Mike Krzyzewski Quotations | Page 2

I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.

The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions. Not me. I don't want to be a manager or a dictator. I want to be a leader-and leadership is ongoing, adjustable, flexible, and dynamic. As such, leaders have to maintain a certain amount of discretion

It's funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you'd do. It's terrific.

Are you going to show integrity only when someone is watching you - or are you going to show it all the time?

Never let a person's weakness get in the way of their strength.

A leader has to show the face his team needs to see.

Goals should be realistic, attainable, and shared among all members of the team

A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.

Leaders show respect for people by giving them time.

Don't do anything as an individual that will make you stand out from your teammates.

I don't think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them.

Never delegate. Always empower.

Courage gives a leader the ability to stand straight and not sway, no matter which way the wind blows.

In our program, the truth is the basis of all we do. There is nothing more important than the truth because there's nothing more powerful than the truth. Consequently, on our team, we always tell each other the truth. We must be honest with one another. There is no other way.

Effort is fully replenishable. There is no need to save any of it. Leave every bit you have on the playing field

You develop a team to achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone. All of us alone are weaker, by far, than if all of us are together.

Leadership is an ever-evolving position.

The worst thing we can do is put the (other) team in a one-and-one.

It's not like we have not had close games. We've just been able to win them, and as a result, the reality sometimes doesn't set in that you're weak in certain areas or you're not doing certain things well. ... When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance.

Leaders have to give time for relationships. But more demands will be placed on their time as they become more successful. So if a person's success is based on developing relationships, then they have to continually find new ways of getting it done

I was very pleased with the entire selection process. The manner in which it was conducted included all parts of United States' basketball, from the professional level to the colleges and high schools. Everyone was considered.

When you cleanse yourself of a big victory, you may open yourself up to the opportunity for an even bigger victory

You have to work hard at staying in contact with your friends so that the relationships will continue and live on... Friendships, along with love, make life worth living.

I didn't miss any games, but Coach Knight came out and spent three days with my family in Chicago when my dad passed away. I came back and played and it was good therapy for me. Having a basketball family and a coach who understood and actually became like a father figure for that time was comforting to me, and I'm sure that will be comforting to Coleman.

I try to see each new season as a new challenge because I have a new team to work with, new opponents to encounter, and often new ideas and theories to try

Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them.

As a leader you can get sidetracked but you have to complete your mission

Great rivalries don't have to be built on hatred. They're built on respect, on a respect for excellence.

A team is a fist-not five fingers.

Almost everything in leadership comes back to relationships.

There are always those times when you're going to be down. It's how you step through it that makes you the person you are.

Footwork is one of the primary prerequisites to becoming a great player

If the only reason I coached was to win basketball games, my life would be pretty shallow

It’s simply doing what you’re supposed to do as well as you can when you’re supposed to do it.

I never want to lead a team that is not allowed the freedom to pursue what's in their hearts. If you want your team to be fully committed, then you'd better be fully committed

For a college basketball player or coach, to reach the Final Four is la-la land. You've achieved, you've got your stamp of approval. My first team to do that was in 1986. Then we did it in '88, '89 and '90.

Turning down the Lakers was tough, but it is always good to renew your vows to the loves of your life.

Pete Newell told me 'get as much information and learn as much about the game as you can, but use your own personality to teach it.'

In leadership, there are no words more important than trust.

A leader's responsibility to his team is paramount. It overshadows even his own personal feelings at any given time.

A common mistake among those who work in sport is spending a disproportional amount of time on "x's and o's" as compared to time spent learning about people.

Confidence shared is better than confidence only in yourself.

People want to be on a team. They want to be part of something bigger than themselves. They want to be in a situation where they feel that they are doing something for the greater good.

The only way you're going to grow is to be in difficult situations.

Visualize a wagon wheel as a complete team. A leader might be the hub of the wheel at the center. Now suppose the spokes are the connecting relationships the leader is building with people on the outer rim of the wheel. If the hub is removed, then the entire wheel collapses. In a situation like that, if a team loses the leader, the entire team collapses.

Encourage members of your team to take the initiative and act on their own.

That's why basketball was so good, because I didn't really need you or anyone else to play it. It would be better if we played four-on-four or five-on-five, but I could go out there alone.

During the season, your team should be led with exuberance and excitement. You should live the journey. You should live it right. You should live it together. You should live it shared. You should try to make one another better. You should get on one another if somebody's not doing their part. You should hug one another when they are. You should be disappointed in a loss and exhilarated in a win. It's all about the journey.

I believe work is good. There is dignity in work. I also believe that a hard-work ethic forges strong leaders.

Sometimes it's not bad to hurt. Sometimes you don't want things until you get hurt. We got hurt today, let's see what we do.

Throughout the season, I look into my players eyes to gauge feelings, confidence levels, and to establish instant trust.

Players' attention spans get less and less as they progress.

In putting together your standards, remember that it is essential to involve your entire team. Standards are not rules issued by the boss; they are a collective identity. Remember, standards are the things that you do all the time and the things for which you hold one another accountable.

You cannot merely expect culture to be a natural occurrence; it has to be taught and made a part of your everyday routine.

Always get back to your core principles.

Embrace the hell out of personal responsibility.

If you set up an atmosphere of community and trust, it becomes a tradition. Older team members will establish your credibility with newer ones. Even if they don't like everything about you, they'll say, 'He's trustworthy, committed to us as a team.'

Friendships, along with love, make life worth living.

Don't let a single game break your heart.

My mom gave me unconditional support and unfailing love. You can't get any better than that. That's why I've never been afraid to lose.

Leadership is simple: Add value to people everyday.

I have a plan of action, but the game is a game of adjustments.

When I had troubles, I'd go out with basketball - you can do it by yourself, too. So you'd go out and shoot, and you'd fantasize.

Leaders have to search for the heart on a team, because the person who has it can bring out the best in everybody else.

I believe a big part of leadership is about winning the moment.

Believe that the loose ball that you are chasing has your name wirtten on it.

The best teams are team in any sport that lose themselves in the team. The individuals lose their identity. And their identities come about as a result of being in the team first.

...you can't play any defense if the other team is on the foul line.

We travel in Duke stuff... They can have a hat, but it must be a Duke hat.

Why do you play a game? I play a game to see how good we can be.

When you are speaking to your team after a game, never talk about the kid who was the star of the game. Talk about what your other players did to help the team win. Be sure to spread the wealth... Then have individual meetings with one to three players to praise and reinforce. Make sure you touch them.

Good sound habits are more important than rules - use concepts.

Therefore, as a player, as a coach, even though we might have lost in a season or not won a championship, it was like a self-fulfilling prophecy that I'm going to win some time. I've never felt myself a loser.

Sometimes in a defeat, you can set the stage for future victory. I wanted them to feel good about what they had accomplished. Not to like losing, but to like the success that they had.

We lost, and that's the main thing that went wrong,

I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team.

Defense is one man guarding the ball and four others helping him

In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards do

People have to be given the freedom to show the heart they possess. I think it’s a leader’s responsibility to provide that type of freedom. And I believe it can be done through relationships and family. Because if a team is a real family, it’s members want to show you their hearts.

Every leader needs to remember that a healthy respect for authority takes time to develop. It’s like building trust. You don’t instantly have trust, it has to be earned.

Mutual commitment helps overcome the fear of failure—especially when people are part of a team sharing and achieving goals. It also sets the stage for open dialogue and honest conversation.

Discipline is doing what you are supposed to do in the best possible manner at the time you are supposed to do it.

Two are better than one if two act as one.

Courage and confidence are what decision making is all about.

A leader has to be positive about all things that happen to his team. Look at nothing in the past as failure.

The team that trusts-their leader and each other-is more likely to be successful.

As teachers and coaches, we must remember that when mere winning is our only goal, we are doomed to disappointment and failure. But when our goal is to try to win, when our focus is on preparation and sacrifice and effort instead of on numbers on a scoreboard then we will never lose.

When you first assemble a group, it's not a team right off the bat. It's only a collection of individuals

When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his team

There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. I like to think of each as a separate finger on the fist. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable

I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. I don't make a player, and a player doesn't make me a coach. We make each other.

I don't think you play for other people's expectations, you know. You don't go and become a lawyer because your mother or father want you to, you don't become a coach because somebody wants you to.