Be Unafraid to Do the Unfashionable: Interview with Ping Pong Guru Justin Bookey

I recently went one-on-one with Justin Bookey. Justin has won medals playing ping pong at the US Open and at the US national championships and is the author of Ping Pong Leadership.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Justin: Growing up in rainy Seattle, WA, we had a lot of indoor time with family – a lively and at times chaotic family of six, with my three older sisters. When I was six, we moved into a house with a gnarly old ping pong table in the basement. My parents, with great patience, taught me the basics. I quickly fell in love with the game. I’d spent countless hours playing with my parents, sisters, friends, relatives, and anyone willing to join me downstairs for some hitting. High school brought its challenges, especially with bullying from some of the bigger football and basketball players. While I participated in various sports, I found that table tennis offered me a unique way to 'stand up' to the big guys and earn some respect. It became a fun and significant part of my life, and it came with social, athletic, and personal rewards. I liked learning a sport that isn’t all about raw power but is infused with the physics of spin, plus nuanced touch and strategy.

Adam: What is the most surprising thing about life as a professional ping pong player?

Justin: While I’ve never been a professional table tennis player per se (there are limited options in the US, not to mention my playing level isn’t Olympian), I have learned a lot from playing at national-level events like the US Open and occasionally overseas. One of the most surprising things overall about table tennis in America is the huge gap between the popular, recreational game and the high-level competitive landscape. Ping pong has long been a popular game in family rooms and garages across the country, but in recent decades has suffered from its image as a casual, recreational pastime only. Many people I encounter are surprised to hear it’s an Olympic sport (since 1988!). 

I joke around and say that when I practiced law, conversations with acquaintances never included phrases like, “Oh, I used to be one of the best lawyers in my fraternity. Maybe we should argue sometime!” It’s different with ping pong for some reason. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – enthusiasm for the game is always great to hear. 

Adam: What are the keys to excelling at ping pong? What are your best tips for recreational players and for highly competitive players?

Justin: For recreational players: ping pong, like any sport, requires practice to get better. But practice alone doesn’t make perfect. Practice makes permanent, as they say. If you’re practicing an incorrect stroke many hours a day, that will just hurt your game. If you really want to improve your technique, then at the bare minimum, watch some professional training videos on YouTube (they’re plentiful these days). Put time and attention into the “non-sexy” parts of the game too: serve returns, not just tricky serves; and short underspin and drop shots, as well as flashy offensive topspin putaways.

For highly competitive players: you already know what a mental game it is. Work on your mental game from a young age – it will serve you more and more as you get older. Visualize strokes and winning shot sequences vividly in your mind’s eye; your brain can’t tell the difference between actually executing them and creating the images. But also work on the mental aspects of calmness and focus. They’re critical to success in high-stakes matches, and will directly translate to high-pressure situations at other tables in life.

Adam: What are the best lessons you have learned through your career as a ping pong player that are applicable to those of us who will never earn a living playing ping pong?

Justin: If you slavishly study the success stories of pioneers in your sport, your business, or your art, you may learn something. But if Justin: you try to emulate their climb to the top and follow their exact footsteps, you’ll likely fail. Because you’ll become an “anti-pioneer” – a weaker copy of something that is already out there. Their earlier success was tied directly or indirectly to their unique way of doing something at the time. If you’re into e-commerce, you can’t invent Amazon again. So take some of their best practices, cut away their worst ones, and solve a different problem. Same with playing your own unique game of table tennis, or anything else. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the keys to performing in high-pressure, high-stakes moments?

Justin: I try to treat the highest-pressure moments like many of my most relaxed moments. I keep a small vault of memories in my head, of fun but successful instances from practice matches or even grade school recess games, and pull them up at crucial moments. I remind myself that I can’t suddenly become a better player in this minute, but I don’t need to be. I have all the technique I need, from the thousands of hours of work that led to this moment. 

A key difference in success or failure will be how pure my focus, and how little I get in my own way. Acknowledge the tension, then let it go. There’s only one point in a match: the one you’re playing right now. Just perform your best stroke for each ball, and maybe win that one point. Then do it again. Enjoy the fight, the rally, the challenge, and don’t think about the outcome. It’s time for your relaxed mind to do what it’s done right a thousand times. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Justin: One trait of an effective leader is someone unafraid to do the unfashionable. Here’s an example I take inspiration from:

Back in 1999, Oracle was riding high during the dot-com boom, dominating the e-commerce software market. Safra Catz, Oracle's CEO, shared a story at a Wharton School MBA graduation that captured the era perfectly: "We'd wake up, and the stock price would just go up. Good decisions, bad decisions, no decisions—it didn't matter." But instead of coasting on this wave of success, Oracle did something unexpected. They used this profitable period to streamline and standardize their sprawling global operations. This move wasn't popular among many managers who enjoyed their independence, but Oracle pressed on.

When the dot-com bubble inevitably burst in 2001, Oracle's foresight paid off. While others were downsizing, Oracle emerged stronger. By 2003, their R&D team had grown, even as competitors slashed jobs. Catz emphasized the value of going against the grain. She advised ignoring the naysayers who cling to conventional wisdom: "Just take it as noise. You're going to be called an idiot moments before you are called a genius."

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Justin: The best tip is the one that’s needed in a given situation – so there are many. But here are a few of my favorites:

1. Shore up your weaknesses, but focus on strengths – there is greater ROI.

A big baseball power hitter trying to improve his base-running speed might increase the number of bases reached by 5%. But if focusing instead on growing his natural-born power skills, he could increase home run balls by 20%. By all means, try to be well-rounded. But there is more value in pursuing your innate sweet spot. Once you dominate in one area, then you can branch out more easily. This could be sales skills versus coding, writing versus speaking, or ping pong versus pickleball.

2. Be careful what you measure, and why. 

Metrics, big data, and key performance indicators are valuable for understanding complex activities. We now measure everything from media to economics, politics, and sports with high granularity. Data provides focus, feedback, and a roadmap for improvement. But accurately interpreting the raw data is critical. Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase said, "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything." Similarly, Seth Godin describes the potential for “speedometer confusion”—the dial might show 80 mph, but you might just be driving in circles at high speed.

Before analyzing data, make sure to ask yourself some foundational questions: Why am I measuring whatever I’m measuring? How closely do the numbers I collect relate to the actual reality I care about? Whatever number I’m measuring, how will it affect my actions in meeting desired targets? What are the rewards of meeting my expectations regarding my measured numbers? What are the consequences of not meeting them?

3. In high-stakes moments: expect fear, and don’t fight it. 

If you welcome natural fear, rather than expending time and energy to extinguish it, you can leverage the increased focus and energy it brings. Your brain’s fight-or-flight mechanism doesn’t distinguish between getting chased by a mountain lion or pitching your product before an all-star investor panel. Adrenaline is adrenaline. Kobe Bryant used to worry if he did not get butterflies before every game; it meant he was taking the game seriously. 

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Justin: I love Gary Vaynerchuk’s advice: “Don’t worry about your zit. Everyone else is worried about their own zit.” There is so much unnecessary time, emotional energy, and (literal) sweat we commit to our own self-focused worry. How our technique looks to competitors and colleagues. How we’ll look if we lose, or underperform expectations. Is my hair perfect? Did I nail every point in that pitch? Do the research, get your reps in, edit mercilessly, know your opponent/client/partner, and then commit 100%, but no more and no less. All you can do is your best, and there’s deep satisfaction in knowing you’ve done that. 

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Justin: I passionately hate to lose. Probably even more than I love to win. There’s one thing that makes losing a little more palatable: If I at least reach a flow state in the losing battle, a state where I know my purest talent and energy are channeling together to do what they are meant to do. I can walk away depleted, even dejected, but knowing I had reached peak performance that day, and I cannot ask any more of myself.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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