Basketball - Pecking Order

"There is always a pecking order." - Erik Spoelstra

"If you have two quarterbacks, you have none" is a famous football adage often attributed to legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden.

Ego is the enemy. Sometimes players cannot accept being Robin to another player's Batman or 1b to their 1a.

You've probably seen examples where teams had dysfunction because the supporting cast couldn't work with the "Best Actor." Spoelstra recognized this with his quote. 

The pecking order in basketball refers to the informal hierarchy of influence, authority, and responsibility within a team. It is one of the most powerful - and least discussed - forces affecting team performance.

A healthy pecking order answers several questions before they arise:

• Who takes the biggest shot?
• Whose voice carries the most weight?
• Who sacrifices shots?
• Who gets the benefit of the doubt after a mistake?
• Who sets the emotional tone?

The best teams establish these answers early and seldom have to debate them.

Talent is only part of the hierarchy

Shakespeare wrote in As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”

A team might have:

1. The best player – primary scorer, team cornerstone
2. The leader – the emotional North Star, perhaps not the leading scorer
3. The organizer – usually the point guard
4. The defensive captain – responsible for defensive accountability
5. Role players – the cast who understand where they fit

These roles frequently overlap.

Why it matters

Basketball demands split-second decisions.

When the hierarchy is understood:

• Players know when to attack and when to defer.
• Late-game possessions are decisive rather than hesitant.
• Egos are managed before they become conflicts.
• Players accept coaching more readily because expectations are clear.

When it isn't:

• Two players compete to be "the guy."
• Possessions become stagnant.
• Players "audition” instead of competing.
• Resentment develops over minutes, role, and recognition. 

The pecking order is earned daily

Young stars sometimes leapfrog veterans because extraordinary performance changes the equation. With Jayson Tatum out, Jaylen Brown became the numero uno. The transition succeeds only if everyone understands why it happened.

Excellent players understand their place

Significant players have willingly adjusted their role. Udonis Haslem comes to mind immediately, becoming another coach on the bench, mentoring, and leading the group.  

Players who stop fighting for status often become even more valuable.

Coaches shape the hierarchy

The coach does more than put the pieces on the board:

• Who starts.
• Who finishes games.
• Who handles the ball in crucial moments.
• Who receives public praise.
• Who is held accountable.

Players pay far more attention to action than to speeches.

The hidden pecking order

Every locker room has two hierarchies:

Official

• Captains
• Starters
• Leading scorer
• Veteran leaders

Unofficial

• The player everyone listens to.
• The hardest worker.
• The funniest personality.
• The emotional stabilizer.
• The player who never quits.

The unofficial hierarchy often has as much influence than the official one.

Lessons for young players

Many young athletes think climbing the pecking order means putting up numbers. In reality, coaches notice players who:

• Defend consistently.
• Make smart decisions.
• Encourage teammates.
• Accept coaching.
• Are dependable every day...ability, reliability, durability, dependability. 

Summary

A team's pecking order isn't about ego expression. It creates clarity. Every successful team has a hierarchy, whether acknowledged or not. Mentally healthy teams erect that hierarchy on a scaffolding of competence, trust, and sacrifice.

As former NBA coach Pat Riley observed, teams function best when everyone understands both their own role and everyone else's role. Plays have to choose whether to compete with one another or for one another.

Lagniappe. 

Basketball - Living in the Past, Glory Daze

"How much of your life should you devote to the past? The bare minimum. using the past as a resource, however, learning lessons from it and letting go of unrealistic expectations, will help you make it through the present in one piece." - Rolf Dobelli in "The Not To Do List"

Everyone knows people like the one from Springsteen's "Glory Days." And their status ultimately depended on their ability to 'move on'. I knew a guy who always had to let you know where he went to college...at though it matters ten years later. 

Stoicism reminds us to "Control what you can control." The past is not subject to our control. 

"Learn from the past but don't live there." 

Living in the past can never craft our future.

"History doesn't repeat but it rhymes."  

Darwin didn't coin the term, "survival of the fittest" and preferred "natural selection. And it was Leon Megginson who said, "it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself."

Many complain about changing circumstances, "recruitment by prep schools, NIL and transfers, and the second apron in the NBA." Complaining doesn't improve our circumstances. 

Lagniappe. A memorable list from Kobe. My favorite three:

1) Improve daily

2) Practice mindfulness

3) Become a storyteller

The Mamba Mentality wasn’t an accident.

Kobe Bryant lived by 10 rules: https://t.co/pQuZN4yPbV pic.twitter.com/8S8KZPCMz7

— Greg Berge (@GregBerge) July 19, 2026

Show Up Every Day, Not Only When We Feel Like It

 Image created with Chat GPT Plus 

Basketball - No Stone Is Meaningless, Lessons from "Go"

"Misaeng" trailer, some explicit language. 

Learn across domains. Varsity sports creates challenges - identity, performance, culture. You don't need to assimilate everything on day one. 

Art imitates life. The K-drama "origin story," Misaeng: Incomplete Life shares the travails of survival and success in a competitive business setting. 

Its themes transcend the workplace, applying for school and sports. 

• mentorship
• office politics
• preparation
• humility
• work ethic
• continuous improvement

It's one of the finest workplace dramas ever made.

What are "premium" coaching lessons shared? 

Basketball lessons from "Misaeng"

"Misaeng" is a term from the board game "Go" meaning, "A stone that has not yet come to life." In sport, this most often applies to an ascending young player but can work for an upperclassman "late bloomer."

The game "Go" is outside my "Circle of Competence." I asked Claude.ai to help me with "Go" principles that work for sport. I include a few annotations. 

There's a Korean drama called Misaeng: Incomplete Life that has no business being this useful to a basketball program. It's about a high school Go prodigy named Geu-rae who never turns pro, washes out of the game he loves, and lands—of all places—an internship at a trading company he's wildly underqualified for on paper. No degree. No connections. No corporate polish.

What he has is fifteen years of reading a board.

It turns out that's enough. Not because Go and office life are similar on the surface, but because the thinking underneath both is the same thinking that wins basketball matches: read the whole picture, commit fully to your choices, protect your connections, and never presume a lead is safe. Here are twelve lessons from Geu-rae's board that belong on our court.

Basketball IQ matters, executing after vision, analysis, and decision.

1. Position Before Points

In Go, a stone that claims key territory is worth more than one that grabs an early, empty capture. Teams that chase the highlight kill over the sustainable system usually pay for it in set three. On the court: don't let a hot early run seduce you into abandoning your system. Build a position — defensive discipline, offensive spacing — that holds up when the game gets tight, not just when it's easy.

Craft a culture and philosophy and fight for it. 

2. Read the Whole Board, Not Just Your Corner

Weak Go players get tunnel vision on one local fight and lose track of the rest of the board. Geu-rae's gift is that he never stops seeing the whole thing. On the court: this is court awareness in its purest form. An off-ball defender locked onto the ball and blind to cutters, a passer unaware of help defenders — both are playing their corner instead of the board. Vision wins games before play happens.

3. Weak Stones Need a Plan, Not Panic

A "dead" group in Go often lives if the player stays calm and counts liberties instead of reacting emotionally. On the court: down close and late, or benched after an error, the instinct is to panic or shut down. The better response is Geu-rae's response — assess what's actually left to work with, and build from there, one stone at a time.

Stay focused and intentional throughout the game. "Win this play."

4. Know Who's Dictating Tempo

Go has the concept of sente — moves that force a response — versus gote, moves that are purely reactive. A team stuck in gote is losing control of the match even when the score is close. On the court: this is defensive pressure and needing a hoop. If you aren't forcing anything, you're playing their game on their terms, regardless of the scoreboard.

Basketball rewards consistency and aggressive play. 

5. Every Stone Placed Is a Commitment

Go stones don't move once they're down — unlike chess, there's no retreat. Every placement is permanent. On the court: a shot, once released, can't be un-shot. A pass, once released, can't be recalled. Indecision is worse than a wrong decision, because indecision has all the risk and none of the commitment. Geu-rae's discipline is deciding before the stone leaves his hand — which is exactly what film study and reads are for.

6. Strength Comes From Connection

Isolated stones die easily in Go. Connected groups survive almost anything. The emotional spine of the whole series is Geu-rae building real relationships with his team instead of operating alone. On the court: a defensive rotation system isn't five individuals — it's one connected group. A star player isolated from her teammates is a strong stone with no liberties. She'll get exposed eventually.

Team First

7. Low Experience Doesn't Mean Low Value

Geu-rae gets underestimated constantly because he skipped the traditional path. What he actually brings — pattern recognition, composure, years of reading pressure — turns out to matter more than the resume. On the court: the underclassman who hasn't played travel ball, the kid coming off the bench for the first varsity minutes of her life — pedigree isn't readiness. Character and preparation are.

"Do more to become more. Become more to do more." 

8. Sacrifice Small Stones to Save the Group

Strong Go players let minor pieces go if it protects the larger position. On the court: this is the dive that sacrifices your body position for the next play, the player who passes instead of forcing a shot she doesn't have, the senior who takes the blame in the film session so the team keeps moving instead of fracturing. Losing a stone on purpose is not the same as losing.

9. No Move Only Helps You

Every stone changes the balance of the entire board — for better or worse, for everyone. On the court: a teammate's shortcut in a drill, a captain's attitude after a bad call, one player's body language after an error — none of it stays contained. It ripples through the whole team. This is why culture is built or broken in the small moments nobody's grading.

Your behavior off and on the court impacts the team. Represent.

10. Patience With the Boring Middle Game

Go has a long, unglamorous middle phase where nothing looks decisive — and it's usually where the match is actually won. On the court: this is a Tuesday practice in December. Nobody's watching, there's no crowd, no scoreboard. But the teams that take the middle game seriously are the ones still standing in March of next year.

Fight complacency. 

11. Study the Opponent's Habits, Not Just Their Moves

Over a long game, a Go player learns an opponent's tendencies — not just what they did, but what they tend to do. Geu-rae reads coworkers the same way. On the court: this is scouting past the stat sheet. Does their star stop cutting when she's tired? Does their point guard favor the same action close and late? Anticipation beats reaction every time, and anticipation is built from repetition, not talent.

"Utilize strengths, attack weaknesses." - The Art of War, by Sun Tzu

12. A Won Position Can Still Be Lost

There's an old Go proverb for this: the game isn't over until the last stone is placed. Complacency turns a winning position into a loss faster than almost anything else. On the court: Up six with two minutes to go isn't victory. It's a position — and positions require finishing. The teams that let up with a lead aren't unlucky when they lose it. They're playing gote against a team that never stopped playing sente.

Geu-rae never made it as a professional Go player. But everything the game taught him — patience, position, connection, composure under a weak position — is exactly what let him survive and eventually thrive somewhere else entirely. That's the whole point. The board changes. The discipline doesn't.

Lagniappe: In Go, there's a saying that a single stone, badly placed, can lose the whole game — but a single stone, well placed, can save it. Next time you're deciding whether one rep, one rotation, one sentence to a teammate matters — it does. Place it well. 

Basketball - A Development Dozen

"Repetitions make reputations."

Key example 1

Work out with a partner - camaraderie, competition, defense, and a rebounder for shooting drills. 

Key example 2

Warm up - (Get 50)

Key example 3

Increase your percentage "Beat the Pro" a.k.a. "Bill Bradley

Game to 13, each make counts for one point and a miss is three for Bill Bradley (the pro). In this "easier" version, you must make thirteen before missing a 5th. 13/17 = 76.47%

Key example 4

Strength and conditioning. These volleyball exercises work for basketball, too.  

We also used to jump rope for five minutes (in 1972-1973) before practice. 

Key example 5

Attack the basket (Pierce wing series) 

Key example 6

Footwork. Box drills. Even better...do them with defense. 

Key example 7

Championship 38

Shooting drills like "Championship 38" (18 shots, including 3 free throws) are highly competitive and easily tracked. Add constraints like time or number of shots allowable to meet your goals.

Key example 8

Beucker's "Grab and Go" from Chris Oliver

Key example 9

Pitino 168 "a.k.a. Quarters" - 84 shots, 168 possible points (42 points per quarter)

Key example 10

Separate off the dribble...misdirection initiation

Key example 11

Misdirection "float" Durant dribble

Key example 12

Develop your mental game. Mindfulness is a proven technique used by most professionals and Olympians to improve focus, reduce anxiety,  reduce circulating stress hormones, and improve sleep (also known to improve athletic and basketball performance). 

You say, "I'm not into that stuff for soft guys." Soft guys - like Kobe, Lebron, Phil Jackson, and others. 

UCLA has free mindfulness meditations. 

Basketball- Negative Plays

Nothing worse for an offense than negative plays,” McDaniels said. “They put you in bad situations, and we saw that last year. When that happened to us, it’s hard to overcome those things.- Mike Giardi in Boston Sports Journal 

Negative plays fall in the essence of Coach Knight's The Power of Negative Thinking. 

For simplicity, let's start with the four factors and simply list a few under each category.

Dean Oliver's original four factors distill to:

• Shoot it
• Protect it
• Rebound it
• Get fouled 

Winning the "differential" (Team A versus Team B) extends the concept

EFG % (Shoot it)

• Bad shots
• Bad shooters 
• Allowing easy shots

Sound byte: "More and better shots than opponents" - Newell

Turnovers (Protect it)

• Bad decisions
• Poor execution
• Inability to force errors (Defensive issues)

Sound byte: "Turnovers kill dreams." 

Rebound 

• Low percent defensive rebounding (want > 75%)
• Low percent offensive rebounding (want > 30%)

Sound byte: "Rebounds end or sustain possessions."

Fouling

• Foul for profit (Kevin Sivils)
• Get fouled (live by the three, die by the three)
• Make free throws 

Sound byte: "Fouling negates hustle."

GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)

• What are we tracking?
• Decide how to present? (Young players, team stats, older players can break out individual stats)
• Be specific and explain the why. "...a game of winning possessions."

Lagniappe. Ball and player movement challenge the defense forcing them to manage cuts and closeouts. 

🚨 STICKY WORDS Sunday 🚨

HOOP = HELP

~ 27% of High School possessions, have no paint touch and no reversal. ~67% have 0 ball reversals + 1 paint touch. MOVE THE NEEDLE ON THIS.

Quality 3PA = Catch and shoot 3PA.

Quality increases in 3 foot increments:

0-3 feet -… pic.twitter.com/SzUALQfH4j

— Chris Steed (@csteed) July 19, 2026

15 Coaching Truths About Basketball and Sport

Every coach develops a philosophy, intentionally or habitually. Mine is imperfect and still evolving, but these are the principles I work on. 

1. Coaches are truth tellers.
Our responsibility is to tell players what they need to hear, not simply what they want to hear. Growth begins with honest feedback delivered with respect.

2. Coaches and players succeed together.
A coach depends on the performance of individual players and the team. The notion that a coach wants a player to fail rarely survives even a moment of honest reflection. When players improve, everyone wins.

3. Coaching is a privilege.
Brad Stevens said, "Coaches get more than we give." The opportunity to teach, challenge, and encourage young people is an honor. The greatest rewards often come years later when former players return with gratitude and stories about lessons that lasted.

4. Speak greatness.
There is a profound difference between saying, "You did well, but..." and "You did well, and..." One language closes the conversation. The other builds on success while inviting continued improvement.

5. Correct without discouraging.
John Wooden often placed correction between genuine praise - a "sandwich" of encouragement, instruction, and confidence. Players should leave a conversation believing they can become better.

6. Build with positives.
Research consistently shows that healthy relationships require many more positive interactions than negative ones. Coaching should challenge players, but should also create confidence, hope, and belief.

7. Coach with conviction.
Bob Knight famously observed, "If you listen to the fans in the stands, soon you will be up there sitting next to them." Coaches should listen thoughtfully to others, but decisions must ultimately rest on principle, preparation, and judgment.

8. Coaches do have favorites.
Not favorite people - favorite habits. We naturally value players who arrive early, work hard, compete relentlessly, accept coaching, and place the team first. Those behaviors are available to everyone.

9. Never underestimate encouragement.
Few moments are more satisfying than honestly telling a player, "Good job," "Thank you," or, on rare occasions, "You're one of the best I've ever coached." Authentic praise endures.

10. Trust determines opportunity.
Talent matters, but trust determines who is on the floor when the game matters most. Reliability, discipline, and good decisions earn opportunities.

11. Never be a child's last coach.
Every athlete should leave your program believing that sports enriched their life, regardless of playing time or wins and losses.

12. Accept that criticism is inevitable.
No coach will be universally admired. Leadership requires difficult decisions that cannot satisfy everyone. If you need unconditional approval, coaching is the wrong profession.

13. Remember the Prime Directive.
Parents naturally place the well-being, role, recognition, and playing time of their own child ahead of the needs of the team. Coaches must respectfully acknowledge that reality while remaining committed to what gives the entire team the best chance to succeed.

14. Protect everyone.
When difficult conversations are necessary, have another adult present whenever appropriate. Document important discussions and decisions. Transparency protects players, families, and coaches alike.

15. Ask the hard question.
"What does it feel like to be coached by me?"

Players deserve honesty, accountability, respect, and hope. Coaches should continually seek feedback, reflect on their methods, and strive to become better teachers and better people. 

Coaching is ultimately about relationships. Wins matter. Championships matter. But years later, players rarely remember every score. They remember how sports challenged them, how coaches treated them, and whether their coach cared and helped them improve as a player and person.

Learn every day. Teach what you know. Leave every player better than you found them.

Lagniappe. 

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A post shared by Coach Liz | Llamas Volleyball Director (@hey.coachliz)

 

Basketball - Lessons from Literature ("The Odyssey")

Art imitates life. I've shared the narrative archetype previously. With the release of the movie, "The Odyssey," it's worth reviewing Odysseus's values that helped him survive the two decade-long ordeal.  

Loyalty 

Odysseus endured trial after trial to return home to Penelope after a full two decade absence. 

Basketball - different types of loyalty occurred. Jerry Tarkanian stayed at UNLV for less than half the money he was offered to coach the Lakers. Finding his agent murdered in the trunk of a vehicle sent a powerful message to "The Shark." Jay Wright was offered big money to coach in the NBA but stayed at Villanova. 

Wisdom

Odysseus had to navigate tricky waters despite hearing Siren calls and escape from the Cyclops. He told the Cyclops that his name was "Noman." After Odysseus had put out the Cyclops' eye, when the Cyclops called for help blaming "Noman," he got no assistance. 

Basketball - wisdom manifests in many different forms in the game. Some programs are smart enough to hire a top coach (e.g. Geno Auriemma to UCONN in 1985). Coach Mike Krzyzewski always advises, "Surround yourself with great people." Impose discipline. Every great coach such as John Wooden, Bob Knight, or Pat Summitt, keeps players in line, one way or another. 

As players went off for the summer, Wooden gave them a new basketball. It had better not return in mint condition after summer play. 

Piety

Odysseus knew enough to pray to the gods for both mercy and assistance. On multiple occasions, they intervened on his behalf. 

Basketball - Don't dismiss divine intervention, looking through the prism of history. 

Perseverance

Twenty years away from home, yet Odysseus remained undaunted in his homeward bound mission. 

Basketball - some forget that John Wooden won his first National Championship at UCLA in his 16th season. It took Dean Smith even longer, 21 years at North Carolina. Some called him a loser, but Smith said, "I never felt like a loser." 

Justice

Odysseus had his vengeance upon legions of suitors and a dozen corrupt servants who inhabited his home. 

Basketball - Dean Smith was a social justice pioneer. In 1964, he integrated a segregated Chapel Hill restaurant by dining there with a Black theology student and a local pastor. He later broke the ACC color barrier, recruiting Charlie Scott. 

Title IX is another example of basketball justice. Enacted in 1972, it prohibited sex-based discrimination in education. This changed the landscape of basketball by requiring that schools provide equal opportunities, funding, and facilities to female athletes.

Summary

Trends in the arts often overlap with societal change, not always for good. Propaganda in film accompanied the rise of fascism in the early 1930s, well-documented in The Boys in the Boat. 

Be on the lookout for 'teachable moments' for our student-athletes. 

Lagniappe. Be coachable.

LEnacted in 1972, this federal law prohibited sex-based discrimination in education, fundamentally altering the landscape of basketball by mandating that schools provide equal opportunities, funding, and facilities to female athletes.

Basketball - More Principles to Ponder from Musashi

Make friends with the dead.

Coaches are often "rule followers" although everyone's rules are different. Worthy ideas repeat over millennia.  

Here's a list from Threads poster "Traditionalmasculinity." Find some to share with our student-athletes.

21 Rules a Dying Swordsman Left Behind

A week before his death in 1645, Miyamoto Musashi - undefeated in more than 60 duels - wrote 21 principles ("The Way of Walking Alone") for his student.

Musashi developed "two sword fighting" and is considered by many to be the greatest Samurai ever. 60-0 in fights to the death deserves note. I add some basketball annotations in black:

1. Accept everything as it is. Don't argue with reality; adjust your understanding of the world to match it. "Control what you can control" or in market language, "The market is always right."
2. Don't seek pleasure for its own sake. Satisfaction is a byproduct of purpose, not a goal in itself. Wooden, "Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable."
3. Never act on a half-conviction. If you're not sure, you're not ready.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world. Ego clouds judgment. Take our job seriously but not ourself. People are thinking about us far less than we think.
5. Be detached from desire throughout your life. Attachment makes you easier to control.
6. Never regret what you've done. Learn from it, but don't dwell on it. If we "Always do our best," that leaves less room for regret. Also a restatement of Rohn's, "There are two types of pain - the pain of discipline and the pain of regret." 
7. Never be jealous. Jealousy punishes the one who feels it. 
8. Do not be saddened by separation. People come and go—that is the natural order.
9. Resentment and complaint help no one. Wooden's "Don't whine, don't complain, and don't make excuses."
10. Don't let lust or love govern your decisions. Strong emotions can distort judgment.
11. Have no fixed preferences. Stay open and adaptable.
12. Be indifferent to where you live. Contentment comes from within, not from your surroundings.
13. Don't chase fine food. Eat to live, not live to eat.
14. Let go of possessions you don't need. The lighter your burden, the easier your journey. "Simplify." Revise our teaching, our playbook, our drill book. 
15. Think for yourself. Don't follow tradition simply because it's customary, and don't reject ideas merely because they're unconventional.
16. Don't collect more tools than you'll master. Depth of skill is better than accumulation. "Excel at what we do a lot."
17. Do not fear death. Fear weakens judgment and action.
18. Don't hoard wealth for an uncertain future. Be prudent without becoming consumed by accumulation.
19. Respect the divine, but never depend on it in place of your own effort. How many times we were taught, "The Lord helps those who help themselves."
20. Guard your honor above your own body. 
21. Never stray from the Way. "We make our habits and our habits make us." 

Final Reflection:
Musashi wrote these principles near the end of his life, refining his own philosophy. The work of self-improvement is never finished until life is over.

Lagniappe. Coach Lync shares a list of situations. 

Late Game Situations 🗑️ pic.twitter.com/2qejFwmjIQ

— CoachLync | Tools & Playbooks (@CoachLync) July 7, 2026

Lagniappe 2.  

Coaching Lessons from "Dave"

Coaching lessons surround us...if we're open to seeing them. The 1993 comedy, "Dave" shares an abundance of valuable lessons and standards. 

"I want you to do this because it's the right thing to do." 

The authentic President violates every principle of integrity in the interest of politics. He's the antithesis of principled. For him, it's all about him. 

Be willing to help. 

The Secret Service tells Dave they need him as a double for the President for the good of the country.

Fake it until you make it.

We sometimes lack the skills or the experience to execute a tough job. Leverage our skills to upgrade our capabilities and succeed. 

Be adaptable. 

Dave has to "become" instead of impersonate the President. He has to grow rapidly into a job that requires him to navigate waters he has never even imagined. 

Play the part.

In his "day job," he acts as a celebrity impersonator. Sometimes leaders feel the weight of "imposter syndrome," feeling underserving of the assignment. Dave works on mastery.  

Surround yourself with capable people.

Dave literally is in the midst of a palace coup. He enlists assistance from a trusted friend and earns the respect of his Secret Service. 

Keep learning (his entourage administers training)

Dave knows nothing about tripartite government or how the Executive functions. He gets a crash course and gets up to speed. 

Everyone won't like you. Deal with it. 

He quickly learns that there is plenty of opposition (and support) in Washington. He's developing a thicker skin while in the job. 

Authenticity helps - if you're not a jerk

Authenticity cuts multiple ways. If you're authentically selfish, lazy, and soft, others see it. But if you're intrinsically honest, kind, and a sharer, you gain allies. 

"When you hurt someone intentionally, that is not a mistake."

He's caught up in forces beyond his control, sometimes ignorant of policy that would offend anyone's sensitivity. His action or inaction harms a cause of The First Lady, who calls him out. He learns more about the issue and becomes a problem solver, stepping on toes. 

Resource management is on you.

Dave quickly understands, "The buck stops here" and the 'lightweight' learns that he can throw his weight around via title and power. 

Public relations matters

Leaders may be 'performative' - shaking hands and kissing babies. His humanity and sincerity shine through in how he treats others. 

Share.

In the White House kitchen, he prepares a midnight snack, an oversized sandwich. He cuts it in half and shares with his Secret Service agent (Ving Rhames), who sits down to eat with him. 

Have a big picture plan.

Dave's 'handlers' in the palace coup have a plan, but Dave has other ideas. He genuinely has the interest of the country at heart, despite being an unelected imposter. 

Develop new ideas

In his day job (employment agency), he sees the joy and fulfillment of clients who get work. In a classic "Chekhov's Gun" moment, he proposes a National Employment Act, seeking full employment. 

"You don't know how much you can do until you stand up and decide to try." 

Coaches have enormous influence as teachers, mentors, and leaders. Understand how one person can make a world of difference. 

Be worthy. 

"Dave, I would have taken a bullet for you." 

The 'job' of leadership has many parts - student, teacher, decision maker, advocate, judge, 'director', etc. Embrace Dave's genuine decency, capacity for growth, and integrity. 

Find the coaching and leadership lessons that inhabit everyday life. 

Lagniappe. Gregg Popovic says, "Don't ask for minutes. Make me play you." JVG tells players to take a hard look in the mirror (sound quality fair). 

“Stupid, soft, selfish”! Every parent that complains about PT, Every “inner ⭕️ ” guy that sites politics, & every player that says “coach hate me” should all take a hard look at where they might rate in these areas before anything else. https://t.co/CC9BAfuQHJ

— Skip Yenchik (@s2y2) July 13, 2026