Arnold Schwarzenegger's No Complaining Rule: “No complaining about a situation unless you're prepared to do something to make it better. If you see a problem and you don't come to the table with a potential solution, I don't want to hear your whining about how bad it is. It couldn't be that bad if it hasn't motivated you to try to fix it.”
— Reads with Ravi (@readswithravi) October 11, 2026
Arnold Schwarzenegger always worked hard. And he knew that he wouldn't be the "smartest guy in the room."
He surrounded himself with associates and aides who complemented his leadership and presence with problem-solving skills.
Part of Coach Mike Krzyzewski's advice was to "surround yourself with great people."
Develop a "solution-oriented" style. Most of you will say, "everyone knows that." And yet, we all see "bad basketball."
I used a "mental" framework for rapid screening of possible diagnoses (always incomplete).
For basketball purposes, return to a pair of exceptional coaches:
1) Bobby Knight - "The Power of Negative Thinking" - reduce mistakes such as bad shot selection, turnovers, failed blockouts, undisciplined fouling
2) Kevin Eastman
- Do it better
- Do it harder
- Change personnel
- "$#*@ it ain't working" - change strategies
- Take better shots. You can't take 40% threes and make 20%. The numbers don't work because you don't have NBA players.
- Value the ball. You can't have 65 possessions and 20 turnovers. That's too many "zero percent" possessions.
- Get "stops" - kills are three consecutive stops. That starts with one stop. A last place team scored on five consecutive possessions. "Stops make runs."
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