EntreLeadership - #94: NBA's Brendan Suhr—Coaching to Win

Episode Date: March 30, 2015

We're celebrating March Madness with a bonus podcast featuring former NBA coach and leadership expert Brendan Suhr. Stay tuned for a chance to win an all-expense-paid trip to the EntreLeadership Summit! http://www.entreleadership.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charismatic, passionate, as integrity, humble, servant, faithful, inspiring, persevering, positive, flexible, driven. This is who we are that call ourselves leaders. Helping business leaders grow themselves, their team, and their profits. This is the Entree Leadership podcast. Now, here is your host, Ken Coleman. Coming to you from the Music City, this is the podcast of leaders, by leaders, and four leaders special March Madness Edition.

Daniel Tarty, the Grand Poo-Bah, of all things, Entre Leadership, in studio with me for an amazing giveaway. This is the coolest giveaway we've ever done. Stay tuned. That's coming in just moments. But I want to tell you, our feature conversation, March Madness style, got on the phone recently with Brendan Ser. Brendan was the assistant basketball coach for the Detroit Pistons when they won back-to-back

titles. You know him as the bad boys. and he also assisted Chuck Daly on the very first dream team. He tells an amazing story about the first meeting. It's unbelievable. You don't want to miss it. It's all about coaching for winning. So whether you're a basketball fan or not, you're going to get great insight today.

But first, Daniel, welcome back to the studio. Thank you, Ken. Excited about this March Madness. And we didn't talk about this in pre-show, but I'm assuming you have a bracket filled out. I do. So this is ironic because you're the biggest sports guy I know. I am. I'm the farthest thing from it.

I don't know anything about basketball. I know. It's okay, though. I got cut from the seventh grade B team in basketball, and that started my journey towards lack of... Dribble off the foot. There's some scar tissue there. But I told the team yesterday, we did a bracket for the whole Entry leadership team.

Oh, you did. And the winner gets half a day off, PTO. Wow. All right, so this is fun because you're in the studio today, because we've been talking about Summit for months on this podcast, and this is a phenomenal event, okay? But I got to tease this because we're about ready to give away in moments. We're going to tell people how to win an all expense paid ticket. That's airfare.

That's lodging at the beautiful Omni La Costa Resort in Southern California. This is where the PGA boys come to play, all right? This isn't your Motel 6. That's golf, right? That's golf. Okay. This isn't your Motel 6 variety. And the speaker lineup, unbelievable.

Yeah, it's incredible. So let's run that down. You picked to join Dave Ramsey, John Maxwell, Pat Lincione, Dr. Henry Cloud, Rabbi Daniel Appen, and then, of course, our very own personalities, Chris Hogan, Chrissy Wright, I got to ask, what are you looking to happen over these days for these leaders? This is a premium event, but let's talk about the content, of course. Well, it starts with why did we decide to do an event like this? Because for years, Dave Ramsey has taught entree leadership principles to business leaders all over

the country, and our entree leadership events have become known as the place to go if you're small business and you want to grow yourself, your team, your profits with very practical wisdom from the trenches, from Dave. And what we realized is we're constantly talking to our team internally about personal growth. Dave's teaching us all the time. But one way he teaches us is to give us books that he expects from other authors and speakers that he respects. Dave typically reads a couple books every month. His favorite one of the quarter, inevitably he'll get to our leadership team and say, this is a must read, you have to read it. And it becomes a very good. kind of a almost a core value thing for our company where we reference that book on a regular

basis. And so in this case, John Maxwell's 21 irrefutable laws of leadership is mandatory reading for everybody on our leadership team. Same thing with Rabbi Lapins, Thou Shal Prospers. Same thing with Dr. Cloud boundaries for leaders. Same thing with Pat Lanchone, five dysfunctions. Every book the guy writes. Yeah. And so we said these guys in some ways, really in many ways, are a part of our family and in large ways have become what has dictated a lot of our culture, a lot of our leadership and what Dave teaches from the Entree leadership stage. And we thought, how incredible would it be to not only teach Antei leadership, but to bring these guys who have had such a significant part of our journey as a company, as Dave's taking

this from a car table in his living room to almost 500 employees now and the culture and everything that we're known for. These guys have influenced that significantly. So it's almost a, hey, here's friends of Dave Ramsey and Dave all in one very special event. It's an unbelievable event. It's very different than Master Series really quick because we're about ready to do the here's how you win, the all expense pay. This is an unbelievable giveaway worth thousands of dollars. How is this event different than Master Series? Master Series is a week long with Dave here at our office. This event's going to be higher energy. It's condensed. So it's three days instead of a full week. But it's really designed for anybody who's excited about changing their culture, improving their leadership.

If you want to 10x your goals, if you want to crush it on your bottom line, wherever you're stuck in business right now, if you need a breakthrough, whatever your biggest problem is. And let's be honest, that's what business is about. It's solving big problems. And once you solve the biggest problem you have, you're going to get a bigger problem. And the best way to do that is in an environment where you've got other sharp leaders speaking from the stage, but also business owners in the crowd around you. We're going to have 800 people in this room.

you're going to be able to connect with other like-minded business owners who are good at solving problems too. And where we see businesses fail more often than not is when they try to solve their biggest problems in isolation in a vacuum. This is a lifeline. And leaders that are taking their game to the next level and constantly growing their business are constantly plugged in to events like Entree Leadership Summit. All right. So in the theme of March Madness, we're going to do something crazy. This is an unbelievable giveaway. Daniel, give us the details. remind them what they're winning and how they enter to win.

Of course, so this is going to be all expense paid, your hotel, your flight, the whole thing. A registration for this fence, $3,200. That's on us when you win. And there's still room left if you want to register, but one lucky person here is going to get a free trip. Free baby. Free growth. It's unbelievable. The way you enter is you go to ontreleadership.com slash win, just like winning in Marchmont.

Teams are winning right now. Like the sports thing you always talk about. I don't know anything about that. but entreeleadership.com slash when. And all you got to do is answer the question, what is one area of your business that attending the Entree Leadership Summit event is going to help you with the most?

In other words, where do you need that breakthrough? Is it a people problem? Is it a profitability issue? Is it a marketing issue? I like this. Just let us know. It's a good question. We'll draw the top five.

Oh, I like this. And then we'll have a committee, a team of internal entree leaders. You can't talk leadership without talking committees. And they... I'm joking. That's sarcasm. So we'll pick the top five and then we will have a team, not a committee, a team of people.

That's better. Who will, uh, based on the one they're most impressed with, the question. I love it. Who we feel like will benefit the most. All right. There it is. Entreleadership.com slash when. Entreleadership.com slash win.

Answer the question. What is the one area in your business that attending the Entry Leadership Summit event will help you in the most? So here's the thing. We're going to announce the winner in one week. Oh, I like that. If you want to come to this and you're not the winner, you better get on it because we've got a couple hundred tickets left. It's about to be sold out.

People call us every time we do an entree leadership event. People call us a few weeks before and say, hey, I'd like to register now. And unfortunately, we just have to say, hey, we're full. Like the fire marshal won't let us put anybody else in the room. So get your seats today, get them locked in. That's right. Enter the contest. But if you don't, our team will call you and follow up and see if you still want

to register and we'll give you a special deal. And one little bonus thing, because we've got all these great speakers and you're going to learn and you're going to grow. But you can wander out under the driving range during the break. and I'll be out there and I'll help you with how to look good on the golf course. So I think you're coming. How to play well. How to look good. I can't help you with your swing.

And so I just wanted to offer that because that probably is a domino effect right there. I know you're being a little silly, but it is important to say. Ken's modest in promoting his own involvement in this event. But Ken's going to host the entire thing. So you guys have come to know and love Ken as the host of this podcast. He's going to be there. He's going to be accessible. If you want to sit down with him and have a cup of coffee about Entry Leadership material or whatever,

No, I mean, really. Or hit a bucket of balls. Yeah. You guys can do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think the greater value will be me pouring into them on how to look good on the golf course. All right. Let's get into that feature conversation.

Very good. Well, this is fun. Brendan Sur, co-founded coaching you with Kevin Eastman. Kevin Eastman is a former NBA coach, currently the vice president of the Los Angeles Clippers. He works for Steve Ballmer. You know, the guy that used to be the CEO of Microsoft. These guys get it. Brendan, sir, as I mentioned at the top, is as experienced as a basketball coach as there is.

and they're now pouring into leaders in all sports with coaching you. The guy speaks to corporate America all the time, and I wanted to talk to him about how we can learn from the best of the best in coaching to make us better leaders. You're going to love this. Here it is my conversation with Brendan, sir. Well, Brendan, it is a privilege for me, a basketball gym rat, somebody who grew up in the 80s, graduated high school in the 90s, early 90s,

to talk to a long-time assistant of Chuck Daly, when we talk about the Pistons and that era, I have to start there, because you guys took over a franchise, and it was maybe one of the most competitive times in NBA history, and you molded a winner. So I want to start there, because we have leaders from all walks of life listening in here.

How do you come in and begin to create a winning culture? What are the things you do right out of the gate? Well, I think the number one thing is you have to have a credible leader. But then we have 180 plus mentally toughy person. Had a Dennis Rodman who, though educationally, did blackguard and compete, Benny Johnson. And it's really a lot about vision casting. You know, you come in and you've got the Lakers and the Celtics, you've got the Bulls that are beginning to show some promise. Very competitive time.

And at some point, Chuck Daly, you, the other coaches, the general manager, you're cast. casting a vision and say, this is where we want to go. We want to knock the kings off their throne. What did you learn from those early days of casting a vision to those players and say, this is where we are now, this is where we want to go? What did you learn from those days about vision casting? I came as I said, I say, what are our goal? Well, that's good. You know, I hear you tell that story, and I want to camp out here for a second because I want our leaders to really focus in on something that I think is a blind spot. It's a natural fear to set a goal, to set a vision.

that is so broad. We get worried at times about saying we have two goals to win every game and to win a world championships. And that plays in the business space, Brendan, because we're afraid as leaders sometimes to say what we really want to do. But when you say that, you put it out there, it then defines and powers everything you do on a daily basis, doesn't it? Yeah.

One of the things I do now, when I work. with three personal goals and three business goals that they have. And I don't care if I'm working. He says, I want to, you know, lead the league in rushing the Super Bowl and all that. I had them write it down on paper. I tell them to hold it up. And then they hold their goals up. And I said, now take it, and I want you rip your page in half, turn it sideways, rip it in half. I said, that's what you can do with your goals. And they are like stunned. And I said, what I want you to focus on an interest of process. I want you to focus on the process.

If you want to win the Super Bowl, well, here's how you can do it. I can tell you right now. It's about every day being the best version of yourself. It's about practicing every day like it's a game. And what people don't work on is it's an often use word, but they don't understand it. And it's like, you know, telling your children to get,

I want you get age. You know, it's the outcome. How do we get the age? You know, you're studying and doing all the things. You have to ask questions. You have to do extra work. That's what we have to do. And I think the process, everyone wants that instant gratification.

No one wants to go through the process. Boy, that's so good. As a leader, trying to get a team galvanized towards that big, huge vision to win every game, to win a world championship, to win a state championship, to be the best in your industry. How do you begin to build that on a daily basis, the process of building a really good team? How do you do that? You know, that's one of the real challenges I find working with the corporate world is that the way that we've scouted that we've done all the research that you can do.

We turn over every stone. They think it looking at a resume, like that piece of paper is actually a truth document, that that is going to show you that that person, it's a joke. And so what we need to do is we need to select talent. And that's the price of admission for any organization. So many people will sell personal high performance, which will end up producing bad results. We have it in every part of the facet of our life.

And so I think that is, I have to understand that if you really want to have a good team, you have to create a culture of execution year in, whether you're a sales organization, you have to be able to execute. You know, for us to do this, a podcast for Dave Ramsey to do his show every day. There has to be execution.

There are so many people around that make it work. It's the same in any team organization. I think that coaching, no matter what the sport is, is the ultimate laboratory for leadership. I think it's a greenhouse. It's the best greenhouse. Because coaches inherently on this particular subject, they have to figure out how to place, as Jim Collins says, the right people on the right side. seat on the bus. And, you know, when we talk about talent, the basketball geeks out there will

also know that you assisted Chuck Daly on the very first dream team when the NBA players for the first time were allowed to play. And it was the greatest players ever assembled on a basketball team. And here you go. And you've got to get them to work together. They're all the stars on their own team. And you've got to get them to work together to win the gold medal. What did you take away in and being right there on the bench, assisting Chuck Daly on that, now that you can kind of transfer to our listeners about how to manage talent and get them all on the same page? First and pro.

Going to the next thing, while I'm saying, okay, a wartime job as head of the U.S. men's national team. Yeah. What are we going to say to these guys when we got him in their room with us the first time? Chuck, what's our first meeting going to be like? I want to bounce ideas off of them. I've got all these ideas.

he's not taken any. But he's so brilliant, I know. So we go into the Sheridan, La Jolla, and our first meeting where we are in a huge-shaped, as you can just pick you in vision, right? And now the next thing is many minutes you play. Most marvelous thing I've ever seen in coming, he got him to do it, but just by saying so,

and so I use it now all the time. If you don't respect it. And it really, it leads into developing a great culture. It starts with respect, and the culture can build a population. that. That's what I always say what I'm teaching. It's the same in any business for getting people. You know, we've been talking a lot about talent and we all want talent. You mentioned a little bit of this earlier, but I want to talk about role players because you know this as well as anybody. What can we learn from coaches in the business world about

making sure we've got the right role players? Because if it's not for a Rodman who only cares about defense and stopping the best player on the other team and getting the rebounds, it doesn't happen without role players. How do leaders make sure that they find the right role players, and then how do they, I'm sure it's about respect as well. How do you treat the role players the same as you do, the star, who's going to get the ball at the end of the game? Well, the first thing, Duck Rivers, both are,

they're phenomenal communicators who communicate the teleguide the screen to get Ray Allen free. Boy, that's so good. And so, you know, the guy, you know, Rondo being able to guard the ball handler. That's good. You know? Hey, folks, that's tweetable right there. Say that again. I do this all the time, Brennan, because I want our audience to catch that.

Are you going to use it or am I going to use it? That's yours. But I want them to quote you. So say that again. Okay. You're pulling the John Gordon on me. I like that. That's good.

I like that. It's really good. That's good. So say that again. I want them to hear that. Reward. Boom. that simple.

Tweet that, folks. Brendan, sir, okay? At Brendan, sir, give the man the credit for that because that is coaching gold. Now, here's what I got to break in for, because I'm listening to this, and here's what I want our leaders to take away today. That Doc River story right there does two things. It not only sets

a bold vision to say, this is the parade route that you take when you win it all. But it also single-handedly weeds out the players that you may have some talented people, and you cast that vision for them and they go, no, not true. I want more shots. And that really helps you get a graph quickly on what you're dealing with from a character standpoint.

No, without a doubt. And you're going to always in life and business have people pushing back for you. The hardest thing is to get really talented people. They're really the hardest players to coach by far. Because really talented people, they're like kids in high school that are advanced placement AP students, they're smarter than the teacher most of the time, which is no problem, you know. But the key is that when you're coaching, highly talented people,

they are more demanding on you to be good. That's where your credibility comes from. If you can't help talented people, they tune you out. So if you're in business and you're ahead of your sales manager and your sales staff is saying, hey, this isn't working, and you don't have any solutions for them? They're going to go somewhere else to find it, not to another company, but they're going

somewhere else in that company to find it because you can't help them be to become the best version of themselves. That's our goal to maximize the talent of our team. But that is terrific insight about talent. I want to transition into one of my favorite quotes of all time from arguably the greatest to ever wear a whistle, John Wooden, who's been quoted so many times. times on this, but he said, when opportunity comes, it's too late to prepare. Well, the obvious jumping off point for a coach like you has so much experience is this idea of practice. So we

understand practice and athletics, but let's turn that into preparation in business. Just teach us for a moment on that wonderful statement and how I think sometimes we have a lot of young leaders, people that are talented and they want a chance to start, they want to play, they want to show that I can do this, and I want the ball at the end of the game. The reality is practice, preparation. You talked about process earlier. That's such a huge thing. Maybe talk to those leaders out there who are a little impatient right now.

The reason that we're so successful, every day we have to do in your field. Every day, if you want to, you're the best and most competitive, you have to get better. Every day, you have to bring your A game. Now, Coach Wooden also said, that's right. A couple statement, no matter what field you're in, to say, okay, I'm going out, I've got 10 sales calls to make, I'm selling medical equipment. This has got to be the best day. Every presentation I have to make will be, has to be the best.

I have to make it like I've never done it before. I have to be more inspired and excited about it. I want to talk a bit about coaching you because, you know, I love the stories. Obviously, you were at the highest level of basketball and leading well, but you have since devoted your life to an organization called coaching you. And obviously, you know, it's been wildly successful with coaches from every level of basketball, but you're also coaching corporations. You speak.

And I just want you to share your heart on the power of just pouring into others and then also the power of continuing to learn. I know I've interviewed literally the three, I think the three greatest coaches. I've had the opportunity interview coach wooden, Coach K, and Pat Summitt. And all three of them had the same characteristic. They were voracious learners and they never stopped. And they're still learning in the form of Coach K. The guy still calling younger coaches. Just talk to us, you know, from your experience with coaching you, why you do it.

And maybe just teach us for a moment the importance of teaching others as well as continuing learning. 90% of his time on best really getting to develop at that level. So the learning curve in the NBA You watch an NBA game Night and Day What we wanted to do was Kevin and I wanted to bring the best NBA teachings to college guys

Because they weren't getting to learn To assemble the faculty of the very best NBA head coaches That's right And every time I thought I was really Boy, that is good You can't think them And that's what a business leader

Should be doing with his team Boy, that's so good Brin I got to tell you on behalf of our entire audience This is so encouraging Great to hear from a coach great to remember the fundamentals of leadership are so very similar, whether it's coaching a team with a ball or leading an organization, selling a product, creating a cure, solving a social problem. It all works together, and we are so much better for it. Thanks for hanging out with us.

I'm honored. He is Brendan Sir, and I'm telling you, you need to follow them on Twitter. At Coaching You, at Brendan, Sir, do your research. Great, great content coming out of what they are doing. And again, whether you love sports or not, Daniel, the fact remains. I love them. I just don't know anything about it. Oh, that's okay.

But you can appreciate how we can learn from coaches. Leadership? Yeah. Such a great conversation. So we really appreciate his time. Before we wrap up, one more time, if you want to enter to win, the all expense paid one ticket, Entreeleadership.com slash win. Go answer the question on that page.

Submit it. We'll pick a winner. We'll get with you. And we would love to see you whether you win this ticket or not. it's going to be a wonderful time of growing ourselves so that we can grow our team and ultimately grow our profit. On behalf of Daniel Tarty, Eric the producer, and our entire team at Entree leadership, thank you so much for listening. We'll talk with you again very soon.