Beyond Basketball: Coach K's Keywords for Success

Coach K says a lot in a few pages. Everything I read applies to me or it also can apply and be enjoyed by my 13 year old son or 11 year old daughter. I appreciate Coach K and his daughter taking the time to share the insights contained in this book.

I purchased this book as a gift for my daughter. I started to skim thru it and could not put it down! My daughter loved the book so much she ordered one for her basketball coach as well. Great book on leadership and would highly recommend it to share with coworkers, family and friends.

All Duke fans and alumni should be proud to have such a sterling person to represent their school and team. I have seldom read such a humble book from such a successful person . . . not to mention the value of the timeless wisdom in the book. Coach Krzyzewski is joined in this easy-to-read and hard-to-apply book by his daughter, Jamie Spatola, who is an example in several of the book's segments. This book has an unusual concept. Be sure you understand and like that concept before you buy and read the book. Coach Krzyzewski likes to focus his team's attention. Rather than leading into a game with a long speech, he will put one word up and ask the team to keep that word in mind. It will be a word that reflects something needed to keep the team's focus and performance in balance. This book is organized much the same way. There are thirty-nine essays that explore one or two words in 2-3 pages . . . followed by a conclusion that looks at the essence of great team play. Each of the thirty-nine essays begins with explaining what the word means and why it is important, and then goes on to provide an example from Coach Krzyzewski's life. The examples are particularly charming because Coach Krzyzewski seeks to make others look great . . . while he plays the straight man. As I read this book, I was reminded of a comment Larry Bird made about one of the Celtics coaches who liked to direct everything the team did. Bird noted that it's hard to start a fast break if the whole team is watching the coach to find out what half-court play the coach wants to call. Coach Krzyzewski obviously tries to stay out of the way of his players' genius and tendencies. I loved the sections where he learned better methods of playing from many of his great players. What are the thirty-nine words and word combinations? Here they are (in alphabetical order): Adaptability, Adversity, Balance, Belief, Care, Challenges, Collective Responsibility, Commitment, Communication, Courage, Crisis Management, Culture, Dependability, Empathy, Enthusiasm, Excellence, Failure, Family, Friendship, Fundamentals, Giving Back, Guidance, Imagination, Integrity, Learning, Love, Motivation, Next Play, Ownership, Passion, Poise, Pressure, Pride, Respect, Selflessness, Standards, Trust, Will, and Work. The conclusion focuses on The Fist (the team's focus on five core concepts of cooperation: communication, trust, collective responsibility, care, and pride). The best way to gain from this book is to start by reading the words that you don't think are important . . . then move on to the words you think are important. You'll deepen your understanding in both cases. Then re-read this book at least once a year to reinforce these positive lessons. My favorite examples in the book didn't have anything to do with basketball (although the ball is always in the background). But there are also wonderful examples of behind-the-scenes moments when Coach Krzyzewski took action to deal with a c

Reading BEYOND BASKETBALL by Mike Kryzyzewski with Jamie. Spatola, his daughter--was almost like being in a one-on-one conversation with the longtime Duke basketball coach . . . it felt like he was talking directly to me, providing advice on a whole host of matters that are relevant not only to sports fans, but to those in any profession or even life situation. The key, as he points out, are these four words that can bring out the best in your team, your employee and your family: I believe in you. These four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try. Kryzyzewski contends that there are other words that have special importance and force, aside from belief . . . these include courage, passion, trust, commitment, excellence, and respect . . . he attempts to use them every day to energize, motivate and inspire his players on the court and in every aspect of their lives. BEYOND BASKETBALL consists of 40 short, insightful essays--each written around an important keyword--that often contain anecdotes from the author's personal experiences . . . although I've never coached anything beyond my daughter's softball team when she was very young, I found myself nevertheless relating to each one of them because they were all so realistic. They were also useful in getting me to think about things in my life, as evidenced by the following tidbits: [Adversity] One of the greatest comments I ever heard about adversity came from the current Duke University president, Richard Brodhead. He said to me, "You outlive your darkest day." In other words, failure can never be your destination. In adverse circumstances, you must remind yourself that this day is not your last. You will get through it, but can you use it to get better? Improvement comes as the result of adversity; it comes from learning about limits and how to break those limits. Whenever I face adversity, I look at the problem and then beyond the problem. I look for the solution and then I look for the positive impact it will have on me, my team or my family. [Challenges] No matter how successful you believe yourself to be, you can never feel as if you've reached the absolute pinnacle. There are always new and wonderful challenges out there, and part of maintaining success is knowing when you need to accept them. I am rejuvenated, I am nervous, I am eager, and I am so excited to discover that amazing things I will learn as a result of taking on this new challenge. [Pride] The first person to ever teach me about pride was my mom. She told me, "Michael, everything you do has your personal signature on it. You should take pride in it because it's yours." As I have grown older, I have come to develop a better and deeper understanding of what she means. You do not have pride in something because it earns you accolade or because someone gives you a trophy or tells you it's great. The pride comes not in the recognition you receive for something, but mer

"Beyond Basketball" should be required reading for people in all walks of life, but especially for school coaches who have a major impact on the lives of young athletes. Coach K leads by example. As a result most of his players go on to become solid citizens. Yes, Coach K makes an effort to recruit multidimensional players who have both good character and athletic talent. But he also sets a high bar, teaching them to respect others and never to forget their roots. In "Beyond Basketball," Coach K provides a lesson for athletes, coaches and others --If only our politicians and corporate CEOs would read this book and take a few notes! (Jerry Marcus is the author of four novels, including Broken Trust - The Murder Of Basketball Star Jack Molinas)