Mike Krzyzewski
Only the mediocre are always at their best. If your standards are low, it is easy to meet those standards every single day, every single year. But if your standard is to be the best, there will be days when you fall short of that goal. It is okay to not win every game. The only problem would be if you allow a loss or a failure to change your standards. Keep your standards intact, keep the bar set high, and continue to try your very best every day to meet those standards. If you do that, you can always be proud of the work that you do.Collection: Fall
You develop a team to achieve what one person cannot accomplish alone. All of us alone are weaker, by far, than if all of us are together.Collection: Team
Effective teamwork begins and ends with communicationCollection: Teamwork
A leader is someone who puts their people in position to be successful all the timeCollection: Successful
The only way you're going to grow is to be in difficult situations.Collection: Difficult Situations
When you are passionate, you always have your destination in sight and you are not distracted by obstacles. Because you love what you are pursuing, things like rejection and setbacks will not hinder you in your pursuit. You believe that nothing can stop you!Collection: Basketball
Leadership is simple: Add value to people everyday.Collection: Simple
You don't just be a team. You become a team. Through tough games you find that you need each otherCollection: Basketball
Never delegate. Always empower.Collection: Empowering
Never let a person's weakness get in the way of their strength.Collection: Weakness
In developing teams, I don't believe in rules. I believe in standards. Rules don't promote teamwork, standards doCollection: Basketball
Effort is fully replenishable. There is no need to save any of it. Leave every bit you have on the playing fieldCollection: Basketball
Our goal is not to win. It's to play together and play hard. Then, winning takes care of itself.Collection: Basketball
Confrontation simply means meeting the truth head-on.Collection: Basketball
Don't worry about losing. Think about winning.Collection: Basketball
There are always those times when you're going to be down. It's how you step through it that makes you the person you are.Collection: Character
Growth creates complexity, which requires simplicity.Collection: Simplicity
In leadership, there are no words more important than trust. In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achievedCollection: Volleyball
I'm looking for players who make their teammates better. You do that with enthusiasm and passion.Collection: Basketball
It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterwardCollection: Volleyball
I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that’s where a relationship is developed. I don’t make a player, and a player doesn’t make me a coach. We make each other.Collection: Confused
If you set up an atmosphere of community and trust, it becomes a tradition. Older team members will establish your credibility with newer ones. Even if they don't like everything about you, they'll say, 'He's trustworthy, committed to us as a team.'Collection: Team
It's not like we have not had close games. We've just been able to win them, and as a result, the reality sometimes doesn't set in that you're weak in certain areas or you're not doing certain things well. ... When you win, sometimes it overshadows a poor performance.Collection: Winning
In leadership, there are no words more important than trust.Collection: Important
A leader may be the most knowledgeable person in the world, but if the players on his team cannot translate that knowledge into action, it means nothing.Collection: Team
I think leadership is never singular. In a good organization, it's plural.Collection: Basketball
Don't do anything as an individual that will make you stand out from your teammates.Collection: Basketball
When a leader takes responsibility for his own actions and mistakes, he not only sets a good example, he shows a healthy respect for people on his teamCollection: Volleyball
I try to see each new season as a new challenge because I have a new team to work with, new opponents to encounter, and often new ideas and theories to tryCollection: Volleyball
Footwork is one of the primary prerequisites to becoming a great playerCollection: Basketball
Two are better than one if two act as one.Collection: Two
Whatever a leader does now sets up what he does later. And there's always a later.Collection: Basketball
Pete Newell told me 'get as much information and learn as much about the game as you can, but use your own personality to teach it.'Collection: Games
The team that trusts-their leader and each other-is more likely to be successful.Collection: Trust
The truth is that many people set rules to keep from making decisions. Not me. I don't want to be a manager or a dictator. I want to be a leader-and leadership is ongoing, adjustable, flexible, and dynamic. As such, leaders have to maintain a certain amount of discretionCollection: Volleyball
Making shots counts, but not as much as the people who make them.Collection: People
Good sound habits are more important than rules - use concepts.Collection: Basketball
Embrace the hell out of personal responsibility.Collection: Responsibility
It's funny what happens when you become a grandparent. You start to act all goofy and do things you never thought you'd do. It's terrific.Collection: Grandpa
I don't think we surprise people. We try to out-execute them.Collection: Basketball
I love practice. It is when a coach exercises the most control over the improvement of his or her team.Collection: Basketball
Confidence shared is better than confidence only in yourself.Collection: Basketball
I never want to lead a team that is not allowed the freedom to pursue what's in their hearts. If you want your team to be fully committed, then you'd better be fully committedCollection: Volleyball
When you first assemble a group, it's not a team right off the bat. It's only a collection of individualsCollection: Volleyball
A leader's responsibility to his team is paramount. It overshadows even his own personal feelings at any given time.Collection: Basketball
I didn't miss any games, but Coach Knight came out and spent three days with my family in Chicago when my dad passed away. I came back and played and it was good therapy for me. Having a basketball family and a coach who understood and actually became like a father figure for that time was comforting to me, and I'm sure that will be comforting to Coleman.Collection: Basketball
I believe a big part of leadership is about winning the moment.Collection: Basketball
Great rivalries don't have to be built on hatred. They're built on respect, on a respect for excellence.Collection: Hatred
A team is a fist-not five fingers.Collection: Basketball