Coach K on Values-Based Leadership

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.

Values-based leadership is a leadership style that unites team members around a shared set of values. It draws on the theory that personal values influence the decision-making process. A values-based leader aims to instill the values of the organization in their team members as a strategy to promote employee engagement, better decision-making, higher levels of productivity, and job satisfaction.

Effective leaders embody these shared values in their own actions. Case studies in leadership development have shown values-based leadership makes for an effective strategy for improving company culture and business sustainability.

According to Coach K, “a value-based team or a value-based organization are the ones that stand the test of time.” Here are some of his tips for becoming a better leader:

1. 1. Align your values. Everyone has their own values, but for a team to become successful, they must find common ground. “In your values meetings, allow each member of the team to suggest and define values, and then as a unit, discuss where their values overlap,” Coach K says. “Then use these common-ground values and create a personalized system to guide the team forward.”
2. 2. Personalize your core values. “You determine what values are good for you and your program,” Coach K says. “They’re just ideals, qualities, ways of living that you feel are pertinent to the group that you’re in. You might have three, you might have ten, or whatever. You determine that.” He suggests getting input from key stakeholders. “As you give a few to the group, ask them what they think about them,” he says. “Because one thing about values, you have to own them. You know, they’re not just words. They’re ways of life.”
3. 3. Practice self-reflection. Coach K credits self-awareness as vital to leading a values-based team with genuine humility. “Don’t get so caught up in you that you don’t see the qualities in someone else,” he says. An authentic leader who embodies a value-based ethos will tremendously impact the organizational culture. “You want to create an environment,” he says, “where every day you feel you’re going to a place that’s gonna make you better, work as a team, and have good values.”
4. 4. Talk about your values. “To make sure,” Coach K says, “that the values are lived and followed through on, on a day-to-day basis in your unit, you have to talk about them.” Coach K regularly held values meetings with his teams in which everyone was encouraged to contribute. “Ask your teammates to contribute values to the conversation and to define them,” he says. “Each team may hold themselves accountable to a different set of values.”

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.