Category Archives: Pat’s Leadership Blog

“I’m the best player in the world.”

This is what LeBron James said at the post game press conference after the fifth game of the 2015 NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.

I don’t think there is any question about the validity of his comment after what he accomplished in the series. When you lose your second and third leading scorers and you are playing against the team that won the most games in this year’s NBA’s regular season schedule, the series probably should have been a Golden State sweep. But the series went six games thanks to the play of LeBron.

I have always believed from the time I saw him in a high school All-Star game that the best part of LeBron’s game is his passing. In game 5, two of his teammates combined for seven three-point shots and every one of them came from a LeBron assist. The best definition of a great player is that he makes everyone around him a better player. LeBron does just that.
In the first five games of this series, he led Cleveland in scoring, assists, and rebounding. He demonstrated throughout the series that he is the best player in the world.

The question is, was it necessary for him to tell us?

At a clinic years ago, I heard another player say something that would counter LeBron’s statement and I think it has more wisdom. Leon Hilliard said, “Don’t tell me; show me.”

That is precisely what LeBron is doing. He is showing us that he is the best player in today’s basketball. There was no need to tell us.

He said this after a tough loss and I think it was in response to a reporter asking him if he was losing his confidence. If that was the case, then that was a silly question, just as LeBron’s answer was probably out of frustration. So, we might give him somewhat of a pass on why he said it. I know from my 44 years of coaching that after losses, it was easy to blurt out some comments that I later regretted, especially in response to what I considered inane questions.

The maxim that actions speak more loudly than words still holds credibility and the above interaction between LeBron and the reporter can resonate with today’s leaders. If you are doing it and doing it well, there is no reason to tell everyone.

I recently read an article addressing high school basketball players in Philadelphia. It stated that the mainstream media concentrates only on the players who don’t qualify for college academically. It then went on to talk about four recent college basketball players from Philly high schools who earned their college degrees and asked why doesn’t the mainstream media concentrate on them?

I know nothing about the mainstream media except that it definitely concentrates more on the negative that the positive. Although I do not remember the exact results of the study, a Georgetown University group studied the nightly news for one hundred straight nights counting the negative news coverage versus the positive things covered. The results were something like for every 100 negative examples there were only 5, or even less, positive stories.

There seemed to be one recurrent theme among the four college graduates. They had mentors who believed in them and pushed them academically. They didn’t coddle them; they served them with tough-love.

I know a number of coaches both at the high school and college levels who care about their players beyond the narrow confines of a basketball court. Unfortunately, there are also some who only care if their players can help them win so they can enhance their winning legend.

I will always believe that the coaches who are concerned about the eventual careers of their athletes after graduation are the mentors who make a difference in the lives of their players. They are the real mentors.

I remember reading years ago about Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers. He constantly talked to his players about what they were going to do when their football playing days ended. The longer he stayed at Green Bay, the more he could cite Packer alumni who were doing well, especially in the business arena.

I know athletes really appreciate mentors who are interested in their lives after sport and it is those coaches who become life-long friends of their players.

Is it any different for leaders in any field?

I have worked for educational and business leaders who genuinely cared about me and my family. They took the time to mentor me, most especially during my difficult times. They mentored me both professionally and personally. The end result – we have been life-long friends.

Leaders may want to think about how important their mentoring is and how it can result in life-long friendships.

Frank Kaminsky just completed a great year for the University of Wisconsin’s basketball team, culminating with the most prestigious award college basketball gives – The Naismith Award for the college-player-of-the-year.

Throughout the year, his play demonstrated four characteristics that leaders may want to consider.

Unselfishness. Frank was willing to pass up shots or go one-on-one to keep the offense moving. The offense was designed to take the ball from one side of the floor to the other side and Frank did just that. The most important concept in offensive basketball could very well be team shot selection and Frank only took shots that were within the confines of the offense. How important is it for leaders to exhibit unselfishness?

Grunt work. Frank consistently did three things that are not prominent among basketball statistics, but three things that lead to winning. He rebounded; he blocked shots; and he often helped on defense when a teammate was beaten to the basket. George Ravelling , who wrote considerably on rebounding, said the most under-rated statistic that leads to winning is rebounding. When a team can get a second shot on offense and limit their opponent to one shot on defense, they most likely will win. Blocking shots and making opponents change their shots often lead to fast break basketball. Defensive help is one of the cornerstones of great team defense. Are leaders willing to do the grunt work, the work that often goes unnoticed and unappreciated?

Intelligence. There is no one way to teach successful basketball. Some teams run; some teams play half-court basketball; some teams play man-to-man defense; some teams play zone. And the list goes on. Regardless of how a coach decides to play, his teaching will result in a system of play. It is then of paramount importance that every player knows the system and buys into the system and when they do, you have a successful team. Frank knew Bo Ryan’s system and completely bought into it. Every business and most organizations have a mission. Leaders must have the intelligence to understand the mission and the ability to teach it.

Loyalty. Frank left money on the table. After his outstanding junior year, he became an NBA draftee candidate. He could have run with the money, but he elected to return for his senior year. How many collegiate players would have made that decision, given the fact that many players opt for the NBA only to not get drafted? Frank, on the other hand, was a sure draftee. Whatever all his reasons may have been to return, the one thing he did show was loyalty to his teammates. How many leaders would leave money on the table and stay with their business or would they run to the money?

Unselfishness, grunt work, intelligence, and loyalty do make for a quality leader.

Vince Lombardi had definitive ideas about commitment when he wrote:

“Total commitment means 100% effort, 100% of the time, no loafing, no idling, no standing around, no goofing off, no phoning in sick.”

“When we make a commitment, in essence, we’re making a decision to do something. Now, the Latin root for decision is to “cut away from” as an incision during surgery. So when we commit to something, what we’re really doing is “cutting away” all our other options, all our other possibilities. When we commit to something, we cut away all the excuses, all the rationalizations.”

Al McGuire said it differently when he said, “excuses are weaknesses.”

When I read “100% effort, 100% of the time,” I initially thought no one can do that. However, after some reflection I changed my mind. I had the privilege of coaching some players who achieved this goal and they achieved it both physically and mentally.

The outstanding athletes I coached were the same every day. There were no excuses, no rationalizations. When they tied up their shoes and crossed the line to enter the court for practice, they gave their extraordinary effort every day.

The same was true in education. In my book, Attitude – The Cornerstone of Leadership, I wrote about three such leaders, Bishop Roger Kaffer, Dr. Jack Orr, and Gordie Gillespie. They, too, were the same every day. When they entered their respective offices for work, they brought the same total effort daily. I don’t ever remember hearing any excuses from them.

I believe this all-out effort becomes a habit, just like loafing and excuse-making become habitual with some people.

Finally, this consistency of effort by the leader may not be able to be taught, but it can be caught. When the leader gives 100% effort, 100% of the time, that philosophy can permeate throughout the organization.

It is precisely this effort that earns players All-State and All-American recognition and gives leaders the most important concept they can earn – RESPECT.

We lost a sports icon earlier this year in Ernie Banks.

As I listened to the speakers at his funeral service, I reflected on an evening where I sat next to him at a banquet. Four things stood out in our conversation that night.

Optimism

Ernie was known for his perpetual optimism, both in baseball and in life. He was certainly well known for his “Let’s play two” quote in baseball and despite all the racism he endured early in his baseball travels, especially in hotels and restaurants, he never lost his optimism for people. He refused to let bitterness, hatred, and negativism in his life.

A number of people approached our table that night and Ernie received each of them with a smile and a kind word. He made them feel like he, Ernie Banks, was genuinely happy to meet them. Later in my life I saw another man meet my children in this very same manner. After a Bulls practice, Michael Jordan signed my children’s t-shirts and kidded with them as if he had known them all his life. Michael may have learned a great deal from observing Ernie and his optimism for his fellow man.

Graciousness

As a steady line of people came to meet him, Ernie never once lost his graciousness. He made time for everyone, answered all their questions, and was glad to do so. He not only did the above, but he was constantly handing out compliments to each person even though he did not know them! He made each person to whom he was talking feel as though he was the only person in the room.

Ernie’s graciousness was so great to see because I had just attended a basketball clinic and observed a nationally known coach who had no time for any of the coaches in attendance. He was both demeaning and obnoxious to his fellow coaches. I wish he had been sitting at our table that night and saw how a Hall of Famer treated people. It would have been a class he missed in college and one he badly needed!

Gratefulness

Ernie spoke only in glowing terms when he began talking about baseball. It was easy to tell how much he loved the game and how genuinely grateful he was for all the game brought to him and his family. It was very refreshing to listen to one of the greats of the game be so grateful.

Too often we hear today’s professional athletes, many of whom because of athletes like Ernie are now earning millions of dollars, complain about playing time, money, lack of respect, and the list goes on. Ernie would have none of that. He was too grateful for the life baseball gave him.

Humility

The primary trait that was so evident in Ernie was his humility. At his funeral service one of Ernie’s former Cub roommates said he was like a radio, i.e. he never stopped talking. He then added that although he was a non-stop talker, he never heard Ernie talk about himself. I would guess he simply let his body of work speak for itself.

I have always liked the maxim, “Don’t tell me; show me.” That is precisely what I have seen in the leaders whom I have respected the most. They roll up their sleeves and get the job done. They don’t talk about what they’re going to do. They simply do it. Then, when it’s accomplished, they don’t talk about their success because it’s never what “they” did. It is what “we” did. Truly great leaders develop the humility of Ernie Banks.

Optimism, graciousness, gratefulness, and humility were the four characteristics I observed in Ernie Banks that evening. Four qualities leaders may want to reflect on.

You know you have achieved when you are known only by your first name. In basketball circles, if you say “Dean,” everyone knows you are talking about Dean Smith, the Hall of Fame North Carolina coach, who passed away on February 7th, 2015.

He was a basketball coaching giant whom I had the pleasure of working with in Overland Park, Kansas while directing a Medalist One-Man Clinic. The only coach presenting for two days was Coach Smith. He gave the best clinic I have ever attended. He first taught a principle, for example the end of the Carolina fast break, on the overhead. He then had the players demonstrating for the clinic run the end of the break on the floor. Finally, he showed game film of that phase of the break. He followed this same format for every phase of the game that he taught. It was superb teaching.

John Wooden once said of Coach Smith, “He was the best teacher of basketball I have ever seen.” He may have been the most prolific innovator ever in the game. He was the first I knew of to have the scorer acknowledge the passer; the first to have all teammates help pick up the man who took the charge; and his end-of- game clock usage was legendary. He created the Run and Jump, the T-game, and Four Corners. I am sure I have forgotten more of his innovations.

When he retired, he was the winningest coach in Division I basketball with his 879 wins.

But his coaching basketball was a far second to what he meant to those who played for him. Many of them referred to him as a second father. They knew he was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Education took priority to basketball as his players graduated. He was in the life of his players and managers long after they graduated. He remembered all of them and knew most of their wives and children. He was truly a life-coach.

Most of us involved in basketball know the above about Coach Smith’s commitment to the teaching of the game and, more importantly, his life-long commitment to his players and their families. Some may not know during his fourth season as coach of North Carolina, his team returned from an away game only to find him hung in effigy as they entered the campus.

What a journey! From hung in effigy to being the recipient of the highest honor a civilian can receive in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and, although he resisted, to having the North Carolina arena named in his honor.

The weekend I worked with him I experienced first-hand what a great teacher of basketball he was. I certainly brought a great deal of his knowledge to our team. But one thing impressed me even more – his genuine humility. You never would have known that he was one of the best ever in his chosen profession.

His greatest legacy has little to do with his basketball. It has everything to do with the loyalty his players have for him because he was truly a life-coach.

If leaders take anything from this great coach and even greater man’s legacy, let it be his humility. He treated everyone with respect, kindness, and dignity and never wore his many successes on his sleeve. It was never about him but always about you.

Golfer Padraig Harrington recently said, “Statistics are often used as a drunk uses a street light – for support rather than illumination.”

Benjamin Disraeli, former prime minister of England, wrote, “There are three kinds of lies: little lies, big lies, and statistics.”

I do believe there is some truth in what both of these men are stating. Some statistics can actually be used to support both sides of an argument, so you do have to analyze them carefully. However, there is one area where we believed we wanted to use statistics, namely, team success.

In our 44 years of coaching basketball, we rarely used individual statistics, with the exception of conference meetings at the year’s end when All-Conference players were being selected. We did cite individual stats to support the nomination of our players.

What we did, however, was to take great credence in team statistics. Because our emphasis was constantly on “us” as opposed to “you,” we used team stats to illustrate why we were successful. Whenever we held an opponent under 40% field goal shooting in a game, we made sure we complimented our athletes on that accomplishment. We once had a two-year period where we out rebounded our opponents in every game played. That was approximately sixty straight games where we won the boards. Naturally, we constantly used this statistic to address our teams’ toughness.

We also used statistics in reference to our total athletic program. Academics were always preeminent in our department. Although we had some baseball players play minor league ball and a few make it to the majors, some play basketball professionally in Europe, and some football athletes be invited to NFL camps, we knew 99% of our athletes would not play professionally. Therefore, the primary goal of our program was to encourage and help our athletes to get their degrees.

In our research, we found that over a twenty year period, 90% of our senior athletes did earn their degrees. This was exactly the culture we wanted to implement throughout our athletic department and we wanted our athletes to be proud of these accomplishments. So, as everyone entered our gymnasium, the first thing they saw was a huge board that contained the athletic successes and the academic successes of our athletes. The academic successes were always presented first.

Dizzy Dean once said, “If you done it, it ain’t braggin’.” Our athletes did it, we were very proud of them, and we did use statistics to prove and advertise it.

Leaders can and should use Team Statistics to validate their collective achievements.

Do you trust people when you meet them? Or do you make them prove themselves to be trustworthy until you grant them your trust?

Which of the two do you lead with?

I befriended two pretty famous people years ago who were in the national spotlight and they had diametrically opposite philosophies on this question of initial trust.

One told me he trusted no one when he met them. He came to this conclusion because there were a number of people to whom he gave his trust only to have them betray their word. After having this happen too many times, he concluded that people would have to exhibit trustworthiness before he would believe in them.

The other friend felt the opposite way. He afforded trust to people he met from the initial meeting. He certainly wasn’t a naïve person by any stretch of the imagination as he led a multimillion dollar company. He felt giving trust was the better way to do business.

In the group, Alabama’s song “Down Home,” the refrain states, “A handshake and a man’s good word is all you need.” Obviously, this philosophy does grant initial trust.

I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this question for leaders. In my leadership roles, I elected to trust people initially and accepted their word that they would follow through on what they said. I did grow up in an environment where a person’s word was their bond.

Given this philosophy, I did get burned occasionally. There is no question about that. There are definitely people who are not trustworthy and who have the ability to look you in the face and lie. Knowing this, I still felt better beginning the relationship with trust – giving them the benefit of the doubt. If they proved to be untrustworthy, then I never again gave them my trust.

So, leaders have to decide if they begin a relationship by assuming the other person is trustworthy or do they make that person prove he or she is trustworthy?

I think each leader has to find their own way on this subject.

Looking back, I would not change. I have found that most people’s word is their bond.

Recently, a baseball scout was a part of a panel on ESPN’s Outside The Lines program and he made a statement that reminded me of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger from the movie “Rudy.”

The scout said, “Baseball is a failure game.”

I have never heard baseball described as a “failure game,” but it sure makes sense. Consider: a batter who fails seven out of ten times is considered an outstanding hitter. So, the great hitters have to have a short memory and a strong resiliency to get back up after the many failures.

Isn’t life a “failure game” as well? I believe the people I respect the most have experienced failure – both personally and professionally – and then they got right back up and lived what Pat Riley said, “Success is getting up one more time than you’ve been knocked down.”

I know very few people who were knocked down as much as Rudy.

We recently renewed our friendship of forty years when we spoke together at a YMCA convention in Wisconsin. Hearing his story again reminded me of all the failure – all the closed doors – he has opened in his life by the sheer strength of his resiliency.

How does a guy who graduated third from the bottom of his high school class earn a degree from Notre Dame?

Where does a guy find the resiliency to get back up educationally when for twelve years of school he was constantly told he was stupid? No one diagnosed his dyslexia during these years. They just told him he was dumb.

How does a 5’8”, 185 pounder make the Notre Dame football roster?

And how does a guy who made one tackle in his collegiate career convince both Hollywood and Notre Dame to make a movie about him? As he pursued this idea for ten years door after door was continuously closed on him.

Just think about his life…and his accomplishments. It is virtually impossible to believe that he could overcome all the obstacles in his path.

He may be the only guy in the history of Notre Dame to rank in the bottom 2% of his class and get his degree from there. And how does a guy who is a totally unknown former Notre Dame football player who has no knowledge of the movie industry convince Hollywood to make a movie about his life…and then get Notre Dame to buy in?

The great majority of movies fail. But this movie about a Notre Dame student-athlete who nobody heard of is one of the great inspirational movies of our time.

None of Rudy’s success makes any sense!

His life is baseball. It is a failure game. But he just kept getting back up against all odds. He has traveled the country for the past 30 years telling kids not to give up on their dreams and even more importantly, telling them not to allow anybody to call them dumb!

All leaders meet failure because life is like baseball.

Periodically watching “Rudy” may give leaders the resiliency to keep getting back up.