Meet Kellan. Kellan is a 25-year-old athlete and inheritor who loves sports and even played basketball at the collegiate level. He does not like to sit still or watch from the stands – he likes to be in the middle of the action. Speaking of action, his favorite sport is racecar driving and he has several sweet sports cars in his garage. Kellan’s inheritance makes him very wealthy – he probably receives more interest income than he spends on his expensive sports cars.
When he’s not racing his cars, Kellan loves to play basketball. Since he finished college and is no longer playing regularly, he deeply missed that outlet…
When he turned 25, Kellan was added to the board of his family’s foundation – dedicated to improving the lives of those less fortunate. At first, he viewed the role as burdensome and pretentious. As one of his first projects in his new role, he had to do a site visit for an inner-city gymnasium to determine if it was “worthy” of a grant. Reluctantly, he went.
Kellan pulled into the parking lot in his Lotus, named Defiance, and proceeded to tour the building with the volunteer director. The weights were a mishmash of incomplete sets. The wire gym cables were gone, the men’s showerhead was duct taped, and one of the two toilet stalls was out of order. To put it mildly, the place was falling apart.
The basketball court’s bleachers had a warning sign cautioning spectators to use “at your own risk.” There was an intense pick-up game in progress and the players were good. Kellan watched for a while and struggled to stop himself from jumping into the game!
He decided to go back — anonymously. He knew that would not be possible if he drove any of his fancy cars, so he bought a beater, a dusty black ’85 Mazda RX-7 with a primer-colored fender and shiny mismatched wheels. Kellan went back and joined a pickup game. He hadn’t sweated so much in years! He was exhilarated and, oddly — liberated. That was the first of many anonymous workouts. He got to know the players well and formed a strong bond with them on the court. It was the first time he felt as though others were connecting with him and not his family name.
For the first two years, he played two discrete roles: benefactor and basketball player. Each role had its separate circle of associates, and neither knew the other existed. While Kellan’s confidence in his contribution to his family’s foundation grew, so did his confidence in “belonging” as a ball player. He knew he was contributing in both ways.
When Kellan realized that he could cross those roles without negatively affecting his relationships, he finally felt comfortable and proud about his identity. Now, he felt he could be truly authentic in any setting.
The unexpected bonus was that he really enjoyed driving the Mazda! He felt free to park in tight spots without worrying whose car door might ding it. He loved being invisible when he drove around. He found it to be so much fun, he got it fixed up and turned it into a faster, more reliable version of its former self. Kellan name it “BB”– short for “BasketBall” car.