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Since Peak launched, I haven’t come across many people better at talking about leadership than Tara VanDerveer. She’s clear, thoughtful and highly, highly qualified.
She won three national championships as the head women’s basketball coach at Stanford.
She won a gold medal as the head coach of Team USA.
She’s in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
And during her 45-year career, she won more college basketball games than all but one coach in history (Geno Auriemma).
This week, I asked VanDerveer, 73, to share five leadership rules. She first texted her answers (and I left her text responses in italics below), and then we hopped on the phone to dive deeper.
Let me hand the mic to her now.
1. Know the way
💬 Have clear vision, goals and expectations. Have a well thought-out plan. Be bold, courageous and confident. Develop trust with your team so everyone is on the same page.
I was watching this movie recently called “Tenzing” about a Sherpa who helped the first person summit Mount Everest. You want to have someone who has experience, who isn’t just throwing spaghetti up at the wall and experimenting.
How do you get that knowledge? You have to really study your field.
When I first started coaching, I had a friend who was starting at the same time, and she was all worried about the press guide her first year. I said, “Who cares about the press guide? The roster is what’s important: have your team in shape, have them be healthy.”
You have to have more of a laser focus and delegate things that aren’t as important.
I was focused on doing very specific things, and I could delegate other things, so I was not distracted and didn’t feel I was spread too thin.
2. Keep it real
💬 Be yourself and be authentic. Be direct and honest.
Coaches, as an example, go to clinics and see what other coaches say and think: I’ve got to act this way. I’ve got to coach this way.
I went to all of those clinics, too, and for three years I sat and watched Bobby Knight’s practices at Indiana. But I never felt like I had to be Bobby Knight.
I would look at the things people did or how they would coach or ideas they had and try to fit them into my picture. And there were some things that just didn’t fit with me.
I always looked for things that complemented how I did things and that fit within my way of doing or saying something, so that I was always doing it my way.
When I coached the Olympic team, I said to the whole team: “Everyone has to sprint back, and if you don’t sprint back, I’m going to take you out.”
On a jump ball, Lisa Leslie kind of jogged back. So I subbed her out. I don’t know if she was used to that; that was kind of a surprise to her.
But you have to say what you mean and mean what you say – and not say it meanly. So I said: “Hey, Lisa, we have a rule. You have to sprint back.”
But she remembered that rule. I was direct and being honest, but not screaming and yelling and carrying on.
3. Think outside the box
💬 Be creative and a great problem-solver.
When I first came to Stanford, the teams that won had big post players: Tennessee, Louisiana Tech. We couldn’t necessarily recruit those kinds of players, so we went with 3-point shooters instead.
We took our team to China, and we were beaten soundly by teams, and one player made 10 3s against us. I was like: This is how we can win.
You don’t always want to follow the herd. You have to ask: How can we do things differently?
We trained with our track coach; he helped players on our team improve our running.
I met with our swim coaches to learn what they did differently with nutrition because swimmers have to take hundredths of seconds off their times.
We were one of the first teams to have a sports psychologist work with our players.
Try different things. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
4. Be a pig, not a chicken
💬 Think of breakfast bacon and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed. Be ALL in and someone that people can depend on.
If a leader is not totally all-in on the plan, the system and the goals — on everything — you’re not going to be successful. You have to totally believe in everything you’re doing.
You can’t expect your staff and players to make the sacrifices that they need to make if you’re not willing to make them first.
5. Get back up
💬 Learn from losses and mistakes. Don’t have excuses. Model resiliency. Be positive and enthusiastic.
I see myself a little as a Build-A-Bear. I went to Idaho, and we turned that team around. Ohio State, did the same thing. Stanford, did the same thing.
But it’s a bumpy road. And you learn a lot from your losses.
I like to double down. I think of it this way: On our Olympic trip, one of my assistant coaches and I played Scrabble, and I lost. Well, when I got home, I studied and memorized all the two-letter words. Then I never lost again.
Sometimes a loss can make you better, and that’s how I felt about losses and missteps and failures.
Get back up and be better.
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This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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