Coach K - Exemplary Leader

Exemplary Leader Paper

The Gold Standard – Mike Krzyzewski

I still remember it like it was yesterday. It was 2004 and I was sitting in the living room watching TV with my college roommates. Allen Iverson, the starting guard for Team USA, was in the post-game press conference at the Athens 2004 Olympics. He had a medal around his neck and was talking about how proud he was for winning it. He also discussed the pride he felt while representing the United States. He even went on to share about how he couldn’t wait to, one day, tell his children the story about the time he won a medal in the Olympics. It was a touching moment for a player who has been tagged as a selfish ball hog throughout his career. One could even argue that his words displayed everything that is right about the Olympics: standing on the podium, pride for your country, doing your best and giving your all. There was just one problem. The medal around his neck was bronze. Team USA doesn’t bring home the bronze. Team USA scoffs at the thought of a silver medal in basketball. The sport was created on our home soil and anything short of gold is considered failure. Allen Iverson was putting on quite a display of patriotism and pride during this press conference but everyone who watched these Olympic Games knew we had a problem. Coach Mike Kryzezwski (Coach K), head basketball coach at Duke University, was pegged as the man to fix this problem. He was anointed as the man who would lead USA basketball back to its rightful place in the basketball cosmos. Coach K had to lead our team back to the gold.

The Gold Standard is a book that outlines Coach K’s winning strategy and leadership methodology. The book clearly highlights the fact that it was his leadership strategy, rather than X’s and O’s, that brought home the gold in Beijing. With the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders he put together a leadership system for success that can be applied beyond the boundary of the hardwood...