simple, be expert
treat people well, honest, push …
without browbeating
I have no idea who this lady is.
We were on the beach on Hilton Head Island with the grand kids on Monday when this lady walked by with her family.
She saw my sweatshirt (and my swim trunks … and after I pointed it out, my M earring) and said that we needed a picture so I was happy to oblige.
She wished me luck in the game that would played that Monday night for the Championship of the Free World between UConn and Michigan.
I said thank you and smiled.
Her husband asked, “Don’t you want to wish us luck?”
“Nope!” I said.
Sorry, but not sorry, and not taking any chances that any of my wishes for good luck might land on the court at the end of the game fall on them huskies.
Nope no way.
And so Michigan won.
“How did they win?” you might ask.
According to Joe Rexrode of the New York Times but originally from the Lansing State Journal when we both worked from Gannett (Once a sparty always a sparty) described what Dusty May did at Michigan writing:
The bigger picture is simpler. Be an expert in your craft. Treat people well. Be honest with them. Push them without browbeating them. Create an effective working environment.
May’s staff takes pride in both the evaluation and development of players, and it can get granular — they like to take potential recruits to a gym with a rack of basketballs. The guys who can’t help but go grab a ball and start shooting are probably the ones who love the game to the extent required. *
Goodness, that is worth repeating isn’t it?
The bigger picture is simpler.
Be an expert in your craft.
Treat people well.
Be honest with them.
Push them without browbeating them.
Create an effective working environment.
Simple.
Ken Burns made a film on the life of Frank Lloyd Wright.
In it, Architect Philip Johnson says about Wright, in an interview:
“Try to define the genius of a man who you realize is a genius when you are talking to him and more of a genius when you get to know his work …
its probably one of this things that doesn’t go into words …
probably a matter of how moved are you by his work and his personality …
in this case both …
I hated him of course, but that’s only normal when a man is so great …
its combination of hatred, a combination of envy and contempt and misunderstanding …
all of it gets mixed up in his genius.”
Johnson then talks about what Wright did with his famous house, Falling Water, “I don’t know how he does that. If I did, … I would do it too!”
What Dusty did with Michigan?
Simple.
That’s why so many other coaches did the same thing.
*Michigan’s Dusty May knows what they’ve been saying, but he’s getting the last word By Joe Rexrode
No Haiku For You 