YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – George Mumford has worked with Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and he brought his philosophy of mindfulness, self-mastery and principle-centered leadership to Youngstown State University.

“George Mumford is a globally recognized speaker, teacher and coach,” YSU President Bill Johnson said Tuesday at the first installment of the Presidential Conversations series. “Since 1989 he’s been honing his groundbreaking performance and mindfulness techniques with people from locker rooms to boardrooms. He says it’s from Yale to jail.”

Mumford spoke to YSU administrators, faculty, staff and students as well as community members in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.

Mumford was a basketball player at the University of Massachusetts and roomed with Julius “Dr. J” Erving, but an injury ended his basketball career. Mumford became addicted to prescription drugs. Through faith, meditation and mindfulness, he got clean and started to teach and to work with others.

“So to be a leader, you have to be yourself and access your masterpiece,” Mumford told the audience.

To do that, you have to be self-aware, and that takes a lot of courage because some things are challenging to see. He also talked about the importance of self-regulation, calling it an ability to create space between stimulus and response and choosing your thoughts, behaviors and how to interpret things.

And to be a leader, you have to be self-led, Mumford explained. 

“So in my experience, I was self-led once I accepted the fact that I had an issue, and I then connected to a high power,” he said. “Without that, without connecting to the power source, I would not be here. None of this stuff will be possible.”

He needed to direct himself inward to connect with what he calls the masterpiece – something he said is in everyone. When people asked the artist and sculptor Michelangelo how he created his art, he said, ‘All I do is chip away to get to the masterpiece that’s already there,’” Mumford said. “And so what I had to come to the realization is that I had a masterpiece; and it was an inside job; and only I could access it.”

Mumford is the author of two books, “The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance” and “Unlocked: Embrace Your Greatness, Find the Flow, Discover Success.”

Jennifer Pintar, YSU provost and vice president of academic affairs, sat in the first row at the event with her copy of “The Mindful Athlete,” bookmarked with multicolored Post It notes.

She referred to Mumford’s passages about Kobe Bryant’s ability to get in the flow, particularly during the NBA playoffs. She asked Mumford for his best advice for getting in the flow and forgetting about yesterday’s issues.

Mumford said it’s not about being like a professional athlete. 

“You have to be you … but the principles are the same,” he said, referring to self-regulation and self-awareness. And it’s a moving target, he said. 

Sloan Ulrich, a junior business and finance major from Solon, recently finished “The Mindful Athlete,” a recommendation from his YSU baseball coach. He learned through an email from the university that Mumford was going to be speaking on campus Tuesday and said he had to come.

Ulrich said he tries to implement the principles and strategies relayed in the book.

“It’s been something that I’ve tried to do. … Like he said, from when you wake up till you go to sleep, be here at the present moment,” he said. “And I really try to do that. It’s as simple as that. Then everything else kind of comes together.”

The YSU Presidential Conversations series is a platform designed to foster meaningful dialogue and “thought leadership” across campus. Besides bringing guests to speak to the campus community, it will include Johnson hosting campuswide conversations and a “Presidential 5-Minute Series” airing weekly on WYSU.

Pictured at top: George Mumford speaks during Tuesday’s Presidential Conversations series event.