The Power of Negative Thinking
By Bob Knight with Bob Hammel New Harvest, $25 When things are working and you're ahead of the game, it's widely agreed, you should just keep on doing the same. But celebrated college basketball coach Bob Knight begs to differ. "If it ain't broke, fix it," the recipient of five National Coach of the Year awards advises in this counterintuitive exposition on leadership in sports, business and politics."I have always felt that a coach with a negative approach to a game will be more likely to make better mid-game or late-game changes ... than the positive thinker, who I believe has a tendency to stay too long with the way he thought -- he knew -- would be good enough to win the game," says Knight, who coached at Indiana University and Texas Tech. The same caveat, in Knight's view, holds true for business. "When you start gloating over your victories (or your profits), you're about to get your head handed to you," he writes.He takes issue with Pollyannaish thinking that sees a silver lining behind every cloud. That's why in coaching basketball he emphasized defense and stressed planning, preparation and practice to enable his athletes to respond quickly to competitors. "The smart, cautious athlete is doing in a split second what an investor may have to do in the split second watching a stock market tape -- consider the risks, calculate the best alternative, and then commit to it totally," he writes.This book is more basketball than business. And that makes it more readable.-- Cecil Johnson, special to the Star-TelegramHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
