Pat Summitt photo Cory DeGarmo - College Sports, gregswain.com

“I personally want to thank Pat Summitt for all she has done for the sport of women’s basketball.  Her 1,098 wins, eight national titles and numerous conference titles are amazing accomplishments.  What is most important about Pat Summitt are the millions of people she has and continues to inspire on a daily basis.  She empowered so many during her 38 years to accomplish their dreams and will continue to do so long into the future.  Sitting in on just a few meetings with Coach Summitt while she consulted with the Washington Mystics was enough time to be awed by her leadership.  I will continue to support the Pat Summitt Foundation and Coach Summitt’s effort to bring awareness to this disease that she is so courageously fighting.  I wish Coach Summitt nothing but the very best as she starts the next chapter in her life.”

I love when an article totally outside the coaching realm peeks and tweeks my brain to try to figure out how to apply it to our profession.  Success is Success.  Figuring out if and how it translates can make great advances for us.

Can we as coaches apply these strategies to our profession?  Can we make our “business” of coaching “insanely profitable,” if not in dollars and cents, but in achieving deeper, more sincere relationships and a higher level of personal success?  I think so.

Let’s look at this…

Last year, Michael Porter and Mark Kramer wrote what may be the most important business article in a decade, detailed here.

Since its publication, I’ve asked many executive groups to read the article, most said the authors’ work is clearly groundbreaking — but they’re not sure what ground had been broken.

Here’s what the authors argued, and what this blog post will show you how to do: create industry-changing innovation by enriching tribes important to your business, without any concern about how the move will benefit you.

In coaching, don’t we try to do that each and every day with our student-athletes, our staff and those we come in contact with daily?  Create an environment of “selflessness?”  The “Buy-In”, we have a very difficult time at being successful coaches without it.

Porter and Kramer call their approach “creating shared value.” My co-authors and I wrote about something similar in 2008. We now call it “tribal enriching innovation.” It boils down to three steps:

Step No. 1:

Find a group of people important to your business who need help, and commit to helping them, without any thought about how this action will benefit your business.

Well.. it’s a no brainer for that to happen with the SA’s and staff, but better referred to here… how do you treat those people around the department, around your building and the campus community daily?  Do those people feel as though they are valued and important to you, your program?  do they have ownership in the program’s success?

If you want bonus points, commit to helping this group even before you know what you’ll do.  Vacation-rental website Airbnb got this right, and the results are changing the hospitality industry.

In 2009, Airbnb’s situation was desperate. Like many startups, they were amassing debt while trying to get traction on their business that connects people looking for a place to stay with “hosts” who are renting out parts or all of their homes.

Paul Graham, who runs Y-Combinator, plays a key role in where the story goes next.  The co-founders walked into Graham’s office looking for advice.  Airbnb’s Joe Gebbia picks up the story:

And [Paul Graham] asked us a really simple question. He said, “Where’s your market?” We said, “Out of all the cities, New York shows the most promise.” And he said, “So let me understand this: So your users are in New York City, your business is happening in New York City, and you’re here in California?”

We are like, “Yeah, we’re here for the program [Y Combinator].” He says: “Your users are in New York City and you’re here for the program in California?” And there’s a long pause and he goes — famous line — he says, “What are you still doing here? Go to New York City!” And we are like, “What are we going to do in New York City?”

After the three cofounders and Paul Graham brainstormed, they had an idea about how to help the early adopters in New York.

Gebbia told us:

One of the things we realized is that the photos that people were using [to highlight their rooms for rent] were absolutely terrible. The pictures that people were taking were from their camera phones, or Craigslist images, or no images at all.  And we said: “Well, we are design guys, we know how to take a good photo. Why don’t we go and solve this problem ourselves?”

Two of the three founders landed in the New York area intent on fixing that problem. They rented a high-end camera and close to thirty pounds of lenses, other equipment and a tripod. After taking photos, they also sat and talked with the hosts, many of whom made suggestions about the website that the founders had never considered.

They made the changes to the website, uploaded the photographs, emailed thanks to the hosts, often including links to the features the New Yorkers had suggested.  Then they flew back to California to assess the results.  Revenue in New York doubled, from about $200 a week to $400.

Translation to coaches:  Image.  Presentation.  Getting to the source.  When trying to impact those around your building, campus and community.. get to them.  Present a product and image they want to be part of.  Brainstorm the ideas.  Do you pass out t-shirts to all the workers who take care of your building?  Clean your office?, your locker room?  Humbly, make yourself part of them, a “no job too small” mentality to create a strong, selfless environment.

They returned to Paul’s office, showing him the results. Their mentor showed enthusiasm, and then asked again: “What are you still doing here?”

The two co-founders returned to New York, repeating the process, and did to the following weekend. Each time, the revenue from the area doubled. They had reached the point of “ramen profitable,” which was making enough money to pay for rent and pay for ramen, all in one month.

Step No. 2:

Reflect on what new assets your business is developing.

What is the most newest, most pressing development in coaching for you now?  Is it something Community Involvement – service?  X’s & O’s?  Recruiting?  Player Development?  

Steven Johnson uses the words “spare parts” for the same idea. Spare parts, or assets, are anything from a new way to service people, to a better website, to new technical know-how, to relationships, to technology, to a new business model.

In the case of Airbnb, they developed a new business model and way to build great relationships with their hosts that have been the key to the company scaling, now in 186 countries.

Think outside the box.  it may not be any of the above.  it may not be from our “coaching world.”  What can we find, use, apply to coaching that this travel company used?  Anything?  A great idea can come from any place.  Don’t limit your thoughts.

Innovation results from a burning need that is solved with assets that are sitting around.  Often, these assets don’t appear valuable until they are needed.  The fact that the co-founders had an eye for design, were social people, enjoyed meeting users, could take great photographs, and were coachable, all counted as assets.

Tribal enriching innovation gets people to think differently, because now they are focused on a new burning need.  Instead of Airbnb focusing on how to build web traffic, they focused on how to solve problems for their users in New York.  A new burning problem calls for a new way of thinking, and you’ll find yourself using assets you didn’t know you had.

Imagine getting an email from a co-founder of Airbnb, who had visited your home a week earlier.  The email thanks you for your hospitality, includes high-quality photographs of your home, and sends a link to a new feature, which you suggested during the meeting. It’s no wonder the goodwill toward the new company spread throughout New York and beyond.

What can we use like the co-founders did?  One thing that immediately pops to mind is, again, Coach Mike Neighbors Newsletter.  Growing the game, our profession.  Take it a step farther… implement.

We were discussing the draft process in Chicago and our President / CEO says, “we should have a fan make the third round pick?”  That lead to discussion of a season ticket holder contest.  Not sure it will go anywhere, but the “what if” strategy to brainstorm that idea has lead to many thoughts on growing attendance at AllState.  

Step No. 3:

Import the innovation back into your business.  Airbnb now had the business model they’d use to scale.  They would put people on the ground in cities with a large number of hosts, and repeat the process.  The trust and loyalty for Airbnb grew, as did their bookings, and their business.  As the goodwill went viral, new hosts signed up new cities, giving Airbnb a new target for their process.

There’s one important point in this story that’s easily missed: someone has to give business leaders permission to take these bold commitments to help people without any concern for return-on-investment.  With Airbnb, it was Paul Graham.  The trip to New York, on its surface, didn’t scale, but Graham told them it was OK to do it anyway.  Up until that point, the co-founders tried to solve problems as they understood them, through computer code.

I encourage business leaders to read the Porter and Kramer article mostly because Michael Porter is the lead author.  He is the leading figure in competitive advantage and corporate strategy, and Porter is essentially giving us permission to use tribal enriching innovation in the same way Paul Graham gave permission to the Airbnb co-founders.

So here’s the challenge:

“What would be a bold commitment you can make to help a group of people important to your business, without any thought about how the move will benefit you?”

Porter’s assumption — and my bet to you — is that you’ll come up with new assets that will be the key your company’s growth over the next decade.

Ever make such a bold commitment?  Considering making one now?

How Pokey was able to pull off our picks from Kursk Russia…

Do you know how far it is between Kursk, Russia and Chicago?

Ann is a dear friend, easily one of the greatest basketball players ever, a tremendous leader and an accomplished author.

The begining of her story in chapter one is something you will definately want to read.  Her signing with the Pacers, the ridicule of the press and having to forfeit the opportunity to play in the 1980 Olympics.

Thanks to people like Ann Meyers-Drysdale we have a WNBA.  We have a place where our greatest women’s basketball players can play on their own soil, earn a living and not face the taunts of the press as she did.

Read Chapter one HERE: 

The book is still in the pre-order stage, but don’t wait to order it when it is released the first part of May, it coincides with the 40th Anniversary of Title IX.

You can order it HERE from Amazon or from Ann’s website:  http://www.annmeyersdrysdale.com/

Nora Jabbour

Coach Jabbour has often impressed me with her attention to detail, ability to remember and act upon the most minute details, loyalty and great personality.

Certainly a huge benefit to the coaching staff and players at App State.  Thanks for sharing this “nugget” on leadership.

“Success Covers a Multitude of Blunders”

That was a famous quote from George Bernard Shaw, and it has always stuck with me throughout my career as a leader and executive.

What it ultimately told me was yes, I was going to fail – multiple times. But if I was truly determined to overcome, or “cover” them, I absolutely needed to learn from every failure, and leverage that accumulated learning into success.

In so many ways, I’ve grown to appreciate my failures – as counterintuitive as that may seem. Because I now know if I just let them go, without reflection, then they were doomed to be repeated.

There are 7 failures that I believe bring the best improvement opportunities:

Failure to Prioritize – Many a bad decision has come from our lack of perspective on the importance of one thing over another. The key learning here is to fully grasp the concept of “opportunity cost” – the cost of NOT doing something in favor of something else.

Failure to Decide – If the buck is going to stop with us, then we need the courage to make timely decisions, regardless of consensus or the lack of 100% of the information needed to make them. We learn that more often than not, it’s better to “do something” then let fear and inertia overtake us.

Failure to Progress – When a target is reached, the bar must be raised. And when that target is hit, it must be raised again. And again. Complacency is a state that HAS to be avoided, at all costs, and the ultimate learning here is that continuous improvement is an essential focus of any enterprise.

Failure to Praise – Great talent needs to be nurtured and retained, in a manner that goes well beyond the paychecks and bonuses. These lessons come hard, after the loss of individuals who felt unappreciated and undervalued. We learn that humans need to hear those simple words – “You did a great job”.

Failure to Trust – When first taking on a leadership role, there’s always a strong “pull” to be involved in every decision, or to want to “sign off” on literally every dollar spent or contract signed. Until we learn that trust is an essential part of great leadership, we are doomed to overwork and a huge misapplication of time and talent.

Failure to Mediate – Every organization will have conflicts, whether it is person to person, or department to department. Successful leaders learn that stepping into the breach to resolve them, rather than standing back or ignoring them, can avoid even bigger problems down the road, and build influence throughout an organization.

Failure to Fire – Nobody likes to fire anybody. It’s one of the toughest things a leader will ever do. But when you know in your gut it’s time to cut the cord, cut it. Don’t wait. Your gut will usually be right. The failures here are a lesson to the heart – it can’t get in the way of these decisions (but it certainly can come into play in the manner in which it is handled).

Remember this lesson from the baseball diamond:

You don’t have to bat 1,000% to be successful, but when you swing and miss, get out of the box, think, and then learn before you step back in and hit that home run.

Lead well!

I can’t gush over coach Mike Neighbors newsletter anymore than I already have.  Amazing.

This 15 page document is one of the best outlines on being a great assistant that I have read, ever.

TRUST. TALENT. TIME.

Print it.  Read it.  Memorize it.  Live it.

You want the best advice on advancing in our profession.  Be this assistant.  Be the assistant outlined in Trust. Talent. Time.  Be Leo McGarry. Be Michael Neighbors.  Be all of that while still being yourself.

Thanks, as always Coach Neighbors for giving so selflessly and…

GROWING THE GAME!

It’s (almost) that time!

We are just a few days away from the 2012 WNBA Draft… I can’t wait!

I know many of you may be thinking because we were able to trade the #2 pick in this year’s draft for Swin Cash and Le’Coe Willingham, that Pokey hasn’t had her eye on who will be available to us with the #23 and #27 picks…. Don’t bet on it! Pokey has SlingBox in Russia. You already know she never sleeps. So… you know she was up watching games! Pokey always has a little trick up her sleeve. Be sure to tune into the draft coverage (from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn with coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.) on Monday April 16, 2011 to see just what Pokey has planned!

Here is a quick preview of what you can expect on Monday,

READ MORE!

Mike Procopio

I’m going to give you something that at your age is more important than oxygen and that’s the truth. There’s too much fluff given to young people today, especially in the world of high level sports. Right now you are on top of the world for basketball players in your state. For some of you this is the best that is going to get and there is nowhere to go but down. You may think I’m crazy but that is the reality of basketball.

All of you want to make money playing basketball, but only about 20 or so out of the 80 players here will ever do so. Some of you will get hurt, some of you will struggle early and get recruited over, some of you will have struggles with academics and attitude issues, and some of you just won’t be good enough. There are two types of not good enough, there’s the not talented enough not good enough and there is the never reached your potential good enough. The first one is what it is and the second one plagues thousands of players a year. There’s nothing worse than wasted talent, remember that.

A lot of you are thinking “this fat dude is crazy I’m going to make it no doubt”. Well lets put it this way, think of your playing talent as an Ipad. Four years ago everyone wanted one and needed to have it. You saw it on tv, on the internet, and every member of the media writing about it. What happened 15 months later?? The Ipad 2 came out and most people forget all about the Ipad 1 thinking it was obsolete and not as shinny or had the bells and whistles that the ipad 2. Now the original Ipad had value to some and didn’t need the new Ipad because theirs did the trick and had value to them. But all of those people that were craving for the Ipad1 15 months ago, left it behind. It’s the same with basketball players, the players that are hot today, many are forgotten about a year from now and there is a new crop of basketball players that people are wanting. You need to develop value for yourself and keep your game relevant..

You see the 80 of you that are sitting here today, I’ll look into the future basketball wise and tell you what I see. After a year in college 10 of you wont be relevant anymore and will become average players that will spend 4 years on the bench or transfer schools. By year two probably another 15 of you will suffer the same fait as better players will come in to your program and take your spot leaving you to the same fait as the 10 players before. By the end of the four years about 30 or so of you will be good enough to play basketball for money from $400.00 a week in the minor league, to 10-12 thousand dollars a month playing overseas to making a few million dollars a year in the NBA. Out of the 30 probably 10 of you will make steady money playing basketball out of college.

The idea that you need to take home from this talk is don’t trust anyone. In the real world it’s you against the world. The same people that are tweeting about you being so good as a player will be the same person calling for your replacement. Life is about getting things done not about living in the past. You make your own luck in life by your God given talent, work ethic, and your character.

Why do players that waste their talent fail?

1.) Lack of Preparation never learn how to play your position
2.) Bad attitude , bad teammate, un-coachable
3.) Listen to people around you, friends and family that have no prior knowledge or experience on how to develop a basketball player and give you bad advice

I work with the best basketball player in the world, besides his God given talents do you know why Kobe is successful??

1.) Doesn’t waste his time. Everything he does has a purpose to better himself and his career
2.) He works harder than anyone else
3.) Keeps his mind, body, and game sharp
4.) Has no time in his life to have hanger ons and people in his inner circle that doesn’t bring value to him. No posse no crew.

At this stage of your basketball career you have to develop value for yourself. Develop a skill that will separate yourself from the rest. Stop dreaming of becoming the next Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant. Dream about being the next Jodie Meeks, Channing Frye, or Kenny Farried. Everyone wants to be Kobe, but no one ever wants to put the work in like he does. So many people think they can just get on a court and emulate him. No one understands the countless hours he spends working on the things that make him a winning basketball player. Another example of young people wanting something without putting in the work it takes to acquire it.

Understand this there are 420 players in the NBA. About ten of them are irreplaceable. Those players are Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, DeRon Williams, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard,Andrew Bynum, Kevin Love, Dwyane Wade, and Derrick Rose. After that there are about 25-30 High level all-star level players that are in very high demand. After that every one else is replaceable.

You need to develop a skill that is desirable by coaches and scouts. Scoring 25 points on 22 shots is not a skill. There are 1,000 players in the country that can do that. You need to develop something that will help a coach win games. Your games up to this point has made me physically ill. Everything is over dribbling, bad shots, no passing, no looks to the post, and no defense. That is a problem today as no one has a skill other than dominating the basketball and scoring points. Here are some skills that you can develop to help your team win.

Shot-maker

Rebounder

Run a Team

Defender

All of these things are skills that teams need. Once you are in then you can work on developing your craft. You need to aim high no doubt about it, but too many players want to be the elite and when they fall short can’t be happy being a role player.

Why am I so blunt to you ?? Because I have n time for losers. I’m tired of dealing with players that have talent, but never want to learn how to play and when they don’t make it try to blame everyone but themselves. It’s always a coach or someone else’s fault and to be honest I’m tired of hearing it. Basketball is a game of survival of the fittest. You are either good enough or you aren’t. Coaches need players that are going to help them win games not players that don’ want to learn, be coached,, or work. Don’t live on what you have accomplished today. Another thing why is it none of you want to talk or have a relationship with your coach. The problem is you think you’re too cool for it or never can talk to people older than you. The problem is if you don’t do it now, you’ll never be able to talk and open up to your bosses, which will cause big problems for you. Too many young people today are incapable of carrying conversations with people. Here is some advice start now as it won’t get better in time unless you start. This will teach you to talk to people civilly when you have issues with them, enabling you to talk things out with people and resolve small issues that will turn into big issues in time.

You can’t take trophies, articles written about you, or rankings into a tryout. The only thing that you can bring is your talent. At this time of your life you should be developing these skills.

1.) How to be on time

2.) How to work hard and be prepared

3.) How to be a coachable and a good teammate

4.) How to battle through adversity

If you are willing to commit to these four things you’ll not only be a success on the basketball floor but you’ll be a success in life. When most of you stop playing basketball when you are done with college these four things will help you in life when you have to actually get a job and survive in the workplace . In this awful economy do you think a boss will let you get away with being late? You know what happens?? Fired. Your boss has fifty resumes on file with people begging to work, do you think for a second they wont fire you?? Wrong.. Do you think your boss will let you get away with not being prepared and allow you to get in at 9 and leave at 5 when your co-workers are staying late and continually prepared?? Nope you’re fired. Do you think that your boss will let you be disrespectful to them or your co workers?? Nope you’re fired. When things get hard and start going bad at work and you hide from the adversity do you think you’ll hold your job? Nope… Fired.

I know these are things that you may have never heard before, but it’s important to understand how the system works. Nothing is given to you in the real world you need to work hard and earn everything you get. You are in a generation of finger pointers where when things don’t go your way instead of picking yourself up and getting back in the fight you run and hide and blame everyone else but yourself. Look yourselves in the mirror and understand that life is hard, there will be bumps in the road the way you deal with those bumps will determine how successful that you are in life. Stop blaming everyone else and start holding yourself accountable.

Good luck today and God Bless.

 

Is it me, or has the brutal job market turned interview advice into a competitive sport?  Every question seems to get bloggers slamming into each other like 300-pound NFL linemen.  First there were accusations of age discrimination from older workers when, in reality, their kids have far higher rates of unemployment.  Then there was the question of whether it’s illegal or not to ask discriminatory questions in a job interview.  Now there’s the whole Facebook password controversy.  With all the over-the-top political correctness, everybody and the ACLU ready to sue employers for asking a simple question, and all the flat-out bad advice from people who have no idea what they’re talking about, I’ve never been more thrilled to be out of the line of fire.

Top 10 job search blunders
The 10 stages of a nightmare job search

READ MORE

For the past few weeks, the Dishin & Swishin podcast brought you some of the best journalists and former players breaking down each round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament.

They took a different approach to the Finals this week.  Want to know what WNBA coaches think of the Baylor-Notre Dame match up?

This podcast, Seattle Storm head coach and general manager Brian Agler, Tulsa Shock head coach Gary Kloppenburg, and I will look at the two teams, their seasons and the championship game itself.

The conversation included defending and attacking Brittney Griner; the performances of Odyssey Sims and Skylar Diggins; how to combat a physically dominant team like Baylor; the approach each team took to defending the other; and the difficulty of winning when the expectations are high when you have the best player and when you have a physically dominating player.

There is even a (small) glance at the refereeing (hey, they have to work with these refs!)… not by me though, I know better.  I’m an assistant, we get in WAY too much trouble if we speak to officials.  I’ll leave that up to the big dogs!

From Dishin’ & Swishin’ host David Siegel:

“Three of the best minds in women’s basketball share their thoughts and insights from when they watched not only this game, but Baylor, Notre Dame and some of their opponents over the season.

As we bring closure to the NCAA season and get ready for the WNBA draft, I can think of no better finale.”

Enjoy!