Leading with the Heart: Coach K's Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life

Coach K presents his approach for the "storming, performing, and norming" that he performs every season (!) as he takes new recruits and melds them into a national team. This book is a great way to see team building and management from the sports perspective. HIGHLY recommended for its heartfelt, pragmatic advice! Some great quips (a few paraphrased) include: * The deal is - there won't be any deals. * People make rules to keep from making decisions. * I'm not going to promise you anything. You have to come in, work hard, and earn everything you receive. * Look for good kids with strong character, not necessarily great talent, but great individuals who are willing to be part of a team. * Dislike job descriptions, they tend to put people in boxes and hold them back from realizing their true potential. * Leader has to assess the quality of the team, set the standards, of excellence, and then work with the team to achieve that standard. * What a leader does now sets up for later. And there is always a later. * Want the team to get better every day. The rest will take care of itself. * Change things up; don't do the same thing each year. * Almost everything comes back to relationships. * Nothing demonstrates that you care about people then spending time with them. * The only way you can lead people is to understand people. The best way to understand them is to get to know them better. * Some feel discipline is a dirty word, it only means doing what you should, when you should, in the best way. * Fellas, I am the truth. At any time, I can and will tell you where you stand and how you're doing. * We must be honest with each other, there is no other way. * A leader has to know who he is, what he stands for. Also he has to say it, demonstrate it, and mean it. * There are a lot of commonsense advantages to running a team like a family - honesty, strength, caring, but one of the greatest is that you are never alone. ...and check out the book for a whole lot more!

I am a high school Athletic Director and Girls' Basketball Coach. I read Coach K's book and had a very difficult time putting it down. I found myself constantly stopping and writing things down. It had so many wonderful ideas, concepts and suggestions on how not only I can better lead my team each season, but how I can better lead the coaches I work with as an athletic director each day.This book has caused me to stop and rethink some of the things I do. I am currently re-evaluating some of my approaches to working with student-athletes, as well as, the way I lead the coaches in my charge. This book has also reaffirmed that some of the things I am currently doing are good ways of leading my players and coaches. I do not want to spoil the ideas Coach K has shared in his book. But, I am very excited about some of the things I am currently in the process of implementing in my daily interactions with my players and staff. This book is a must have for every coach and athletic director. It is a must read for anyone looking for suggestions on better ways to lead no matter what their profession.This book will make you think and generate ideas in your head to make yourself a more effective leader. I did not agree with everything in the entire book. I believe some of the ideas in his book are more related to coaching at the collegiate level and could not possibly apply to high school coaching. But, there certainly is something in this book for everyone. It is a great resource for everyone whether you are a CEO, college coach, high school or middle school coach, or someone unsure of exactly where they are going in life. This book will inspire any of those individuals.Coach K shares real life experiences. He talks about family, education, friendships, and coaching. He does not preach. He shares his experiences, his successes, his failures. It is an entertaining book as well as educational. The layout of the book is also very effective. The way the book is set up I can keep it on my shelf as a resource I can refer to at anytime. I plan to keep it in my office and refer to often. I do not feel I can implement all the ideas this book produced in my head in one season. I will continue to use this book to help me become the most effective leader I can be, the best coach I can be, the best athletic director I can be. I highly recommend this book. I was a Duke fan before I read this book. I have always enjoyed the way they played the game of basketball. I now understand why they play the game so well. I now understand why they have been so successful. I understand why Duke is one of the most respected programs in all of college basketball. They have an extremely intelligent, hard working, and caring individual leading them. He cares not only about winning basketball games, but about each individual involved in the Duke Family. I was a Duke fan before I read this book. Now I'm a Mike Krzyzewski fan.

I graduated from Duke in 68 and am an avowed fan of Coach K.However, I've hit a rut in my reading recently, can't find anything that seems stimulatiing or interesting.I was afraid this book would just be another of those "smaltzy" rah rah type of books that coaches(and usually someone else write), but I was happily surprised. It is really worth everyones attention, whether to motivate a business person or anyone on how to live ones life. The usual blah blahing about excellence is pretty much left out, thank goodness, and the book is full of very helpful aphorisms about what priorities to put first and how to lead a wholesome and successful life,even if you don't have a jump shot.Coach K comes across as really honest and sincere.I can't stand phonies and really was pleasantly surprised by the book. Lots of real life anecdotes about games, players, situations and how to take defeat.Truly inspirational from a superb leader. For sports fans, look what he did with the team of mostly freshman this year, way beyond anyones expectations.He uses his heart a lot, but also his head.You can also read and skip around in the book, its not like a novel.Again, his repeated emphasis on how to deal with defeat and failure shows true wisdom, far beyond that of most college coaches. I remember the tonge in cheek defintion of a college basketball coach by a player once."you have to be a little bit crazy to base your career on someone else's jump shot." Coach K is crazy like a fox.

I chose this book to read for a business class at my college. The book focuses around Coach K and his experiences with basketball. He alludes to his theories applications towards business some, but it is up to the reader to apply them to his/her own business situations. His theories though on leadership and family are empowering, touching, and entertaining. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It's not just a book for the basketball lover, Duke fan, or business reader. It's a book that shows how one man has steadfastly stood by his beliefs throughout his life. Great book, Coach K!

Perhaps no other book will hit you where you are more than this one. Mike combines life experiences with true nuggets to guide us apply proven leadership and to take our team to a new level of excellence. You will want to read it through,then come back and highlight. The chapter on handling crises is worth the book by itself.