Krzyzewski signs with the heart

Men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski may have written a book called Leading with the Heart, but he seemed to be leading with the pen Thursday, as he autographed copies of the book and spoke briefly to an audience of about 250 in Card Gym.

Leading with the Heart, which Krzyzewski co-wrote with Donald Phillips, applies Krzyzewski's coaching experience to developing keen leadership skills.

Krzyzewski said the book teaches people how to build personal relationships of any kind. "It's built more like a business leadership book, but I think it's a people book...," he said. "It's about building teams-whether it's a family team, a fraternity or sorority team..., a basketball team... or a business team."

Comparing his role as a coach to that of a teacher, Krzyzewski said leaders need to treat each of their followers as deserving of individual attention. "I don't use the same lesson plan every day. I make my own up every night because my pupils deserve it...," he said. "If you do things that are worthy of the people's commitment, all of a sudden you have something very special."

Krzyzewski said working on the book had reinvigorated him following a painful hip surgery and the loss of several key players from last year's team.

"With the things that we were talking about, it was almost like a renewal for me," he said. "It brought to mind... what I like about coaching."

Krzyzewski said he had originally hoped to work with a sportswriter on the book, but working with Phillips-who frequently writes on leadership-made him change his mind. "I remember what my SATs were like in verbal," he said. "Thank God for Don Phillips."

Krzyzewski said several universities were considering using Leading with the Heart as a leadership textbook.