Jim Valvano was right.
About a number of things, actually.
But in particular, he was right about the best way to get through a maddening time: survive and advance.
Per coach Valvano, survive and advance (which he later referred to as “S and A”) was the approach his NC State Wolfpack team used to make its improbable run through March, 1983 — both the ACC men’s basketball tournament and NCAA Division I tournament.
As a 10-loss team going into the ACC post-season play, the Wolfpack had to win that tournament to qualify for the ’83 NCAA field (then, 52 teams). Of course, NC State did win, knocking off Wake Forest by one point, then #5 ranked North Carolina in overtime in the semis, and finally #2 ranked Virginia by three in the title game.
In the NCAA tournament, State, a #6 seed, needed two overtimes to topple #11 seed, Pepperdine, in the first game. Next, State defeated #6 ranked UNLV by a single point. In the West region final, State again topped Virginia, this time by just one. And in the national championship game, the Wolfpack defeated #1 ranked Houston, 54–52, thanks to Lorenzo Charles snagging Derek Wittenburg’s air ball heave from 35-feet and dunking home the deciding basket with no time left on the clock.
Probably just as memorable as Charles’ putback is the footage of a wide-eyed Valvano spinning and sprinting around the court, looking for a player to embrace.
And probably just as memorable as Valvano’s hunt for a hug in 1983 is his speech 11 months later, at the first ESPY awards in 1993. Then, the 46-year-old coach was in the middle of a battle with metastatic adenocarcinoma. He would pass away 56 days thereafter, on April 28.
The most famous line from Valvano’s inspirational speech that night is “Don’t give up; don’t ever give up,” which, of course, closely correlates with survive and advance.
Leaders, don’t miss this: There are times when predicting and planning are ideal. There are times when vision casting and strategy mapping are imperative. And there are times when training and equipping and getting the right people in the right seats on the bus are invaluable.
But then…there are times…when…someone…has to jump into the driver’s seat, grab the wheel with both hands, smash down the accelerator, and drive the dang bus straight into — and all the way through — the enormous wall of fire that’s moving ever closer.
Will that someone, could that someone…be you?
Asked another way: In maddening times, what will your mentality be?
Now, thankfully, not all of life is madness. But certainly, we have maddening moments, maddening hours, maddening days, maddening seasons.
Of course, leaders, we don’t know when those times will be. But we do know that we’d better be prepared.
In basketball parlance, proper preparation for maddening times is not having a comprehensive plan to win the whole tournament (overcome the overarching challenge) but rather having a dogged determination to survive this game (win the immediate challenge)…so we can advance to the next one. And repeat — until there are no known immediate challenges remaining.
In other words, when immersed in madness, good leaders emphasize the micro (tactics) over the macro (vision). For although a team can’t win a tournament by winning one game, a team will lose a tournament by losing one game.
The time is coming, leaders, when you’ll have to get your body, your mind, your soul…your family, your team, your organization…through. Doesn’t have to be glamorous. Doesn’t have to be glorious. Just has to be.
Survive and advance. Don’t give up; don’t ever give up.
And when you do get through, spin and sprint and find someone to hug.
Life is too short — too maddening — to lack for embraces.
Madness was originally published in Horizon Performance on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
