Success follows doing more of what works and less of what doesn't. Few people in any field have enjoyed the success of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
In the Wall Street Journal, Kevin Clark writes that Belichick's real legacy will be "bringing value investing to football." Clark notes that after the Patriots' success converted the NFL to a 3-4 league, Belichick, a Wesleyan graduate with an economics degree, reverted to a 4-3 system to find more value among limited resources. To combat elite cornerbacks, he developed an offense deploying two tight ends to attack the center of the field and relied on the slot receiver.
In Strategy Concepts of Bill Belichick: A Leadership Case Study, the authors write "Belichick believes that the only way a player can be a leader on the team is by performing their own job at a high level. No one will be willing to follow someone who isn't competent at their own job." The challenge is for players to subjugate their pursuit of excellence to the core competency of putting team first.
We coaches are not immune to overconfidence, ignorance, and flawed thinking. But we are responsible for organization, operations, and energy. We're not allowed to have a low energy day.
We craft team culture, teach and develop players, build structure and operations, and manage games to give players the best chance to succeed. Whom do we rely upon to give us 'performance-focused' feedback?
John Calipari suggests using benchmarks to judge performance and consider establishing a personal "board of directors". Younger coaches can benefit from mentoring. We all benefit from reading and learning more about both basketball and teaching.
In "Trading Options" Greg Harmon writes (substitute coaching for trading), "Trading is a process, and like any process, the more prepared you are and the more practice you get, the better you can be at it. I started this book with a quote from Seneca-"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."
Our process is subject to regular reassessment and change. I believe that newer concepts in practice will produce both better players and better play. As play moves even more to the perimeter, the more mobile, skilled athletes (think Draymond Green, Kawhi Leonard, Khris Middleton) are likely to assume more importance.
