Duke in Pics: Coach McCallie's Leadership Lessons

Duke women's basketball head coach Joanne P. McCallie shared some of her leadership standards and lessons during a talk with the Duke Leadership Academy on Thursday.

The Duke Leadership Academy is an intensive yearlong program designed to stimulate personal and professional growth and nurture a pipeline of future leaders at Duke.

Now in her 7th year at Duke and 22nd year as a head coach, McCallie touched on key principles she follows and teaches her team. In addition to communication, here are some of the characteristics she covered:

Integrity: Choices and commitments matter. "You have to have some kind of moral compass as a leader to make decisions," she said.

Vision: "Going after your dreams," said McCallie, who has guided the Blue Devils to a 174-35 overall record and three ACC championships.

Competence: She uses quotes to motivate and stressed leading from within. "Everybody leads," she said. "Everybody leads in our organization. No one's off the hook."

Perseverance: "You got to get hit around a little bit," McCallie said. "It's not a good idea to sit there and say, 'oh yeah, I'm great.' Everyone needs some adversity to become authentic, she added.

Selflessness: "Give credit to others," she said.

McCallie also spoke to the leadership class about her early days as Duke head coach, some tough days when Duke fans, grieving over the departure of her predecessor, heckled McCallie. During that time of change, Coach Mike Krzyzewski was a support.

"Without Mike, I don't know if I would have made it," she said.

McCallie, the ACC Coach of the Year in 2010, 2012 and 2013, enters the 2013-14 season leading the Blue Devils to their fourth straight ACC regular season crown. She is the author of "Choice Not Chance," which chronicles McCallie's life from her youth in Maine through the beginning of her fifth season at the helm of Duke Women's Basketball.

Photo by Megan Morr, University Photography