10/24/2026
We only won 5 games my first year as a head coach.
(I was a slow learner) Took me a while to figure out how important team culture is…
Here’s the wandering professional journey I’ve made:
1992: First adult job. High school English teacher and basketball coach.
The next decade: Assistant coach, thinking I had it figured out. (Talent made that easy.)
2005: First head coaching job. Had a huge ego, and a lot to learn.
2007: Took a team from 5 wins to 19. Same talent. Different culture.
2011: Took over a program that had won just 2 games. We finished with the most wins in school history 2 years later. Talent is essential, never sufficient.
2012: Founded Great Results Teambuilding to bring experiential lessons from the court to the workplace.
2014: Became an author. Rapid Teamwork was my first corporate leadership book… a parable with five steps for turning individuals into a team.
2015: Named NSA Georgia Chapter Member of the Year and started keynoting at conferences to help leaders and teams enjoy more profitable teamwork.
2024: Introduced Sticky Cultures, built on a bigger question: how do leaders create environments where people thrive and take ownership?
Here’s what I believe more than ever:
Culture is always a symptom of leadership.
It’s shaped by the behaviors leaders allow, encourage, and repeatedly reinforce.
I didn’t leave basketball behind.
I took the locker room insights into the workplace.
And I’m still learning.
If your team has talent but not the results, I bring this to organizations like Cisco, John Deere, the CDC, and Emory through keynotes, team building events, and coaching.
So, what’s a lesson from an earlier chapter of your career that shaped your work?