Mike Krzyzewski’s Leadership ABC’s

Arguably no other coach in history is as closely tied to the world of leadership than the man known as Coach K. Duke’s School of Business has a center on Leadership & Ethics named after him. He does speaking gigs for corporations. He has written five books on leadership and hosts a radio show on the topic. Coach K talked about his leadership approach with Sim Sitkin, a Duke professor and the faculty director of the leadership center that bears Krzyzewski’s name. Below is a summary of that conversation: 

Adjust your strategy to your team.  A hallmark of Krzyzewski’s approach is that he shifts his system each year to his players, rather than shoe-horning his players into his systems. “I try to adjust my leadership based on who I have to help me lead the team.”

Be your best player’s best friend. “It is true that your best player can lead you to the promised land, but your most talented player can also lead you to the junk pile. Their outsized influence on the team means that even if they’re good, their character still matters more. Being the best player is a lonely position. Even though you get accolades, no matter how good of a team you have, there is always some level of jealousy. I want to make sure that I’m connected with that guy because in a tense moment he also might produce better knowing that he’s not out there alone. Leadership is not just to let the star produce, but to be a friend of the star, to motivate the star. Your team is going to go a lot further if your stars push ahead, and everybody else has to work to catch up.”

Cut out distraction. It’s the leader’s job to get rid of distractions. Krzyzewski calls meetings not just to work on offense or defense, but to ask his team members what’s bugging them. “You can lead better if everybody is not distracted,” he says. “Asking people how they feel or if there is something that is bothering them demonstrates your concern. It affirms that they are an important part of the team.”

Don’t have rules, have standards. “Usually when you’re ruled, you never agree with all the rules, you just abide by them. But if you have standards and if everyone contributes to the way you’re going to do things, you end up owning how you do things.”

—The Coaching and Leadership Journal,
November 2012 Issue

The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team