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Dan Spainhour On His New Book, Leading Narratives

Leadership Publishing Team Founder is the author of several books and is the editor of The Coaching and Leadership Journal
A huge part of my coaching foundation was formed when as a very young coach, I got the opportunity to work the Duke Basketball Camp. My first year was the summer following Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s third season at Duke which saw his team finish 11-17—his second consecutive losing season. At that time there were lots of rumblings about how long it was going to be before he was fired. I’m sure Coach felt pressure but he never showed it. On the last night of camp, we always had a pizza party with Coach K. We sat around talking hoops, discussed coaching philosophy and there was always the occasional BS story thrown in. I distinctly remember Coach K saying that coaching is as much about choosing words as it is about coaching strategies. He said you must know your team and you must tell vivid stories—stories that not only make people think but make them feel the way you want them to feel. Little did I know that I was receiving advice from an hall-of-fame coach who would go on to become a legend and the winningest college basketball coach ever.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that the greatest leaders teach with stories. I think everyone needs a good story to tell and thanks to Coach K, I became very interested in learning what parables or interesting stories I could use to teach lessons to my team. This book contains some of the stories I have collected from 34 years in the business

—Dan Spainhour, Winston Salem, NC, 2018




Paperback
6 x 9; 124 pages
$24.95

Comments

  1. You are at it again. Keep it going. You are inspiring many.

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