Answering A Leader's Call

Have you ever wondered what makes a good player great? Coach Mike Krzyzewski tells the story of how he willed Shane Battier to be a star by calling him every day and asking him specific thought-provoking questions.

One summer morning in 1999, he called Shane, a rising junior at the time, and asked him if he had looked in the mirror and seen next year’s conference player of the year. When Battier fumbled his words, Coach K hung up.

The next day he called the 6’8” forward and asked him if he had pictured himself scoring 30 points in any game the following season. Battier was clearly not ready for that question either, so he encountered another dead phone. It was after the 1998-1999 season when Duke saw four productive players leave from a team that lost in the 1999 national championship to UConn, Trajan Langdon graduated. Elton Brand, a sophomore at the time, decided to go pro. William Avery, a sophomore, got drafted 14th by the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Freshman Corey Maggette got drafted just before Avery by the now-defunct Seattle Supersonics.

If when it rains it pours, it certainly was a storm for Duke that summer. Coach K had never had a player leave Duke before graduating up to that time, but then not one, but three players left early.  Had that team played another year together, the Blue Devils would have at least made the Final Four again. However that was not to be, so Coach K had to form another plan which was to make Shane Battier, a role player on that 1998-1999 team, into a star. This was made more difficult because Battier had never imagined himself as a star. After the second call, Battier called his coach back, asking him not to hang up on him again.

Coach K replied, "I won't hang up on you if you won't hang up on you.”

As you may know, Battier and Duke won the 2001 National Championship and Battier was named the tournament's most outstanding player. How many times have we seen players who are so blessed with talent and ability but just don’t believe in themselves?

The above story along with many others can be found in Dan Spainhour's latest book, Leading Narratives: The perfect collection of stories, jokes and wits of wisdom for leaders.

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