The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching

Smith won more games (875) than any other coach in college-basketball history. His teams at North Carolina were characterized by unselfishness, preparedness, and basketball intelligence. It's not surprising that Smith has a few cogent thoughts to offer on the matter of leadership. He begins by explaining what leadership means to him. Then former players comment on the concept as Smith applied it during their careers. Next, he tailors his lesson to a business application. Among the topics he explores are teamwork, winning, losing, planning for the future, building confidence, and setting goals. "Successful-coach-offers-business-advice" books are a publishing staple, but too often they consist of little more than commonsense platitudes mixed with some playing-field anecdotes. Smith breaks the pattern here, thanks in large part to his understanding that business isn't basketball, and direct correlations between sport and real life are often specious. It's apparent that Smith would have found success in virtually any field he'd chosen as his life's work. Readers will sit up and pay attention because the coach has something to say.