Pat Riley, Inside-Out: The Leadership Legacy

He’s a model in stoicism, the envy of coaches, executives and leaders worldwide for his ability to remain stone-faced regardless of the situation.  

But one thing still fires Pat Riley up: Bruce Springsteen.

“He’s just been a prolific songwriter, guitarist, philanthropist,” Riley said. “I get all jacked up when I go see him in concert. I go down to the pit, stand there for three hours and just get filled up with his spirit.”

For the final installment of “Pat Riley, Inside-Out,” The Daily Coach spoke to the Basketball Hall-of-Fame coach and executive about his musical interests, his evolving definition of success and what continues to drive him each day.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. It was conducted prior to the start of the NBA season.

Part 1: Pat Riley, Inside-Out: The Early Coaching Years
Part 2: Pat Riley, Inside-Out: Core Leadership Views
Part 3: Pat Riley, Inside-Out: Organizational Dynamics

Coach Riley, thank you once again taking the time to do this. I know you’re a big Bruce Springsteen fan and that you particularly like the song “The Land of Hope and Dreams.” Why do you think those lyrics resonate with you?

Well, Marvin Gaye is my first and foremost greatest artist of all time. I was in my formative years back in the day at the end of the 60s. I was between 15 and 25 during that period. He blew me away in 1983 when I was the All-Star coach and they invited him to sing the National Anthem at the Forum. He did a soulful, melodic rendition of it that stands to this day as the best that I’ve ever heard. 

As far as “The “Boss” goes, “The Land of Hope and Dreams” is an anthem song. It really is about all kinds of different people jumping on the train. Whether you’re a beggar, or a criminal, or a good person or a bad person, whatever, just pack your bags and jump on and enter into the land of hopes and dreams.

I met Bruce in 1988 on the Amnesty International Tour in Europe with Sting and Tracy Chapman. I met (Springsteen) for the first time in an elevator. You talk about a shy man. I didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t say anything to me. I didn’t want to disturb his presence. But “The Land of Hope and Dreams,” and his anthems, and his writing over the years have been something that’s inspired me.

The one that’s inspired me most is probably the year that he released “The Rising.” After 9/11, he’d been going to a lot of funerals for his friends who lost their lives in the World Trade Towers. He was on hiatus at that time and not really writing. Somebody walked out of a church funeral and yelled at him, “Bruce, we need you.” He went home and started to interview a lot of families from 9/11. Then, he came out with “The Rising,” which was a testimony to that particular day.

Want to shift back to your professional career. You've won nine NBA titles now as a player, coach and executive. How does Pat Riley measure personal success?

There are a lot of different definitions for success. I remember Wayne Dyer was talking about happiness one time. He started the lecture by saying, “There’s no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. There’s no way to making money. Making money is the way. There’s no way to success. Success is the way.”

How do you define success? Well, the numbers will define it for other people, who will give you the recognition for championships or games or Most Valuable Players. That’s not success. 

I’ve learned it’s a real inner feeling of great pride in what you’re doing and what you’ve accomplished without thumping your chest. You can be successful at a very low level and feel great about what you’re doing for people in the community…

There are so many avenues to success, but to me, it’s an inner satisfaction more than it is anything that comes your way. 

What worries you these days?

I don’t worry about my image. I’m not trying to put on a face.

What I do worry about are people who may not be getting what I believe they deserve, and that bothers me. I try to rectify that, especially in this (Miami Heat) organization if I can.

What’s happening in society today, I am worried about where our country is headed. It doesn’t make any difference what side of the aisle I’m on. I’m worried about our overall leadership at the highest levels. It’s not a post-pandemic thing. I believe this goes back to my formative years between 1960 and 1970.

I think we’re products of our environments, our education and our experience. Between 15 and 25, even though I wasn’t well-versed in anything other than basketball, I was very conscious of what was going on with the Cuban-Missile Crisis. I loved JFK to death and was absolutely in tears when he was assassinated. When Martin Luther King was assassinated, it was the same feeling. Robert Kennedy, Medgar Evers. That was a decade of youth. There were 177 million people in America at that time, and 70 million of them were young. There was always a revolution in our country at that time because of that damn war. Late in the 60s, all of the young people began to rebel in a lot of ways that they are today.

History has a way of repeating itself when our young people are looking at a future that may not be what they were raised in. This goes across the board, not just in America but in this world.

I worry about those kinds of things that are going to have an impact on my children, and your children and your grandchildren. We have to do something about that. I don’t have the answers. We can only to do it at the ballot box from that standpoint.

Worry? I’m too old to worry, but I do have some fears about where we are today. The 60s taught me a lot about growing up and becoming a young man.

What mountains do you feel are still left for you to climb?

One of the great speeches I ever heard was by Zig Ziglar in a lecture he’d given around 2000. It was “See You At the Top.” He had a pump on stage, and every seven minutes, he’d go over and prime that pump and make you laugh. At the end of the speech, when he primed the pump the very last time, water came out of it. The whole concept was if you prime the pump in life of the things you really want, eventually one day, they will just flow. So, for 55 years, I’ve been priming the pump.  

Are there more mountains for me personally to climb? Yes, there are for me personally. As a coach or president, I really want to prime the pump and see all of the people who have been with me for the last 28 years get out of life what they want, get out of this job what they want. That is very important to me. 

Climbing mountains, I hope we can win more championships with Spo, and Jimmy Butler, and Bam Adebayo, and the team that we have here can be in the hunt every year.

I take great pride in our team being in the hunt every year. We don’t try to lose, ever. Even when I know we’re going to lose, we’re going to go out and play hard every single night. I’ve never, ever played for the lottery. Ever. I will never do that.

I think that’s one of the things people appreciate about our team here in Miami. They know we’re going to try to win every year. That’s why they come and watch us. I want to see this organization grow and be respected and be the most admired and respected team in the NBA. To me, that would be born out of a team that works hard. People respect the work ethic, and our attitudes, and how we present ourselves. To me, that’s the last mountain for me to climb is to make sure the Heat and everybody who works for the Heat are left with something good.

How do you most want to be remembered? 

There’s a great quote from the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia was interviewed in Rolling Stone one time, and I read the article. I was not a Deadhead like Bill Walton, by the way — I’m more of a Springsteen guy — but I remember (Garcia) being asked by a reporter about his legacy and how he wanted to be remembered. I wrote it down word for word.

He said, “You don’t merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do.” There’s nothing wrong with separating yourself from the pack. There’s nothing wrong at all in trying to do that. There’s nothing wrong in trying to be unique and different.

What you really want to do after a long career is just leave some footprints for others to follow. That’s not a legacy. That’s something you aspire to do. If some day, somebody were to follow me or to say, “I was inspired or motivated by what Pat said or how he acted or how he looked,” then I’ll feel like I’ve done my job.