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  TRUST IN ACTION

  Elton Brand is a Los Angeles Clipper, an NBA All-Star, and a member of the United States National Team. In 1998, he had just completed his freshman year at Duke, in which we had had a great season, losing in the NCAA Regional championship game to the University of Kentucky. At the end of each season, many of the great players in college basketball are pursued by the NBA to forgo the rest of their college career and enter their name in the NBA draft.

  In discussing his predicted position in the draft, Elton and I came to the conclusion that it would be better for him to come back for his sophomore year, continue his education, become a better player, and improve his position for the 1999 draft.

  On the last day that an undergraduate was permitted to turn in his name for the draft, I received a phone call from Elton. Because the school year had ended, he was already at home in New York. Through his tears, he explained to me that he was being pressured by many around him to enter the NBA draft and that, based on our previous discussion, this was not what he wanted to do. Instead of faltering under the pressure, Elton trusted me enough to let me know that he was feeling pulled in another direction and to ask for my guidance. In the face of a personal crisis, he came to me because we had established a basis of trust and he knew that I wanted what was best for him. Should he do what other people were asking him to do or should he do what he believed was right for him?

  By the end of the day, Elton Brand was still a Duke Blue Devil. He felt strong enough to say no to the NBA. To me, he just said, “Thanks, Coach.”

  That summer, Elton became a key member of the United States Goodwill Basketball Team, enhancing both his skills and his reputation. Before the start of the 1998–99 season, it was predicted by many that he would be selected as the National Player of the Year.

  Elton started the year playing fairly well, but not to the level that both he and I knew he could. I asked him to meet with me individually in my office, and we had a very serious talk in which I told him that he would not be in the starting lineup for our next two games. The morning after our conversation, Elton knocked on my office door, stuck his head in, and said, “Coach, you’re right. And we won’t have to have this talk in the future.” Again, he trusted me.

  At the end of the 1999 season, Elton was named National Player of the Year and our team had the opportunity to play in the National Championship game. This time, after the season, he and I, together with his mother, made the decision that it was the right time for him to put his name into the NBA draft. Elton became the number one overall pick in the 1999 NBA draft. He is now the go-to guy for the Los Angeles Clippers and is financially secure for the rest of his life. If you asked Elton Brand, he would tell you: trust pays off.

  Will

  Even after reviewing the stat sheet and seeing that he had scored only one point, I knew that Wojo had won the game; he willed it.

  Steve Wojciechowski, nicknamed Wojo, was our captain and senior point guard for the 1997–98 season. It was our final home game and we were playing our archrivals, the University of North Carolina. The winner would be the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season champions. By our standards, the Duke program had been down the past couple of seasons and we were just beginning to get back on track. Since 1993, we were 1–9 against Carolina and they had a very talented team again this year. Needless to say, we wanted this one badly, especially Wojo. This was his last game in Cameron Indoor Stadium and he was determined that his senior class would go out as winners.

  In fact, the team wanted to win so badly that it seemed to make us play tight in the first half. We were not playing to win, we were playing not to lose, and as a result we were down by 13 at the half. At halftime, I was very emotional with my team in the locker room; I asked if they were scared and why we weren’t fighting. I knew, looking into Wojo’s eyes, we would play a tremendous second half, and that the outcome of the game would rely on this kid’s will.

  The tide began to shift at around the 12-minute mark of the second half, and by the time there were eight minutes left in the game, it felt as if the momentum had swung in our direction. It was the loudest (and the hottest) that I can remember Cameron Indoor Stadium ever being. The crowd was exceptional, Elton Brand and Roshown McLeod had begun to hit shots, and our defense had begun to slow Carolina down. It was as if our community had come together to win this game; we had to win this game. In the middle of it was Wojo; he was the maestro of it all. His job was to ensure that all of us sustained that level of intensity for the remainder of the game.

  According to him, “It was one of those games where you’d rather die than lose.” When you invest in something at such a high level, you will do anything to make it happen. To Wojo, there was only one possible outcome of that game. And to achieve that outcome, someone had to have the will to lead our entire community for those final eight minutes.

  Will begins with a foundation of character, values, and standards. As a leader or parent, you cannot merely look at a kid and order him or her to have willpower. You have to begin by establishing a core set of values that will make up his or her character. The definition of will, then, is a refusal to give up those values. Will can only be displayed when it is tested by challenging circumstances. Wojo had the will, and the UNC game that year gave him the platform on which to exhibit that will. We came back from a 17-point deficit in the second half to win 77–75, in one of the most dramatic comebacks ever in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

  Many people have seen the conclusion of that game when Wojo runs across the court to me and we hug. That hug was one of the great moments of both of our careers. The reason why the two of us instinctively came together at that moment was because we both knew why we had won: he knew it and I knew it and, chances are, no one else did. We won because of Wojo’s will.

  Work

  Ambition alone is not enough. That ambition must be coupled with hard work for success to be achieved.

  I love hard work. It is a staple of all that I do and all that I ask of my teams. A lot of people hear the words “hard work” and say, “Oh, no. I don’t want to do that.” I want to coach kids who hear that they are going to have to work hard and then get excited about how much they will improve as a result.

  I grew up in an environment of hard work. My father was an elevator operator in Chicago and my mother scrubbed floors at night at the Chicago Athletic Club. Even if they were sick or tired, they always went to work and worked hard. They truly believed that there was a dignity in their work. I attended Catholic schools my whole life, and then West Point, where the lesson was reinforced by my teachers and coaches.

  Work is a necessity if you want to improve. It is the road you have to follow to become better. Throughout my time as a coach, it is no coincidence that my best players have been the hardest workers. When I had the opportunity to serve as an assistant coach for the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team,” I noticed that even these individuals, some of the greatest athletes in the world, always put forth extra effort. Players like David Robinson, Karl Malone, and Chris Mullin always had a daily routine that they did in addition to our normal practice session. They would lift weights early in the morning, work on their endurance, or stay after practice to get in extra shooting. They embraced work as the process that you go through to become exceptional.

  I often give my players quotes about a certain word or topic in order to help them better understand and remember its meaning. One of my favorite quotes about hard work was said by one of the greatest coaches of all time, John Wooden. He said, “Nothing will work unless you do.” In other words, you can have the best plans, the most perfect offensive and defensive schemes, and even a great amount of talent. But if you and your team are not willing to put in hard work, your plans will never be realized.

  Another quote I often share with my players was by NBA legend Jerry West. He said, “You don’t get much done if you only work on the days that you feel good.” Hard work cannot be sporadic. It cannot take place only on the sunny day
s. If you want your best to become a habit, you must engage in intensive, intelligent, and persistent practice. I believe you play like you practice, so when you practice hard every day, playing hard will seem natural when the game is on the line.

  A final quote about work that I share with my teams is Roger Staubach’s: “Spectacular achievements are always preceded by unspectacular preparation.” Hard work is not pretty, or glamorous, or even fun. But, as I learned from my coach Bob Knight, winners prepare to win. Of course, everybody would like to win. But real winners put forth the time and effort to make it happen. And, in fact, by putting in the work, you make yourself worthy of winning. And I truly believe that you will not win consistently unless you are worthy.

  I have been blessed to coach some extremely hardworking young men over the years. When I coached Bobby Hurley, he would work incredibly hard throughout practice, and afterward he would get on a StairMaster and work out at least an additional half hour. He never wanted his body to tell his mind that he was tired.

  Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick are the two most recent examples of what you can become by working hard all the time. Each of them never missed a practice and would never substitute themselves out of a drill. They wanted to be in every play. They also worked after practice each day to get better. Although they were ambitious, they knew that ambition alone would not do it for them. Hard work had to form a partnership with ambition for them to achieve the success they desired.

  Conclusion

  The Fist

  You should never stop learning to own words. There are always more words, deeper meanings, and more stories to go with those words. Each time I witness one of these words in action, I come to own it more completely. In this book, I have offered you a beginning: forty words, explanations, and stories that are important in my life.

  Coming to understand and own each individual word is a great beginning. But just as words come together to form sentences, paragraphs, and entire books, the concepts behind the words come together to form an individual’s character or the collective character of a team, business, or family. For many years, I have used the analogy of The Fist to describe how five vital words come together and help to create teamwork. The Fist is a teaming of words and concepts in order to form one single powerful entity.

  Five fingers held together in a tight formation, a fist, is far more effective and powerful than five fingers held outstretched and alone.

  In basketball, the five individuals on the court must act as one, as a fist, in order to achieve the success that they could not find acting as five independent players.

  Each separate finger that makes up The Fist symbolizes a fundamental quality that renders a team great. For my teams, we emphasize five words, all of which appear in this book: communication, trust, collective responsibility, care, and pride. I believe that any of these traits alone is important. But all five together are tough to beat. In reality, those five fingers can represent any five words that one wishes to emphasize with their team, business, or family. What unites you? What are your common purposes? And what methods do you plan to use in bringing your team together? What words comprise your Fist?

  My goal, when I teach The Fist, is five people playing together for one purpose. In our pre-game and pre-practice huddles, we do not say, “Defense!” or “Win!” Instead, in unison, we say, “Together!” And we intend to play that way. The Fist serves as a symbol of how we can achieve that togetherness. Instead of giving high fives or patting one another on the back, my teams put their fists together. When I show them my fist and they show me theirs, we remind one another of the five words that will bring us together and allow us to be the strongest that we can be.

  Everyone should be able to write a book like this, illustrating the words that are important to who we are using stories from our own lives. Actually, this book does not have an ending. There are always more words, more stories and examples, and heightened understanding. There are words that others could teach me that I do not yet own myself. My goal is to never stop learning and understanding keywords. As I grow to understand these things more and more, I know I have more to offer my teams, my friends, and my family. I know that, as my treasury of words grows, I continue to grow and develop as a person, a family man, a coach, and a leader.

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  MIKE KRZYZEWSKI is the New York Times bestselling author of Leading with the Heart: Coach K’s Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life. He has been the head basketball coach at Duke University since the 1980–81 season, leading the Blue Devils to ten Atlantic Coast Conference championships, ten Final Fours, and three NCAA National Championships in 1991, 1992, and 2001. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. In addition to his duties with Duke Basketball, Krzyzewski will also serve as head coach of the USA Men’s National Team that will compete in the 2008 Olympics. Coach K is an executive-in-residence at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and the Coach K Center for Leadership & Ethics.

  JAMIE K. SPATOLA grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and graduated from Duke University with a BA in English in 2003. She currently resides in Lawton, Oklahoma, with her husband, Chris, who is a captain in the United States Army. Jamie is the proud daughter of Mike and Mickie Krzyzewski.