All The Right Moves (Touchdown Edition)

Chapter 1: The Moment

The year was 1993. America was changing. A charismatic young governor from the state of Arkansas--Bill Clinton--had just been elected president. Brilliant rap stars Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were tearing up the music charts. Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park was the top movie of the year, grossing more than $300 million worldwide. The Sony PlayStation had been released, igniting the interest of a generation of gamers. In sports, Michael Jordan was leading the Chicago Bulls to their third straight NBA championship, and the Dallas Cowboys had just won their second straight Super Bowl.

As always, the changing face of America could best be viewed from the streets and skyscrapers of "The Big Apple." New York City has long been a hub of activity in business, sports, politics, and entertainment. In the early 1990s, a man named David Dinkins was serving as mayor, the first African American in the city's history to hold that office. Mayor Dinkins had won the election by defeating another popular New Yorker, Rudy Giuliani. Eventually, Mr. Giuliani would also be elected mayor.

During that same year, 1993, a twenty-four-year-old record producer and music executive from New York was forming a new record company. He named it Bad Boy Records. A year later, Sean "Puffy" Combs would strike gold when his premier artist, Notorious B.I.G., became a legend almost overnight.

Superstars--in all fields--seem to have something in common. They have a fire burning brightly inside them, a fierce determination to achieve greatness. These remarkable people work hard and develop their skills, refusing to give up until they come out on top. In New York, that's known as "making it big."

A few miles away from where Puffy was starting down his path to success, things were just getting underway for another young man who would one day be "making it big." His name was Najee McGreen, and he lived in a small house in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. Although he was only five years old at the time, this star was already beginning to shine...

"Whatcha' doing, Dad?" Najee asked, bouncing into the kitchen. In his hand was a toy train that he had built with Legos. Najee was always playing with Legos. With his rich imagination, he loved constructing things and pretending they were real skyscrapers, airplanes, or trains. Years later he would show the same creativity and skill in building computers and designing Web sites.

Najee's father, Kofi McGreen, was sitting at the kitchen table. After a long day at work, he was kicking back with a hot cup of coffee, thumbing through a magazine. Mr. McGreen smiled, propping his young son up on his lap. "I'm reading an article about a game called chess. I've never actually played it, but it sounds like fun."

Najee looked at the color photo of a chessboard in the magazine that was lying open on the table. The black and white pieces looked really cool. Seeing that Najee appeared to be interested, his father started reading aloud from the magazine. He described the history of the game and how it's played. As his father spoke, Najee couldn't stop staring at the photo of the chessboard. He was drawn to it in a way that was impossible to explain.

Mr. McGreen told Najee that chess is a game of strategy in which pieces are allowed to move in specific ways. For example, a pawn, the least important piece on the board, can only move forward. A bishop, on the other hand, moves diagonally. The knight is the one piece that is allowed to jump over other pieces. The object of the game is to march forward into enemy territory. Along the way, a player tries to capture his opponent's pieces, and finally, corner and trap his opponent's king. When a king is trapped and has nowhere to move, this is known as checkmate. That's how a player wins the game.

A game of chess is a fierce battle. All of the elements of war--battlefield strategy, aggressive tactics, and defensive maneuvers--come into play. Yet, while chess is similar to a war in some ways, there are no tanks, long-range missiles, B-52 Bombers, or hand grenades. Chess is a game that is played with the mind.

Najee had been listening carefully as his father spoke. Sitting up straight, and with a determined look on his face, he asked, "Can we play?"

"Sure, follow me," Mr. McGreen replied with a smile. He seemed to remember that he had once been given a chessboard as a gift. He wondered if it might be in the closet, along with the other board games.

Standing on a footstool, Mr. McGreen reached up to the top shelf of the closet. He pulled down the Scrabble set, the Monopoly board, and a deck of cards. Finally, he found what he was looking for. Blowing the dust off a brand new, tiny Pressman chess set, he handed it down to Najee, who was standing beside him. Taking off like a rocket, Najee ran to the living room and began opening the game. Mr. McGreen laughed and joined his son.

Fifteen minutes later, Mr. McGreen was scratching his head, trying to understand the directions. Following the illustrated diagram, he had set the board up with the pieces in the correct positions. Najee, meanwhile, was transfixed. He stared at the chessboard like it was a long-lost friend. When his father started reading aloud and explaining what each individual piece was called and how it was allowed to move, Najee nodded his head without speaking. He just understood.

It's not hard to imagine Derek Jeter at a similar age, holding a bat in his hand for the first time. Picture Spike Lee looking through his first camera lens, or Peyton Manning tossing his first pass. Like Tiger Woods ripping his very first drive, or Oprah conducting her first interview, another natural--Najee McGreen--was holding a chess piece in his hand for the first time.

"This is my move," Najee declared, pushing the white pawn forward.

Mr. McGreen, glancing at the directions, remarked, "That's an excellent opening move, Najee. Okay, my turn." He took one of his black pawns out from its starting position and advanced it forward. He picked up the directions again so that he could help Najee make his next move. Before he could say anything, though, Najee made another move.

"Wait, Najee, I'm not sure you're allowed to move that piece there," Mr. McGreen said. He was shocked to discover that Najee's move was not only legal, but it was also the proper move as described in the directions! "Najee, how did you know to do that?"

"I don't know," Najee answered. "It just seemed to make sense to bring my knight out to protect the pawn." Mr. McGreen had explained the rules to Najee one time only, which was all it had taken. Najee had listened, absorbed them, and committed them to memory.

Unconvinced, Mr. McGreen shook his head and smiled. Probably a lucky guess, he figured. Using the directions as a guide, he made his next move. Again, Najee wasted no time before countering with a move of his own. Mr. McGreen now realized that this wasn't luck. But how could a five-year-old be playing a complicated game he had just learned? It simply didn't make sense.

Mr. McGreen would find out the answer to this question over the next several years. Looking back, he would understand that this had been the moment when greatness revealed itself. It's likely that every star, whether in business, sports, politics, science, entertainment, or anything else, has a "moment" at some point in his or her life. For Najee McGreen, this was that moment.

But moments come and go. There are no shortcuts to success. Having a dream is a great beginning. After that, it's all about dedication, determination, and hard work--that's what "making it big" is all about.