The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team by Mike Krzyzewski, Jamie K. Spatola (With)

From Barnes & Noble

Until 1988, America's basketball combine rolled over the world in the Summer Olympics. In the ten tournaments before the Seoul games in which the USA competed, they brought home the gold nine times, losing only a single time in a final, and that by a scant one point. But while our Olympians were stacking up trophies, the rest of the world was catching up. At the 2004 Athens Games, the so-called "Dream Team" was vanquished by Lithuania, Puerto Rico, and Spain. When Duke Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski received the call to coach the 2008 team, he knew that it was no ceremonial honor; he was being asked to motivate a multimillionaire crew of NBA superstars into a winning unit. This stirring firsthand book recounts that sometimes uphill battle and shares the lessons that Coach K and his high-flying players learned in the process.

From the Publisher

Says Coach K: "In all forms of leadership, whether you are a coach, a CEO, or a parent, there are four words that, when said, can bring out the best in your team, your employees, and your family...I BELIEVE IN YOU.

These four words can mean the difference between a fear of failure and the courage to try."

In his previous audiobooks, Coach K has guided readers to success the way he has guided his teams at Duke University - - with the power of his inspirational words and phenomenal leadership skills.

But that was with college kids.....Now, Coach K has stepped up to take on an entirely new challenge - by volunteering to coach the US Olympic Basketball team. Comprised of some of the biggest NBA stars, Coach K had to work with huge egos and personalrivalries in order to create an American team that could win against the best competition in the world and restore Team USA to the gold standard of basketball.

This is more than a celebratory audiobook - it's Coach K's first-hand account of how he dealt with such stars as Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony and all the rest to buy into his "total team" play. Half an audiobook on basketball, half an audiobook on management techniques, THE GOLD STANDARD captures Coach K's personal style and approach to getting different (and sometimes difficult) people to work hard and succeed in reaching a common goal.

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