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"I'm never satisfied. You never hear anybody around the UConn basketball program use the |
A Passion to Lead
As head coach of the UConn men's basketball team since 1986, Jim Calhoun has led the Huskies to 14 NCAA tournaments and two national championships. He is among the top five acative Division I coaches with at least 750 career wins. In 2005 he was inducted into the Naismith National Collegiates Basketball Hall of Fame and in 2006 named a member of the Foundation Class of the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He received the Honorary Alumni Award from the UConn Alumni Association in 2005. His new book is A Passion to Lead: Seven Leadership Secrets for Success in Business, Sports and Life, published by St. Martin's Press.
By Jim Calhoun
Good leaders aren’t just passionate.
They’re also good at spreading their zeal down through the organization — from the board room to the senior executives, then to senior, middle and junior managers, and eventually to the rank and file.
Look at Microsoft: Bill Gates was always obsessed with the success of his company. He’s got an almost maniacal desire to win.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, who has worked with Gates almost from the beginning, is the same way. Can you image anyone taking over from Gates as the company’s day-to-day leader who isn’t fanatical about kicking the competition?
And just about everybody at Microsoft is the same way: They’re all true believers. They’ve bought wholeheartedly into Gates’ vision for Microsoft and products the company develops. Google employees are the same way.
So are Apple Computer employees — they share Steve Jobs’ passion for technology and innovation. Result: the iPod and Pixar movies, two of the biggest commercial success stories of the last decade.
Jack Welch, whom I’ve met a couple of times, was a passionate and demanding guy when he led General Electric. The people who worked for him said that they never felt like they pleased him.
So they always tried to do more. Welch was very good at getting the people who ran his operating units motivated to reach specific financial targets — revenues, return on investment, a cost cut — and once it was achieved, he’d downplay the accomplishment and set the bars a little higher, sometimes a lot higher. Failure was not an option. My coaching philosophy is very much the same, though I don’t think about it consciously.
I’m never satisfied. You never hear anybody around the UConn basketball program use the word “content.” Do we feel good when we win a big game or tournament? Sure. We celebrate every win, but we also recognize, always, that there is more to do. And I make sure everybody knows it.
There is always room for improvement. I’ve never known a player or team that couldn’t get better — and that holds true for some of the All-Americans we’ve had and some of the national championship teams. The same applies to me: I can always be a better coach.
So if you want to be a leader, and a success, find your passion.
After the passion comes everything else. You set the strategic goals, build a management team, identify and implement effective tactics, and search for competitive advantages.
In other words, after the passion comes the hard work and the details. All the titles and victories that we’ve achieved have been wonderful. But they’re not why I’ve been a college coach since 1972.
I coach because I love the game of basketball; because I love teaching and leading young men; and because I love competing and testing my coaching skills — and above all, my passion for winning — against others.
Reprinted from A Passion To Lead: Seven Leadership Secrets for Success in Business, Sports, and Life, by Jim Calhoun with Richard Ernsberger, Jr.©2007 Reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Press, New York.