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Dean Smith spent 36 years leading the UNC basketball program in Chapel Hill, establishing a standard of excellence few coaches will ever match.
When he retired in the fall of 1997, Smith left college basketball as its winningest coach, with 879 victories. He led the Tar Heels to 13 ACC tournament titles and 17 regular-season crowns, as well as two national championships. Along the way, Smith built a clean program known for producing solid graduation rates as much as turning out NBA stars.
Under Smith, UNC became a haven for developing players and coaches. Smith's disciples include Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Vince Carter, Bob McAdoo, Jerry Stackhouse, Phil Ford, George Karl, Larry Brown and Roy Williams.
Much like UCLA's John Wooden, Smith attributed his success to disciplined practices and an emphasis on process rather than results.
Now Smith, 73, has applied his basketball principles to the business world. In The Carolina Way (337 pages, The Penguin Press, $24.95), Smith - along with UNC business professor Gerald Bell - offers his thoughts on leadership, consistency and dedication. The coach, who still keeps an office on campus, recently discussed those topics and more in an interview. Following are excerpts:
You've already written an autobiography. What made you want to delve into the business world?
When I did the autobiography, there were a couple of chapters - they dealt with our practices - and we got a lot of mail on it, and so did Random House (the publisher). John...