Scoring Points in Business

Basketball Hall of Famer has a Game Plan for Success

Nancy Lieberman is one of the most successful and multi-faceted players and executives in the history of basketball, and her latest score is the release of her new book, “Playbook for Success.” The book teaches women that “success is not just a title or a corner office, but an attitude, belief and way of life” and offers profiles of successful business women, self-help tools, inspiration and more. The Hall of Famer recently spoke to us about the book and how the lessons she learned translate from the basketball arena to the business arena.


Q. Tell us about the book and its genesis.
A. “Playbook for Success” is really a navigation tool for whomever chooses to read it, a tool to help people understand how to be great leaders. You have to give people a reason to follow you, not just because you’re the boss (because I know a lot of people who hate their bosses). I want to teach people to be better individually. If they’re better individually they’ll be better in a team setting, work environment, on a board, in a boardroom.

It came about from conversations over time that I’ve had with people that I trust and admire. One of those people is (business magnate and billionaire) Warren Buffett, who always used to say to me, "What’s your legacy?" A legacy is the measure of what you leave behind for others and that’s never lost on me. I want to serve people, and this book became a tool for me to take my  experiences over last 40-some-odd years and share them. Because this is what I know: I have the right to make you happy, the right to make you laugh, the right to inspire you, the right to make you better on a daily basis. That is my everyday goal in life: how can I make somebody who meets me for the first time happy or make them smile or make them feel better about themselves or teach them something that they didn't know? That’s who I really am.

Before the NFL season started, there was this dreaded moment in every team's locker room and it was the assistant coach knocking on your door and saying, "Billy, Coach wants to see you...and bring your playbook." The playbook tells you the strategy, it identifies your strengths, weaknesses, the personnel, who’s responsible, who’s going to do what if you need help, where to go, the philosophy, the team, the culture. And then when you have to hand the book back it’s because it’s the company’s bible of success.

I wanted to create a playbook for business people, for men, women, children so they could understand how to be successful and some of the ingredients they would need in life. whether you’re a CEO or whether you want to be a manger of people. I will never tell you how to run the radio industry, how to run GEICO or the Phoenix Suns, but what I can do is make you better every day of your life in how you approach your business and how you deal with people and how you create allies instead of enemies.

I tell people all the time in sports, if you're average in what you do every day in life, you’re going to be average on my basketball team. It doesn’t matter if you play for me, Phil Jackson, Pat Riley or Alvin Gentry, if you’re average, you’re going to be average no matter who you play for. If I can make you better individually, you’re going to be better in my system. The system doesn’t make the player; the player makes the system.

Q. You've spent a lot of your career playing alongside, coaching and working with men. Has it become easier for women to succeed in "a man's world," and what changes have you seen over time?
A. It has changed gradually because you are seeing more women CEOs, more women leading men. Every time we have moment of Hillary Clinton or see a strong woman like Michelle Obama or Gabrielle Giffords, when you see strong women, you know it’s possible (for women to lead men) instead of being caught up in stereotype of "C’mon, I’m not going to take instruction from a female.”

Before I coached in the D-League (as head coach of the NBA Development League's Texas Legends), I was on the Today Show and was asked, “How are guys going to take instruction from a woman?” I laughed in a fun way and I said, “We’ve been telling men what to do our whole lives. Your mother, my mother, sisters, daughters, wives, ex wives...we’ve been telling dudes what to do their whole lives. They’re used to it.”

Here's how I operate: A lot of humor (and this is a main ingredient of life and success), a little sarcasm and a lot of truth. So we’re communicating three ways: a lot of humor, a little sarcasm and a lot of truth.

Q. How was that experience of being a woman coaching men? Are there lessons there for leaders in any type of situation?
A. First of all, people want to be respected. There are different ways you can lead. You can lead by authority, you can lead by bullying people or you can lead by by the essence of who you are and how you handle yourself every day. You can lead by consistency. You can lead by kindness.

I often see a lot of people with fake confidence, the confidence that comes from having a nice car, a title or office. People can feel real confidence and you don’t have to threaten people. You just have to show them you can be firm, but you can be fair. And with my players I knew there might be some testing along the way and that’s okay. I don’t like it if they don’t like me because I’m a girl. Let that go, okay? That’s ridiculous if they don’t like me because I’m a woman. They want to know what I know and if I can prove to them I can make them better, they’re going to want to be around me every single day because they’re going to know I’m taking them places. So I came in prepared, I had answers to the quiz.

I don’t deal with rules, I dealt with standards and we agreed we would have certain standards. The New York Yankees have standards, the Dallas Cowboys have standards, Manchester United has standards. GE has standards, Warren Buffett has standards. They don’t have rules, they have standards. It’s the way you do things to be successful long term. And that’s what we do, we set standards of what we can do together and we agree upon those standards.

Q. What is the biggest mistake business women make?
A. The fear of failure. You never know how good you are unless you’re willing to try. And a lot of women, historically, just are happy with having a good job, making good money, having responsibility and not wanting to screw that up. There are a lot of women who are good at what they do, but to be great you have to find out what your limits are and step outside your comfort zone. You’re going to be a little uncomfortable because it’s letting go of control every now and again.

Every time people interview they ask me, "Why is it you weren’t afraid? Why weren’t you afraid as an 12-year-old New York City kid to take the train to Harlem to play pick-up basketball?" And my answer is so elementary: "Because I heard that’s where the best players played. I wanted to play." Why did I play in a (professional) men's league? Because I wanted to play and I didn't have a place to play. What was there to be afraid of? So often in life we have these opportunities and people are afraid of the moment. The moment shouldn’t define you. You should define the moment.

Q. You came out of retirement at age 39 to play for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury. What are you memories of Phoenix?
A. I loved it. I love the Phoenix Mercury and will never forget them. I am so grateful to them. When they raise a championship banner, I raise a glass because I will always be a part of that franchise.  I will never ever forget them for giving me a chance to do something I love, not judging me, accepting me and giving me a chance to play. I am so grateful.

This interview is part of the Chamber's monthly Businesswise for Women email newsletter. To sign up for any or all of the Chamber's email communications, click here.