After Failure, Here Are 2 Indicators For Future Success Learned From NBA Champs

Whether you're a leader at a Fortune 500 company or a seasoned veteran on a team ripe with young talent, there are moments that "cross the line," and how you respond truly showcases your capacity for greatness. This week, I watched the NBA's Golden State Warriors suffer an embarrassing defeat and then counter it with two steps that truly indicate success is in their near future. Two habits that we should all strive to replicate as we navigate through our respective work environments. 

Eight-time NBA Champion Steve Kerr knows his fair share about success—he won three titles as a player with the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls, two titles with the Tim Duncan-led San Antonio Spurs, and then coached the Golden State Warriors to three championships. I'd argue that his signature move as a head coach took place this past weekend when his team squandered a two-point lead in the final nine seconds of a hard-fought game against the Charlotte Hornets. 

Full disclosure: I've had a number of engaging conversations and interviews with Kerr over the years and am impressed with many of his coaching decisions out West. This year, his team is riddled with injuries and, based on overall record, is positioned as the ninth-best team in a 15-team Western Conference.   If the season ended today, the Warriors would either miss the playoffs or be forced to play the best team in the league as a Round One opponent. 

This Warriors team kicks and scratches for each victory, but what unfolded during the final nine seconds of the game against Charlotte with a 100-98 lead left everyone scratching their heads. Nine-year veteran and former all-star Draymond Green dove to the floor at midcourt, hoping to force a change of possession or jump ball. When the referee, instead, ruled in favor of a timeout for the Hornets, Green exploded into a series of expletives and gestures that demonstrated his disapproval. Green's actions were swiftly met with two technical fouls, two made foul shots by the Hornets to tie the game, and a final possession to inbound the ball. Charlotte's Terry Rozier received the pass, took a few dribbles to his left, and hit a jumper as time expired to steal what was an improbable victory just nine seconds prior. 

Indicator No. 1:

As the Hornets celebrated the game-winning shot, the dejected Warriors returned to their locker room stunned. Kerr knew the media was salivating at how he intended to explain this win slipping away. While many coaches have fallen on the sword for their star players' mistakes, Kerr dribbled the narrative in a way that demanded accountability from one of his best team leaders. 

"He crossed the line; that's the main thing," Kerr told reporters. "We love his passion and his energy, and we would not be the team we are without him, but that doesn't give him license to cross the line—and he knows that." 

Too often, coaches—and executives for that matter—find themselves fabricating fake support for bad behavior and justifying it until it festers. Kerr has been a master at calling things as he sees them—even if it means he must acknowledge his own weaknesses. 

In this case, the weakness was Green's composure at a moment his team needed him most. Kerr didn't take the knee-jerk stance of placing the entire blame at Green's feet, but he didn't shy away from calling out his edgy team leader and holding him accountable for actions that impacted the team's final nine seconds. 

By addressing his expectations of Green, instead of covering up his transgressions with a shell game of excuses and explanations, Kerr reinforced the team-first culture that has been a Golden State staple in his tenure. As a leader, his willingness to call him out sparked an apology from Green.  

When you make excuses and continuously cover for other people, you deprive them of the opportunity to do what's right. Imagine the standard set by the father who demands that his teenage son knocks on the neighbor's door to apologize for accidentally mowing her flowers. Now imagine that same standard lowered if the mistake was met nonchalantly with excuses about an obstructed view, the glare of the sun, or how the flowers should not have been there in the first place.    

Indicator No. 2:

While the coach SHOULD call you out, the teammates SHOULD support you.  Even after such an unexpected collapse, the Golden State Warrior locker room stayed together—they didn't make excuses for Green—but they doubled down on expressing their confidence in what he means to the team on and off the court. 

You could argue this technical foul call was insignificant compared to the one he acquired in Game Five of the 2016 NBA Finals—the one that led to Green's suspension while Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers stormed back from a 3-games-1 deficit to win the Championship. In both situations, Green's teammates vouched for his significance to the team.  

It's that combination of the outward display of trust and confidence from teammates, plus the expressed expectations of accountability by a team leader, that set the stage for Green to showcase the final component in this leadership lesson. He had to own it. Green couldn't bury his head in the sand and escape the moment.  

"As I sat and I thought about the situation and reassessed as I had time to let the whole thing marinate and digest—I was dead-ass wrong," a reflective Green told the media. "I can't get the second tech. So I was a bit disappointed. I'm still a bit disappointed in myself because I think the whole situation bothered me."  

The Warriors as an organization are stronger because of how they handled failure with camaraderie, accountability... and an apology.