Trusting is part of our higher nature. Doubting is a lower instinct. The latter is easy to do, the former more difficult — but so much more rewarding. - John Wooden

I thought treating everyone the same was being fair and impartial. Gradually I began to suspect that it was neither fair nor impartial. In fact, it was just the opposite. That’s when I began announcing that team members wouldn’t be treated the same or alike; rather, each one would receive the treatment they earned and deserved.

What it comes down to, I believe, is that mentoring often involves telling people what they need to hear, rather than what they want to hear. When you are able to be humbly honest with someone about a situation with which you have personal experience — even if you risk angering or hurting that person — you are offering the most valuable gift of all.

A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself for the group, for the good of the group — that's teamwork.