basketball

On the way to a conference in New Orleans, my flight from Raleigh to Charlotte was cancelled due to mechanical problems, and I was booked on a flight to D.C. As I boarded the plane with "The Carolina Way" under my arm, a gentleman seated at the front of the plane asked how I was enjoying the book. I explained that I had not yet started the book, so I could not give an answer. The gentleman followed me to my seat and introduced himself as Dr. Gerald Bell, the co-author of "The Carolina Way". Myself a Carolina fan, I was pleased to meet Dr. Bell, as he spent several minutes talking about Coach Smith, whom I have admired for over forty years, and the UNC basketball program, which is presently undergoing a much needed resurgence under Coach Roy Williams. Dr. Bell's contributions to the book tie Coach Smith's leadership philosophy to practical business applications by relating wonderful anecdotal references from Carolina's storied history to today's business situations. Surely, Coach Smith, given his ability to recruit top players, has been criticized by many for his failure to win NCAA championships in the manner of Coach John Wooden at UCLA, but winning two NCAA championships, winning at a consistency high level unmatched by any program without violating strict NCAA rules, and coaching top players that graduated at a +90% rate and have gone on to be successes in their chosen professions underscore the unique successes of Coach Smith's "system". Teamwork, integrity, loyalty, and hard work, are the cornerstones of the Carolina Way, and anyone in the position of managing, leading, or molding young people today would benefit from reading this book, corny as it is at times. This book is not just for Carolina basketball fans.

It's par for the course, but the slime still manage to advertise their stupidity in the face of excellence.

A leadership book that's one of a kind, missing the redundancy so prevalent in so many leadership books. The fundamentals are broken down into sections, such as:

Part Three:

Chapter 11: Teamwork
Chapter 12: Defining and Understanding Our Roles
Chapter 13: Why Unselfishness Works
Chapter 14: Team-Building Techniques

An excellent read, well off of the typical mundane management path that we've all seen and heard too many times.

I've heard Jerry Bell speak before, so I was thrilled to see him collaborate with Dean Smith on this book. Bell frequently uses words like caring, honesty, integrity, and discipline on his lectures on leadership and it's obvious from reading the book that these were the cornerstones of Coach Smith's teams. I wish more business leaders would understand that there is a correlation between investing in their people and sustained success. So many companies look at employees as disposable commodities, so it's refreshing to hear two men who have achieved so much in their careers say that it starts with genuine care for your people. Smith's philosophy, though simple in word, is truly applicable to the business arena because it promotes thinking intelligently, working extremely hard, and a committment to a greater whole than just oneself. That approach, combined with the real concern for each and every member of his program, created the most successful coaching career in college basketball history. If more CEO's would adopt these principles in their companies, then their work environments would improve, their employees would be more reciprocal in their committment, and bottom lines would increase.
Kudos to Bell and Smith for a thoughtful book with an important message - good guys do win!