The Gold Standard April 08, 2009 Building a World-Class Team (Business Plus, $25.99)
In his new book The Gold Standard, Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski outlines the ways he led Team USA to winning the gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. His insight, divided into key moments in his time with Team USA, can be translated into useful information for leaders of any sort.
The book's chapters are organized almost into a step-by-step process for leaders to follow. Coach Krzyzewski starts off by telling the reader how to form a good team, then gets into establishing support systems, practicing, and self-assessing. At the end, it's "game time" and the book concludes with the reward of winning the gold while instructing leaders to take time to celebrate accomplishments.
"My proudest times as a coach are those when I recognize that a group of players has become a team, a whole that is truly greater than the sum of its parts," Krzyzewski writes. "From the summer of 2006 through the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, I had the opportunity to work with a group whose parts were some of the most talented basketball players in the game. And I had the privilege of being their coach as this amazing team came together to bring the gold medal back to the United States."
Although Coach Krzyzewski's expertise comes from basketball, the methods and lessons he writes about are generalized and applicable to leaders of any sort, from coaches to managers and CEOs.
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