Coaching Up! Inspiring Peak Performance When It Matters Most

Foreword

I'm thrilled to be writing this foreword to Coaching Up! The fact is, I feel passionate about coaching. To me, coaching means having the ability to move people from point A to point B—taking them one step closer to maximizing who they are and becoming whoever they want to be. It's an undervalued skill in our society. People who serve as that kind of catalyst for others are truly exceptional.

I have a deeply personal reason for appreciating the impact coaching can have: coaching made me who I am. I literally wouldn't be where I am in my life without the people who coached me along the way. I've been extraordinarily lucky to have worked with some of the greatest coaches of all time. Each of them has challenged me, pushed me, and helped me along on my journey. In fact they personified, each in his own way, the three core elements of the Coaching Up Model you'll find presented in this book: building an authentic connection, providing genuine support, and offering concise direction—along with a whole lot more. They made me a better player, a better team member, and a better man.

In the end, my legacy as an athlete isn't how many points I scored or how many charges I took. Looking over my career, I see two seminal achievements: the fact that I was a multiple champion at every level, from Little League to two National Basketball Association (NBA) championships, and the fact that I was always one of my teammates' favorite teammates. Both of those achievements stemmed directly ...