The following article cites the chapter, Business: Mindset and Leadership, from the Book 'Mindset' by Carol Dweck.

What distinguished the thriving companies form other?  There were several important factors, as Collins reports in his book, Good to Great, but one that was absolutely key was the type of leader who in every case led the company into greatness.  These were not the larger-than-life, charismatic types who oozed ego and self-proclaimed talent.  They were self-effacing people who constantly asked questions and had the ability to confront the most brutal answers – that is, to look failures in the face, even their own, while maintaining faith that they would succeed in the end.

Collins wonders why his effective leaders have these particular qualities.  And why these qualities go together the way they do.  And how these leaders came to acquire them.  But we know.  They have the growth mindset.  They believe in human development.  And these are the hallmarks:

They’re not constantly trying to prove they’re better than others.  For example, they don’t highlight the pecking order with themselves at the top, they don’ claim credit for other people’s contributions, and they don’t undermine others to feel powerful.

Instead, they are constantly trying to improve.  They surround themselves with the most able people they can find, they look squarely at their own mistakes and deficiencies, and they ask frankly what skills they and the company will need in the future.  And because of this, they can move forward with confidence that’s grounded in the facts, not built on fantasies about their talent.

Collins reports that Alan Wurtzel, the CEO of the giant electronics chain Circuit City, held debates in his boardroom.  Rather than simply trying to impress his board of directors, he used them to learn.  With his executive team as well, he questioned, debated, prodded until his slowly gained a clearer picture of where the company was and where it needed to go.  “They used to call me the prosecutor, because I would hone in on a question,” Wurtzel told Collins.  “You know, like a bulldog.  I wouldn’t let go until I understood.  Why, why, why?”

Wurtzel considered himself a ‘plow horse,’ a hardworking, no-nonsense normal kind of guy, but he took a company that was close to bankruptcy and over the next fifteen years turned it into one that delivered the highest total return to its stockholders of any firm on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sports: The Mindset of a Champion

The following article cites the chapter, Sports: The Mindset of a Champion, from the Book 'Mindset' by Carol Dweck.

Character Grows Out Of Mindset

In sports, everybody believes in talent.  Sports is where the idea of ‘a natural comes from – someone who looks like an athlete, moves like an athlete, and is an athlete, all without trying.  So great is the belief in natural talent that many scouts and coaches only search for naturals.

But there are several examples of ‘natural’ talents who have not panned out when facing challenges because they didn’t have the character or mindset to deal with adversity.

There is a mindset in which people are enmeshed in the idea of their own talent and specialness.  When things go wrong, they lose their focus and their ability, putting everything they want in jeopardy.

There is also a mindset that helps people cope well with setbacks, points them to good strategies, and leads them to act in their best interest.

Having a growth mindset allows you to see mistakes, challenges and obstacles for what they really are – opportunities for growth.

While it is a great advantage to have natural talent, it is equally or more important to learn how to tolerate frustration and to know how to dig down and turn an important setback into an important win.

Ever think of taking responsibility?

Tennis player John McEnroe was supremely talented but was also notorious for placing blame for his shortcomings and making excuses.  When he would make mistakes on the court, he would often throw fits that you would associate with small children when they don’t get their way.  Worse, he would do everything he could to explain away failures and place blame on everything and everyone else other than his need to be better prepared and better composed.  Never did he take full responsibility and really work to better himself.  The following quote is an excerpt from the book Mindset regarding a statement that he made blaming the ‘system’ for letting him get away with more and more:

‘He got mad at the system!  Hi there, John, This was your life.  Ever think of taking responsibility?

No, because in the fixed mindset, you don’t take control of your abilities and your motivation.  You look for your talent to carry you through, and when it doesn’t, well then what else could you have done?  You are not a work in progress, you’re a finished product.  And finished products have to protect themselves, lament, and blame.  Everything but take charge.’

In the fixed mindset, athletes want to validate their talent.  In the growth mindset, it’s about constantly looking at ways to better themselves.  When you struggle or fail at something and you possess a fixed mindset, you tend to shut down, place blame on someone or something else, or quit altogether.  You don’t see struggle for what it is – an opportunity for growth.

Make the decision to take charge of yourself and your potential and don’t let excuses and obstacles deter you from your best self.

Mark O’Meara

Mark O’Meara was a golf partner and friend of Tiger Woods.  It was not easy to play next to Tiger Woods because of his extraordinary talent and success, so O’Meara had to make a decision: either feel jealous of and diminished by Wood’s play or learn from it.  He chose to learn from it.  O’Meara was a talented golfer who never seemed to live up to his potential, so he made the decision to take charge of his game and turn himself around.  Tiger Woods won the Masters Tournament, and just a year later O’Meara beat Woods to win it.

Character, Heart, the Mind of a Champion

Character, heart, the mind of a champion.  It’s what makes great athletes and it’s what comes from the growth mindset with its focus on self-development, self-motivation, and responsibility.

People don’t expect the impossible from you.  They just want to see you use your wonderful talent to the utmost.  They just want you to develop the skills you need to reach your goals.

Somebodies vs Nobodies

Somebodies are not determined by whether they won or lost.  Somebodies are people who go for it with all they have.  If you go for it with all you have, you will already be a somebody.  If you work hard at something, you will get out of it what you put it.

Athletes with a growth mindset find success in learning and improving, not just winning.  The more you can do this, the more rewarding sports will be for you – and for those around you.

Character is an important concept in sports and in life, and it comes out of the growth mindset.  Think about times you have hit a wall in something and you need to reach deep down inside to overcome it.  What could you do to make sure you’re in the growth mindset in the pinch?

THIS GUY GIVES YOU A SHOT AT MAKING FREE THROWS - Ernie Hobbie 'The Shot Doctor'

- Great article on Ernie Hobbie – ‘The Shot Doctor’

- After the article, there are two videos showing him teaching shooting.

THIS GUY GIVES YOU A SHOT AT MAKING FREE THROWS

PETER IACOBELLI, Associated Press

Mar. 18, 1989 2:58 PM ET

PLAINFIELD, N.J. (AP) Ernie Hobbie has brought the schoolroom to the schoolyard and has many of basketball's biggest names as willing students in the elusive art of free throw shooting.

Hobbie, an elementary school principal currently helping the New Jersey Nets, has also worked with the New York Knicks and major college programs like Syracuse and Georgia Tech.

Hobbie has tinkered with the shots of the Nets' Buck Williams and Roy Hinson; the Knicks' Gerald Wilkins and Sidney Green; Ralph Sampson of the Golden State Warriors; Mark Price of the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Rony Seikaly and Dwayne ''Pearl'' Washington of the Miami Heat.

But, according to Hobbie, you don't have to be NBA caliber to have a shot at making a free throw.

''I'm convinced anyone can go out back without any practice and if you say, 'I'm going to extend my arm high and put my five fingers into the middle of the basket,' you're going to have a decent stroke.''

For Hobbie, the stroke is where it starts. He breaks the motion into several parts and, like a teacher, uses clever, easy-to-remember phrases his students can recall in pressure situations.

''Lift, left'' or ''lift, right'' means extend your shooting arm high into the basket; ''catch, up, you kethup on french fries'' means set the ball and go up straight with the shot.

''It's muscle memory,'' Hobbie said. ''You're doing the same thing every time. That's the key; training your mind and muscle to recall the same motion.''

Once the stroke is down, Hobbie works on a balanced stance and a positive attitude.

''I tell kids to make sure the data in the computer (the brain) is only positive. The word 'miss' can't be in your thoughts at all,'' he said. ''You're going to see the ball go through the net. You're going to keep doing that over and over again.''

For many of Hobbie's pupils, it's working. Georgia Tech has been the top foul shooting team in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season at 75.8 percent, up from last season's 72.1. Dennis Scott, Tech's star guard, was a 65 percent shooter last year and is now over 81.

The Nets are up to 73.9 from the line after hitting just 67.9 percent in November. Dennis Hopson, the club's best shooter, has improved from 69 percent last year to just under 85 percent this season.

Hobbie, often called the Shot Doctor, even makes house calls. Seikaly, a rookie center from Syracuse, needed an adjustment when Hobbie was in Florida earlier this year.

''He has simplified my foul shooting,'' Seikaly said. ''He has reduced the margin of error and gotten me balanced, always working on the same thing. The rest is up to you.''

The theory sounds simple, but it's one Hobbie practiced long before he preached.

A devoted basketball fan, he twice made 310 straight free throws before missing. At one basketball camp he attended, Hobbie stroked 599 out of 600. Two years ago, he hit 100 straight as a birthday present for a high school player he counseled.

''I just think shooting is easy,'' said Hobbie, 59. ''Shooting is the most enjoyable. And you can aquire that skill by yourself.

''That's why an old man like me, with a bad back and a bad hip, if you let me alone, I can still go out an shoot the ball.''
Hobbie forged his shooting style in the era of the underhand free throw. While coaching the freshman team at Cranford High School in New Jersey, he broached the subject to varsity coach Bill Martin.

''My brother Eddie (who played for Cranford) didn't shoot underhand very well, but he could shoot one-handed all night long. I remember one time at an informal meeting, I said to Bill that I hoped my other brother Bobby doesn't have to go through what Eddie did with that stupid underhand. I guess it was the wrong thing to say.''

Martin immediately put the Hobbies on the spot, with brother Bobby, coached by brother Ernie, the only player in the Cranford program allowed to shoot one-handed.

''He (Bobby) shot likees came along and broke it,'' Hobbie said.

For years Hobbies came along and broke it,'' Hobbie said.

For years after, Hobbie was invited to local camps, clinics and high school practices. He only began working with colleges five years ago, when he was asked by then coach John Weinert to help a poor-shooting Bowling Green club. Later that season, the Falcons made 24 of 26 foul shots against Toledo, including 19 straight.

Hobbie's reputation as a shooting teacher grew, and soon schools like Toledo, Jacksonville, Seton Hall, Fordham, Central Connecticut and Virginia were asking for help.

''I found he was the most knowledgeable one on free throws,'' said Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins. ''He teaches a great technique and gives players a lot of confidence. He's very positive and it has really improved our shooting.''

But Hobbie is quick to pass the credit and the blame to those who deserve it - the players.

''I'd like to think that I'm like a doctor who writes a perscription and I give it to the patient. It's up to him to follow the perscription,'' he said. ''If you don't do a thing about it, it's not the doctor's fault.''

One player who followed Hobbie's perscription was his son, Jerry, who made a school-record 87 percent of his free throws at Fordham in 1981-82.

Because of his success, Hobbie has been encouraged to run basketball camps or write books on shooting. However, like most teachers, his reward comes watching his students succeed.

''At a game in Syracuse, Stevie Thompson (whom Hobbie had worked with) saw where I was sitting and went 'high, left', then hit two at the end of a game against Seton Hall.

''My wife said to me 'That gave you more satisfaction than if they paid you $1 million.' I said absolutely. People don't understand that." 

The Original Shot Doctor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkmPwKpFc1o

Coaching Poor Shooters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pUs2xzsois

Ron Sen Fast Five: Messages to Players...Coaches' Eyes

The following short article was borrowed from Ron Sen's basketball blog.  You can find the original article here.

"They're not cattle." - Pete Newell

Players need to know "why". Understanding "why" you do something obviates 'memorization'. 

1  "Performance-focused" and "feedback-rich" environments create understanding. 

2.  Establish symmetry goals. 372. Get three consecutive stops, seven times a half, both halves. Offensively, avoid three consecutive possessions without scoring. 

3.  Players should start to understand the game through "coaches' eyes". They should identify mistakes real time. 

4.  Punish opponents' mistakes. Don't break the press to advance the ball. Attack the press to score. Your defender "loses" you? Cut to score.  Don't block out? We get an offensive rebound and put-back.  Defensive transition without total concentration? Layups.

5.  Allow no easy shots. Contest without fouling. Hard 2s. Competitive play. Be hard to play against easy to play with. 

Catch And 'Show Shot'

When our kids catch the ball, we want them to think ‘score.’  Every time they catch, they should look at the basket and see if they are open first – we call this ‘show shot.’  We want them to show shot on the catch so that they are ready to score if open and to get the defense off balance if not.

In the split second that it takes to show shot, if they are not open to shoot or not open to drive, they should look in the paint and see if a cutter is open or the post is open.  Showing shot demands the same good footwork it would take to make a good interior pass to an open player.

We put 5 minutes on the clock and practice catching the ball, squaring up, and showing shot using different actions out of a 3 out and 4 out setting.

In the video below, Duke demonstrates how they practice showing shot in a 3-out setting by setting away screens or interchanges.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaymSSwIDDQ

We work on doing it out of the following actions:

- Pass and cut
- Replacing yourself (against the deny or against no deny)
- Screen away
     - Curl, catch at 3 point line, show shot, then dribble retreat
- Fade screen for top player

- Staggered screens (4 out)

Like Duke does in the video, we like to have a coach under the basket holding up numbers to train players to face the basket and look inside.

'Nova's Winning Approach: All Business Under Wright'

Below is a great article from Philly.com on how Jay Wright treated the Final Four as a business trip, keeping players away from all distractions, so that they could ensure maximum focus throughout the final days of the tournament.  You can read the article in full here.

When Jay Wright arrived in Detroit for his first Final Four as Villanova coach in 2009, he wanted his players, coaches and support staff to enjoy the experience. But when the Wildcats went out for their national semifinal game that weekend against North Carolina, he knew that plan had major flaws.

"It was about 10 minutes into the game and I knew," Wright recalled last week. "You could just see the focus in Carolina. You could see our guys were just playing a game. I knew I didn't get these guys ready.

"Obviously, [Tar Heels coach Roy Williams] had been there many times. They were ready. They were playing on a completely different level than we were. We were there to play a fun game in front of a big crowd. So that's when I knew."

So seven years later, when the Wildcats arrived in Houston last Wednesday for the 2016 Final Four, it was strictly a business trip. The key words were "focused" and "dialed in" and "attitude." His players were pretty much kept apart from their families. The entire team met together, ate together, hung together, thinking only "next game," one of the coach's favorite expressions.

Then late Monday night, while wading through about six inches of streamers and confetti that had fallen from the rafters of cavernous NRG Stadium celebrating the Wildcats' national championship, Wright, his players, everyone involved with his program and 'Nova Nation discovered that only winning made the Final Four an enjoyable experience.

The team that Wright built, nurtured, prodded, cajoled, hollered at, and eventually hugged rose to the top of the college basketball mountain against the same team that taught its coach a lesson in 2009.

The Wildcats kept their focus after giving up a 10-point lead on an incredible tying three-point shot by North Carolina's Marcus Paige and topped it with one of their own: Kris Jenkins' 24-foot three-pointer at the buzzer that gave the program its second national championship, 77-74, over the Tar Heels.

Wright kept his own steely focus - "coach mode," he called it - even as delirium reigned all around him. He thought the officials might put a few tenths of a second on the clock after the big shot.

"I'm the adult," he said. "I've got all these 18- to 22-year-olds around me. They're going to go crazy and I'm going to have to get them gathered and we're going to have to defend a play with .7 seconds [left]. That's what I was thinking."

He still seemed stunned while addressing reporters about 90 minutes later.

"You dream that this happens, you don't know what it's going to feel like, how you're going to handle it," he said. "It is really surreal. I don't have a plan for what to do. I was prepared if we lost how to keep these guys' heads up [but] I didn't have a plan for this because we always say, 'Hey, whatever happens, we'll deal with it, but let's concentrate on the game.'

"I think that's the best thing we did in the tournament. For three weeks, we really stayed focused on basketball. We felt guilty by keeping them sequestered. My wife [Patti] even apologized to their families [Sunday] night, and they actually told her, 'We're all in. We support it.' Then Patti came and told me that, which made me feel better."

Through the tournament's six games, the Wildcats competed at a level significantly higher than what took them to their third consecutive Big East regular-season championship. 

It all came down to the work in practice that Wright demands of the players.

"Coach puts us in the most difficult situations in practice every day," junior swing-man Josh Hart said. "So it's just that experience, that decision-making, being able to go in there and make the right play. The repetition that Coach puts us in really helps us learn."

That practice work directly led to a national championship. With 4.7 seconds left, Ryan Arcidiacono took an inbounds pass, dribbled into the frontcourt and flipped the ball to Jenkins for the game-winning basket.

"We work on that play every single day in practice," Arcidiacono said. "It's not about me taking the right shot. It's about me making the right read. I think I just did that."

"It's like a dream right now, doesn't even seem real," Wright said. "First thing I thought of: That was an incredible college final. I watch them all on TV. That's what I'm still thinking about, that I'm so lucky to be a part of it."

Or maybe Villanova is the lucky one to have Wright.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/colleges/villanova/20160406__Nova_s_winning_approach__All_business_under_Wright.html#TM7AfqebUGeYl7rV.99