Last week, I attended the Envestnet conference in Chicago. On Friday, the keynote speaker was Mike Krzyzewski, head basketball coach of the 2015 National Champion Duke Blue Devils and Team USA. To say I had high expectations for his speech is an understatement. He exceeded my expectations by delivering an energized, story filled presentation.
Today, I would like to share some of the main takeaways from his talk that I know will prove useful to you as you pursue your goals for your business, team, and family.
Coach K, as he is known by everyone, has coached at Duke since 1980. He has led them to an amazing 5 National Championships and 12 Final Fours. Averaging over 25 wins a year, he has led his teams to over 1,000 wins. In addition, as head coach, he lead Team USA to 2 gold medals and was an assistant on 2 other gold medal winning teams.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…” – Henry David Thoreau
In the end, like Henry, our clients want favorable outcomes. What are these and why are they important? In our business a favorable outcome may be a comfortable retirement, college education for our children and grandchildren, protection for our loved ones in case of disability or death, a well funded emergency fund or a number of other specific goals. These are all long term outcomes. Today, there is too much focus on the moment and on disruptive events than on these long term needs of families. As advisors we need to help our clients not be victimized by short term circumstances but rather use these events as springboards for long term wealth accumulation.