As a proud Carolina graduate, it is somewhat painful to see Duke’s success in another national championship and even more so as I write a post praising Mike Krzyzewski. However, in our daily quest for professionalism, Krzyzewski and Bo Ryan, through their comments after the national championship game, give us a glimpse of some of the habits necessary to reach your highest goals. You must take responsibility for defeat or failure, and learn from it to prepare you for the next time you have an opportunity to succeed. Blaming others or making excuses gets you nowhere.
The media took the opportunity to pile on Ryan for his comments regarding the referees’ actions in the second half of the game suggesting the officiating was a reason why they lost. He also suggested that taking a player that you believe may only stay in college for one year is in some way cheating. Below is an excerpt:
“You just have to be able to handle all the hands and the checking. There was more body contact in this game than any game we’ve played all year, and I just feel sorry for my guys that all of a sudden a game was like that. I think they had a… they’re struggling with that a little bit. We missed some opportunities, they hit some tough shots, but you know — it’s just a shame that it had to be played that way.”
Contrast Krzyzewski’s post-game comments. In response to Ryan, Krzyzewski commented on his losses at the brink of reaching one of his highest goals:
“Number one, I love Bo, and I know as a coach that you’re the first guy up there (when) you lose," Krzyzewski said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Wednesday. "Look, I’ve lost national championship games and I’ve been the loser and it’s not easy. Sometimes things can be — they can take one line or a couple lines out without hearing the whole context of what you’re talking about.
(Ok, here comes the hard part.)
To my recollection Krzyzweski has not ever blamed anyone for the seven loses Duke has suffered in the Final Four. That’s right. Some of you do not realize that Mike Krzyzewski has lost more in the Final Four than he has won, but in each of his seven Final Four losses he did not blame anyone.
Instead, it appears that he, like every other extremely successful professional, learned from his mistakes and applied them the next time he found his team in the Final Four. The habit of taking responsibility for our actions and learning from them is one of the main reasons Krzyzewski is considered by some, but not me, to be the greatest college basketball coach ever.
Ultimately, although not in my top 1000 favorite basketball coaches, there is no denying that he exhibits the core habits of success, and no one, not even this Carolina graduate, can argue with his success.
So, what do we learn from the contrasting post-game comments of the losing and wining coach in this year’s National Championship?
(1) Failure is a part of the road to success. It is very rare that someone wins or reaches their highest goals on the first try. Not even mighty Kentucky was able to make it through unscathed this year.
(2) Blaming others for your failure gets you nowhere. No matter what, do not waste time on complaining about circumstances you can do nothing about. I wrote a similar blog post about the comments of the New England Patriots after a loss at the Carolina Panthers (I have a bad habit of praising my sports enemies) and since that time, the Patriots have focused on what they can control and as a result have won yet another world championship.
(3) Don’t repeat the mistake. Figure out what you did, and correct the mistake so that you will improve your chances the next time an opportunity arises. Don’t waste the learning opportunity you have been given.
Engaging in these habits will help you attain your highest goals in your professional career.
