Letters to Leaders Seventeen — Carry the Standard

Hello, leaders.

A few weeks ago, former Duke University and Team USA basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) sat down with the Glue Guys podcast to discuss leadership. We ask you to set aside your team affiliations and take an hour to give this a listen.

Listen: https://joincolossus.com/episode/coach-k-get-on-the-right-bus/

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlOtWLN63I

As leaders, we carry the standards and culture of the businesses we steward. Coach K’s conversation in this episode is full of practical insights and timeless thought process for bringing out the best in yourself and your people.

Below are some favorite takeaways. Let us know yours!

I was always hardest on my best players because they could take us to places that good players could not take you to. But if you had your best player, the good players became better.

Well, everyone talks about your goal is to win the national championship, which—that's good. That's a good goal. But what do you do on a daily basis? There has to be common ground for everybody. I call it shared values, shared standards. How does everyone own it?

Really, the study of leadership is the study of people, and people are the best resource for every organization. You can have AI analytics and all that—it's the people. And so you want to keep learning about your people.

Leadership is something you never have a complete handle on. Embrace that word, adaptability, especially in your communication. After your standards, everything else is on the table every year. (Pp)

Part of leadership is understanding you're not going to win all the time, but when you get knocked back, you ask why. What caused it?

One of the things that I would tell a player is, "I'm gonna be enthusiastic every day. I want you to be, too, so we share a common enthusiasm. If I have to use my enthusiasm to get you enthusiastic, that's not good.

But defining your own success, you know, like, we lost some big games over the... over the years and won a lot of big games. I was okay if we lost, but we were worthy of winning.

We’re honored to be on this bus together. Here’s to an outstanding 2025. We’re never farther than a phone call away if you need us.

Until next time,
David & Marty