In his presentation at Coaching U Live (2015), he discussed domains from First You Win the Locker Room. He discusses the 'seven C's'.
Here are some excerpts:
"If we focus on the fruit of the tree and not the root, the tree dies."
"Culture needs to come first."
"Culture beats strategy." - Apple
"The leader must drive culture." Kevin Eastman has said, "you have to fight for your culture every day."
Coach K brought USAB to West Point so players could understand what it means to represent the United States.
Contagious. Emotions are contagious, both positive and negative. "Optimism is a competitive advantage."
"Leadership is a transfer of belief." Transform yourself via beliefs. Help players tell a "better story". To be a more positive person, we have to feed positivity. He discusses the difference between talking to yourself and listening to yourself. Do we choose FEAR or FAITH? Weed the negative.
Communication. When we are rushed, we often communicate poorly. We have fractions of a second to overcome negative thoughts. He asked Doc Rivers what's his most important job, "I communicate with my team" (both collectively and individually). Meetings don't have to be long to be effective.
Connection. Connection produces trust...coach to players and players among each other. Players need to want to play hard for each other.
1) Exercise: share a defining moment in your life. It begins with love.
2) Another exercise: hero, hardship, and highlight.
3) Another: "if you really knew me, you would know this." Gordon says that his father left when he was one year old.
Caveat that the environment must be "safe" and that is difficult in high school.
Commitment. "I will put the team first." Sven Nater story...Wooden told him that his job was to make Bill Walton better, but that will make you better. Nater didn't start a game in college but was an NBA first round choice, ROY, and a twelve year pro career.
Do we want to be a transitional coach or a transformational coach?
Care. Why aren't you working harder? We have to care more. Players who know coaches care have more trust and play harder. Gordon asks what is our TRADEMARK so players know we care. He says that Falcons' coach Mike Smith's players said that "he listens". When you care, the team learns to care about each other and focuses on the process.
Consistent. Are we the same person regardless of the situation? Players need to know what to expect from us.
