The Jay Wright Way — How Attitude Powers Champions
“If you think about how good you are as opposed to what the next challenge is going to be, then you’ve already lost. We have to stay humble…”
As the buzzer sounded on Monday night in San Antonio, Villanova men’s basketball coach Jay Wright was again front and center for the second time in three years. His team completed their ascent to the mountaintop of college basketball. Champions again. They weren’t the most talented. He didn’t have the highest recruited players.
What he did have was one of the most complete teams anyone has ever seen — a team powered by positive attitude and a gritty, hard work ethic.
In sports, just like in life, there are always new nuggets of wisdom, bold technological breakthroughs and advances in thought leadership. But there are two things that will always stand the test of time:
We always have control over two things — our attitude and our effort.
Coach Jay Wright has mastered the ability to communicate this to his players, motivate and discipline them, and have this executed. His team is the most successful and dominant basketball team of the past five years. It starts with attitude and a foundation on values. Everyone cares for one another and inspires each other to be their best.
“In any organization a leader’s job is to make sure everyone feels confident in their role and that the role is valued. This gives everyone their best chance to compete at the highest level.” — Villanova men’s basketball coach, Jay Wright
What’s interesting about Wright’s approach to the game is that for him, so much of it is emotional and mental. He gives his players creative freedom and liberty on offense, while simultaneously instilling rigorous discipline around fundamentals. He implores them to care for one another, to play selfless basketball and to lead with a positive attitude.
Two national championships in three years tell the full story — Jay Wright’s philosophy around positive attitude, discipline and empathy is working. During the game on Monday night, Villanova got off to a slower start against Michigan. Rather than panic or turning to doubt, Villanova continued playing their game. They kept looking out for one another and building upon each play.
“I learned how important the right attitude is. It’s a concept that permeates everything you do… We all bring our attitude to every situation. How do we walk into a room? How do we meet people? How do we respond to challenges? To adversity?” — Jay Wright
Their shots weren’t falling, but they made hustle plays and showed their toughness in rebounding and great defense. When the going got tough, the team with the incredible attitude and work ethic ramped up its performance and extended their lead. At the biggest stages of competition — it’s not always about strategy. It’s about how much we want to succeed. How powerful and indomitable our spirit is. How willing we are to do whatever it takes to win.
Three Keys to a Positive Attitude
1. Build first on Values. Don’t just dive in with no foundation or plan
I think of this now in the context of your personal growth and development. So many people get an idea around something they’re passionate about, then dive in without much thought for values, a game plan or what about their approach will be successful. The “diving in” and hoping for the best strategy never, ever works in the long-term. You may find success, by luck, at first, but it’s not sustainable.
Coach Wright learned the difference between winning, losing and nearly failing out of the coaching profession in his first head coaching job at Hofstra. Only a few years in, he nearly was fired. The team wasn’t winning. He was focused so intensely on X’s and O’s and his team wasn’t seeing results. He altered his approach and began focusing on fundamentals and values.
Coach Wright’s emphasis on leadership, accountability, discipline and values began to resonate with his players. From this foundation, he was able to inspire and motivate and get his players to buy-in to a team-first philosophy and approach toward competition. This foundation served as the springboard that turned Hofstra into a winner, and later Villanova.
“The most important characteristic any of us have is our attitude. We don’t have a choice whether we’re going to feel good or we’re going to be tired. Whether it’s going to rain outside — whether things are going to go our way. But we do have a choice about what our attitude is going to be getting out of bed… coming into work… stepping into a room. We have a choice and we’ve got to make sure that choice is a positive one in everything we do.” — Jay Wright
2. Stay Positive and your losses will become your Wins
In sports, like in life, there usually aren’t many surprises for why some people succeed and why others fail. We’re all going to make mistakes at first. We’re all going to have to learn how to improve and rebound from those mistakes. It’s this adversity and temporary failure that we build our success and comebacks on! We literally learn to win by learning first to lose.
And through this fire and process, we recognize that values are the foundation to build upon. From there, a game plan that defines success, highlights goals and provides our guiding purpose enables us to visualize what we want before we have it. This serves as inspiration to continue driving us forward. The secret sauce on our journey is a positive attitude.
3. Whatever your desire or destiny — keep going
We’ll face self-doubt, fear and questions from others as we begin our own ascent to the mountaintop of our destiny. All of us want to do great things — whether it’s for our family, our company, ourselves or for mankind. The unifying thread throughout our lives is a positive attitude. It fuels all of our happiness, success and biggest dreams. Just ask Jay Wright.
Go for the Win
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Also check out my Amazon Bestselling book, The Value of You. This will give you inspiration to start planning for success on your journey.
