"There is a pecking order on every team." - Erik Spoelstra
Our values form over a lifetime. They range from Phil Jackson's immutable, "Basketball is sharing" to maximum ego, "it's all about me."
Each of us has different values and priorities. The notes above come from Malala Yousafzai's MasterClass on advocacy. She finds them vital to pursuing her mission of promoting education for girls.
What are our basketball values? How big do we want our list? Let's choose the Buffett "Top Five." I won't say that mine are superior to yours. Each of us needs authentic values and process.
1. Basketball is about relationships.
2. How you play (coach) reflects how you live.
3. There is always give and take. Give great effort, instruction, and feedback.
4. Focus on process not on results.
5. Basketball is a game of separation - creating and preventing it.
Relationships. Relationships build trust. Trust creates loyalty. Loyalty endures and diminishes ego while building teamwork.
- Greet every player by name daily
- Give regular progress reports
- Remind players that we enthusiastically network and write recommendations
Philosophy and integrity of play. A team is like a band or an orchestra. Remember Metallica's philosophy, "what's good for the project." They make decisions for the good of the whole not of any individual. Planning, preparation, and practice produce "one band, one sound."
A few years ago our seventh grade girls lost a highly competitive game to Andover, the top team in the league. The girls said that the Andover parents told them they played the hardest of any team they had faced. As coaches, we ask for that. Be a worthy competitor.
Give and take. Reciprocity is a powerful Influencer. Professor Adam Grant teaches three interactive styles...givers, matchers, and takers. You might think that people take advantage of givers and sometimes they do. But givers also are more likely to rise by adding value to organizations and individuals. And those who refuse to share credit are often scorned like legendary Frank Lloyd Wright whose career suffered from being a credit hog. "He required his apprentices to put his name on any work they completed to insure all recognition would be allocated to him. At several points in his career he was abandoned by the architectural community and went years without work."
Separation. To master separation is to master space and time. Great players like Jordan, Bryant, and James created space to allow for execution. Great individual and team defense condenses space. Terms like "crawl up into him," "nose on chest," and "don't back down" exhort ball pressure and oppose "pace and space."
Process over results. Have a process worth trusting. The Latin phrase Mens sana in corpore sano means a healthy mind in a healthy body. Just as you build your athleticism and skill with workouts and practice, build your mind with reading, study, video review, and mindfulness.
The more you know, the more you can apply.
Lagniappe. Michael Phelps trains in the dark. When his goggles failed at key event, he soldiered on, because not seeing is his default state.
Lagniappe 2. What's your off-season shooting workout?
Lagniappe 3. Bury, pindown, entry, confusion.
