Who We Lead

Rick Pitino has done just about everything over his illustrious basketball coaching career. He’s achieved success in the NBA, won two college national championships, and has turned around a team in Europe.

But the 69-year-old isn’t slowing down. He’s now at tiny Iona College in suburban New York, far from the pomp and pageantry of the University of Kentucky, Louisville or the Boston Celtics. He knows he isn’t coaching the best right now. He doesn’t have five-star recruits on his roster or play his home games at a 20,000-seat arena.

But Pitino is happy — not because he is back coaching the game he loves but because he gets to do it the way he really wants.

Pitino has removed all of the trappings from himself and his Iona team, which, this past weekend, pulled off a remarkable upset over highly-ranked Alabama.

There are no more plush offices, corner suites or private jets. Now, he spends his life teaching to an engaged audience. He has a team of players eager to learn, eager to embrace his knowledge, eager to improve their craft.

He doesn’t have to worry about playing time for the elite recruit or parents complaining that he’s holding their sons back. He coaches freely and teaches the ones who want to be taught. For all of his glory and past success, Pitino can make a real difference now because his players are willing to let him.

Who we lead is as important as how we lead. When we compromise our beliefs to acquire bigger names — with the idea of winning more games or earning more money — then we lose the freedom of being ourselves. We might have more talent, but our strength as the leader rarely reaches its full potential.

When we have to oversell our program to potential recruits, we compromise our ability to teach and influence. And when we take players who have high-level talent but don’t fit our program or values, our success level often rapidly declines. Boosters may be happy the school landed a top recruit, but the ripple effect of the signing can cause massive headaches.

Instead of taking five-stars, Pitino is taking two- and three stars and turning them into four stars every day. Over time, he’ll be able to compete at the highest level of college basketball again because his players will constantly get better.

Developing the right culture is never easy. Pitino has an advantage at Iona because he doesn’t have the resources, so saying no to top recruits’ demands is easy. His bluechip recruit is himself — and his uncanny ability to make players better.

When we bring in the right people instead of the most talented ones, we’ll see significant growth in our teams and become far happier as leaders. In whatever industry we’re in, when we know the type of personnel we want, we’ll steadily get better. We may never win the recruiting titles, but we can win the title that matters most — on the field, in the boardroom, in the classroom.

Most of all, we’ll really enjoy our jobs.

Just ask Rick Pitino.