At the risk of alienating readers who are University of Kentucky Wildcat fans (like my brother), today’s post features the leadership lessons we can learn from Louisville Cardinals basketball coach, Rick Pitino. With his team ranked number 3 in the country at the moment, Pitino is the only coach who has led three different schools (Providence, Kentucky, Louisville) to the Final Four. A recent article in Investors Business Daily outlines Pitino’s winning leadership and coaching philosophy.
Here’s a quick summary of the Pitino way:
• Motivate to the right level
• Focus on continuous improvement
• Scout the competition
• Coach the individuals, not just the team
• Get the hard stuff out of the way first
• Schedule your time efficiently
• Hire great help
• Establish goals and follow through
On the last point of establishing goals and following through, I’m reminded of some of the executives who have been through our Next Level Leadership® group coaching program. In our newly released white paper that summarizes the lessons learned from working with over 300 high potential leaders, one of the common denominators in the case study reports is a clear focus on goals and an actionable plan for following through. You can request a copy of the white paper here to learn more.
Have you ever been coached by one of the greats? (Maybe you’re one of the greats yourself.) What would you add to Pitino’s list?
