Leadership Lessons from Dean Smith

Michael Jordan said: "Apart from my parents, no one has had as much influence on my life as Coach Smith. He was more than a coach to me, he was my mentor, my teacher, my second father. He was always there when I needed him and I loved him for that".

Dean Smith was Michael Jordan's basketball coach at the University. Considering Jordan as the best basketball player of all time and one the best athletes, we should consider Dean Smith as an important part involved in Jordan′s career and successs.

The legendary coach at North Carolina University was loved and respected beyond basketball. In addition to his enormous talent and knowledge of basketball, he was a lovable and beloved person with a series of values that can be connected with many facets of life.

I always felt something special with basketball. When I was a kid and teenager, I played a lot, and when I grew up, I have always followed the sport of basketball closely, both in Europe and in the United States. Basketball (as other sports) is a good school for other facets of life or business, and I always like learning from some of the great basketball coaches.

Dean Smith was a reference managing talent and people, also Coach K from Duke University and Phil Jackson from Chicago Bulls/ Los Angeles Lakers are another good examples of basketball coaches. All these exceptional leaders are cases far away beyond basketball as a sport, they had an emotional and personal style connected with teamwork, values, leadership and different roles within organizations.

Regarding Dean Smith, his work as an educator and as a person committed to the community stands out.

As an educator, Smith coached North Carolina for 36 years, since 1961 to 1997. He retired with a record of two titles, 11 appearances in the Final Four, 879 victories with a winning percentage of 77%. But he was even more proud of another percentage: 96.6% of the players he coached also obtained an University degree.

As a person committed with the community: Smith was a fighter against racial segregation and signed Charlie Scott, the first African-American to play on a university team. In 1965, Smith collaborated with Howard Lee, a black graduate, to buy a house in a neighborhood inhabited only by whites. He publicly expressed his opposition to the Vietnam War. In the eighties, he recorded advertisements to promote the abolition of nuclear weapons and in 1998 he opposed the death penalty and pointed to Governor Jim Hunt. “You are a murderer. I am a murderer. The death penalty makes us all murderers” he said.

President Barack Obama recognized Dean Smith with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2013, the highest civilian award given in the United States, and praised his courage in helping to change the concept of race relations in the country.

In these turbulent times when sport are a big business and in some cases have lost many of its core values, it is good to remember Dean Smith's message and how his style and ethics characterized him, having a huge inmpact and legacy in thousands of athletes and citizens.

I?am an Agricultural/Food Engineer passionate about Asia, International Affairs, and Travelling.?I write often on my blogs: www.ciudadanoenelmundo.com; www.viajaprende.com ; www.leeryviajar.com . You can also?follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/ivanmarcos