Basketball: Lessons Learned from Legends

"The difference between who we are today and whom we become in five years are the people we meet and the books we read." - Anonymous 

If we wrote our younger selves, what would we say? Would we get conventional wisdom, old saws, or new age advice? What enduring lessons would we share? 

Establish high standards of performance. Bill Walsh's The Score Takes Care of Itself clarifies Walsh's standards, which extended to everyone from receptionists, to landscapers, and to his coaching staff and himself. Mike Lombardi expands this in Gridiron Genius. 

Exhibit a ferocious and intelligently applied work ethic directed at continual improvement.

Demonstrate respect for each person in the organization.

Be deeply committed to learning and teaching.

Be fair.

Demonstrate character.

Honor the direct connection between details and improvement; relentlessly seek the latter.

Show self-control, especially under pressure.

Demonstrate and prize loyalty.

Use positive language and have a positive attitude.

Take pride in my effort as an entity separate from the result of that effort.

Be willing to go the extra distance for the organization.

Deal appropriately with victory and defeat, adulation and humiliation.

Promote internal communication that is both open and substantive.

Seek poise in myself and those I lead.

Put the team’s welfare and priorities ahead of my own.

Maintain an ongoing level of concentration and focus that is abnormally high.

Make sacrifice and commitment the organization’s trademark.

"Thanks is the cheapest form of compensation." - Robert Townshend, Up the Organization, 1970. 

Gratitude adds value. Getting and sharing gratitude fills endows happiness. Everyone wants and likes to be appreciated. Dean Smith practiced inclusive gratitude to players. Gratitude marked programs of Don Meyer and Shaka Smart.

But, needing credit and adulation undermines teams. 

"Do more of what works and less of what doesn't." - Anonymous

Dan Brown, author of The DaVinci Code notes, "the difference between good writers and bad writers is that good writers know when they're bad." Self-reflection defines us. Good coaches change when it's not working. Kevin Eastman uses four steps, "do it harder, do it better, change personnel, and "#$%& it ain't working."  

Nick Saban asks, "Are you spending time or investing it?" We say that many ways, "the magic is in the work" or "chop wood, carry water." Hard work backstops good process. Steve Kerr gathered ideas and developed his playbook over years before leaping into coaching. Expecting good outcomes from poor process is delusional. 

"Invert, always invert." Inversion stands near the top of mental models. Mathematician Carl Jacobi reminds us to consider a range of possible outcomes. Smile at Seinfeld's "Opposite George" episode. Use premortem analysis to explore how projects can fail. 

Outcomes are blended. Results flow from more than skill or choice. The continuum of luck or chance contributes. How can we know? We can intentionally lose an activity where skill is paramount, like chess. 

Michael Mauboussin writes, "Separating skill and luck encourages better thinking about outcomes and allows for sharply improved decision making." He continues, "The best way to ensure satisfactory long-term results is to constantly improve skill, which often means enhancing a process. Gaining skill requires deliberate practice, which has a very specific meaning: it includes actions designed to improve performance, has repeatable tasks, incorporates high-quality feedback, and is not much fun." 

Avoid big mistakes. Warren Buffett's partner, Charlie Munger says, “It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” That begins with work but also by knowing your Circle of Competence. The current popular version is "stay in your lane." Don't beat ourselves by losing focus.  

"Study your mentor's mentors." - Usher

My coach's mentors included Dean Smith and John Wooden. They shared a wealth of wisdom. Smith made it personal. Phil Ford said, “he got a coach for four years and a friend for life.” Wooden reminds us to "make every day your masterpiece." 

Be positive. Optimism isn't easy, just helpful. Weisinger and Pawliw-Fry have optimism as part of their Performing Under Pressure COTE (confidence, optimism, tenacity, enthusiasm) model. Obviously, results won't always go our way. 

Replace "I can't" or "I'll try" with "I will."

Optimism trends with better life expectancy. "In fact, the top quartile of optimists had almost a 30 percent lower risk of dying from any of the diseases analyzed in the study when compared with the least optimistic women (the bottom quartile) in the study."


Coach Randy Sherman reminds us that optimism has limits and optimism per se won't turn around losing programs. Optimism and an open mind pair well. 

Edit our lives by finding sustainable principles, "sharing something great" while remaining open to better discoveries. 

Lagniappe: Another SLOB, a Cavaliers Horns play into a wing ball screen.