Dr. Jerry Buss was an innovator par excellence, a true game changer in every sense of the word.

He achieved extraordinary success. Over a -30 year period of ownership, LA lakers came to the NBA Finals better than 50% of the time, and once in the Finals, winning better than 50% of the time.

When he bought the Lakers in 1979, they were struggling. So was the NBA. So much so that even NBA playoff games aired after the event, outside primetime.

Buss saw a unique opportunity to:
- Build a team that would win the championships many times over
- Transform basketball from a sport into entertainment.

Buss aimed for great players AND great entertainment—a new combination.


Great Game - Buss recruited the best talent, starting with the charismatic point guard Magic Johnson, and provided his players with the best trainers and the best equipment. Buss aggressively invested in his players, creating a legendary line up of star players such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant, and coaches such as Pat Riley and Phil Jackson.

Great Entertainment - He was so good, his team was dubbed "Showtime"

To achieve his vision of great entertainment, Buss was resourceful, leveraging local Hollywood talent: live music and the Laker Girls—a group of cheerleading dancers, including Paula Abdul.

To recruit top basketball talent, Buss needed to raise more money. He was one of the first to sell naming rights; the Great Western Forum was the result of a major advertising agreement with Great Western Bank.

Buss focused on outcomes. Extraordinary outcomes during his ownership included
- A win in the first year of ownership
- 16 appearances in the finals and 10 NBA titles, an extraordinary achievement
- Value of Lakers skyrocketing from $16 million in value to -$1 billion

He came up with many creative ways to convert non-consumers to consumers:
- Encouraged famous Hollywood stars to attend and people came to see the stars on the front row just as much as they came to see Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Co-founded Prime Ticket TV network and started showing the LA Lakers games free on basic cable (At that time major sporting events were shown on TV on pay-per-view basis). Advertisers took notice and another revenue stream opened up.

Buss used the additional revenues from the expanded pie to get even better talent and even better coaches, and even better equipment to train them, which in turn meant more championships and more crowds—quite a virtuous cycle indeed!

1. Reverse Innovation - http://www.amazon.com/Reverse-Innovation-Create-From-Everywhere/dp/14221576...

2. Shocking Velocity - http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1593113420

3. Vijay Govindarajan - http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/people/vg/

3. Srikanth Srinivas - http://www.linkedin.com/pub/srikanth-srinivas/0/131/908

1. Innovation Mindset Concepts - http://www.haikudeck.com/p/aG5m2B4NxP

2. Innovation Mindset in Action: Dr. Jerry Buss (HBR Blog) - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/07/the_innovation_mindset_in_acti.html

3. Innovation Mindset in Action: Sir Peter Jackson - http://www.haikudeck.com/p/3ndGFe3a4t

4. What is the Connection between Counting Squares and Innovation (HBR Blog)? - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/whats_the_connection_between_c.html

5. To Innovate, Find what is Hiding in Plain Sight (HBR Blog)- http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/innovation_requires_thinking_o.html

6. Finding Your Place in the Competitive Jungle (HBR Blog) - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/finding_your_place_in_the_comp.html