Good morning! A warm welcome to the 125 new subscribers who joined 11,800+ others this week. We are happy to have you on board!
Here's what's coming:
Talent is Over-Hyped 🏆
Alex Karras on Toughness 🥇
Great “X” insight from Steve Magness 🆇
AI Stadium of the Week: Floating Stadium in the Sky! 🌠
Read Time ~ 4 minutes.
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Let's dive in.
🔗 LINKS OF THE WEEK
🎥 Video: Check out the Jay Wright interview with Brad Ledbetter on your mindset after something bad happens.
🎙️ Podcast: Coach Collins and I discuss the concept of Cultivating Confidence in this Basketball Leadership Podcast episode.
🆇 ICYMI: 10 most important things I have learned as a coach.
💭 ONE THOUGHT
Talent is Over-Hyped.

Coaching is not an easy job. What can make it even harder?
Talent.
Or better, talent without the critical ingredients to team success can make it harder.
Talent without character or talent without chemistry can make for a miserable season.
And I guarantee you, any wins you have will overshadow a season you cannot wait to end.
I also know that teams like this often under-achieve.
Talent is over-hyped.
When you have talent, you have expectations. These may be expectations you put on yourself or expectations your team feels from the outside.
Ultimately, everything in the team's success will come back to your team culture and player leadership.
Here are critical questions that all teams need to be accountable to, regardless of their talent.
Are you on time?
Do you work hard?
Are you coachable?
Can you be trusted?
Do you accept your role?
Do you help the team win?
Do you make the right plays?
Do you bring positive energy?
Talent, without the list above, is no fun for anyone.
You see, I always look at a team this way.
Talent always sets the floor.
However, culture, leadership, mindset, and toughness will determine the ceiling.
“How do I get the most out of this team?”
This is the question I ask myself. This is how I evaluate my performance each season.
Even in years without much talent, it can be incredibly gratifying and satisfying to get the “most” out of your team.
This is what coaching is all about.
So, as a coach, what do you do? Focus on the following.
CULTURE: Your #1 focus has to be building your culture every day. What do you allow? What do you emphasize? Do you do this every day? I wrote Culture Wins to provide coaches with daily culture snippets to help build this every day.
LEADERSHIP: Develop your leaders. When times get tough, you will need player leadership. Find a way to develop them systemically. This is why I created the Team Leader OS. To give coaches a system to build leaders each and every year.
CHEMISTRY: How do you develop your team chemistry? What team-building activities do you do? Have a plan and be purposeful in developing your team.
MINDSET: Creating a winning mindset is a daily task. Do you allow excuses, negativity, or complaining? You must get your players to think how winners think.
If you can focus on the following and are fortunate enough to have some talent, you set yourself up for a special season!
Don’t over-hype talent!
Focus on the things that matter most in your team.
Good luck!
Looking for more?
PRESENTED BY THE TEAM LEADER OS
Player-Led Teams Win! How do you systematically develop your team leaders?
I created the Team Leader OS: COACH for this reason. It is flexible, practical, and easy to implement.
Made by a coach and for coaches.
What is included?
5 Module, 32-lesson video-based course
20 Player Lessons with Video
Player workbook
Coach the Coaches program
200+ minutes of video
300+ pages of leadership resources for coaches.
20 bonus leadership lessons
And so much more…
📜 TWO QUOTES
“If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven’t done anything today.”
"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles."
📚 BOOKS, COURSES, & FREE RESOURCES
Team Leader OS - The ultimate course to systemically build your team leaders year after year. Flexible, practical, and built by a coach for coaches.
Paperback books on AMAZON - Culture WINS, Culture WINS 2, Coaching GOLD, and Great Teams Better Leaders (Vol 1)
All eBooks and FREE Digital Resources - Find many free resources and all of my books and courses.
Super Bundle (big discount for all four eBooks!) - Want all four of my books at a big discount? Check it out.
Find all FREE books and resources at gberge.gumroad.com.
👀 LOOKING FOR MORE?
When you are ready, here are a few ways I can help you:
Interested in Sponsoring an Issue? Reply to this email or click here: Sponsor Great Team Better Leaders.
Are you seeking a Culture or Leadership workshop for your team or school? Contact Greg for more information.
Contact Me: Greg Berge, [email protected]

