Have you ever considered that the key to leadership isn’t just vision, but also preparation? Kevin sits down with Coach Matthew Mitchell to explore the role of preparation in leadership and in building winning teams. Matthew shares his five levels of preparation: casual, cursory, compliant, committed, and constant. He believes leaders need to reach levels 4 and 5, where thorough systems, discipline, and introspection take precedence. Using Coach John Wooden’s approach, he explains that most preparation should focus on your systems, only delving deeply into the competitor’s game when necessary, such as during critical “special situations.”

Listen For

00:00 Introduction 00:36 Welcome to the podcast 01:06 About Kevin’s book “Flexible Leadership” 01:33 Guest introduction: Coach Matthew Mitchell 02:27 Overview of Coach Mitchell’s coaching career 03:44 How he got into coaching and writing 06:16 Why return to coaching now? 07:35 Focus of the book: preparation 08:32 Why preparation matters 10:23 Casino analogy: "the house always wins" 13:00 The five levels of preparation 17:01 Where organizations typically fall on the preparation spectrum 18:36 Peyton Manning’s quote on preparation and work ethic 20:19 Attitude and effort: what we can control 22:17 Coaching insights that apply to business 24:22 The importance of identifying your “bread and butter” 25:03 Constant preparation and the power of systems 26:22 Preparing for strategy vs. reacting to the competition 30:27 Special situations in games and business 31:06 The danger of perfectionism vs. pursuit of excellence 32:11 What Coach Mitchell does for fun 33:03 What he’s currently reading 34:39 Where to learn more about Coach Mitchell 35:24 Final thoughts and action steps for listeners 36:34 Closing remarks and next episode teaser

Matthew's Story: Matthew Mitchell is the author of Ready to Win: How Great Leaders Succeed Through Preparation. He is a Wall Street Journal best-selling author, speaker, three-time SEC Coach of the Year, and the winningest head coach in the history of the University of Kentucky women's basketball program. The foundation for his teams’ achievements is the Winning Tools principles: honesty, hard work, and discipline. Through Mitchell’s focus on the fundamentals, he led the program to new heights―seven winning seasons and UK’s first SEC Championship in 30 years.

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Flexible Leadership is every leader’s guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos. 

Book Recommendations

• Ready to Win: How Great Leaders Succeed through Preparation by Matthew Mitchell
• Back to Blue Holly: A Novel by Beth Pride 
• The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III by Andrew Roberts

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