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The Gold Standard

Business Plus

TIME TO CHOOSE YOUR PEOPLE

When deciding which individuals to select to form a team, you have to ask the hard questions. This requires a look back at what has been done before and why it may or may not have worked. Often the difficulty lay not in finding the answers but in asking the questions. In making decisions about our team, it was the first step.

The most difficult questions to ask are usually the most basic: the whos, whats, whens, wheres, and, most important, the whys and the hows. Your particular task and specific set of challenges will lend more specificity to these questions. Jerry and I prepared the list below.

• Who

• are we playing against?

• will we bring together to face that competition?

• do we represent?

• What

• are our particular challenges?

• was missing in our recent losses?

• is our motivation?

• When

• are we playing?

• do we assemble to grow together as a unit?

• Where

• are we playing?

• is our venue and what particular challenges does it present?

• Why

• was the old system not working?

• do we care?

• How

• do we change a culture?

• do we prepare to meet our challenge?

• much time do we have to prepare?

No doubt, the root answers to all of these questions lay in the analysis of where we had gone wrong. What could we learn from the past? The basic message was clear, and I think Jerry Colangelo said it best: “Guys who play together can beat a group of all-stars on any given night.” Team over talent. Collective identity over individual ego. And so we looked to those teams that had been successful, that had been achieving as we fell behind. We borrowed from international teams like Argentina and Spain the need for familiarity with one another and for continuity.

In asking for a three-year commitment from the pool of thirty-three American players with whom he spoke, Jerry gave the USA Basketball program that continuity. It was easy to point fingers and blame this guy or that guy for the way he acted or didn’t act in 2004, but Jerry and I both believed that it was our current system that was flawed, not the players. This system was no longer conducive to winning. I eagerly signed up to be a part of the program. I like the way Coach Mike D’Antoni, one of the three National Team assistant coaches, put it when he said, “You need to keep guys together, have them make a commitment. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it guarantees you a chance.” Thanks to our new system, we definitely had a chance, one that was not given to the 2004 team.

In assembling a team that would represent our country in basketball over the next three years, obviously it was important to evaluate what we might have been missing on the court in years past. In this regard, there are certain personnel components that I believe will make any team better, in basketball or business.

For one thing, there is no substitute for talent. And while a great attitude and a solid game plan will take you far, you cannot achieve at the highest level without having some aptitude. At Duke, I used to run good plays for Grant Hill. But then Grant Hill graduated, and all of a sudden those weren’t good plays anymore. You need the talent to fill out your system. Fortunately for our US team, talent was never a problem. The pool from which we had to choose included the elite, professional basketball players of the United States.

I also believe that a team needs some people with experience—veterans. Often those who have been in a particular business the longest are ignored, their contributions replaced by those of the newest up-and-comer. But it’s the veterans who have the deepest level of institutional understanding and who can pass this experience on to the other members of your team. The veterans are also those who grasp the concept of legacy. Legacy asks the question, “Who were you? Did you win? Did you lose? Did you do something special?” Trust me, the people who are experienced enough to ask these questions can motivate your team.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that your group doesn’t need a youthful element. It absolutely does. Youth brings a certain excitement to your undertaking that helps keep the team and you, as the leader, fresh. That’s one thing I have appreciated about being in coaching for so long: being around youthful energy has helped keep me feeling young. Youthful enthusiasm is an essential element for any team.

For the basketball part of it, we had to find a group that could work together offensively. But, more important, we had to select people who could come together and become one solid force on the defensive end of the court. In a business setting and, of course, depending on your goal, the best team for a particular job may be the one that can write and execute the best business plan, or the one that can generate the most creative marketing ideas. But in the basketball business, I have always felt that a great team is the one that can be unified on the defensive end of the floor. What are the core competencies that your team needs to accomplish your goal? The answer to this question will assist you in choosing the people your organization needs to go forward.

Personalities are also a factor. When I was named the national coach in 2005, I made a promise that Jerry and I would put together a team of players who would represent us well both on and off the court. So, who would be the group of men willing to give of themselves to become a part of something bigger? What group of players would be willing to buy in to the three-year commitment and new National Team concept? As it turned out, earning a commitment from the players who joined our team was a lot easier than I had anticipated.

Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade were ready to sign up again as soon as they stepped off the bronze-medal stand in 2004, the last time they had worn red, white, and blue. They knew—like Jerry—that USA Basketball needed to be turned upside down. And those who watched from afar as we lost three games in 2004 Olympic play were just as ready to redefine USA Basketball as those who had participated.

Moment: Dinner with Jerry Colangelo—July 22, 2005—Las Vegas, Nevada

In embarking on a discussion of how this team was selected, I would be remiss not to mention my own selection as head coach and not to credit Jerry with his blueprint for this team—this program—from its outset. The incredible bond that Jerry and I have was cemented at my favorite restaurant, Michael’s, in Las Vegas...