Your core values aren’t actually values until they are tested. If, once they are tested, you don’t follow through on them, they aren’t values. They are preferences. And there is a big difference.

If I can’t trust you, I don’t want to be around you. I certainly don’t want to try and win with you. High performing teams build a trust that’s unbreakable.

Buzz Williams: “Talent sets the floor, character is the ceiling. Trust increases speed.”

How do you actually go about playing a lot of guys? The first thing you have to do is figure out exactly what is important to you as a coach. What are the behaviors that you value that lead to winning?

Klay Thompson was suspended for 1 game when he was in college a Washington State. He felt so bad, he took the microphone before the game to apologize to the fans and the University because he wasn’t playing.

Their unique perspective was the attitude that they took towards losing. I learned, over time, that my best teams had a great relationship with losing. That doesn’t mean they accepted it or didn’t think winning was important. They just didn’t let losing have a negative impact on what they did next. They hated to lose, but it didn’t phase them to the point where they were making bad decisions moving forward.

“And I knew that if I wanted to become the player I hoped and strove to be, I would need people who were honest with me.”

Great teams, great leaders, and great organizations have to learn to embrace conflict because they have to confront bad behavior. On the best teams I have been a part of, the players took on this responsibility.

"To lead, you’ve got to be a leader. That may sound obvious, but it took me an entire year to learn - and it wasn’t a pleasant year."

High performing teams have uncommon leadership. Most good teams have great leadership, but that is different. The best teams I have been around have uncommon leadership - meaning, they use a different model.

Compliant teams do what they are told. Committed teams take ownership of their culture. High performing teams take ownership of their behavior every day, and the standards are established by the players.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart talks about 3 things that come with being a leader.

There are conditions to being a part of an elite team. There are established standards that everyone has to live up to, and just as importantly everyone has to enforce. There are no free rides. Everyone is expendable if they refuse to live up to the standards.

High performing teams share some unique characteristics. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some elite teams. I’ve also faced the challenge of coaching some awful teams. Both experiences gave me a unique perspective on the make up of elite high performing teams.

Zach Johnson asks Derek Jeter about his leadership approach.

There are three essentials to leadership: humility, clarity and courage. ~ Fuchan Yuan