Teamwork Wins: Pitino At The VARBusiness 500 Awards

Great teams aren't born, they're convinced. And self-esteem, careful listening and hard work are the key components, according to Rick Pitino. The head basketball coach at the University of Louisville shared his keys to success at Tuesday night's VARBusiness 500 awards.

Rick Pitino, a former head coach of the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and the Kentucky, Providence and Boston University college basketball teams, gave an inspiring address to several hundred solution providers gathered in the dramatic, seven story tall ballroom of Gotham Hall in New York.

A winner of the NCAA men's basketball championship (with Kentucky, 1996), Pitino is the only men's coach to take three different teams to the Final Four. He advised the VARBusiness 500 audience on ways to build 'team ego' and over-achieve in sports, business and life. Among the tips:

"Every Great Story Revolves Around Changing Someone's Self-Esteem."

Building up a person's self-confidence is the surest way to inspire them to achieve. Pitino started by using himself as an example.

Providence College's then-athletic director, Lou Lamoriello, was recruiting Pitino for the head basketball job. Pitino said he'd made up his mind to turn down the offer, and had gone to meet with Lamoriello to tell him his decision.

But when he sat down, Lamoriello said, "I know we've got a lot of work to do, but you're the man for he job." Pitino said, "He gave me two compliments, he challenged me, and I took the job." Two years later, Providence was in the Final Four.

"We're Always The Hardest-Working Team."

Pitino described his experience motivating two players: Billy Donovan, who Pitino coached at Providence College, and Mark Jackson, at the New York Knicks.

Donovan, overweight and unhappy, was looking to leave Providence. Unable to arrange a move, Pitino offered Donovan a deal: lose 30 pounds in the off-season and he'd play as the team's fourth guard. When Donovan did that, Pitino bestowed a new nickname on him, "Billy The Kid," and Donovan wound up leading the team to the Final Four, and then launched a successful coaching career himself. "What I did was raise his self-esteem to a level he never thought he could achieve," Pitino said.

When the Knicks drafted local college favorite Mark Jackson, many were sceptical he'd make a difference. But Pitino challenged him, first, to become Rookie of the Year, and then to make the NBA All-Star team. Through hard work, Jackson met both challenges.

Tellingly, Jackson's career post-Pitino would never match the success of those first two years. Jackson would later say Pitino was the best coach he'd had every played for. Pitino reported that Jackson declared, "Nobody got me to believe in myself like Rick Pitino."

Gotham Hall was originally built in 1922 as the headquarters of the Greenwich Savings Bank.

Build A "Team Ego"

As coach of the Boston Celtics, Pitino called in Hall of Famer Bill Russell to talk to the team during a down period. Russell told the players "I'm the most egotistical guy you'll ever find, but my ego's different. My ego is team ego. That's why I've won eleven championships."

Maintaining that attitude is an ongoing effort, though. Pitino said his players were fired up by Russell, but a week later, the players had returned to "chasing stats", instead of working together for the good of the team.

When asked about his guidlines for recruiting, Pitino explained that the people he was looking for "have great skills, but more importantly are willing to work to be part of a team."

There's Only The Positive, And The Slightly-Less-Positive

"Positive people impact the lives of others," Pitino explained. "Cynical, negative people take the air out of every balloon."

But there's a funny thing about negative people. "Cynical, moody people don't understand that they're being moody -- you have to get them to [look at their behavior and] admit it," if you have a hope of getting them on the right track.

"My motto is to go for 98/2 -- 98% positive, 2% striving to be positive... Passionate, hungry, and driven people can outperform anyone."

Pitino was introduced by Everything Channel CEO (and New England native) Robert Faletra. Recalling his own days at the Celtics, Pitino remarked about Faletra, "I miss that accent."

Learn To Listen, And Adapt

"In recruiting, I always want to have an edge over the other teams... You have to understand the people you're talking to. [Former coach] Hubie Brown taught me to listen for four times for the amount of time I spoke."

Pitino explained that in speaking with high school athletes and their families, the more time he spent extolling the virtues of his school, the less he learned about what factors would lead the athlete to actually choose Pitino's school.

"Experiment with your style all the time... My motto is, if it's not broken, break it and make it better."

"People Want To Be Significant"

"People ask if I'll go back to coaching the pros, but now, at the pro level, [at best] you manage people. In college you impact lives."

It's up to each individual to decide "how we live and how we choose to live our lives, whether we're passionate and happy, or down in the dumps."

Pitino, author of "Success is a Choice" and other books, specifically recommended Spencer Johnson's "The Precious Present," as a book he reads to his teams at the start of each basketball season, to remind them to appreciate what life offers them each day, while they pursue their goals.

When pressed for a prediction on the upcoming Lakers-Celtics NBA finals, Pitino garnered laughs for congratulating Boston "on finally doing what I told them to do a long time ago!" He said he'd be rooting for Boston, but said it would be tough for them to prevail.

Pitino greets Everything Channel Senior VP and Editorial Director Robert DeMarzo.