Coach K on Building Leaders: 4 Tips

Mike William Krzyzewski, a.k.a. Coach K, is a former basketball coach known for winning the most games in the history of men’s college basketball. As head coach at Duke University from 1980–2022, he led the Division I team to more than a thousand victories—including five national championships.

Before becoming one of the world’s winningest coaches, Coach K graduated from the United States Military Academy and served in the armed forces from 1969–1974, resigning as an Army Captain. Coach K’s military background and success as a basketball coach have made him an expert in transformational leadership.

Great leaders understand the power of leadership development and actively seek opportunities to mentor junior team members.

“One of the greatest responsibilities you have as a leader is to ensure the people beneath you are becoming better, stepping into leadership positions, and strengthening the team unit as a whole.” — Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski

Developing leaders involves identifying potential leaders among your direct reports and teaching them leadership skills through a hands-on training or development program. Leadership training is a win-win for managers and team members—the manager ensures their direct reports aspire to greater responsibility and the team member enjoys a supportive company culture. The bottom line is that effective leaders provide companies with a competitive advantage, higher retention rates, increased employee engagement, and long-term sustainability.

Here are a few ways for identifying high-potential individuals well-suited for leadership roles:

1. 1. Create a leadership pipeline. Every business development plan should include a formal process for promoting team members to leadership positions. Leadership pipelines encourage employees to do their best and can help managers identify employees who would excel in such a program.
2. 2. Evaluate interpersonal skills. Those with qualities like integrity, self-awareness, and cooperation can make for good leaders. Even if team members lack formal training, they may possess good leadership qualities and likely make good candidates for becoming successful business leaders.
3. 3. Prioritize soft skills. Possessing soft skills, such as solid communication and emotional intelligence, can help you to become a successful leader. When assessing your team for new leaders, look for team members who have effective public speaking skills, can handle conflict well, and can multitask proficiently.
4. 4. Provide leadership opportunities. Allow team members to take on low-risk leadership roles, such as in a meeting or team-building exercise. These opportunities will enable you to evaluate their leadership skills.

Here are tips on how to develop leaders from Coach K:

1. 1. Constantly assess leadership potential. According to Coach K, to spot emerging leaders in your organization, “look for the people who embody the values of your organization and lead by example.” Coach K says that the best leaders will work to ensure the whole team can align and move forward as a unit. “Everyone has leadership potential,” he says, “but it must be nurtured and the leader must be willing to put in the time and effort to develop their skills.”
2. 2. Empower instead of delegating. Your development opportunities should instill leadership competencies that give your employees greater autonomy. If a business leader does their job well, employees should only sometimes seek approval from senior management. “There’s a certain level of autonomy,” Coach K says, “that each person in your organization should have.”
3. 3. Recognize good leadership behaviors. Senior leaders must recognize effective leadership by offering team members praise and encouragement when they see it. “You can’t just have good leadership,” Coach K says. “You have to recognize it if you want it to happen over and over, over again.”
4. 4. Take a tiered approach. According to Coach K, an effective leader empowers others into leadership positions. “Leadership is plural,” he says. “If your organization was a ten-story building, the leader is on the tenth floor; the leader should have confidence that what’s happening on the first floor is being taken care of.”

When you lead a team, what you say isn’t necessarily as important as how you say it. Discover Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski’s secret to reading people, giving feedback, and building leaders when you sign up for the MasterClass Annual Membership.