Mike Krzyzewski’s The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team covers two subjects:
the formation and success of the 2008 United States Olympic team and a treatise on building
leaders for businesses. The book meets the first subject very nicely. It is interesting to
see how Krzyzewski handled the NBA superstars and formed a true team, not just a group of
all-stars out to build their own image without regard to the team concept. When it comes to
the plan to help people build business leaders, the book falls somewhat short.
Sure, the kernel of the lesson is there, but Krzyzewski illustrates each point with
examples of how the team learned and applied the lesson. The lesson is lost and the reader
is back to basketball again. This is not to say that the book is not entertaining and
informative. It certainly is. The book will sell well because Krzyzewski has a huge
following... and why not? He has won three NCAA championships, been coach of the year twelve
times and now has a gold medal from the Olympics.
Does his ego come through? Sure does. Who among us could resist the urge to be egotistical
with a resume like that of Krzyzewski?
The authors do a good job of leading us through all aspects of the Olympic experience and
give us insights into people such as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James which we would be hard
pressed to find anywhere else. It was an excellent account of the Olympic basketball
experience but a mediocre book for team building for business leaders.
The book was read by Krzyzewski’s daughter, and it was a little disconcerting to hear a
female reader read male dialogue. It would have been really impressive if Krzyzewski could
have narrated the story.