“Take the right bus.”
That was the advice the mother of basketball coaching legend Mike Krzyzewski as he headed out the door for his first day of high school.
But, as "Coach K" explained to AAPEX attendees during a keynote on Tuesday morning in Las Vegas, his mother’s message was not about finding the right transportation to get to class. It was a metaphor that would begin to shape his philosophy about surrounding yourself with good people to pursue great things.
Krzyzewski went on to impart more wisdom from a 50-year coaching career that included five NCAA men’s basketball national championships as the head coach of Duke and multiple Olympic gold medals and world championships as a coach for USA Basketball, relating his experience coaching athletes to how shop operators can inspire their teams.
Krzyzewski said there are three A’s needed for good leadership:
Agility. Be nimble and willing to change direction when the moment calls for it.
“I probably had 5,000 practices,” Krzyzewski said. “And for every practice, I would write out a practice plan the night before. But then when I had the practice, if I saw something, or my assistants brought up something, we made a read. Have a plan but don’t be a slave to it.”
Adaptability. For Krzyzewski, being adaptable meant changing his communication style 15 to 20 times over his career and staying up to date on young people’s culture to continue relating to his players as the age gap widened. For automotive leaders, being adaptable means embracing new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. But, he added, as you continue to evolve, stay true to your core principles.
Accountability. Creating a culture of accountability in which coaches and members of his program could trust each other to deliver honest, constructive dialogue led to one of the biggest wins of Krzyzewski’s career, he said.
He shared a story from the 2008 Olympics in which he faced a difficult situation in having to challenge Kobe Bryant to take smarter shots or risk creating an environment in which the team would unravel. Bryant accepted the honest feedback, his fellow players noticed, and in the most intense moment of the gold medal game, Bryant and the team’s other leaders took it upon themselves to make the right play. Their unselfishness led to victory.
“In your organizations,” Krzyzewski told attendees, “if you develop agility, you work on adaptability, especially with communication. and you have accountability, you will develop a winning attitude that permeates throughout your organization.”
Lastly, Krzyzewski emphasized the importance of creating a healthy workplace environment.
“I coached some great players and great teams,” he said. “You can’t teach them everything, but you can create an environment where they can use their talents. It doesn’t have to be your play. But it has to be your environment that is conducive to success.”
