“When it comes to building a successful business, it’s not the numbers that the drive the people, but rather the people and relationships that drive the numbers. Creating those relationships and developing that teamwork had to be their top priority.”
― Jon Gordon, Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture
Shortly after his former player Andrew Smith died, Brad Stevens remarked, "you get a lot more out of coaching them than they do from you."
We provide structure, share knowledge, motivate, and add value to the 'soup'. But for a program to succeed, something magical happens. We sell that alchemy. The synergy among different personalities and skills transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. It doesn't happen that often.
What ingredients belong in that soup? John Wooden believed that three factors ultimately determined success: having better players than your opposition, having players that put the team above individual achievement, and to "practice simplicity with constant repetition."
When our players buy into that and create the magic, we get so much from them. They make our food taste better, energize us, inspire us. They give us hope.
When we are there for them - with the preparation, the details, and the encouragement - they respond in kind...they bring the fight to the arena. When our simple, consistent message reaches our team, they persevere and rarely, greatness appears. Who doesn't get that?