Rating: 
Summary: Steps to a Dream
Review: My stepdaughter decided she wanted to go to Duke at the age of six, when she fell in love with Bobby Hurley's vibrant playing style. As a result, we've watched the growth of Duke's men and women's basketball programs over the years. Recently, we took my stepdaughter, now sixteen, to see the campus and what do you know; there in Cameron Indoor Stadium was Coach K with about 250 young men for basketball camp. We bought the book on the way out and I read the entire book in one day.This book appeals on several levels. For a teenager, it can be a road map to help reach a dream. Coach K describes what he looks for in prospective players and his combination of talent, respect for authority and coachability clearly distinguish any promising athelete. However, they are equally hallmarks of the best entry level professsionals in business. Coach K's use of the phases in a season work very well as a framework to build his ideas on. The analogies to business situations, which he makes from time to time, are inescapable for anyone who leans to team based leadership styles. In our work, this book will become the basis for a team building exercise to help launch a new team and a new business. I strongly recommend reading the book and sharing it with your team and your kids. It will be a great discussion source for both groups you need to communicate with.
Rating:
Summary: Simply phenomenal
Review: One of the few "good guys" in college basketball, Coach K always seems to have two things in common that are usually mutually exclusive in college sports - a superlative record of winning & more importantly, a superlative family atmosphere. Too many times in both college and in business we hear of two types of coaches and managers - the overly soft players coach or the motivate by fear authoritarian type. Seldom have we seen a coach succeed at such a high level who, through a tireless work ethic, has engendered such indelible values as trust, personal responsibility, honesty, teamwork, the ability to laugh at one's mistakes, selflessness, & a genuine love for those on your team as if they were your family. This is, as opposed to a memoir, a leadership book - one that everyone who has followed Duke would enjoy and learn from. Coach K reveals his secrets to motivating players, his core values, how to deal with adversity, how to maintain a level of excellence, & what it takes to get to the top - in sports, business, and in life. Coach K chronicles humorous and educational anecdotal stories with his players such as Chris Collins, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Jeff Capel, Danny Ferry, Trajan Langdon, Wojo, Johnny Dawkins, & Shane Battier to name a few that helped mold them into not only great players on the court, but more importantly, great leaders off of the court. The audio version is especially poignant and well read.
Rating:
Summary: Simply phenomenal
Review: One of the few "good guys" in college basketball, Coach K always seems to have two things in common that are usually mutually exclusive in college sports - a superlative record of winning & more importantly, a superlative family atmosphere. Too many times in both college and in business we hear of two types of coaches and managers - the overly soft players coach or the motivate by fear authoritarian type. Seldom have we seen a coach succeed at such a high level who, through a tireless work ethic, has engendered such indelible values as trust, personal responsibility, honesty, teamwork, the ability to laugh at one's mistakes, selflessness, & a genuine love for those on your team as if they were your family. This is, as opposed to a memoir, a leadership book - one that everyone who has followed Duke would enjoy and learn from. Coach K reveals his secrets to motivating players, his core values, how to deal with adversity, how to maintain a level of excellence, & what it takes to get to the top - in sports, business, and in life. Coach K chronicles humorous and educational anecdotal stories with his players such as Chris Collins, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Jeff Capel, Danny Ferry, Trajan Langdon, Wojo, Johnny Dawkins, & Shane Battier to name a few that helped mold them into not only great players on the court, but more importantly, great leaders off of the court. The audio version is especially poignant and well read.
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