The only way you can get commitment is through trust

Continue to work through Joe Torre's book, "The Yankee Years." There's a good excerpt that ties into a post from yesterday from Jeffrey Gitomer's book about trust.

Torre took over a Yankee team that had "played under the tightly wound [Bucky] Showalter, who had played, coached, and managed so long in the Yankees organization, where Steinbrenner's divide-and-conquer style of leadership was designed to keep everyone uncomfortable, that trust did not come easily to him."

In 1996, when Torre was named manager of the team, "they had a tast of the playoffs," Torre said, "and I think they were grown up enough to know somebody has to make the decisions. Whether you like me or believe me, you have to understand that. They were at the point where they knew in order to win we have to work together. And somebody has to point us in that direction."

I pulled the following from page 10 of the book:

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Torre provided a complete contrast to Showalter's micromanagement style. He gave his coaches and players a wide berth. One word kept coming up over and over again in the application of his management philosophy: trust.

"What I try to do is treat everybody fairly," Torre said. "It doesn't mean I treat everybody the same. But everybody deserves a fair shake. That's the only right thing to do. I'd rather be wrong trusting somebody than never trusting them."

"I'm of the belief that the game belongs to the players, and you have to facilitate that the best you can. I want them to use their natural ability. If they're doing something wrong, you tell them, but I'd like it to be instructive, rather than robotic. The only thing I want them all to think about is what our goal is and what the at-bats are supposed to represent. And that simply is this: 'What can I do to help us win a game?'"

Players quickly bought into Torre's management-by-trust style, and they did so because its abiding principle was honesty.

"Honesty is important to me. Where does it come from? I don't know, but even when I think back it was always something that was ingrained in me. Even now I may have trouble when I have to tell someone the truth if it's not a pleasant thing, but I won't lie to them. I can't do that. The only way you can get commitment is through trust, and you've got to earn that trust."

Your best players need to be your decision-makers

John Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to the 2004 Stanley Cup, is the opposite of the coach he just replaced with the NY Rangers, Tom Renney, who was let go after a rough 12-game stretch in which the team came away with just two wins.

According to this article, "In terms of on-ice, Renney was safe-safe-safe, whereas Tortorella is a 'safe-is-death' guy."

Says Rangers veteran Scott Gomez, a former NHL All-Star, "That's normal. You're going to hire the opposite."

An article in the Minneapolis paper from May 2004 said that when Coach Tortorella was in Tampa Bay, he had three signs posted in the locker room, "each intended to remind players of [his] philosophy."

One reads: Safe is death. Another: Good is the enemy of great. The other: Don't think ... do.

In his first day on the job, Coach Tortorella, who as a minor league coach in the mid-1980s "spent a summer hammering nails and painting walls so his guys would have a better locker room," had some interesting thoughts regarding coaching and the role of the coach.

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On his coaching style: "I'm not going to stand behind the bench and just calmly go about it. I'm just not built that way. I think honesty is what players want. They're going to get pushed, they're going to be held accountable, and there are going to be some bumps in the road. There may be some conflict, but I don't think we should be afraid of conflict. This reputation that I just kick the hell out of people, it takes on a life of its own. As a coach you'd better understand what your team is right now as far as how they feel."

On the coach's role: "I think the coach is the guidance counselor. That's an important aspect of a head coach, getting the most out of your top people."

On regaining confidence after a losing streak: "Losing knocks you down. I'm gonna push them, but as a coach, you have to understand when you need to be with them. This is a time to get them to feel decent about themselves. They need to get a little self confidence. We're going to allow them to try to work through that and try to find a way to get a win."

On his predecessors who were fired: "There's going to be a philosophical change here, but there's a couple of good guys who are out and I just don't want them blamed."

On team leadership: "Your best players need to be your decision-makers. They're going to get every opportunity to win hockey games for us. If they're playing hard, I'm going to send them right back out there."

Hard work makes up for a lot of things

The turning point in the season came early for Weber State.

As this article describes, it was in Game 6, a home contest against BYU. Coach Randy Rahe's team, which had dropped three of its first five games of the year, lost by 30.

Against BYU, the Wildcats were outrebounded, 31-20; had 13 fewer assists (20-7); turned the ball over 15 times (compared to BYU's 6); and trailed 18-4 four minutes into the game.

Says Coach Rahe, "We gave in to adversity. We can never do that. We had to figure out if we're going to improve and go north or do nothing and go south."

According to the article, "one of Rahe's strengths as a coach, though, is that he knows when to nurture and he knows when to torture." After the BYU meltdown, he "knew he had to push."

To ensure his team headed north, he put them through two-a-days, including 6 a.m. workouts.

The loss sparked a turnaround. "Six weeks later, the answer is clear. The Wildcats have won 15 of 19 games since that Dec. 3 loss to the Cougars and surged to the top of the Big Sky Conference standings with an 11-1 league record."

The author contends that:

"In a balanced conference where just about any team can pull out a win on any given night, the Wildcats have to play with maximum efficiency. They aren't the fastest, tallest or even the most talented team. What has separated them from the pack is their thorough understanding of the team concept."

Says Coach Rahe: "We have to do things a certain way. We have a very small margin of error," Rahe said. "We're not the most talented team. We're just not. But I do know hard work makes up for a lot of things."

Rahe's success as a coach -- in his third season at Weber State, his overall record is 53-34 -- stems from the trust his players have in him. He gains it, he says, by being honest. He's never unrealistic about the team's goal, but he also believes this team can go far and he lets his players know it.

You don't learn to swim until you get into the water

Great Q&A in today's USA Today with 82-year-old Don Keough, who served as president of Coke during the 1980s. He has a book out titled "The Ten Commandments for Business Failure."

A couple of highlights from the interview:

-- On not resting on your laurels: "I've always been afraid of the word success. People, companies and countries can get into trouble when they start to think they're successful. They get arrogant. It's awfully easy to get to 40 and say, 'I'm tired of sticking my neck out. I'm going to play it cool.' It's very easy to be afraid of the future. Don't do it."

-- On being first to admit a mistake: "In corporations, CEO and mistake become a contradiction in terms. If a company's had a bad year, a typical shareholder letter from the chairman will be, 'We had a challenging year.' That's why I like Warren Buffett's honesty. If you read his annual letters, the first thing he'll point out is mistakes."

-- On insulating yourself: "It's easy to get in a bubble and have lunch only with associates and staff. If you don't bust out of that bubble, it's hard to get honest and direct information. During (World War II, Winston) Churchill had people whose only function was to give him bad news. Every day, they had to give out the worst-case scenario. Hitler, until he went into the bunker, thought he was winning the war because nobody was telling him the truth."

-- On remaining curious: "I can remember once when I was in school. I told my mother that I hated one subject. She said, 'That's your problem. That material is very worthwhile. You just have to take a new look at it.' I've lived a long time, I'm an old man. I've always been curious about the future, never spent a lot of time worrying about the past. Kids in school right now have some of the most exciting days in the history of the world in front of them. You don't learn to swim until you get into the water. People need to plunge into life."

Fair doesn't necessarily mean equal

Good quote from coach Tim Jankovich, who went 25-10 at Illinois State last season, his first at the school after serving five seasons as an assistant to Bill Self at Kansas.

This season, the Redbirds are off to a 14-1 start, their only loss coming earlier this week to MVC rival Bradley.

In this article, Coach Jankovich talks about his teaching style:

"I do think fair does not necessarily mean equal. You can treat people differently but still fairly. The only thing I know is honesty. I try to be 100 percent honest with our team and tell them how I feel, what we believe we need to do and hope they are made up of the right character that responds to that type of teaching."

Knowing how to kick them in the rear and kiss them on the cheek

Former Ball State coach Brady Hoke has taken over at San Diego State, where the Aztecs went 2-10 this past season.

Coach Hoke also played at Ball State, where "he was an inside linebacker... who compensated for inferior speed with advanced malevolence."

In his words: "I couldn't run very well. But I'd get your ass."

At his press conference, it was clear that Coach Hoke, who guided Ball State to a 12-1 record this season, emphasized toughness, respect, accountability, and preparation:

"We're going to coach hard. Whether that's raising your voice a little bit or not, we're going to make our emphasis on the things that are important and how we want to do things and the attention to detail you need to take to be successful. We are demanding. We're going to be fair, but we're going to be brutally honest.

This program is going to be a program that is based on toughness. You have to be physically tough and mentally tough. This is also going to be a program that is going to play with unbelievable effort every time we take the field.

This program is going to have people in it that respect each other. If we respect each other, then we are going to take the opportunity to lean on each other and hold each other accountable. When you have accountability on a team, then you have a chance to be very successful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that, `Success comes to those who prepare.' Well our preparation started today. We look forward to it; we are ready to hit the ground running and get this thing going."

Says his wife, Laura: "Brady believes in what he does. He's very demanding of the players, but he loves them, too. He knows how to kick them in the rear and kiss them on the cheek.”