Four Truisms of Success as Taught by Butler Coach Brad Stevens
Nothing was more compelling about this week's David v. Goliath NCAA Men's Basketball Championship than the story of the meteoric rise of Butler coach Brad Stevens. At just 33, he joins an elite cadre of young coaches in a number of different categories.
Stevens is the youngest coach ever in a Final Four, save for the legendary Bobby Knight. He's the youngest in a championship game except for one of Knight's predecessors at Indiana, Branch McCracken. And Stevens holds the record for most wins in his first three years as a head coach, besting the likes of Jim Boeheim, and, well, everybody else.
Brad Stevens' rise to prominence in the basketball world highlights four truisms of success.
1. To get to the great, you have to pass up the good.
After graduating from Depauw University in 1999 with a degree in economics, Stevens took a promising job working in the marketing department at Pharmaceutical manufacturer, Eli Lilly, headquartered in Indianapolis. It was a good job--good.
But Stevens had his sites set on his dream job, coaching basketball. So he quit working at Eli Lilly and found a volunteer position in Butler's basketball office. Which brings us to truism number . . .
2. You have to be willing to starve for your art.
To make ends meet, Stevens took a part time job working at Appleby's and lived in a friend's basement. No pride here, the stuff of which failure is designed to relieve us. He was prepared to do whatever it took to succeed.
And he and his wife chose potential success, though they realized the consequences could be utter failure. Brad's wife Tracy got a law degree to provide support should the coaching gig not go as planned. But she nevertheless fully supported the decision to follow the dream.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati