LOS ANGELES – NBAlegend, television commentator, entrepreneur and major-leaguebaseball owner. Charming, engaging, intelligent and articulate.These are all words that describe Magic Johnson.

However, one word sums it up: Winner. That much was clear duringJohnson's keynote address at the California and Nevada Credit UnionLeagues' REACH conference at the JW Marriott in the L.A. Liveentertainment complex.

Johnson spent the better part of an hour roaming the aisles,sharing many stories of his success – and occasionally stopping toallow attendees to take a selfie with him. But his message wasn't aself-serving, “this is what I did.” It was, instead, “this is howyou can learn from what I did and apply it to running your creditunion.”

Despite being the only rookie to have ever won the NBA FinalsMVP award, Johnson told the audience he wasn't satisfied.

“I wasn't too happy with myself,” he told the crowd. “I knew Icould go to another level.”

So he reached out to teammates Byron Scott and Michael Cooper tohelp him with his jump shot. He subsequently had his best year everand won league MVP.

The message to credit unions: No matter how good you think youare, you can always learn something from your peers. Actively seekcollaboration.

“Self-evaluation is the most difficult thing,” Johnson said.“How can you be honest with yourself?”

He told the group that to reach the next level, each creditunion needs to understand its strengths and weaknesses. For thisreason, he recommended a semi-annual SWOT (strengths, weaknesses,opportunities and threats) analysis, a practice he claimed keepshis many enterprises on track.

“I look for people who are smarter than I am,” Johnson said onthe topic of executive recruitment. He said he understands that hedoesn't have all the skills and knowledge necessary to run his manybusinesses, so he always seeks to build the strongest teampossible.

Johnson told how he was able to partner with Starbucks to bringthat coffee chain into more urban areas. Previously, Starbucks wasunder the belief that its format wouldn't appeal to city dwellers.However, by making only minor changes to the menu, as well aspiping in more contemporary music, he made the MagicJohnson/Starbucks partnership a tremendous success.

Translation: Know your customer, and make adjustmentsaccordingly.

Competition is everywhere, Johnson said. And many of thosecompetitors are solid, well-run companies. “Today it's not enoughto deliver,” he told the audience. “Today, you have toover-deliver. And not just sometimes. All the time.”