How Do You Find Purpose, Build Daily Discipline, and Mentor Others According to What You’re Made For (2025)?

What Life Lessons Can Leaders Learn From George Raveling’s Journey From Poverty to the Basketball Hall of Fame?

Learn key leadership and purpose lessons from George Raveling’s What You’re Made For (2025): focus, listening, compassion, daily effort, and stewardship—from MLK to mentoring Michael Jordan. Keep reading to apply Raveling’s practical principles—spot undervalued opportunities, use the 80/20 listening habit, and lead through stewardship—starting with one change you can use today.

Genres

Motivation, Inspiration, Management, Leadership, Career Success

Introduction: Lessons from one educator’s extraordinary life.

What You’re Made For? (2025) explores the life lessons of sports legend George Raveling – and his remarkable journey from hardship to influence. It offers a blueprint for discovering purpose, evolving continuously, and living an impactful life.

Life rarely follows the path we expect. George Raveling’s path from a childhood marked by poverty and loss to becoming a transformative figure in American sports and education was filled with seemingly insurmountable roadblocks and unexpected turns.

Born 1937 to a world of stark inequality, Raveling overcame societal obstacles to become a pioneering coach, mentor, and witness to pivotal moments in history, exceeding all social expectations for a young Black man in Washington DC at the time. His story offers lessons for anyone seeking purpose and meaning.

In this summary, you’ll discover the key principles that guided Raveling’s remarkable life journey and find out how his wisdom can help you find direction, overcome obstacles, and confront the deeper whys of your own existence. Let’s begin.

From humble beginnings to the Basketball Hall of Fame

George Raveling was born in 1937 to a world of stark inequality. At that time, the life expectancy for a Black male in the United States was just 48 years.

Growing up in Washington, DC – then known as “Chocolate City” due to its 73 percent Black population – his early life was marked by hardship and loss. His father worked caring for the horses of wealthy whites, sometimes spending nights beside the animals in their stables to save money on daily travel. At age nine, Raveling’s father died of a heart attack at just 49 – a devastating loss and early encounter with mortality.

Following his father’s death, Raveling lived with his mother in a small corner apartment with just a kitchen, a living room, and a single shared bedroom. While his mother worked three jobs to support them, Raveling spent hours watching streetcars from his window, methodically recording their numbers and times in a notebook – a small way to create order in his chaotic world. His mother’s stern daily instruction not to leave the building was an attempt to shield him from a world often inhospitable to young Black boys.

At 13, Raveling discovered his mother emptying an expensive bag of sugar down the kitchen drain – an ominous sign of tragedy to come. She began exhibiting increasingly erratic behavior, which eventually led to her commitment to a mental institution where she spent her remaining years.

Yet, against overwhelming odds, Raveling not only survived but thrived. He became the first person in his family to attend college, earning basketball scholarships to Saint Joseph’s College and Villanova University.

Indeed, his life intersected with pivotal moments in American history. He stood alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington. After King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, he handed his typewritten notes to Raveling, who still holds them as a treasured possession.

Throughout his career as the first Black basketball coach at three separate universities, Raveling’s office door always read, at his insistence: “GEORGE RAVELING. EDUCATOR.”

He coached Olympic gold medal teams, worked alongside Phil Knight in Nike’s early days, and personally mentored Michael Jordan.

Throughout his extraordinary journey – from an orphaned boy in Washington, DC to Basketball Hall of Fame inductee – Raveling developed a philosophical perspective on life’s purpose. Now at 87 years of age, he’s exceeded his statistical life expectancy by nearly four decades. As such, he finds himself continually asking: “Why me? Why was I spared when so many others weren’t?” and asking himself what he should do with the precious extra time he’s been given.

His quest for purpose has transformed him from a coach of athletes into a coach of life. In the following sections, we’ll look at some of the key lessons drawn from his decades of experience.

Look for untapped opportunities

When Raveling’s mother was institutionalized, his grandmother, who worked five jobs, couldn’t take him in. Through Catholic Charities, he found himself at St. Michael’s, a 400-acre Pennsylvania boarding school where roosters, not streetcars, woke him each morning. Trading urban concrete for woods and fields, he cleaned coops, baled hay, and embraced a radically different life.

Among the stone buildings of St. Michael’s, Father Jerome Nadine recognized something special in Raveling. Though Raveling played basketball enthusiastically, his performance was poor. Father Nadine advocated for him to remain on the team, insisting that with time, he could develop into a good player. This single act of faith altered Raveling’s entire future.

By senior year, his development was remarkable. He was offered a basketball scholarship to Saint Joseph’s College, a private Catholic liberal arts school. When the head coach informed him of the opportunity, the young Raveling had to ask what a scholarship was. He’d never heard of such a thing. Neither had his grandmother. Her skepticism revealed generations of distrust: she couldn’t believe that he’d be so naive to think white people would pay for his college just so he could play basketball. Having survived hard years with little generosity from white society, this opportunity seemed impossibly generous.

The scholarship at Saint Joseph’s College led to another at Villanova University in the late 1950s. There, as one of very few Black students, Raveling needed to distinguish himself on the court. He noticed that none of his teammates seemed to focus on rebounding – the act of regaining possession of the ball after a missed shot.

Raveling got to work. He created ten daily specialized drills to improve his reaction time, footwork, and body positioning specifically for rebounding. He studied rebound trajectories from films and designed a weight-training protocol to improve his jumping. His coach, noticing these unusual exercises, asked who’d shown them to him. “Nobody,” Raveling replied. “I made it up.”

This strategic approach was part of a philosophy Raveling developed: If you want to excel, identify which skills are undervalued. Then, focus your efforts on becoming the very best at them. Instead of competing in overcrowded domains, find the ones which are overlooked. It’s there you have an opportunity – to become an irreplaceable specialist.

The well-trodden paths have already been carved by others; greater glory comes from forging your own. Being a trailblazer means facing uncertainty, resistance, and criticism. But remember: each step you take in this new direction connects you to all the great trailblazers of history – those who forged new paths where none existed – and in doing so, changed the world.

Learn from the world through attentive listening

As a young boy in the 1940s, while sitting quietly at his grandmother’s social gatherings, Raveling learned one of life’s most valuable skills. During these gatherings, he’d sit quietly observing. Afterward, his grandmother would ask him to recall interesting comments made by specific guests. Through this practice, she taught him that listening is an active, not passive, act and that the best way to participate in a conversation is through attentive listening.

This early training deepened when he was 11 and his family acquired a radio. Huddled around it for Friday Night Fights, the family would listen intently as announcers described boxer Joe Louis throwing jabs and hooks. With radio, to follow the action, to get the jokes in comedy shows, or to understand sermons, Raveling couldn’t let his mind wander – he had to be fully present and engaged.

These foundational skills served him well at university, where he soaked up knowledge from his coaches and teammates. Later, as a coach himself, Raveling flipped the dynamic, regularly asking his players during timeouts to tell him what they were seeing on the court. This questioning accomplished two things: it gave players a stake in the team’s strategy and provided him with insights difficult to perceive from the sidelines.

Today, at 87, Raveling continues practicing this discipline. Before meetings, he writes a ratio at the top of his notepad: talk 20 percent, listen 80 percent. When questions or comments come to mind, rather than interrupting, he writes them down. He does this so that he can continue to listen – just as he did when sitting with his grandmother’s friends.

In today’s world of constant self-promotion on social media, active listening has become even more valuable. We have two ears and one mouth, he often says, and there’s a reason for that. Wisdom often comes in whispers, not shouts. Sometimes the most powerful act is to simply be quiet and learn.

Express love and extend compassion

In the late 1950s, Raveling was one of only two Black players on Villanova’s basketball team. During a particular game against West Virginia University, he faced the harsh reality of American racism. The tension was palpable as he stepped onto the court, hearing whispered slurs echoing off the walls, feeling hostile eyes boring into him from the all-white crowd.

During an intense play, Raveling found himself chasing WVU’s star player Jerry West on a fast break. The two men crashed into the stands, landing in a tangled heap. In that moment, with the field house falling silent, Raveling feared for his life. But then something extraordinary happened. West – the hometown hero – reached out his hand and helped pull Raveling to his feet. The crowd, surprisingly, began to applaud.

Later, when the game ended, West sought him out specifically, caught him by the arm, and shook his hand. He held Raveling’s gaze and congratulated him on his performance. Years later, West revealed that Raveling was the first Black person he’d ever played against. This simple gesture of respect, performed publicly in front of a crowd steeped in prejudice, marked the beginning of a friendship that lasted over 50 years.

When West passed away, Raveling was overwhelmed with emotion. He turned off his phone and retreated inward, processing what this loss meant. Through reflection, he realized West had taught him one of life’s most valuable lessons: the most powerful force we possess is love.

West demonstrated the power of loving those whom others deem unlovable and extending respect to those who’ve been denied it. Raveling realized this must be his guiding principle – to be a “dispenser of love” in a divided world. The legacy that West left behind wasn’t just his basketball achievements but how he treated others – how he bridged divides through simple acts of human decency.

In a world fractured by race, class, and ideology, our highest calling is to reach across these divides, to see the humanity in one another, and to dispense love freely, without reservation.

Develop excellence through daily effort

When Michael Jordan approached Raveling about running basketball camps together, Raveling was skeptical about Jordan’s commitment. He asked if Jordan would be there every day, making it clear he wouldn’t “cheat” the kids by giving them anything less. Jordan assured him he’d be at the camp every day. True to his word, Jordan showed up every day of the camps for 22 years, fully engaged – playing with campers, offering advice, and pushing them to compete with the same intensity he brought to his own games.

Perhaps the most revealing example of Jordan’s commitment came during the 1997 NBA Finals. In Game 5, with the series tied 2-2 against the Utah Jazz, Jordan fell severely ill. The team trainer found him curled in the fetal position, wrapped in blankets with the thermostat cranked to maximum. His condition was so dire that he missed breakfast and pregame practice. Even his mother suggested he shouldn’t play, but Jordan insisted he had to.

Despite being visibly weakened during the game – sometimes doubling over gasping for breath – Jordan led the Bulls to a comeback victory after a 16-point deficit, scoring 38 points. While many celebrate this moment of heroism, Raveling insists the true story isn’t what happened that night – it’s everything that came before: the countless hours of unseen discipline and preparation that made such a performance possible.

Greatness isn’t about rising to one extraordinary occasion but, rather, building habits of excellence when no one is watching. As Kobe Bryant wrote, “You have to work hard in the dark to shine in the light.”

Winning requires strategic focus. We become what we consistently give our attention to. Our focus shapes not just our experiences but, eventually, our very identity. You can start by identifying what fuels your energy and setting boundaries around activities that drain it. Create spaces and relationships that support growth.

College basketball coach Buzz Williams, one of Raveling’s best friends, coined the concept of the “every day guy” – the player who shows up every day with consistent, dedicated effort. It’s this ability to show up and perform at your best every single day separates the truly great from the merely good. It requires being ruthless about prioritization and focusing on quality over quantity. It means asking yourself what small victories you can achieve in the next hour and what sacrifices you’re willing to make to be great.

When you commit to winning each day, you tap into the compound effect of excellence – building not just moments of triumph but a legacy of daily devotion to greatness.

Exercise stewardship for others

“What are you doing for others?” This question, posed by Martin Luther King Jr., captures the essence of stewardship – a role that has defined Raveling’s career. One day, during a basketball recruiting visit to the home of a talented young prospect, a mother’s firm words helped him understand his purpose.

After they’d finished discussing the team and her son’s prospects, the player’s mother addressed Raveling sternly, making it clear she was committing her son to his care. In that charged moment, Raveling realized coaching transcended winning games – his duty was something much greater: contributing to her son’s future and development as a man.

This experience crystallized his understanding of stewardship as a profound responsibility – the responsibility to nurture another person’s potential. Stewardship is a long-term commitment to someone’s progress and growth.

This principle was demonstrated from the beginning of Raveling’s relationship with Michael Jordan. The young player, on the cusp of his professional career, began attracting significant interest from major athletic brands. Despite Jordan’s clear preference for Adidas, Raveling persistently advocated for Nike, sensing it offered the best opportunity for Jordan’s future. When Jordan repeatedly dismissed the idea, Raveling persisted. He eventually convinced the reluctant player to attend just one meeting in Santa Monica, promising never to mention it again if Jordan remained uninterested.

During this meeting, Nike proposed something extraordinary: creating a signature shoe line built entirely around Jordan. When Adidas failed to match this innovative vision, Jordan signed with Nike. The resulting Air Jordan line generated $126 million in its first year alone, redefining sports merchandise and establishing a cultural phenomenon.

Raveling’s advocacy stemmed from a simple desire to see Jordan reach his fullest potential. Stewardship, in this case, meant seeing possibilities another might miss and having the courage to guide them – even in the face of resistance.

Stewardship requires using whatever influence you possess to positively shape the trajectory of another. It’s not about control or credit, but fulfilling the sacred trust of helping others become all they were meant to be.

Conclusion

The main takeaway of this summary to What You’re Made For by George Raveling and Ryan Holiday is that purpose and meaning come from carving your own path and using your influence to elevate others.

Raveling’s remarkable journey, from orphaned child to Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, offers many lessons: Look for untapped opportunities rather than competing in crowded spaces. Learn from the world through attentive listening. Dispense love and compassion to those around you. Develop excellence through focus and consistent daily effort. And embrace stewardship by nurturing the potential of others.