Kobe Bryant shares advice on leadership

Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant is looking to pass the torch after 20 years with the club.

Bryant, who announced his retirement a month ago, is looking to shepherd the Lakers' future generation, and he shared a few tropes about leadership that he wished he could give himself as an 18-year-old rookie out of high school.

"It's hard to tell somebody - a player at that age - to understand compassion and empathy, but that would be my advice," Bryant said after Sunday's game, ESPN's Baxter Holmes relays. "It tends to come with time."

It did come with time for Bryant, whom wielded a temper that famously led to a split with Shaquille O'Neal. But as Bryant's career wore on, he learned to empathize with players (just not with Dwight Howard).

He channeled his former head coach in Phil Jackson - the Zen Master if you will - in his eloquent soliloquy on the need for teammates.

"Well, because that's the biggest thing about being a leader, I think, and winning a championship is understanding how to put yourself in other people's shoes," he said. "That's really the most important thing. It's not necessarily the individual skill you possess. It's about understanding others and what they may be going through.

"And then, in turn, when you understand that, you can communicate with them a little bit better and bring out the best in them. Bringing out the best in people isn't passing them the ball and giving them open shots. It's about how to connect with them, how to communicate with them so that they can navigate through whatever issues they may be facing. That's a very, very hard thing to do."

After two decades, the league's most notorious lone ranger has learned a thing or two about being a leader - even if his track record as one has been spotty at best.