Building a Championship Culture with Mark Edwards, Former Men’s Basketball Coach at Washington University in St. Louis
When Mark Edwards was brought in as the head basketball coach at Washington University in St. Louis, he had the unique opportunity to build a program from scratch, and he chose to go all in on culture.
“Figure out what you want your program to accomplish, identify it in everything that you do, believe that you can do it, trust in the people that you're bringing in to do it, and never give up.”
By following his own advice, Coach Edwards was able to lead Washington University to 34 consecutive winning seasons. This is the second of our two-part March Madness miniseries on Be Worth* Following, and in this episode you’ll learn what it means to establish the continuity of a program to the point where the culture defines every decision and makes success second nature.
Show Notes
In this episode you’ll learn:
Figure out what you want your program to accomplish, believe in it, and never give up.
Listen to those you lead with compassion and empathy.
Don’t take yourself too seriously, but take your team very seriously.
Things to listen for:
[02:07] The values instilled by his parents
[04:51] Finding the culture that fits you as a leader
[08:49] Building a program from scratch
[13:54] Validation of “sweat equity”
[20:01] Calling on others to create a team
[23:51] Establishing mutual expectations
[25:36] Learning how to handle the emotion of competition
[31:01] Competing with compassion, dignity, and pride
[34:18] Tim’s Take