Jay Bilas is a basketball analyst for ESPN. He also played at Duke.

A few years ago he wrote an article for ESPN magazine called “Toughness.”  You can read it here: http://blogs.yis.ac.jp/18howet/files/2013/01/Toughness-by-Jay-Bilas-2er84di.pdf

The article was wildly popular. Coaches printed them up and shared them as well as leaders from all walks of life. It was more than a basketball article. It described how one can be more effective in any pursuit.

Bilas has taken the article and expanded it into a book. I recommend it.

Read it as an individual and assess how you measure up. It will help you to target areas for personal development.

Read it as a leader and use it as a tool to assess your team. If you aren’t hitting on all cylinders it might help you to devise strategies for improving.

Read it as a parent and see if it gives you ideas about parenting. As a parent, you can be a chief architect of your child’s value structure and how they behave. This book may help you become more effective in being intentional about how that turns out.

Bilas does a great job of sharing the successes and failures which have caused him to consider toughness as a topic. I think most of us will be able to identify with it.