The Carolina Way: Leadership Lessons from a Life in Coaching
Author: Gerald D. Bell, John Kilgo, Dean Edwards Smith
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 159420005X
Publisher: The Penguin Press (29 January, 2004)
Sales Rank: 418
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
CEO's, President's, VP's - Start your reading
I've heard Jerry Bell speak before, so I was thrilled to see him collaborate with Dean Smith on this book. Bell frequently uses words like caring, honesty, integrity, and discipline on his lectures on leadership and it's obvious from reading the book that these were the cornerstones of Coach Smith's teams. I wish more business leaders would understand that there is a correlation between investing in their people and sustained success. So many companies look at employees as disposable commodities, so it's refreshing to hear two men who have achieved so much in their careers say that it starts with genuine care for your people. Smith's philosophy, though simple in word, is truly applicable to the business arena because it promotes thinking intelligently, working extremely hard, and a committment to a greater whole than just oneself. That approach, combined with the real concern for each and every member of his program, created the most successful coaching career in college basketball history. If more CEO's would adopt these principles in their companies, then their work environments would improve, their employees would be more reciprocal in their committment, and bottom lines would increase.
Kudos to Bell and Smith for a thoughtful book with an important message - good guys do win!
Rating: 2 out of 5
The Underacheiving Way : Getting the Least from the Most
I have to give Dean Smith credit -- he's one hell of a salesman. The fact that so many people have bought into his hokum despite a truly dismal track record of on-court performance is impressive. As my old high school coach said, "My grandma could have coached Carolina to 5 National Championships by now." Somehow, Dean has managed to prevent some of the most talented teams in history from even making it the Final 4. Also, while Dean may pontificate about "loyalty" and "honor", here is a coach that would run off a bench scholarship player to free up a scholarship for the next season.Look, I'm a big college hoops fan and some of the antecdotes about the game were cool, but the reality is that Dean Smith is, at best, a decent college coach who doesn't know anything more about leadership than the McDonald's night manager.
Rating: 5 out of 5
This is a tough book to put down
I'm biased because I'm a basketball fan, a Tar Heel fan, and a big admirer of Dean Smith, but this is one of the 2 or 3 best books I've read in the past 10 years. The entertainment value of the book is very high, especially if you love the game of basketball. Additionally, There are valuable lessons in leadership for coaches to be learned in this book, regardless of the sport one coaches. One of the primary goals of the book is to take Coach Smith's philosophies as they apply to basketball teams and, with the help of Dr. Gerald Bell, with whom he co-wrote the book, to transfer them to business "teams" for leaders in business. Most of those principles are easy to transfer, but some of them can be a bit of a stretch. Regardless, it's a great book. I give it the highest recommendations. Similar Products
Dr. Jack's Leadership Lessons Learned From a Lifetime in Basketball
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