Krzyzewski joked that God has been good to him in many ways across his illustrious career, apart from one: “The guys I coached stayed the same age, and I kept getting older.”
“How did that work? That’s not fair,” he quipped. “So they were 18 to 22, and I’m 77 now, and I coached until I was 75. And so I constantly had to adapt in how I communicated with them.”
“It’s on you as the leader to get your message across,” Krzyzewski said, adding that what “worked two years ago” might not work today.
He also said that “a big part of leadership is using humor.”
“Humor is huge,” Krzyzewski emphasized. “I can be humorous and get on a guy, and he doesn’t even know I got on him. But I get my message across.”
Krzyzewski said that another key to agility in communication is giving others a voice. He said, “The leader does not get all the information, especially about the people he or she has the honor to lead. And so you have to get information from your team.”
Krzyzewski went on to express that asking for feedback is important, but even more vital is creating a dynamic where people feel comfortable to speak their mind before being asked.
“This is not rocket science. This is all about people,” Krzyzewski said.
Nevertheless, Krzyzewski said that “those first two As aren’t going to work unless you have the third A.”
“The third A is ‘accountability,’ which is not alive and well. It’s not. It’s becoming an endangered species. People are afraid to tell each other the truth—that’s what accountability is,” Krzyzewski said. “Why is it so hard today? And really it’s rampant.”
“Really, holding a team accountable, or the team should hold the leader accountable. It should go both ways. You’re making each other better by everyone being responsible,” Krzyzewski said.
Krzyzewski admitted that accountability is “tough,” saying, “The toughest accountability I ever had was actually in the Olympics.”
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