"I became fascinated with business" - Jeanie Buss credits Jerry Buss' parenting for empowering her to chase her dreams

Former longtime Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss saw the perfect heir to his then-budding sports team empire in Hollywood in his daughter Jeanie Buss and he did not hesitate in bringing her into the fold even if she was young back then.

Jeanie Buss told Graham Bensinger in his program "In Depth" that her father quickly saw her fascination with how he ran the business, eventually leading to her first sports front office role.

Buss said,

"I just became fascinated with the business and wanted to know more and more, and my dad saw that interest in me and he fed it."

She then revealed that her dad kept asking her for help running the now-defunct Los Angeles Strings of World Team Tennis.

Buss relayed,

"If there was something that was coming up in business, especially when he was involved in World Team Tennis, he would give me a report or a brief and say, 'What do you think of this?' And he would ask my opinion."

It became the stepping stone for Jeanie Buss, then a 19-year-old student at the University of Southern California, to become the Los Angeles Strings' general manager.

Jeanie Buss happy 'to be listened to' by dad

As aforementioned, Jerry Buss frequently asked for tidbits from his daughter Jeanie Buss about improving how he handles the Los Angeles Strings of World Team Tennis, leading to her being named their general manager while still in college.

Jeanie, though, said that just being asked for help by her father was empowering enough for her on her end. She said,

"That was a powerful thing: to be listened to, and whether I influenced him or not, he could hear my thinking and how I approached whatever the issue was."

Buss saw this as a huge confidence booster, which she is now carrying on that she has already inherited the Lakers from her dad, who passed away in 2013 at age 80.

She added,

"I think it helped me just the idea that he had confidence in me, but it also helped him... It meant everything, and you know, I always emphasize to fathers to empower their daughters [in] the same way because it's just very important."

Under Jeanie Buss' watch as their president and later the owner, the Los Angeles Lakers won six NBA titles, five with Kobe Bryant as one of the main men, and the 2020 bubble championship with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as the superstars.