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Bring the Ego - Leading High Performing Teams During March Madness: What Coach K Can Teach Us

This week you’re about to watch the top 2.8% of collegiate basketball players in the world compete for everything. It’s March Madness. If you’ve ever watched a young person chase a dream, you know how much effort it takes just to get there. And as anyone with a kid chasing a dream of reaching the biggest stage will tell you, part of pursuing that dream comes with the realization there’s an entire industry behind it. And the business of basketball booms this week.


The Business of the Bracket:

  • March Madness contributed roughly $900 million to the NCAA’s $1.38 billion in 2024 income.

  • Total name, image, and likeness (NIL) spending on men's and women's college basketball hit $932.5 million for the 2025–26 season.

  • TV networks earned around $1.4 billion in advertising revenue from March Madness in recent years, with 30-second commercial slots exceeding $100,000 during games.

  • And every business’s favorite, bracket-related lost workplace productivity is estimated at $17.3 billion!


While sports (and military) analogies can sometimes overwhelm business conversations, I believe they’re worth studying because of the high-performance environments they create.

But the most interesting part to me isn’t always the game. It’s the game within the game — watching elite coaches lead players who are nearly masters of their craft.


The attrition rate in U.S. basketball is incredibly high. To reach the top, you must become a master of the craft. What does it take to lead a master though?
It's really hard, to master basketball. Imagine what it takes to coach players at this level?

I'm intrigued because reaching this level requires thousands of hours of practice, repetition, and failure. Their tenacity, resilience, circumstances, and natural talents position them for exceptional performance.


For those of you keeping score at home, that’s only about 0.02–0.03% chance of making the pros and effectively 1-in-a-million territory for playing in the Olympics.


Imagine trying to tell one of these players what to do from the comfort of a courtside cushioned chair? Why in the world would they listen to, let alone respect, the direction of someone else who likely never reached the same level of performance they have? After years of working with high-performing teams, I’ve seen this same leadership challenge appear again and again.

 

The art of trying to put a 28.5-29.5-inch ball in an 18-inch hoop 10 feet off the ground more times than your opponent is BIG BUSINESS. And maximizing the rarity of this talent to achieve the ultimate goal (survive six consecutive win-or-go-home games against the nation's best) takes a special breed of leader. One of the best examples is Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) — the winningest coach in Division I history and former leader of U.S. Olympic basketball. In his journey, he’s had to tackle the same leadership challenge executives face in business: How do you lead people who are already exceptional at what they do? Here's what the winningest coach in D1 history knew about leading people who don't need to listen to you:


What Coach K Can Teach Us:

  • Bring your ego – just aim it at the mission.

 

His best ask of the 2008 Redeem Team. “Check your ego at the door” is a mantra we’ve heard over and over again. But what if you said, forget that, bring it! Just channel it here. The directive allows people the space to showcase their confidence and not hold back. The power is that it puts it towards the ultimate goal for the team. They get to be what they feel is the best version of themselves and target it towards something that will benefit everyone.

 

  • Get to know your people and meet them where they are.

 

As Coach K put it, “instead of having a meeting with a guy or guessing about how they feel, why don’t you ask a few of them how they feel?” Companies with highly engaged teams see 21% higher profitability, 17% higher productivity, and up to 59% lower turnover. (Gallup) Amy Edmondson's research at Harvard found that the highest-performing medical teams weren't the ones making fewer errors — they were the ones that felt safe enough to report them. Understand your team, build a human bridge with them, and you’ll see better results.

 

  • Ask because we learn from everyone.

 

Per Coach K, “no one knows everything.” The research backs him up: follow-up questions have "special power" — they signal to your conversation partner that you are listening, care, and want to know more. People interacting with a partner who asks lots of follow-up questions tend to feel respected and heard. Interestingly, research by Brooks and John found that most executives don't treat questioning as a skill — they default to telling, not asking.

 

  • It’s not just about the will to win—it’s about “combining the will to prepare and the will to win, and the results will follow”.

 

This creates good habits that lead to the best possible outcomes no matter the circumstances. Coach Krzyzewski’s results speak for themselves here: 1,202 wins and 368 losses, five NCAA Division I tournament championships, and three gold medals over a 27-year career (and that’s just the headliners).


Lessons Learned from Coach K Leading High Performing Teams During March Madness:

1️⃣ Bring your ego — aim it at the mission

2️⃣ Meet people where they are

3️⃣ Ask better questions

4️⃣ Prepare like winning depends on it

 

So this week as you stream games on the side while working on emails, or cheer on your favorite team after hours with friends, I hope you don’t just celebrate the efforts of the players but also the human X’s and O’s behind the scenes. Being a top talent can only get you so far. Mastering the art of your people will help you unlock greater horizons ahead.

 

What’s the best leadership lesson a coach ever taught you? And how has it shaped the way you lead today?


Cheers,


Adam Peddicord


I work with organizations navigating exactly this leadership challenge — aligning high-performing teams around a common objective. If you're leading a team of high performers and trying to unlock their next level, I'd love to compare notes.

 

 

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