Mike Krzyzewski - Leading with the Heart: Coach Ks Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life

D uring high school, I was heavily recruited to play basketball at a variety of colleges and universities. Many coaches assured me that I would start or that I would get a certain amount of playing time. Some promised me the world. But not Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University.

Im not going to promise you anything, Coach K told me. If you choose Duke, you have to come in, work hard, and earn everything you receive.

That really stuck with me. It also impressed my parents. And we began to believe that, by playing for him, I might not only become a better ballplayer, but a better person.

Then I visited Duke for the first time and attended the annual basketball awards banquet held at the conclusion of each season. The atmosphere was joyous and friendly, almost like a family reunion. I was most impressed with a speech made by departing senior Quin Snyder, who listed certain values he had learned from Coach K. They included: commitment, toughness, honesty, integrity, collective responsibility, pride, love, and friendship. Both Quin and people in the audience were choking back tears. After hearing that speech, there was never any doubt that Id go to Duke.

My first team meeting in the fall of 1990 was an awesome day. I remember being excited, anxious, and nervous when Coach K walked in. He paused for a moment to make sure that we were all looking him straight in the eye. And the first thing he said was: Were going to win the national championship this year.

I later learned that he had never before said that at an opening meetingand he would rarely ever say it again. It was a remarkable statement for him to make because he had lost three starters from the previous years team. And that team had suffered an embarrassing 30-point loss to UNLV in the national championship game. Is this man crazy? I remember wondering. But when the meeting was over, I walked out of the locker room believing we were, indeed, going to win the national championship. Thats one of Coach Ks most valuable qualities. Hes inspiring. He makes you a believer.

We did win the national championship that year, the first in Dukes history. And we won it the next year, too. As a matter of fact, in my four years playing for him, I participated in three Final Fours and three national championship games. More important, however, were the lessons I learned from Coach K about life and leadership. They include: setting the bar high so that you can strive to be the best you can be; the value and rewards of a hard-work ethic; building close relationships based on trust; setting shared goals; sacrificing; giving of yourself; winning with humility; losing with dignity; turning a negative into a positive; being a part of something bigger than yourself; enjoying the journey.

By attending Duke University, I joined more than a basketball team. I became part of a legacy. In a coaching career that spans more than a quarter century, Coach Ks achievements are extraordinary. Fifteen NCAA tournament bids and the highest winning percentage in NCAA tournament history. Eight Final Fours in fourteen years. The only back-to-back national championships in the last twenty-five years. Six years as national Coach of the Year. Five-time ACC Coach of the Year. A career winning percentage of .717. An impeccable reputation for honesty and integrity that is unquestioned in the sports world. And thousands of friends.

Coach K has shown he can win with a lot of talentand hes shown he can win with a little bit of talent. He brings kids in from all around the country, from different cultures and different backgrounds. He teaches them to transcend their differences for a greater good. He helps them learn to get along together, to work as a team, to respect one another, to care for one another.

I know. I was one of those kids.

They say that patience and the mulberry leaf in time form a silk gown. As a freshman, I had doubts about myself. I thought I wasnt good enough to play at Duke, that I was in over my head. But Coach K always felt I was better than I ever believed I could be. He constantly reassured me. He told me that I would be something special. It took a while for me to believe in myself. But he always believed in me. And he was patient. With time, he helped me develop my skills as a player and he helped me gain the confidence I needed to make it to the NBA.

But the most important thing of all about Coach K is that he taught me principles and values that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Those principles and values transcend basketball. They can be a guide for success in whatever you do in lifewhether its running a big business, ministering to a church, coaching a sports team, or simply trying to achieve your dreams.

When I was very young, my father used to tell me that an army of deer led by a lion will defeat an army of lions led by a deer. At Duke, Coach K was our lion. He was also our friend, our mentor, our coach, our leader.

I graduated years ago, but Im closer with Coach K now than I was in collegeand we were very close back then. Today, Im proud to say were good friends. And I know thats the case with a lot of his former players.

When I look back on my time at Duke, I feel lucky to have played for him. I took it for granted then. I was young. I didnt realize what I had. But I appreciate it now. In fact, I appreciate it more and more as the years slip by.

I wish I could go back and relive that experience. I wish I could be a freshman at that first meeting in the team locker room. I wish I could look into Coach Ks eyes and hear him tell me, once again, that I was something special.