S is the New K: Coach Dawn Staley - Change the Game With Culture at South Carolina. The torch passes

Dawn Staley is an inspiration, and she is just getting started to many in the general public. Her University of South Carolina women's basketball team just went wire-to-wire winning the national championship, her second in a career that will surely garner a couple more nets getting cut down at her hand. She is relentless, she has the drive and passion to not only win, but make winners - and I don't mean great basketball players (that is of course true also). We need to watch her every move and take notes - Coach Dawn Staley is breaking through, she may be the best basketball coach on the planet. And breaking through on many levels in a big way off the court also.

I wanted to share this article with you to provide good reading for background relevant to so many discussions around culture, the team mentality and all of us having a critical role in the success of whatever we are doing. Whether you are trying to build a team to accomplish a goal, in a business working to get ahead, thinking about working to fix a mental health issue know this – it takes a team mentality and approach. Nothing special was ever accomplished in singular fashion.

This is one of the best examples I have seen recently and hope you will be inspired. Whether you are a sports fan or not, the messages here ring true for any group of individuals that need to come together to achieve something great, just as we are doing. Sure talent, resources are important for any group to be successful but to achieve the highest levels you need to consider the mentality of a team as a critical factor. We are all teammates, coaches and role players in whatever game we are a part of, in the game of life.

For additional background, I am a huge sports fan and have taken the lessons from team sports participation growing up with me – those lessons are far more valuable than most things I learned in school from books or tests. I grew up in Virginia where Dawn Staley was the point guard for the University of Virginia’s women’s basketball team, so I have followed her career from college to being a pro basketball player to now as one of the best (if not the best) coach in the country at the University of South Carolina. She looks like Coach K second generation if you ask me. She will have a legacy as grand or more than Coach K – she is that good. Maybe this is all coincidence that she wins the national title a day after Coach K’s last game, that she is becoming truly recognized beyond women’s athletics finally. Her time here in April – just after Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March. Where was Duke as a basketball program prior to Coach K, the same place South Carolina was prior to Staley’s arrival. Only time will tell, but I feel Dawn Staley is doing something special. Keep preaching and teaching your method to all of us – the message has nothing to do with making baskets and hoisting banners.

From the first time I watched Dawn Staley play in the early 1990s (when I was much much younger) I realized she was someone special – the way she led the team on the court, the way she encouraged her teammates, her relentless defense and drive to win. She was named the national player of the year in 1991 and 1992 and led UVA to three Final Fours and a National Championship game. Today, Dawn Staley is demonstrating that she is an even greater force as a coach, impacting many young women directly within her program and also as a role model for so many in the world, not just South Carolina or the US. She is an amazing story and person. Someone we should all learn from to be better for ourselves and each other.

There is a very inspiring article from Sports Illustrated after USC won the national championship last night (and the article has nothing to do with the game of basketball): https://www.si.com/college/2022/04/04/south-carolina-championship-dawn-staley-daily-cover

Here are some key points from the article and Coach Dawn Staley’s program:

At the trophy acceptance ceremony Staley did something many didn’t expect – acknowledge not the superstars on her team, but the role players because their role was just as vital in the team’s success:

Reflecting on the secret to her team’s success, Staley said this:

Not only is building a championship organization about the talent and putting in the time, we have to use the expertise around us (in this case, a leadership development organization that specializes in building great teams, improving communication and defining goals).

That important question of helping everyone know Why? Why they matter, what all of our role is in the process to achieve our goals. The process that takes ALL of us:

Ensuring everyone knows their role, the expectations and their personal accountability early and often:

Providing honest, candid feedback in a way that helps us all to be better is a shared responsibility:

We all need to give back because we are so fortunate, and get out of your comfort zone – that is a healthy thing:

Consider others perspective, help them see beyond their comfort zone or their scope:

We all have an important voice and you need to be heard, and others are impacted by that voice:

We have the power to break through barriers, lift each other up higher than we could ever reach on our own:

Be inspired and be the inspirer!