July 16, 2025 • 37 mins
Have you ever considered that the key to leadership isn’t just vision, but also preparation? Kevin sits down with Coach Matthew Mitchell to explore the role of preparation in leadership and in building winning teams. Matthew shares his five levels of preparation: casual, cursory, compliant, committed, and constant. He believes leaders need to reach levels 4 and 5, where thorough systems, discipline, and introspection take precedence. Using Coach John Wooden’s approach, he explains that most preparation should focus on your systems, only delving deeply into the competitor’s game when necessary, such as during critical “special situations.”
Listen For
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Welcome to the podcast
01:06 About Kevin’s book “Flexible Leadership”
01:33 Guest introduction: Coach Matthew Mitchell
02:27 Overview of Coach Mitchell’s coaching career
03:44 How he got into coaching and writing
06:16 Why return to coaching now?
07:35 Focus of the book: preparation
08:32 Why preparation matters
10:23 Casino analogy: "the house always wins"
13:00 The five levels of preparation
17:01 Where organizations typically fall on the preparation spectrum
18:36 Peyton Manning’s quote on preparation and work ethic
20:19 Attitude and effort: what we can control
22:17 Coaching insights that apply to business
24:22 The importance of identifying your “bread and butter”
25:03 Constant preparation and the power of systems
26:22 Preparing for strategy vs. reacting to the competition
30:27 Special situations in games and business
31:06 The danger of perfectionism vs. pursuit of excellence
32:11 What Coach Mitchell does for fun
33:03 What he’s currently reading
34:39 Where to learn more about Coach Mitchell
35:24 Final thoughts and action steps for listeners
36:34 Closing remarks and next episode teaser
Matthew's Story: Matthew Mitchell is the author of Ready to Win: How Great Leaders Succeed Through Preparation. He is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, speaker, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky women's basketball program. The foundation for his teams’ achievements is the Winning Tools principles: honesty, hard work, and discipline. Through Mitchell’s focus on the fundamentals, he led the program to new heights―seven winning seasons and UK’s first SEC Championship in 30 years.
This Episode is brought to you by...
Flexible Leadership is every leader’s guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Preparation.
Boring.
Unsexy? Maybe.
But it's hard to argueabout the importance of preparation.
And if we want to be winners.
And as leaders, create winning teams.
Our guest today believeswe must be ready to win.
Which starts with preparation.
(00:28):
Being ready with a clearand powerful preparation strategy.
That's our conversation today.
And I'mso glad you're here to join us for it.
Welcome to another episodeof the Remarkable Leadership Podcast,
where we are helping leadersgrow personally and professionally
to lead more effectivelyand make a bigger difference
for their teams, organizationsand the world.
(00:49):
If you are listening to this podcast,you can join us
live in the futureon your favorite social platform.
You can find outwhen those shows are happening
and how you can get connected,and get other inside information
about the show by joining our LinkedInor Facebook groups.
Just go to remarkable podcast.com/linkedin
(01:11):
or remarkable podcast.com/facebook.
And you can get in on all of the futureaction.
Today's episode is brought to youby my latest book, Flexible Leadership.
Navigate uncertaintyand lead with confidence.
It's time to realize that styles can getin our way, and that our follow in that,
and that following our strengthsmight not always be our best approach.
(01:33):
In a worldmore complex and uncertain than ever.
Leaders need a new perspective andset of tools to create the great results
that our organizations and team memberswant and need.
That's where flexible leadership comes in.
Learn more and orderyour copy today at remarkable
podcast.com/flexible.
And with thatthat's my cue to bring in my guest.
(01:55):
His name is coach
Matthew Mitchell.
He is a Wall Street Journal bestsellingauthor, speaker, three times
SEC coach of the year,and the winning this head coach
in the history of the Universityof Kentucky women's basketball program.
The foundation for his team's achievementsis the winning
tools, principles, honesty,hard work, and discipline.
(02:18):
Through his focus on the fundamentals.
He led the program to new heights,winning seven seven
winning seasons and UK'sfirst SEC Championship in 30 years.
In his new book, Ready to Win How GreatLeaders Succeed Through Preparation.
He shares proven principles from his workso that we can become ready to win.
And just off the presses.
(02:40):
He's told me he's going back to collegebasketball and will be coaching
the University of Houston Lady Cougarsstarting this fall.
Coach Matthew, welcome.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks so much, Kevin. It'sgreat to be with you.
I, appreciate the opportunityand looking forward to our time together.
Well, for all of you, most many of you
(03:00):
listening don't know this,but I am a huge college basketball fan,
and I'm going to do my bestto not make this all about me.
Or about college basketball.
I'm not going to ask him aboutflare screens or pick and roll offense.
At least not while the cameras rollinganyway.
So, listen, I'm so glad that you're here.
And suicide.
I enjoyed readingthe book, and as I hinted,
(03:24):
preparation, I
think, isn't somethingthat we often talk about.
And yet it's incredibly important.
And so I'm super excited for youto have that conversation.
But first, beyond whatI just shared in terms of bio.
So what what led you to coaching
college basketball and then and writingthe book like writing books?
(03:44):
Like sort of just a little bit more aboutthe journey than I shared in the open.
Sure. I,
in my early 20s, was,
sort of floundering and,and was lamenting that fact
that I didn't feel like I had any focusto my high school basketball coach.
And he said, Matthew, I think
I always thought you'd make a good coach.
(04:05):
So why don't you come back this yearand help out?
So that was 1994, and,the first time I stepped on the court,
at a basketball practice with my mentorand coach, Coach Farrell Rigby.
I said, this is this is it.
This is, where I need to be.
So that led me on a journeyof just trying very hard
to become competent in coaching.
(04:26):
So it's very different coaching than it isplaying and competing as a player
as it is as a coach.
And so one of the great pieces of fortuneI had and blessings I had was I worked
the University of Tennessee women'sbasketball camp there in the mid 90s.
Coach Pat Summitt,the the, the all time great legend,
was on a streak of three straightnational championships and
(04:49):
and just the program was at its absolutezenith.
And I was in the middle of all that work.
And summer camp never had any cluethat that that my life would change.
In the summer of 1999,she hired me as her graduate
assistant coach,and it changed everything for me.
Kevin.
So that led me to, successfulassistant coaching
(05:11):
career Florida University of Floridafor three years.
University of Kentucky.
And then I finally got, an opportunityto lead my own program.
And that was first at Morehead State,where I developed the winning tools
that you mentioned earlier,
and then went on to return to Kentuckyas the head coach for 13 years.
So 15 years as a Division one head coach
(05:33):
and, stepped away in 2020 for,just some time to,
to, contemplate life and, and,and see what the next leg was.
And so over the last four years
have built a businessand a consulting firm where we help people
with their leadership and their team workand their personal growth.
And, the book part of it came about as,
(05:57):
just suggested on, getting my,you know, thoughts
and philosophies on leadership downand, and, and available to people.
So that's how the books, came about.
And, it's been an incredible journeyfor the last 30 years.
And I'm still learning new stuff
all the timeand excited about, a life right now.
Okay.
So now I have to ask,
(06:20):
why? Back to coaching.
I mean, you decided to step away.
Did you always sort ofthink you'd go back,
or is this just an opportunitythat you couldn't pass up or.
I'm just kind of curious.
Yeah.
So, it just such a big part of my lifeand a big part of my leadership and learn
so much about it.
And, my family,
has really encouraged me as I've beenon this journey as an entrepreneur and,
(06:41):
and building the consulting firmthat's had great success.
My wife just always said, you know,I think what you do best
is, is coach college basketball,and I don't want you to forget that.
And now I've got, 14 year old daughterthat's loving the game.
And so I was coaching herin middle school, Kevin.
And she said, dad.
No, no.
Yeah.
It's, you know, she, you know, sheshe was the opposite.
(07:02):
She was like, this is amazing.You need to get back to college.
You don't need a middle school.
You need to go back and coach college.
And so that encouragement had me looking,
or always open to the opportunity
and the opportunity at Houston waswas too good to pass up at all.
The timing worked out. And so,
I think it will even enhance,
(07:24):
my leadership teaching because we're
we'll be back to solvingleadership issues in real time.
And so I just think it's all come togethergreat for for my career.
I love that.
And, you know, I getwe get books all the time.
But people pitch us to himto be on the show.
Not necessarily you personally,but someone, on your PR
in your PR organization or whatever.
(07:46):
And I get the book title ready to win.
I'm like, okay.
And then I read preparationand I'm like, okay,
now every time I get a book,I take a look, certainly.
But when I saw preparation,that really sort of got me more intrigued.
And there's, there's, there'smore in the book than just preparation.
But, that's where I want us to focus,because as I said in the open,
(08:09):
Matthew, I think that too often we don't
we don't think about it enough.
We don't spend enough time with it.
And as I was reading the book,
I think you give us some really good stuffabout that.
I'm curious, though,from your perspective, both
from the coaching worldand the business world, sell us on
why we need to be more thoughtfulabout preparation.
(08:32):
Sure.
I think what preparation doesand what I've found over the years,
and file this way under life is not fair.
But if I, if I lack preparation, I'm
virtually guaranteeing that I'm notgoing to be in position to to succeed.
And, and when I do prepareand I start to do that
(08:54):
and find a systematic way to prepare,Kevin,
we begin to put ourselves in positionto succeed more often.
And then,
even when
we prepare and maybe we fallshort of the goal.
We are informed by we're opento the lessons that, that are learned.
And so we talk a lot about in the bookabout getting your mindset around,
(09:20):
just being a constant prepare.
And when you do that, you'rejust going to put you're going to show up.
And whether you meet the goal,reach the goal, or you fall short,
you have
you have now gone through a processwhere you're going to gain
valuable information, whether it's a winor some people call it a loss.
I've shifted away from from losingand to just lessons learned.
(09:44):
And so that's where I thinkpreparation over
time is going to allow youto meet those goals
and to achieve the productivityand everything that you're hoping to do.
And it is absolutely true in sports,
and I've seen that over a 25 yearcoaching career in athletics.
But over the last four years in business,it's 100% true as well.
(10:06):
And so the the buildingblocks of performance
are really rooted in preparation.
And we say in the book, preparationwill powerfully position you to win.
And we believe it'ssuch a key to our success.
So one of the
things that I talk abouta lot in the, in the world
(10:29):
in, in, excuse me,in the sphere of being a leader,
there'sthere's few things that we can control.
I mean, obviously, except ourselves.
And so most everything we do as a leaderis, comes from a place of influence.
So when I read the line, in the bookwhere you're comparing
preparation in casinos, I loved itbecause you said the house always wins.
(10:50):
And I want youto connect these ideas together,
because I think it's so importantbecause I think it then connects
to a even bigger leadership point as well.
So when you talk about those two thingstogether, what are you saying?
Well,I think if you're in the, in the culture
and, and the zeitgeist, you've heardthat term, you know, the house always wins
(11:10):
as it goes to casinos.
And the point that I'm trying to makeis that the casinos are are
set up tothey are prepared to be successful
and they have a systemand they have a method
and they have marketing and they have,you know, the entertainment and all that.
But at the end of the day,they are going to win
(11:31):
and they have a method toward that.
And so I'm likening that to our processof being prepared
and where we may not, always winlike the House does.
It will get us into a processthat sets us up and positions us
more powerfully than if we didn't prepare.
(11:51):
And so that's the conceptthat I'm trying to get across to people
there is that we want to increase
our chances for meeting the goalor meeting the objective.
And when we follow the stepsthat are in this book, as I have,
over my career, I've set myself upfor consistent and sustained success.
(12:13):
It improves our odds.
Yes, we're better prepared.It improves our odds.
You know, my dad never used to saythe house always wins.
He always used to say, there's a reasonthey have to pay for the electricity.
The lights are always on.
They're there.
You know, he's saying something.
And I think that point of
how do we make how do wewhat are the things that we can do
to improve our oddsor our chances of winning?
(12:35):
And certainly that could take us backto basketball as well.
But as a leader, when wewhen we aren't in control, but rather
trying to influence everythingwe can do to improve our odds.
And certainly preparationis one of those things without question.
So I think the thing
that I willremember the most about the book, at least
before we have this full conversation,because that might book other memories
(13:00):
for me with this book.
But the thing that I think hooks methe most of this book is the five levels
of preparation.
And, and I don't I've never heard itquite described in this way.
I think it's incredibly useful.
So can you walk us through thata little bit?
And you've already used the phraseconstant preparation,
which is one of those levels,and we'll come back to that specifically.
(13:21):
But can you sort of lay out the five and,and sort of help us
see where we might be stopping? Yes.
So I would say that most peoplewho are interested in in our discussion
today, or who would be interestedin buying a book on preparation, most,
(13:41):
I think, probably are not,at the first two levels.
The first two levels, the first one iscasual, which is basically,
if I have a financial plan, I
walk into the convenience store and I seethe lottery is, is worth $42 million.
And so, hey, here's, I'll make some money.
I'll buy a lottery ticket there.
(14:02):
And that's not really a lot of thoughtand preparation going on.
The very casual approach to preparation.
Cursory is totally surface,just a surface level, just the,
the least amount of of effort
you could give above being casualand so sort of totally disengaged.
I'm just trying to make people,
(14:23):
I'm trying to appear as ifI am, as if I am prepared.
And I did this a lot in my early career
when I tried to rely more on charismathan competency. So.
So those first two levels would be,I would suspect that
most people have moved beyondthat if they're interested in the book.
I think where a lot of us liveand where I'm trying to encourage people
(14:47):
to rise above the level three,that's called
a comply it level of preparation.
And this is,
a method
of preparation, a level of preparationwhere I am really checking
the box and I am people are telling mewhat I need to do there.
Hey, this is due on Friday.
(15:09):
This is due next Friday,and we just check the box
and we do, what what the.
The minimum standard is where we arenot in hot water,
and we're not, you know, we're not goingagainst anything that's anyone saying.
But we certainly have not gottento level four.
So level four is where I really wants
(15:30):
people to aspire to live.
If they're not there.
And that is committed,that is being committed to preparation.
And what this level does isI start to think
more deeply about the performanceI want to have.
I start considering all the factorsthat could possibly, affect the outcome.
(15:51):
And in my process, I am I am really,
really committed to being fully prepared
and I am going through the processthat we describe in the book.
And then the fifth level,
is where I want us all to aspire to be.
So we're trying to we're trying to live,I say in the book, between level
four and five, and if you get to five,you're really, really,
(16:13):
cooking with gas, you know, at level five.
And I've encountered some of these peoplewho have been so inspirational
in, in life.
And that'sjust a constant level of preparation.
And that involveshaving really solid systems
and all of the importantareas of your business.
And you have thought that through,
and you haveyou have gone to the level of preparation
(16:36):
that says that you,
have a systemreally for how you're going to approach
being prepared in all these importantareas of performance.
And so the, the five levels of preparationare just a way
to, to have a leaderthink about, where they're landing
and then giving them a pathwayand some methods
(16:58):
on how to improve that and get to thathighest level of preparation.
Would it be safe to say
that,
The majority of organizations,
are at level three?
That's been my experiencewhen I've gone into companies
(17:19):
and, and we're working throughwhatever challenges they're facing.
It it is it is usually,
the, the the leader or the CEO or the CEO
or whoever, whoever I'm engaged with,
they are possibly at a levelfour of commitment
or a level five,but the organization is not.
(17:41):
And so that's where we try to go in and,and really help them teach how to do that.
Listen, if I ask everybody on the thatthat's, that's, that's watching us today
or listening. Yep.
If they thought it would be a good ideato be honest and business and work
hard in business and have disciplinearound your business, everybody you know
of position.
(18:03):
Yeah, thatI think all those things are important.
What we do iswe teach how to how to bring those alive
in your business and, and whereit connects in a more specific way.
And preparationis one of the pillar points of hard work.
You know, hard work does not meanI just go sit at my desk for ten hours.
(18:24):
It involves some stepswhere you can make that effort
come alive,and preparation is really the foundation,
of being a really great producerand a and a
and a person who gives great effort.
In the book. You,
you interview, you had a short interview,
ask a couple of questions of PeytonManning.
(18:45):
Yeah. And,
for those of you that might not know,Peyton Manning was, one of the best,
professionalquarterbacks in the NFL of all time.
He's he's having tremendous successin business beyond that.
And that's interesting as well at the end.
But the first thing that you,the first thing he says, and
you asked him about preparationbecause if you know anything about Peyton
(19:07):
and having and living in Indianapolis,I know quite a bit about Peyton,
as an observer for a number of years,
he says, I've always been a big believerin work ethic and preparation.
So he's oh, he's working those two thingstogether, just like you just said.
Here's the thing I found interesting,and let me just read it.
Then you can comment.
All competitors are looking for an edge.
And I thought mine could come throughpreparation.
I knew I wasn't going to be able outrundefenders, that's for sure.
(19:30):
Or throw itthe ball 80 yards down the field.
But preparing harder and working
harder gave me confidenceI could find an advantage.
And I think to me that'sreally interesting because regardless of
sort of what else we see, we have in ourat our fingertips and our toolkit at,
you can you can
always make the choiceto prepare more effectively.
(19:53):
There.
Well, there's there's two thingswe're in charge of that
I've learned as a coach,
and I wish I could be in chargeof the players on the team.
I wish I could take over
this and be in charge of this, but this iswhere we personally have to show up.
Our attitude.
I have to control my attitude
(20:14):
because I tell you, I've told the players,I'll tell I'll continue
to tell them if if it were up to me,everybody to have a great attitude.
But it's unfortunately it doesn't happenthat way.
We have to own our attitudeand then we have to own our effort.
And those two thingsI think Payton captured just absolute
perfectly hit the nail on the headand the concept
(20:35):
behind interviewing him.
He's a good friend of mine,but but he's, one of the top
five quarterbacks in gamewinning drives in the fourth quarter.
And that that really speaksto his level of preparation,
because when the stakes were the highest
and the pressure wasthis was the toughest,
(20:56):
he was able to make decisionsthat led his team
to more victories than virtually anybodyelse, in the history of the game.
And so that fascinated me.
And I wanted to dig into that.
And I just thought he he gavesome great insights on preparation.
And, one of the highlights of the bookand one of the real joys in me
writing the book was,was having that conversation with Peyton.
(21:20):
So I and and for those of you listening,if you're not,
I hope that the, the occasional sportingreference is not keeping you
from watching or listeningif you're not a sports person.
And yetI want you having a unique perspective
that most of us don't have,and especially if you are a sports fan,
I there's a couple of thingsI want to ask that maybe will be helpful.
(21:43):
I would guess even the casual fanwould say that in team sports
we sort of have a pretty high expectation
that coaches are goingto prepare their teams.
There's all sorts of conversationabout how busy coaches are.
They get all this stuff to do.
But one of those thingsis the large amounts of preparation.
What would you what would you tell us
(22:04):
with your withyour coaching hat on specifically
about what what we need to knowthat you've learned from that specifically
that will help the rest of us who aren'tgoing to put a whistle on our neck.
And coach a team.
Well, what I learned that's that's very,
that pertainsso well to the business world.
(22:26):
It's about preparation and how athletics,
really can instruct us and inform us is
we're competing,
in some shape or form.
We're competing to produce and to perform,whether that's in sports or business.
What I found was, as a leader,
(22:47):
the more time that I would spendon preparation
in specific areas of what drove winning.
And so the first thing thatI think businesses have to do are
what are the what are the what's the breadand butter of the business?
What has to happenfor us to be successful.
(23:08):
So for instance, in basketball,all for us,
one of the key indicators for us to win
was the opponent turns the ball overor makes a mistake more than we do.
It's called turnover margin.
So our turnovers are low,their turnovers are high.
And that was a very important partof our business that didn't mean that
(23:30):
it was part of Purdue women's basketball'sbusiness or Tennessees part of this.
But for Kentucky, that was a breadand butter building block of what
we had to do.
So having identified that,now I must prepare the team
and that specific area and what are allthe components that go into that?
So I could I could give you a very long,boring story about all that.
(23:53):
But but the point is, in your business
what what is absolutely necessary
because we can make a lot of things,Kevin, important.
We can make a lot of things important.
But what what is the core
and the necessary actions in your businessthat must happen.
And you have to identify thoseand really dig into those details
(24:13):
and then get a plan and you're preparedbecause that's the place
where the execution must beat its absolute highest level.
I love that.
I really do love that.
Oh, I want to go back to constantpreparation, because you have a formula
to help us get to that levelfive of constant preparation.
Do you want to share a little bitabout that for a second?
(24:36):
Well, what what the constant preparer
that I learned from was a great fortune.
I met this this, incredible leader.
Tom and Ernie has become a great friendand mentor and who has developed,
a very successful insurance businessin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
And Tom taught me how important,
(24:59):
a system, a system is for youto be in constant preparation.
And so he was like, Matthew, what arewhat are the
what are the areasfor you to be a great recruiter?
Identify those
and then start to build a systemthat's going to ensure
that you're ready to completethose tasks with excellence.
(25:22):
And that was the big key with with Tomwas, was
we are going to strive for excellencein these areas.
And the more we're prepared, the betterthe tighter we get our system,
the more the more dialedin your system is.
Then that frees you up
to be more creative,to be more thoughtful, to discover more
(25:43):
because you're not constantly foolingaround with just what is the process.
And so systematization is so important
for us if we really want to achievethat constant level of preparation.
So Tom has a systemfor how his week's going to unfold
and what percentageis going to be business
and what percentage is going to be spent
on him thinking,and what percentage is going to be,
(26:05):
devoted to his physical health.
And so all those things.
So the so that was the big lessonand the story that I share in the book
that I think is, is interestingabout that part of the journey for me.
And I'd invite peopleto really dig into that
because I think it'ssome very useful information.
I want to ask you one more question
that that that starts with sports,but it doesn't need to end there.
(26:28):
Right? So you talk in the book,
there's there's a chapter about strategyand you talk a little bit about this
and there's a,
there's a story earlier and we won'tI won't bother people with that story,
but there's sort of from a,from a coaching perspective, there's,
there's kind of twothere's sort of two ways to prepare.
Am I preparingbased on what I know about my opponent?
(26:54):
Or am I preparing based on our process
mastering what we do.
Right.
And so before you answer, I want to sharethe story that I heard multiple times.
And I believe it was toldoriginally by Bill Walton.
And he said,
the only time I remember Coach Woodenreally having us focus on the opponent,
(27:16):
and I think it might have been NotreDame was the game we lost.
Coach Wooden's approach was very muchabout we're going to focus on us.
And I'm
curious because I think from a strategicperspective outside of basketball,
this is a critical questionfor us to consider.
How do you how do youwhat's your take about balancing those two
(27:37):
because you're not ignoring the opponent.
Right? Right. Yeah.
Where are you.
Wherewhere do you when you're at your best
as a coach, where do youwhere do you find that balance.
And and what's your advicefor us around that.
So this is a great way to explainit is is through sports.
But it totally relates to businessand to your performance.
(28:01):
And no matter what type of industryyou're in.
But so for the majority,the overwhelming majority of our time,
we are focused on our processand what we are doing.
We don't ignore,
industry trends.
We that's part of our process is to stayup, stay nimble, stay agile,
(28:23):
and so you areyou are absolutely examining the market.
And and you can seewhat competitors are doing.
But the majority of our time
we are rooted in our processof what makes us successful.
So defensively, it was it's very,
much like what, BillWalton was describing.
We are trying to do what we do
(28:45):
really well, and we believe that thethe opponent has to adjust to us
because we're so rooted in what we doand what our process is.
That's where I think you get so great,because you are rooted in your
fundamentals and you're not constantlychanging to meet some moment
that, that, that an opponent, poses to youor the market, opposed to you.
(29:07):
You areyou have done this over and over and over.
Your fundamentals are solid.
Your process is solid.
So that's the majority of the time.
Now in basketball, where we really startto dig in to the opponent.
It's what we callspecial situations where,
whether it
be the end of the game,the end of the clock,
(29:29):
a time where there's a pauseand they're taking the ball out of bounds,
that'snot in the regular flow of your rhythm.
We dig very much into the details there,and we prepare very hard,
because at the end of the game,
peoplestart to get into some high pressure
situations. And if you're not prepared,
(29:51):
it's not exactly likethe normal flow of the game.
So you must be able to to identifywhat is the special situation.
Watching the NCAA tournamentthis last year, end of game.
It just showed people who were preparedand who were not.
And so you've got to identifythat in your business.
What are those high stress momentsthat are a bit unusual.
(30:12):
And then you must dig into the detailsand get your team prepared.
And that was that.
That's that's how I would, describehow we approach
that balance of, of whether,how much time we spend on us
and how much time we were respondingto the market or to the competition.
I love that.
Thank you for, diving into that for us.
I think it's really, really great advice.
(30:36):
Is there anything that you thoughtI would ask
or hoped I would ask that I didn't
know?
I thinkit's been such a great conversation.
I think one thing I would mention thatI would encourage people to read the book,
that that has been a powerful eventin my leadership
(30:57):
and that I would like to share is ais is what, my pursuit of perfection
did to my mindset,to my attitude, to my career.
I was on a pursuit to be perfect.
I was on a pursuitto be the best coach in the world.
And that really opened upa lot of negative things for me.
(31:18):
It opened up a lot of roadblocks,a lot of obstacles that I would face,
because if you're trying to be perfect,you have to get it all perfect.
All these things come into play.
And so I, a few yearsback, made a shift from perfection,
which in many ways would paralyzemy leadership to,
shifted to excellence,to pursuing excellence each and every day.
(31:40):
And so in excellence, I'm exhilarated.
I see all the opportunities.
I'm not thinking about all the pitfallsthat perfection brings to me.
And so excellence isits own reward is a mindset that I,
challenged the reader to, to adopt
so they can really open upthe power of preparation.
I love that, and,
(32:02):
I'm really glad that we had the chanceto talk about that.
A couple of things before we go.
What do you do, Matthew? Coach.
Matthew, what do you do for fun?
Oh, gosh, I have a lot of fun. I,
I, love music, and so I sing.
I have the Coach Mitchell bandand we play about ten, 12 times a year.
(32:24):
And it it's it's as Kevin, it's as muchfun as I could ever, think about having.
And, it's like I tell people they're like,aren't you nervous to get up there?
And I said, listen,I have more fun than any show that I play.
I have more fun than anybody else.
So I literally do it for funand, and, and, and so that's a lot of fun.
And then, I love to, to,my wife and I and kids,
(32:47):
we love to, to travel and see new placesand experience experience new things.
I was a history teacher when I wasthe high school teacher and coach.
And so I love,love history and, enjoy that.
So, it is
thoseare some of the things that I do for fun.
I love that,the only thing you knew for sure
(33:08):
I would ask you, is thiswhat are you reading these days?
I'm reading a couple of things right now,and so I'm always trying to read,
something that I can learn from.
And then, every now and then,
I try to get myself a chanceto read something that's, entertaining.
So the Last King of America by AndrewRoberts is about King George the Third.
(33:33):
That was the that that had a fascinatingreign as the king of England.
And, that's the history teacher inyou coming out, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And so that's a really it'sit's a huge book.
It's, it's it's,taking some time to get through,
but it's very, very interesting.
And, is, is, makes me think sothat one is, is happening.
(33:55):
And then a good friend of mine,I'd love to plug her book is a novel.
She's a first time author.
Beth Pride is her name.
And she's got a wonderful novelcalled Back to Blue Holly that is,
that is a fiction book.
But I'm so proud of her.
And and it is such an entertaining read.
And, I am about halfway through that rightnow, and just,
(34:16):
I love opening that up every night,right before I go to bed.
And so I'm having some funwith my reading right now.
Back to blue
Holly and the Last King of America.
And ready to win.
Yes. The links to all of those will be inthe show notes for all of you, for sure.
Coach,where can we learn more about your work?
(34:37):
Where do you want to point peoplebefore we start to close up?
Yeah, I'd love to invite people to listento my podcast comes out every Wednesday.
That's, real simple.
It's called The CoachMatthew Mitchell Show.
And we discuss, leadershipand and life and personal growth.
And we have a good time.
And we have some fun guests on there,from time to time.
So love to invite people to, to to
(34:59):
go to that show coachMatthew mitchell.com.
You can we have a ton ofof of really accessible free resources
for people to improve their leadership,but also some leadership content
that can help your team,organization, business move forward.
And, and then I'm on social, on the, allthe platforms at coach Matthew Mitchell.
(35:20):
So love for peopleto check out the winning tools
and see what they could doto help them in their life.
All right.
Thank you, Coach Mitchell.
Before we go, everybody, the questionI ask you all every week
and every week means this weektwo and it's
the most important question I could askyou after you've had the chance to be,
informed and inspired for 30 plus minutes.
(35:43):
And that would be okay. Now, what
what action will you take as a result?
Because it's fine and dandy,if you will, to learn from this.
And, maybe you leave with a good storyand maybe leave with a nice, warm
feeling and maybe you'll even leadwith some new conviction.
But until you take action,what point, will it have been?
(36:04):
Right.
So, like,maybe it's spending some time thinking
about whatthe bread and butter in your businesses.
Maybe it's thinking a little bitmore about,
are we focusing more externallyor internally? Maybe.
I don't know what that is for you,but I do know that there were plenty
of nuggets here, and the transformationfrom you from an idea or an inspiration
or some education to actionwill make all the difference.
(36:25):
And I hope that you will do exactly that.
Our guest has been Coach Matthew Mitchell.
Matthew, it's been a pleasure to have you.
Thanks so much for being here.
Thank you.
Kevin is awesome.
I hope we can do it again sometime.
I do too. And speaking of again sometime,
wherever you watch this or listen to this,make sure you're subscribed
(36:47):
and make sure you're letting people knowthat they want
to come listen tobecause we're here every week.
And next week
we'll be back with another episodeof the Remarkable Leadership Podcast.
Preparation.
Boring.
Unsexy? Maybe.
But it's hard to argueabout the importance of preparation.
And if we want to be winners.
And as leaders, create winning teams.
Our guest today believeswe must be ready to win.
Which starts with preparation.
(00:28):
Being ready with a clearand powerful preparation strategy.
That's our conversation today.
And I'mso glad you're here to join us for it.
Welcome to another episodeof the Remarkable Leadership Podcast,
where we are helping leadersgrow personally and professionally
to lead more effectivelyand make a bigger difference
for their teams, organizationsand the world.
(00:49):
If you are listening to this podcast,you can join us
live in the futureon your favorite social platform.
You can find outwhen those shows are happening
and how you can get connected,and get other inside information
about the show by joining our LinkedInor Facebook groups.
Just go to remarkable podcast.com/linkedin
(01:11):
or remarkable podcast.com/facebook.
And you can get in on all of the futureaction.
Today's episode is brought to youby my latest book, Flexible Leadership.
Navigate uncertaintyand lead with confidence.
It's time to realize that styles can getin our way, and that our follow in that,
and that following our strengthsmight not always be our best approach.
(01:33):
In a worldmore complex and uncertain than ever.
Leaders need a new perspective andset of tools to create the great results
that our organizations and team memberswant and need.
That's where flexible leadership comes in.
Learn more and orderyour copy today at remarkable
podcast.com/flexible.
And with thatthat's my cue to bring in my guest.
(01:55):
His name is coach
Matthew Mitchell.
He is a Wall Street Journal bestsellingauthor, speaker, three times
SEC coach of the year,and the winning this head coach
in the history of the Universityof Kentucky women's basketball program.
The foundation for his team's achievementsis the winning
tools, principles, honesty,hard work, and discipline.
(02:18):
Through his focus on the fundamentals.
He led the program to new heights,winning seven seven
winning seasons and UK'sfirst SEC Championship in 30 years.
In his new book, Ready to Win How GreatLeaders Succeed Through Preparation.
He shares proven principles from his workso that we can become ready to win.
And just off the presses.
(02:40):
He's told me he's going back to collegebasketball and will be coaching
the University of Houston Lady Cougarsstarting this fall.
Coach Matthew, welcome.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks so much, Kevin. It'sgreat to be with you.
I, appreciate the opportunityand looking forward to our time together.
Well, for all of you, most many of you
(03:00):
listening don't know this,but I am a huge college basketball fan,
and I'm going to do my bestto not make this all about me.
Or about college basketball.
I'm not going to ask him aboutflare screens or pick and roll offense.
At least not while the cameras rollinganyway.
So, listen, I'm so glad that you're here.
And suicide.
I enjoyed readingthe book, and as I hinted,
(03:24):
preparation, I
think, isn't somethingthat we often talk about.
And yet it's incredibly important.
And so I'm super excited for youto have that conversation.
But first, beyond whatI just shared in terms of bio.
So what what led you to coaching
college basketball and then and writingthe book like writing books?
(03:44):
Like sort of just a little bit more aboutthe journey than I shared in the open.
Sure. I,
in my early 20s, was,
sort of floundering and,and was lamenting that fact
that I didn't feel like I had any focusto my high school basketball coach.
And he said, Matthew, I think
I always thought you'd make a good coach.
(04:05):
So why don't you come back this yearand help out?
So that was 1994, and,the first time I stepped on the court,
at a basketball practice with my mentorand coach, Coach Farrell Rigby.
I said, this is this is it.
This is, where I need to be.
So that led me on a journeyof just trying very hard
to become competent in coaching.
(04:26):
So it's very different coaching than it isplaying and competing as a player
as it is as a coach.
And so one of the great pieces of fortuneI had and blessings I had was I worked
the University of Tennessee women'sbasketball camp there in the mid 90s.
Coach Pat Summitt,the the, the all time great legend,
was on a streak of three straightnational championships and
(04:49):
and just the program was at its absolutezenith.
And I was in the middle of all that work.
And summer camp never had any cluethat that that my life would change.
In the summer of 1999,she hired me as her graduate
assistant coach,and it changed everything for me.
Kevin.
So that led me to, successfulassistant coaching
(05:11):
career Florida University of Floridafor three years.
University of Kentucky.
And then I finally got, an opportunityto lead my own program.
And that was first at Morehead State,where I developed the winning tools
that you mentioned earlier,
and then went on to return to Kentuckyas the head coach for 13 years.
So 15 years as a Division one head coach
(05:33):
and, stepped away in 2020 for,just some time to,
to, contemplate life and, and,and see what the next leg was.
And so over the last four years
have built a businessand a consulting firm where we help people
with their leadership and their team workand their personal growth.
And, the book part of it came about as,
(05:57):
just suggested on, getting my,you know, thoughts
and philosophies on leadership downand, and, and available to people.
So that's how the books, came about.
And, it's been an incredible journeyfor the last 30 years.
And I'm still learning new stuff
all the timeand excited about, a life right now.
Okay.
So now I have to ask,
(06:20):
why? Back to coaching.
I mean, you decided to step away.
Did you always sort ofthink you'd go back,
or is this just an opportunitythat you couldn't pass up or.
I'm just kind of curious.
Yeah.
So, it just such a big part of my lifeand a big part of my leadership and learn
so much about it.
And, my family,
has really encouraged me as I've beenon this journey as an entrepreneur and,
(06:41):
and building the consulting firmthat's had great success.
My wife just always said, you know,I think what you do best
is, is coach college basketball,and I don't want you to forget that.
And now I've got, 14 year old daughterthat's loving the game.
And so I was coaching herin middle school, Kevin.
And she said, dad.
No, no.
Yeah.
It's, you know, she, you know, sheshe was the opposite.
(07:02):
She was like, this is amazing.You need to get back to college.
You don't need a middle school.
You need to go back and coach college.
And so that encouragement had me looking,
or always open to the opportunity
and the opportunity at Houston waswas too good to pass up at all.
The timing worked out. And so,
I think it will even enhance,
(07:24):
my leadership teaching because we're
we'll be back to solvingleadership issues in real time.
And so I just think it's all come togethergreat for for my career.
I love that.
And, you know, I getwe get books all the time.
But people pitch us to himto be on the show.
Not necessarily you personally,but someone, on your PR
in your PR organization or whatever.
(07:46):
And I get the book title ready to win.
I'm like, okay.
And then I read preparationand I'm like, okay,
now every time I get a book,I take a look, certainly.
But when I saw preparation,that really sort of got me more intrigued.
And there's, there's, there'smore in the book than just preparation.
But, that's where I want us to focus,because as I said in the open,
(08:09):
Matthew, I think that too often we don't
we don't think about it enough.
We don't spend enough time with it.
And as I was reading the book,
I think you give us some really good stuffabout that.
I'm curious, though,from your perspective, both
from the coaching worldand the business world, sell us on
why we need to be more thoughtfulabout preparation.
(08:32):
Sure.
I think what preparation doesand what I've found over the years,
and file this way under life is not fair.
But if I, if I lack preparation, I'm
virtually guaranteeing that I'm notgoing to be in position to to succeed.
And, and when I do prepareand I start to do that
(08:54):
and find a systematic way to prepare,Kevin,
we begin to put ourselves in positionto succeed more often.
And then,
even when
we prepare and maybe we fallshort of the goal.
We are informed by we're opento the lessons that, that are learned.
And so we talk a lot about in the bookabout getting your mindset around,
(09:20):
just being a constant prepare.
And when you do that, you'rejust going to put you're going to show up.
And whether you meet the goal,reach the goal, or you fall short,
you have
you have now gone through a processwhere you're going to gain
valuable information, whether it's a winor some people call it a loss.
I've shifted away from from losingand to just lessons learned.
(09:44):
And so that's where I thinkpreparation over
time is going to allow youto meet those goals
and to achieve the productivityand everything that you're hoping to do.
And it is absolutely true in sports,
and I've seen that over a 25 yearcoaching career in athletics.
But over the last four years in business,it's 100% true as well.
(10:06):
And so the the buildingblocks of performance
are really rooted in preparation.
And we say in the book, preparationwill powerfully position you to win.
And we believe it'ssuch a key to our success.
So one of the
things that I talk abouta lot in the, in the world
(10:29):
in, in, excuse me,in the sphere of being a leader,
there'sthere's few things that we can control.
I mean, obviously, except ourselves.
And so most everything we do as a leaderis, comes from a place of influence.
So when I read the line, in the bookwhere you're comparing
preparation in casinos, I loved itbecause you said the house always wins.
(10:50):
And I want youto connect these ideas together,
because I think it's so importantbecause I think it then connects
to a even bigger leadership point as well.
So when you talk about those two thingstogether, what are you saying?
Well,I think if you're in the, in the culture
and, and the zeitgeist, you've heardthat term, you know, the house always wins
(11:10):
as it goes to casinos.
And the point that I'm trying to makeis that the casinos are are
set up tothey are prepared to be successful
and they have a systemand they have a method
and they have marketing and they have,you know, the entertainment and all that.
But at the end of the day,they are going to win
(11:31):
and they have a method toward that.
And so I'm likening that to our processof being prepared
and where we may not, always winlike the House does.
It will get us into a processthat sets us up and positions us
more powerfully than if we didn't prepare.
(11:51):
And so that's the conceptthat I'm trying to get across to people
there is that we want to increase
our chances for meeting the goalor meeting the objective.
And when we follow the stepsthat are in this book, as I have,
over my career, I've set myself upfor consistent and sustained success.
(12:13):
It improves our odds.
Yes, we're better prepared.It improves our odds.
You know, my dad never used to saythe house always wins.
He always used to say, there's a reasonthey have to pay for the electricity.
The lights are always on.
They're there.
You know, he's saying something.
And I think that point of
how do we make how do wewhat are the things that we can do
to improve our oddsor our chances of winning?
(12:35):
And certainly that could take us backto basketball as well.
But as a leader, when wewhen we aren't in control, but rather
trying to influence everythingwe can do to improve our odds.
And certainly preparationis one of those things without question.
So I think the thing
that I willremember the most about the book, at least
before we have this full conversation,because that might book other memories
(13:00):
for me with this book.
But the thing that I think hooks methe most of this book is the five levels
of preparation.
And, and I don't I've never heard itquite described in this way.
I think it's incredibly useful.
So can you walk us through thata little bit?
And you've already used the phraseconstant preparation,
which is one of those levels,and we'll come back to that specifically.
(13:21):
But can you sort of lay out the five and,and sort of help us
see where we might be stopping? Yes.
So I would say that most peoplewho are interested in in our discussion
today, or who would be interestedin buying a book on preparation, most,
(13:41):
I think, probably are not,at the first two levels.
The first two levels, the first one iscasual, which is basically,
if I have a financial plan, I
walk into the convenience store and I seethe lottery is, is worth $42 million.
And so, hey, here's, I'll make some money.
I'll buy a lottery ticket there.
(14:02):
And that's not really a lot of thoughtand preparation going on.
The very casual approach to preparation.
Cursory is totally surface,just a surface level, just the,
the least amount of of effort
you could give above being casualand so sort of totally disengaged.
I'm just trying to make people,
(14:23):
I'm trying to appear as ifI am, as if I am prepared.
And I did this a lot in my early career
when I tried to rely more on charismathan competency. So.
So those first two levels would be,I would suspect that
most people have moved beyondthat if they're interested in the book.
I think where a lot of us liveand where I'm trying to encourage people
(14:47):
to rise above the level three,that's called
a comply it level of preparation.
And this is,
a method
of preparation, a level of preparationwhere I am really checking
the box and I am people are telling mewhat I need to do there.
Hey, this is due on Friday.
(15:09):
This is due next Friday,and we just check the box
and we do, what what the.
The minimum standard is where we arenot in hot water,
and we're not, you know, we're not goingagainst anything that's anyone saying.
But we certainly have not gottento level four.
So level four is where I really wants
(15:30):
people to aspire to live.
If they're not there.
And that is committed,that is being committed to preparation.
And what this level does isI start to think
more deeply about the performanceI want to have.
I start considering all the factorsthat could possibly, affect the outcome.
(15:51):
And in my process, I am I am really,
really committed to being fully prepared
and I am going through the processthat we describe in the book.
And then the fifth level,
is where I want us all to aspire to be.
So we're trying to we're trying to live,I say in the book, between level
four and five, and if you get to five,you're really, really,
(16:13):
cooking with gas, you know, at level five.
And I've encountered some of these peoplewho have been so inspirational
in, in life.
And that'sjust a constant level of preparation.
And that involveshaving really solid systems
and all of the importantareas of your business.
And you have thought that through,
and you haveyou have gone to the level of preparation
(16:36):
that says that you,
have a systemreally for how you're going to approach
being prepared in all these importantareas of performance.
And so the, the five levels of preparationare just a way
to, to have a leaderthink about, where they're landing
and then giving them a pathwayand some methods
(16:58):
on how to improve that and get to thathighest level of preparation.
Would it be safe to say
that,
The majority of organizations,
are at level three?
That's been my experiencewhen I've gone into companies
(17:19):
and, and we're working throughwhatever challenges they're facing.
It it is it is usually,
the, the the leader or the CEO or the CEO
or whoever, whoever I'm engaged with,
they are possibly at a levelfour of commitment
or a level five,but the organization is not.
(17:41):
And so that's where we try to go in and,and really help them teach how to do that.
Listen, if I ask everybody on the thatthat's, that's, that's watching us today
or listening. Yep.
If they thought it would be a good ideato be honest and business and work
hard in business and have disciplinearound your business, everybody you know
of position.
(18:03):
Yeah, thatI think all those things are important.
What we do iswe teach how to how to bring those alive
in your business and, and whereit connects in a more specific way.
And preparationis one of the pillar points of hard work.
You know, hard work does not meanI just go sit at my desk for ten hours.
(18:24):
It involves some stepswhere you can make that effort
come alive,and preparation is really the foundation,
of being a really great producerand a and a
and a person who gives great effort.
In the book. You,
you interview, you had a short interview,
ask a couple of questions of PeytonManning.
(18:45):
Yeah. And,
for those of you that might not know,Peyton Manning was, one of the best,
professionalquarterbacks in the NFL of all time.
He's he's having tremendous successin business beyond that.
And that's interesting as well at the end.
But the first thing that you,the first thing he says, and
you asked him about preparationbecause if you know anything about Peyton
(19:07):
and having and living in Indianapolis,I know quite a bit about Peyton,
as an observer for a number of years,
he says, I've always been a big believerin work ethic and preparation.
So he's oh, he's working those two thingstogether, just like you just said.
Here's the thing I found interesting,and let me just read it.
Then you can comment.
All competitors are looking for an edge.
And I thought mine could come throughpreparation.
I knew I wasn't going to be able outrundefenders, that's for sure.
(19:30):
Or throw itthe ball 80 yards down the field.
But preparing harder and working
harder gave me confidenceI could find an advantage.
And I think to me that'sreally interesting because regardless of
sort of what else we see, we have in ourat our fingertips and our toolkit at,
you can you can
always make the choiceto prepare more effectively.
(19:53):
There.
Well, there's there's two thingswe're in charge of that
I've learned as a coach,
and I wish I could be in chargeof the players on the team.
I wish I could take over
this and be in charge of this, but this iswhere we personally have to show up.
Our attitude.
I have to control my attitude
(20:14):
because I tell you, I've told the players,I'll tell I'll continue
to tell them if if it were up to me,everybody to have a great attitude.
But it's unfortunately it doesn't happenthat way.
We have to own our attitudeand then we have to own our effort.
And those two thingsI think Payton captured just absolute
perfectly hit the nail on the headand the concept
(20:35):
behind interviewing him.
He's a good friend of mine,but but he's, one of the top
five quarterbacks in gamewinning drives in the fourth quarter.
And that that really speaksto his level of preparation,
because when the stakes were the highest
and the pressure wasthis was the toughest,
(20:56):
he was able to make decisionsthat led his team
to more victories than virtually anybodyelse, in the history of the game.
And so that fascinated me.
And I wanted to dig into that.
And I just thought he he gavesome great insights on preparation.
And, one of the highlights of the bookand one of the real joys in me
writing the book was,was having that conversation with Peyton.
(21:20):
So I and and for those of you listening,if you're not,
I hope that the, the occasional sportingreference is not keeping you
from watching or listeningif you're not a sports person.
And yetI want you having a unique perspective
that most of us don't have,and especially if you are a sports fan,
I there's a couple of thingsI want to ask that maybe will be helpful.
(21:43):
I would guess even the casual fanwould say that in team sports
we sort of have a pretty high expectation
that coaches are goingto prepare their teams.
There's all sorts of conversationabout how busy coaches are.
They get all this stuff to do.
But one of those thingsis the large amounts of preparation.
What would you what would you tell us
(22:04):
with your withyour coaching hat on specifically
about what what we need to knowthat you've learned from that specifically
that will help the rest of us who aren'tgoing to put a whistle on our neck.
And coach a team.
Well, what I learned that's that's very,
that pertainsso well to the business world.
(22:26):
It's about preparation and how athletics,
really can instruct us and inform us is
we're competing,
in some shape or form.
We're competing to produce and to perform,whether that's in sports or business.
What I found was, as a leader,
(22:47):
the more time that I would spendon preparation
in specific areas of what drove winning.
And so the first thing thatI think businesses have to do are
what are the what are the what's the breadand butter of the business?
What has to happenfor us to be successful.
(23:08):
So for instance, in basketball,all for us,
one of the key indicators for us to win
was the opponent turns the ball overor makes a mistake more than we do.
It's called turnover margin.
So our turnovers are low,their turnovers are high.
And that was a very important partof our business that didn't mean that
(23:30):
it was part of Purdue women's basketball'sbusiness or Tennessees part of this.
But for Kentucky, that was a breadand butter building block of what
we had to do.
So having identified that,now I must prepare the team
and that specific area and what are allthe components that go into that?
So I could I could give you a very long,boring story about all that.
(23:53):
But but the point is, in your business
what what is absolutely necessary
because we can make a lot of things,Kevin, important.
We can make a lot of things important.
But what what is the core
and the necessary actions in your businessthat must happen.
And you have to identify thoseand really dig into those details
(24:13):
and then get a plan and you're preparedbecause that's the place
where the execution must beat its absolute highest level.
I love that.
I really do love that.
Oh, I want to go back to constantpreparation, because you have a formula
to help us get to that levelfive of constant preparation.
Do you want to share a little bitabout that for a second?
(24:36):
Well, what what the constant preparer
that I learned from was a great fortune.
I met this this, incredible leader.
Tom and Ernie has become a great friendand mentor and who has developed,
a very successful insurance businessin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
And Tom taught me how important,
(24:59):
a system, a system is for youto be in constant preparation.
And so he was like, Matthew, what arewhat are the
what are the areasfor you to be a great recruiter?
Identify those
and then start to build a systemthat's going to ensure
that you're ready to completethose tasks with excellence.
(25:22):
And that was the big key with with Tomwas, was
we are going to strive for excellencein these areas.
And the more we're prepared, the betterthe tighter we get our system,
the more the more dialedin your system is.
Then that frees you up
to be more creative,to be more thoughtful, to discover more
(25:43):
because you're not constantly foolingaround with just what is the process.
And so systematization is so important
for us if we really want to achievethat constant level of preparation.
So Tom has a systemfor how his week's going to unfold
and what percentageis going to be business
and what percentage is going to be spent
on him thinking,and what percentage is going to be,
(26:05):
devoted to his physical health.
And so all those things.
So the so that was the big lessonand the story that I share in the book
that I think is, is interestingabout that part of the journey for me.
And I'd invite peopleto really dig into that
because I think it'ssome very useful information.
I want to ask you one more question
that that that starts with sports,but it doesn't need to end there.
(26:28):
Right? So you talk in the book,
there's there's a chapter about strategyand you talk a little bit about this
and there's a,
there's a story earlier and we won'tI won't bother people with that story,
but there's sort of from a,from a coaching perspective, there's,
there's kind of twothere's sort of two ways to prepare.
Am I preparingbased on what I know about my opponent?
(26:54):
Or am I preparing based on our process
mastering what we do.
Right.
And so before you answer, I want to sharethe story that I heard multiple times.
And I believe it was toldoriginally by Bill Walton.
And he said,
the only time I remember Coach Woodenreally having us focus on the opponent,
(27:16):
and I think it might have been NotreDame was the game we lost.
Coach Wooden's approach was very muchabout we're going to focus on us.
And I'm
curious because I think from a strategicperspective outside of basketball,
this is a critical questionfor us to consider.
How do you how do youwhat's your take about balancing those two
(27:37):
because you're not ignoring the opponent.
Right? Right. Yeah.
Where are you.
Wherewhere do you when you're at your best
as a coach, where do youwhere do you find that balance.
And and what's your advicefor us around that.
So this is a great way to explainit is is through sports.
But it totally relates to businessand to your performance.
(28:01):
And no matter what type of industryyou're in.
But so for the majority,the overwhelming majority of our time,
we are focused on our processand what we are doing.
We don't ignore,
industry trends.
We that's part of our process is to stayup, stay nimble, stay agile,
(28:23):
and so you areyou are absolutely examining the market.
And and you can seewhat competitors are doing.
But the majority of our time
we are rooted in our processof what makes us successful.
So defensively, it was it's very,
much like what, BillWalton was describing.
We are trying to do what we do
(28:45):
really well, and we believe that thethe opponent has to adjust to us
because we're so rooted in what we doand what our process is.
That's where I think you get so great,because you are rooted in your
fundamentals and you're not constantlychanging to meet some moment
that, that, that an opponent, poses to youor the market, opposed to you.
(29:07):
You areyou have done this over and over and over.
Your fundamentals are solid.
Your process is solid.
So that's the majority of the time.
Now in basketball, where we really startto dig in to the opponent.
It's what we callspecial situations where,
whether it
be the end of the game,the end of the clock,
(29:29):
a time where there's a pauseand they're taking the ball out of bounds,
that'snot in the regular flow of your rhythm.
We dig very much into the details there,and we prepare very hard,
because at the end of the game,
peoplestart to get into some high pressure
situations. And if you're not prepared,
(29:51):
it's not exactly likethe normal flow of the game.
So you must be able to to identifywhat is the special situation.
Watching the NCAA tournamentthis last year, end of game.
It just showed people who were preparedand who were not.
And so you've got to identifythat in your business.
What are those high stress momentsthat are a bit unusual.
(30:12):
And then you must dig into the detailsand get your team prepared.
And that was that.
That's that's how I would, describehow we approach
that balance of, of whether,how much time we spend on us
and how much time we were respondingto the market or to the competition.
I love that.
Thank you for, diving into that for us.
I think it's really, really great advice.
(30:36):
Is there anything that you thoughtI would ask
or hoped I would ask that I didn't
know?
I thinkit's been such a great conversation.
I think one thing I would mention thatI would encourage people to read the book,
that that has been a powerful eventin my leadership
(30:57):
and that I would like to share is ais is what, my pursuit of perfection
did to my mindset,to my attitude, to my career.
I was on a pursuit to be perfect.
I was on a pursuitto be the best coach in the world.
And that really opened upa lot of negative things for me.
(31:18):
It opened up a lot of roadblocks,a lot of obstacles that I would face,
because if you're trying to be perfect,you have to get it all perfect.
All these things come into play.
And so I, a few yearsback, made a shift from perfection,
which in many ways would paralyzemy leadership to,
shifted to excellence,to pursuing excellence each and every day.
(31:40):
And so in excellence, I'm exhilarated.
I see all the opportunities.
I'm not thinking about all the pitfallsthat perfection brings to me.
And so excellence isits own reward is a mindset that I,
challenged the reader to, to adopt
so they can really open upthe power of preparation.
I love that, and,
(32:02):
I'm really glad that we had the chanceto talk about that.
A couple of things before we go.
What do you do, Matthew? Coach.
Matthew, what do you do for fun?
Oh, gosh, I have a lot of fun. I,
I, love music, and so I sing.
I have the Coach Mitchell bandand we play about ten, 12 times a year.
(32:24):
And it it's it's as Kevin, it's as muchfun as I could ever, think about having.
And, it's like I tell people they're like,aren't you nervous to get up there?
And I said, listen,I have more fun than any show that I play.
I have more fun than anybody else.
So I literally do it for funand, and, and, and so that's a lot of fun.
And then, I love to, to,my wife and I and kids,
(32:47):
we love to, to travel and see new placesand experience experience new things.
I was a history teacher when I wasthe high school teacher and coach.
And so I love,love history and, enjoy that.
So, it is
thoseare some of the things that I do for fun.
I love that,the only thing you knew for sure
(33:08):
I would ask you, is thiswhat are you reading these days?
I'm reading a couple of things right now,and so I'm always trying to read,
something that I can learn from.
And then, every now and then,
I try to get myself a chanceto read something that's, entertaining.
So the Last King of America by AndrewRoberts is about King George the Third.
(33:33):
That was the that that had a fascinatingreign as the king of England.
And, that's the history teacher inyou coming out, right?
Yeah, yeah.
And so that's a really it'sit's a huge book.
It's, it's it's,taking some time to get through,
but it's very, very interesting.
And, is, is, makes me think sothat one is, is happening.
(33:55):
And then a good friend of mine,I'd love to plug her book is a novel.
She's a first time author.
Beth Pride is her name.
And she's got a wonderful novelcalled Back to Blue Holly that is,
that is a fiction book.
But I'm so proud of her.
And and it is such an entertaining read.
And, I am about halfway through that rightnow, and just,
(34:16):
I love opening that up every night,right before I go to bed.
And so I'm having some funwith my reading right now.
Back to blue
Holly and the Last King of America.
And ready to win.
Yes. The links to all of those will be inthe show notes for all of you, for sure.
Coach,where can we learn more about your work?
(34:37):
Where do you want to point peoplebefore we start to close up?
Yeah, I'd love to invite people to listento my podcast comes out every Wednesday.
That's, real simple.
It's called The CoachMatthew Mitchell Show.
And we discuss, leadershipand and life and personal growth.
And we have a good time.
And we have some fun guests on there,from time to time.
So love to invite people to, to to
(34:59):
go to that show coachMatthew mitchell.com.
You can we have a ton ofof of really accessible free resources
for people to improve their leadership,but also some leadership content
that can help your team,organization, business move forward.
And, and then I'm on social, on the, allthe platforms at coach Matthew Mitchell.
(35:20):
So love for peopleto check out the winning tools
and see what they could doto help them in their life.
All right.
Thank you, Coach Mitchell.
Before we go, everybody, the questionI ask you all every week
and every week means this weektwo and it's
the most important question I could askyou after you've had the chance to be,
informed and inspired for 30 plus minutes.
(35:43):
And that would be okay. Now, what
what action will you take as a result?
Because it's fine and dandy,if you will, to learn from this.
And, maybe you leave with a good storyand maybe leave with a nice, warm
feeling and maybe you'll even leadwith some new conviction.
But until you take action,what point, will it have been?
(36:04):
Right.
So, like,maybe it's spending some time thinking
about whatthe bread and butter in your businesses.
Maybe it's thinking a little bitmore about,
are we focusing more externallyor internally? Maybe.
I don't know what that is for you,but I do know that there were plenty
of nuggets here, and the transformationfrom you from an idea or an inspiration
or some education to actionwill make all the difference.
(36:25):
And I hope that you will do exactly that.
Our guest has been Coach Matthew Mitchell.
Matthew, it's been a pleasure to have you.
Thanks so much for being here.
Thank you.
Kevin is awesome.
I hope we can do it again sometime.
I do too. And speaking of again sometime,
wherever you watch this or listen to this,make sure you're subscribed
(36:47):
and make sure you're letting people knowthat they want
to come listen tobecause we're here every week.
And next week
we'll be back with another episodeof the Remarkable Leadership Podcast.
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