance, inspiration, and height. I want to continue to inspire humans across the world to be great. To make sure they capitalize and maximize every day. It's super important to me because it's a legacy piece. This is something that my family's been doing for years. My grandfathers are both pastors and did a great job impacting the community locally and globally. So again, to answer that question, Ben Kenyon is an inspired man who wants to impact the world.
In one chapter of Climb, you talk about foundation and family. How important is that to you?
Yeah, man, that's a core value for me because they keep you grounded. They help me see the greatness within myself sowhen I have moments, it's easier to rely on my mom, to say, hey, like, what is it that you're seeing? Can you help me out? Can you coach me? So when I go back to family, it's my elders, the people like my mom, my aunt, and folks who inspire me. They keep me focused, keep me dialed in. Then the younger folks, my nieces and nephews keep me inspired as well because they know what I'm up to, and what I'm doing is something they're paying attention to. So being able to hand them a road map is super cool.
In another chapter that stood out to me, you talk about surrounding yourself with support, and I know we touched on that a little bit in the previous question, but how important is it to surround yourself with like-minded people and people who inspire you?
Yeah, man, so going back to like-minded people, right? Who they are innately or who they are in this moment, is something that you should pay attention to. If they're further ahead, and it's something you want to attain, guess what? If you surround yourself with those people, more than likely, you'll learn the process that you need to go through to get to that next level. So they always talk about the five people you surround yourself with, the most are pretty much the makeup of who you are. And I do believe that sometimes you have some people that you have to pull along. So I think having a well-balanced crew or a well-balanced community of like-minded folks who you mentor and then people you import from is key. And they don't always have to be older. They don't always have to be more wealthy. They don'talways have to be something that is this big audacious goal and dream. It could be a person who is living an amazing life and has a well-balanced life, right? They're happy and at peace. I love having those types of people around because when you need to settle in and chill out because a lot of chaos happens, that person can teach you or show you, by example, how they find peace. So, again, just surrounding yourself with people that you are potentially aspiring to be like, or feel good to you, I think if leaders and high performers could put themselves around those types of people more often, they would realize life is pretty great. But I think a lot of when it comes to friendships and connections, we are not bold enough to say like, oh, this doesn't serve me right now.
With everything happening in the world, talk to me about how you manage stress working in such a fast-paced industry.
My routines, I try to stick to them. I focus on obviously pouring into my well-being, so my fitness routine, my nutrition, making sure that those things are prioritized, and getting that six to seven hours of sleep. I know for a fact if I can get past seven hours of sleep, I will be fully functional the next day, like striving, great energy no coffee. I'm in a great spot. I know if I can get a workout in and hit the sauna and a cold plunge. I know for a fact my endurance is going to be up. So again, I can skip the coffee again just because I'll have that energy. I also know that if I get my meditation in, if I get time to chill out and pause, get 15, 20 minutes in the day, it gives me space to reflect on the past few days, the past few hours to say, all right, am I stepping? Am I moving in the right direction? And so, again, when it comes to my routines during the chaos, I try to turn up a little bit and get more laser-focused on executing those things at the right times, because I know it will help me out.
I love that Ben. In one of the chapters, you talk about pacing yourself. How do you personally pace yourself?
Yeah, I reflect and I count my wins. Looking at my highlight reel I made over the last 12 months of things I'veaccomplished within the past three years like, how did I do that? To complete this book, Climb, I had to locked in with one of my friends, and we said two hours a day, we're going to meet up, talk, converse, and it was a process. It was slow as all heck sometimes, it was frustrating as all heck at times. But the process allowed for the prouction of this book and for us to make a real impact. That was a big win for me. Now, when I look at future projects, if I'm not going through that whole process, maybe I can go a little quicker because I understand some of the roadblocks that might show up, I'm now going to pace myself based on what it is that I'm trying to create, and I'm still going to go through that same routine. If I want to connect with this person, I'm going to give it to them so that they can digest it, go through it, and give it back to me. So now I have good information to execute. So again, the pace always goes back to looking back at your wins and saying, how did I win that? How did I get there? Oh, shoot, I did X, Y, and Z. Good job. Let me now try to continue to embrace that process. Just understand everything that you want is out of the next step? We don't always have to go a thousand miles per hour. We can, but do you want messiness or something that will sustain and make it through? I also pay attention to what brings me joy. If it doesn't provide me joy and I'm being frustrated by going through the process of trying to execute certain things, maybe then I need to put it down for a second and I need to let it breathe. I think pacing ourselves is reflecting on our wins and understanding the process that allowed us to succeed. And then also knowing what to put down and being cool with putting it down.
You quoted the late Robert F. Kennedy's “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” How important is it to fail and rise and become a great leader?
Failure is a part of the process. Not everything's going to work out. You have to be able to build up your resiliency. We work hard on these opportunities and knock them out of the park, but sometimes they fall through. There's nothing wrong with that. Understand the process, and what you need to tweak or who you're serving it to, right? Again, failure happens, and it's a sign to say "this didn't work here." Let me investigate why. Oh, shoot, maybe I did it this way. Maybe, I'm not in that space where I need to be for this thing to take off. There's nothing wrong with no. It's just the second that you get it, you can't quit. You enter the process, rewire it, and take something from it. Going through an NBA season there are 82 basketball games. I don't know how many teams have won 82 games in a row. Golden State won 72 games, but they didn'twin a championship. They were an amazing team, but failure is good sometimes because now you can understand your weaknesses and areas you need to grow, and maybe areas you need to get somebody to come in and help you out with X, Y, and Z, right? I'm not a photographer, so if I'm over here trying to be a photographer and the person that's getting shot and doing all the different things, it's me doing the most. And more than likely, that project won't be where I want it to be.
To all the young people coming up in the business, particularly sports and art. What advice would you give to them?
Take your time. That dream career, dream role, whatever it is you're pursuing, learn about it as much as possible, because there's always fine, print. And be ready for the fine print. The only way to learn about the fine print is by building communities, so tap in and connect with people in your field. If you don't have relationships with folks who are in professional sports, learn as much about them. Learn as much about their journey, because the goal, at least for me, is to utilize every moment as an opportunity to continue to grow. So when you step into pro sports, this should help you grow versus having an "I made it, I’m set for life" mentality. And I think that's the part where a lot of young folks or a lot of folks in general, miss the opportunity. Again, you got there, sweet, but you were there for one year. What good was that? And I know for a fact, the thing was so fast that you probably weren't getting into spaces to make an impact. And so, again, taking your time, investigating, understanding what you're jumping into, and if it's for you, cool, sweet. But, know there's the fine print and small sacrifices, just like any business. If you want to be at the best or be with the best of the best, know that sacrifices will come at one point and you have to be willing to make those sacrifices for the bigger purpose, and saying this aligns with what I want. This aligns with where I'm at now. I'm cool with these small sacrifices or bigsacrifices for this season of my life.
Well Ben, We definitely can’t wait to see what’s next for you!
