Embarrassment is ego.

After shooting five air balls on national TV as an 18-year-old - in a playoff game that cost the Lakers their season - Kobe Bryant's response was simple: "You're not that important. Get over yourself."

Most people would have crumbled. The story would have followed them. But Kobe didn't let the narrative of what happened dictate where he was going. Instead of wallowing, he asked a better question: Why did those air balls happen?

He looked at the tape. Every shot was on line. Every shot was short. His legs weren't conditioned for an 82-game NBA season. So he changed his training. He got stronger. And then he won five championships.

You can't analyze your failure while you're still drowning in shame about it. The ego has to die before the lesson can live.

This week's question: What failure are you still embarrassed about? And what would you learn from it if you stopped caring what people thought?

When Mickey Arison asked Pat Riley what he wanted the Miami Heat's culture to be, Riley gave him three words: Work ethic, competency, reliability.

That's it. That's Heat Culture.

But here's the thing - every organization has words, mission statements, core values, and posters on a wall. What separates Riley is that he built systems to make those words mean something.

Culture isn't what you say - it's what you enable, allow, and reinforce. It's what you refuse to tolerate.

Riley didn't just tell players to have work ethic - he created consequences when they didn't meet body fat standards. He didn't just talk about reliability - he made it clear on day one that you're either all in or you're taking up space. The system did the talking.

The question for your team isn't "what are our values?" It's: How are we making them come to life? What systems reinforce them? What behaviors are we enabling - intentionally or not?

Words on a wall don't build championships - systems that hold people accountable to those words do.

I break down all three pillars - and how Riley operationalized each one - in this week's post.

This week's question: Look at your stated values. Now look at what you actually tolerate. Where's the gap?

I heard a Jim Rohn talk this week that I can't get out of my head. He laid out four actions that can change your life in a single day:

Here's what stuck with me:

We all have desires. We all make decisions. But nothing moves until there's disgust - that moment where you say "I've had enough." The person who's finally had it with mediocrity. The person who's sick of being on their knees looking for pennies. That's not where it ends, that's where it begins.

And then there's resolve.

Rohn described it as two of the most powerful words in the language: I will.

"The man says I will climb the mountain. They've told me it's too high, too far, too rocky, too difficult. But it's my mountain. I will climb it. Pretty soon you'll see me waving from the top or dead on the side - because I ain't coming back."

I talk to coaches, athletes, and executives all the time who have desires and dreams. They make decisions. But resolve? That's rare. Resolve is what separates the people who talk about change from the people who actually change.

The question isn't whether you want something different. The question is whether you've reached the point of disgust - and whether your "I will" means you're not coming back.

This week's question: What have you finally had enough of? And are you resolved enough that failure isn't an option - only the timeline is uncertain?

For coaches and leaders:

For athletes and performers:

All of these posts and more are in the Coaching Vault.

What I am reading and listening to:

📚 Book: The Confident Athlete: 4 Easy Steps to Build and Maintain Confidence

🎥 Video: Godfather Episode: Pat Riley’s Secrets To Building the Big 3 and His Honest Take On Heat Culture

🎧Podcast: Rising Coaches Podcast Ep 212 - Long-Time D1 Coach Fred Quartlebaum

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