“A guy who gives you less than what he has to give is, one, telling what he thinks of you and, two, telling you what he thinks of himself. –Pete Carril

Saw this quote yesterday and it resonated.

It tells a story. Captures what we should desire in any relationship. Be it family, spouse, friend, team and/or colleague.

The first guy is the one who wants to be well thought of. I want to be that guy. I want to be known as honest. Generous. Fair. Helpful. Trustworthy. Wise. Caring. Selfless.

That’s a rich list. Full of possibility. As a leader in my family, my church, my community or our business, if I can be the person who is the first guy, then my wife, my kids, my friends and my colleagues will follow me up the hill. Will have my back. I can count on them. It makes sense.

I also want to be the second guy as well. The one who is at peace with himself. The one who pushes for excellence. Who is accountable. Who shows up. Keeps his word. The one whose sense of integrity, gives his full effort even if his leader or coach doesn’t deserve it.

You probably don’t know who Pete Carril is. He coached at Princeton, an Ivy League school. He’s retired.

He was famous for taking non-scholarship players, teaching them a way to play basketball that relied on wits, efforts and discipline to compete against the Duke’s and Kentucky ‘s of the works in college basketball.

He taught and urged his team to play better than they were. They always over achieved. They rarely fell short of expectations. It was a mistake to take them lightly. Others rarely did.

His quote described his success. Be a leader of a team where players will be inspired to play. Find players and be a player with self-esteem that makes playing hard the only choice.