My wife does not like Larry Brown. When he was the coach of the New Jersey Nets and decided to depart for a coaching position at UCLA in 1983, leaving Buck Williams and the rest of the Nets in the lurch, Carol developed a lasting dislike for him.
When he ended up in Philadelphia in 1997, my wife’s opinion did not change. Even after his success leading the Sixers to the NBA finals in 2001 he was still in Carol’s dog house. And when the sportswriters in Philly began speculating in 2010 that Larry might return to lead the Sixers again Carol rolled her eyes in disgust.
I don’t think she knows that Larry Brown is back in the tourney hunt this year as head coach of the SMU Mustangs. The Mustangs are a number 6 seed in the NCAA South Regional and do battle with UCLA today at 3:15 PM EDT.
Now after being married for 37 years I am smart enough not to pick fights with my long-suffering spouse over stuff like March Madness. But I do really like Larry Brown and believe that he deserves his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. (For what it’s worth, Allen Iversen—remember him? The “We’re talking about practice, man” NBA great– agrees with me: he called Brown “the best coach in the world.”)
There are many things that bank sales leaders can learn from him. Here’s my list:
- Get the right players. Brown’s last NBA team, the Charlotte Bobcats, was an unlikely combination of NBA castoffs and aging veterans. In the first year he made trades involving over 20 players. While generally perceived to be a player’s coach, Brown wants his kind of players, and isn’t reluctant to make changes to get them.
- Start with the basics. One of the first things that Brown realized when he took over the Bobcats in 2009 was that they did not know how to play team defense. Even the pros can learn new things. Coach Brown does not assume that professionals know it all.
- Don’t look back. Brown’s success with Charlotte—he took the team to the playoffs in 2010– followed a disastrous stint with the New York Knicks in 2005-2006. If your team isn’t performing well, it may not be entirely your fault. Brown was able to move on after his experience with the Knicks.
- Balance perfectionism and realism. Brown is known as a master teacher, capable of taking his players to a higher level. He stresses playing the game the right way, and attaches great significance to developing the right skills and habits in practice. His biggest fear is: “I haven’t done enough as a coach where these guys encounter something I haven’t prepared them for.”
This last point is something all sales managers should consider. What kinds of things do you have to prepare your team for? What’s the best way to do that? In our busy schedules when can we run the practices that will make our bankers better?
One last favor: Don’t show this piece to my wife.
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