I was a walk-on for Duke's 2001 national-championship team. Here are 29 lessons I learned from Coach K that have served me in life and as a tech founder.

Ryan Caldbeck is the founder of CircleUp, a software tech company.
He was a walk-on for Duke men's basketball under Mike Krzyzewski, aka Coach K, who is retiring this year.
Here are the leadership lessons Caldbeck says he learned as one of Coach K's players.

I was a walk-on for the 2001 Duke Men's Basketball national championship team. It isn't something I talk much about, publicly or privately, because it's hard to summarize authentically in a quick conversation. Today is an exception.

Ryan Caldbeck.

Ryan Caldbeck

In honor of Mike Krzyzewski's — aka Coach K's — last game at Cameron, I want to share some of the things I learned from him. Today, I'm a technology founder and operator. I owe a lot to Coach K, including countless leadership and life insights.

Here are some of my favorite lessons I learned from him.

1. Names can be powerful tools

Coach K uses your name, or doesn't use it, to motivate and demonstrate respect.

He always knew my name and the names of every manager, staff, and player.

How he chooses to use your name is amazing and brilliant. He can talk about you and to you, without using your name. He can not use your name for months, or an entire year. There are less than 50 people in the inner circle, and it isn't because he doesn't remember. It's a form of motivation.

But when he does use it? Wow, that feels good.

Once when my dad came to watch a practice, Coach stopped in the middle of a play and pointed out something that I did well, using my name. My dad heard it. It was one the greatest feelings I had in my basketball career

2. Everyone has buttons to push that will make them better than they thought they could be

I've never seen someone get more out of someone — everyone — than Coach K. He does this by doing a remarkable job of identifying exactly what makes each player tick, regardless of talent.

He would then leverage that knowledge and figure out how to motivate based on what drove each individual at a base level. It's one of his superpowers.

3. Visualization is powerful

The night before the 2001 Championship Game, Coach gathered our entire team in his hotel room at 9 p.m. It was a short meeting to remind everyone what they were responsible for. Then he said he wanted us to fall asleep and, "Visualize yourself winning."

The staff had put together a highlight film as if we had just won the National Championship, set to "One Shining Moment." Watching it gave us goosebumps.

4. Empower your teammates to succeed

Coach empowers his assistants, staff, and managers to make decisions, to coach as they see fit, and to have real impact on the team. While he is fanatical about details, he also allows others to act within their lanes.

He's able to scale his impact and has had remarkable longevity without burnout in part because he's consistently enabled others to help him.

5. Great leaders can inspire others to do thankless jobs

I've never seen someone who's able to inspire others to do such thankless work and with as much pride as Coach K. The thing is, if you offer genuine appreciation, it's no longer thankless.

Duke students — future doctors, investment bankers, and tech CEOs — took tremendous pride in making sure the Gatorade was made properly and the uniforms were laid out correctly.

He would offer appreciation in a variety of ways — a quick comment to the manager, a mention to the team. But we all knew how important they were.

6. Getting the details right means you can trust your teammates

Reliability breeds trust. When the fundamental details are handled, you can feel confident in that foundation.

Most college programs have practice plans. Coach K structures his practices by the minute, meaning there are drills that run from 3:23 to 3:27 p.m. on the practice schedule. It's that specific.

One of my overriding memories from Duke was from before I made the team. While I played my sophomore to senior years, as a freshman I was a manager. Seeing the precision with which the managers act is like watching a world-class ballet.

There are typically 12 to 15 managers at Duke Basketball. They're responsible for everything from getting practice equipment ready, to making sure that if Coach K turns over his left shoulder in a timeout there's a black marker waiting there for him with the cap off and if he looks forward to his right shoulder there's a manager holding out the number of fingers to indicate how much time is left in time out. Other managers are responsible for drinks or to hold up towels to ensure TV cameras can't see inside the huddle.

7. Passion is paramount

When I was a senior I had job offers at Bain, BCG, and McKinsey. I went to meet with Coach K to get his advice on what to do. He asked, "What are you most passionate about?" I subconsciously rolled my eyes.

I thought: "Coach, I'm not lucky enough to go coach basketball. I have to get a job." I missed the lesson in that moment and for the subsequent 10 years until starting my first company.

His point was about knowing (and constantly discovering) your passion. Quite frankly I have no clue if Coach is passionate about basketball. But I'm extremely confident that he's passionate about building teams, reaching for specific goals, and creating something bigger than himself.

I focused only on the actual job, and not about passion. It took me a decade to realize I'm passionate about having an impact on others, something I perhaps could have seen as early as my Duke basketball days, had I listened more to Coach and less to career services.

8. Talent is important — but it means nothing without hard work

Every year Duke brings in some of the best players in the country. My sophomore year had 14 players: six went on to play in the NBA, and another three would play professionally overseas. The walk-ons included the starting quarterback at Duke and the national player of the year in soccer.

But work ethic is required. If you have talent and don't work hard, you'll have a painful career at Duke Men's Basketball. That means getting extra shots up on an off-day, or extra physical therapy with the team doctors. You can't succeed on a team without a strong work ethic.

9. Being on time means being early

If practice started at 4 p.m., I was dressed and ready at 3:30 p.m. Twenty years after graduating, I still have a recurring *monthly* nightmare of being late to practice, even though I was never close to being late for practice.

10. True friends call when you fail

Coach K once told a story about his best friend Moe and said, "Moe calls me after losses, not after wins. Your true friends call you when you fail." It was a short anecdote I've never forgotten, and something I've come to firmly believe.

11. Loyalty matters

Every former player can get a ticket to a game for the sacrifices they made in their time at the program — whether it's preseason, the National Championship game, or the most expensive ticket in regular season sports history.

12. Communication is crucial

Coach would use a whiteboard fairly often. He once drew an image of a hub (him) and points in a circle around the hub (us, the players). He then drew a line from each point to him.

He said today he was communicating to each of us, and we were communicating to him. That system would break — we needed to communicate with each other and not just through him. He then drew lines from each player to the others, and it looked like a bicycle wheel.

It was simple, but it sank in — I drew the same image on a whiteboard 15 years later when a team I was leading was communicating with each other ineffectively.

13. Move on to the 'Next Play'

'Next Play' means don't worry about focusing on what just happened — worry about the next play. Whether you had an incredible dunk or just shot an airball, that moment has passed — so it's time to move on to the Next Play. Great organizations and people that sustain excellence embody this.

14. Language leads to reality

Coach would talk a lot about "bumps and bruises." The first time I heard him say "bumps and bruises" I thought, "No one has bumps and bruises. These really f--king hurt." But the framing led us to believe that certain injuries are minor, to get treatment, and move on. Framing matters.

15. When a great shooter doesn't shoot, it's selfish

We had one or two players each year who were fantastic, but more reluctant to shoot their shots than Coach wanted. He would say that's selfish.

When the best player doesn't shoot enough, it can be selfish because the player is worried about public perception rather than what's right for the team. Whether not shooting in basketball or not speaking up in meetings, the same point is true.

16. Work with a sense of urgency

Coach loves stories and metaphors. He told us once, "My mom didn't have a lot of money. If someone stole her purse in a subway station and then got onto a train, she would have done anything possible to get into that train.

She would have pushed people, clawed and made sure she was on the train before the doors left. Work with that type of urgency and hunger."

17. Cry in your last game

Coach would say the mark of a great journey is one that ends in tears regardless of outcome. If you win the final game there are tears of happiness; if you lose, there are tears of sadness — in part because you put all of yourself into the journey.

18. A team must work as one

Coach was fantastic at understanding how to get talented people to sacrifice to build something together. "Five fingers working as a fist are more powerful than five fingers working alone" is an image he used for many years.

19. Know your emotions to use your emotions

The cameras have shown Coach lose his temper probably more than any college coach in history. I think it's all completely controlled, because he was in touch with his emotions — so he can respond rather than just react.

He uses his outbursts — in practice and in games — for a very specific reason: to send a message. Similarly, I've seen him not react in many situations, particularly in the middle of the season, to help teach a longer-term lesson to the team.

20. Leadership means pivoting

Players get hurt or can't play. Teammates sometimes don't gel. Other teams get hot. Regardless, a leader needs to pivot along the journey in order to reach the ultimate goal.

When our starting center and future Olympian Carlos Boozer broke his foot in 2001, Coach pivoted our strategy to shoot more three-pointers, before it became fashionable.

21. Moments — not plays — are where the battle is won

It was amazing to see Coach zoom in on not a specific play, but a moment within a play, during which the play, the half, and sometimes the game was won and lost.

In a pre-season scrimmage, a player held the ball by palming it away from his body while he directed traffic, similar to how an NBA player might. Coach paused the tape and eviscerated him. "You think you're f--king Michael Jordan?"

The player thought he had already "made it" and was acting like it in the game. That type of "slippage" (one of Coach's favorite words) would lead to a lackadaisical approach — a losing attitude.

22. Body language tells an important story

Coach is big on body language. Your face, shoulders, how you sit and walk. It wouldn't shock me if he makes major decisions on players — to play or recruit — based on body language.

23. Look each other in the eyes

Coach meant this both literally and figuratively. He talked about how great players like Grant Hill would look him fiercely in the eyes, and about a time he told Lebron James to look him in the eyes. Coach saw this as a sign of respect, openness, and honesty.

24. Focus on input as well as output

I've never in my life met someone as focused as Coach K. He is very output-focused, but he believes strongly in input as well. If you don't practice well, you won't play. And he definitely would help you see the connection by talking about it openly in front of the team.

25. There's power in change

Basketball season is long and intense. For those that stay four years, it gets to be a grind. Coach comes up with creative ways to keep his message fresh. He has different coaches deliver the message, and sometimes even some of the players.

He used different props and theatrics. He also moved the team during practice so that they weren't always sitting in the same chairs during a rest period to listen to him. It's simple, but it keeps your mind active.

I did something similar as CEO and found it to be an effective way to keep things fresh. I would give talks about vision every six weeks as CEO. Sometimes that talk feels a bit repetitive, like messages from a coach in the middle of a long season. I tried to keep it fresh by mixing up how we presented the material (slide deck versus Q&A), who led the presentation, and even where we sat in the office.

26. Hold yourself and your teammates accountable

I remember seeing Coach hold everyone — All-Americans as well as assistant coaches — accountable, and often by yelling.

When he yelled, I was reminded that the person he yelled at was important. I get goosebumps thinking about that.

I kept a journal at Duke. In it, I wrote I wish he would yell at me more:

October 16, 1999 — "Coach screamed at me for not getting in the passing lane. The next play I did it and I intercepted the ball. I just felt good, not great because I think he doesn't yell at people if he thinks they suck. That felt really good."

He reminded all of us that our contribution mattered, and he expected accountability. Perhaps most importantly I remember him holding himself accountable. After one game he said he didn't do a good job. It was a bit surreal and frankly I don't know enough about basketball to know if he was right. But I remember feeling grateful that it wasn't blamed on others.

27. Demand excellence

Coach required excellence from everyone around him, whether players, staff, or media relations people.

Also from my journal: At one practice in January, 2000, Coach was sick of a player "not giving any emotion back." He sat him out the second half and afterwards said, "The ship is leaving. Either get on or not, but I won't accept mediocrity."

He doesn't bluff, by the way.

28. Rules aren't as important as principles

There's a lot of discipline at Duke basketball. Not a lot of rules; more principles. For instance, there was no rule that a player should go practice extra shots the next day if he went 3 of 10 in a game. But if you care about getting better (principle), then you will.

29. Courage is required to be great

Coach loved players with courage. Courage to say they wanted to guard the other team's best player, courage to call out a teammate when they aren't doing what you expect, courage to raise your hand to take charge.

I remember walk-ons that received more respect than McDonald's All-Americans because the walk-on showed more courage every day, in how he would check into practice, speak up in a meeting, or hold someone else accountable.

Despite learning these lessons in college basketball, I think many of the leadership principles are transferable to work, and I feel honored to have learned them from Coach.

To say he's influenced my leadership style in business is obvious and feels corny. He's influenced so much more in every aspect of my life: what I chose to work on, how I parent, my marriage, my friendships and professional relationships, and how I spend my time.