Team Building According to Coach K

I recently attended MarketingProf’s Annual Conference and wanted to share some of my insights from this event – which I highly recommend.

One of the keynotes was Alison Levine, the Captain of the First All-Women Mount Everest Expedition.  The story was incredible, and I encourage everyone to read the book, but I want to focus on only one story.  Alison was tasked with building a team of five women to hike to the highest point on Earth without dying.  How do you do that?

She called her friend, Coach Krzyzewski, the legendary Head Coach of Duke’s Basketball team and the USA Olympic Basketball team.  He said he looks for 1 thing when building a team – Ego.

Alison assumed he meant lack of ego, but he corrected her.  He wants two types of ego.

1. Performance Ego – You want people who can walk on the court and have believe they have what it takes to win. You don’t want folks who are filled with self-doubt and question themselves constantly… Especially on a mountain.
2. Team Ego – You want someone who is proud to be part of something collectively bigger than themselves.  They have to be happy in the team’s victory, even if they get none of the glory.

Maybe you’re building a marketing department for the first time.  Maybe you’re trying to find slot players to fill gaps.  For those of us who have been individual contributors for years and are not used to a “team” mentality, this can be difficult.  I have recently been promoted to run field marketing across all our regions.  The idea of building a team from scratch was an incredible opportunity, but I did wonder if I had what it takes to build the right one.

As we look for talent and encounter opportunities for growth I think we should challenge ourselves to follow Coach K’s advice.  Do we walk on the court and believe we have what it takes, while celebrating the successes of our team members?  Are we hiring team members who do the same?  I challenge you, and myself, to look for ego when hiring, but the right kind.

Thanks Coach.