15 Best Books for Coaches

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."
John Wooden

In a previous post, I talked about some of the best books for leaders, whether you are a coach or not.  Today, I will recommend the books that will help a coach in nearly any sport at any level.  A couple of the books may seem sport specific, but contain information and insight that can help you regardless of what you coach.  Even if you are not an avid reader, flip through some of these books and steal one or two ideas to implement with your teams or to strengthen your coaching philosophy.  These are 15 books that are different than my list for leaders.  However, I would definitely suggest looking at those books as well.

1. "A Season on the Brink"  (John Feinstein)
2. "The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom"  (Bobby Bowden)
3. "Coaching Team Basketball" (Tom Crean)
4. "The Men of March:  A Season Inside the Lives of College Basketball Coaches"  (Brian Curtis)
5. "Runnin' the Show:  Basketball Leadership for Coaches and Players"  (Dick DeVenzio)
6. "Catch Them Being Good"  (Tony DiCicco & Colleen Hacker)
7. "Education of a Coach" (David Halberstam)
8. "Sacred Hoops:  Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior"  (Phil Jackson)
9. "Inside Women's College Basketball:  The Anatomy of a Season"  (Richard Kent)
10. "Five Point Play"  (Mike Krzyzewski)
11. "The Winner Within"  (Pat Riley)
12. "How Good Do You Want to Be"  (Nick Saban)
13. "Raise the Roof"  (Pat Summitt) 
14. "They Call Me Coach"  (John Wooden)
15. "Practical Modern Basketball"  (John Wooden)

15 Best Books for Leaders

"I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

ABE LINCOLN

As a basketball coach, I have a tremendous opportunity to lead and influence people every day.  Certainly leadership involves a great many things, however, I have found that constantly learning and re-learning methods, strategies, and insights gives me a better chance to lead in a positive manner.  Reading books is one of the key resources that I utilize in trying to sharpen my leadership skills.  Every once in awhile, I'll even read a book again because it was so good.  Below are some of the books that I'd recommend highly for anyone seeking to be a better leader. These are not necessarily coaching books, but a variety of books that hit upon a number of key leadership areas. With summer fast approaching, maybe go to your local library or go online and get a copy of any of these books that you haven't read.  You won't be disappointed with the valuable insights in these books.

 

1. "How to Win Friends and Influence People" (Dale Carnegie) 
2. "Good to Great"  (Jim Collins) 
3. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"  (Stephen Covey)    

4. "Leadership Is An Art"  (Max De Pree)

5. "Leadership"   (Rudolph Giuliani)

6. "The Leadership Lessons of Colin Powell"  (Oren Harari) 
7. "War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick & the Art of Building the Perfect Team" (Michael Holley)
8.  "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln"   (Doris Kearns Goodwin)
9.  "Leading with the Heart"   (Mike Krzyzewski) 
10. "Reach for the Summit"   (Sally Jenkins)
11. "Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty"   (Harvey Mackay) 

12. "The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership"  (John Maxwell)
13. "Joe Torre's Ground Rules for Winners"  (Joe Torre)
14. "The Paradox of Power"  (Pat Williams)

15. "It's Called WORK For A Reason"   (Larry Winget)

Undercover Boss

What if you were a fly on the wall in the break room?  What if you were invisible and followed your subordinates around all day?  What if you were in disguise and worked side by side with your employees all day long?  Would you learn startling new revelations?  Would you like what you heard?  Would you be happy...frustrated...or sad?  There actually is a television show that sets up these scenarios in “Undercover Boss” on CBS.  I have only seen a handful of episodes as it is not one of my regular shows that I watch.  Anyway, I saw an episode last week about the C.E.O. of Rally’s/Checker’s fast food restaurants that went undercover as a new trainee at three different restaurants.  He was very adamant about having the best customer service and fastest fast food culture possible.  He felt that his company was doing well...until he got a dose of the real world of his restaurants.  Through his undercover work, he discovered that there really was unsatisfactory training procedures—both for managers and regular workers; insufficient incentive plans; outdated equipment; and underachieving stores.  He even shut one restaurant down for a whole day so that they could get trained properly because he didn’t want them going through the motions anymore.  Because of this overall experience, he saw many things that needed to be changed.  He also gave away about $75,000 to employees.  Even though he thought his company was doing the right things, he realized that he was out of touch with what was really going on.  I don’t eat at these stores and I am a die-hard Chick-Fil-A guy, but I was quite impressed with this C.E.O.’s sincerity and passion to improve his product and service even though it might be painful and costly.  Do we have all the answers?  Do we know exactly the best way to run our office...our company...our institution...in all situations?  Would we be willing to change right away if we saw something that needed to be changed or would we wait until the next fiscal year...the next semester...the next billing cycle?  If we truly want to provide the best service possible, isn’t constant evaluation and change necessary?