Erin Andrews and Coach K Share the Playbook for Trust at ICSC LAS VEGAS

A pair of sports-arena keynote speakers brought different playbooks to ICSC LAS VEGAS but one common thread: trust. Broadcaster Erin Andrews and legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski each pulled from their own expertise and experience to deliver lessons that resonate beyond the sideline and the hardwood.

Sports Broadcaster Erin Andrews’ Lesson From the Sideline: Be Ready for Anything

For Andrews, preparedness is paramount. In January 2023, she put that philosophy to the test before millions of TV viewers. A sideline reporter for Fox Sports, Andrews was covering the NFL’s NFC championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Late in the first quarter, Eagles rusher Haason Reddick sacked 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy, and the QB left the game with an elbow injury. Andrews recalled spotting the hit from the sideline and radioing to the Fox booth: “Hey, Brock Purdy’s in the [medical] tent.” She followed with: “He’s hurt; he’s freaking hurt.” The events that followed made for one of the most chaotic football broadcasts she’d ever worked — and offers a lesson to commercial real estate professionals.

Purdy was pulled from the game after suffering what later was diagnosed as a torn ligament in the elbow of the right-hander’s throwing arm. Newly signed backup Josh Johnson entered, only to be taken off the field after suffering a head injury. San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey was preparing to take snaps at quarterback, but Purdy returned despite his injury. For those keeping score, the Eagles ultimately won 31-7. While it was a satisfying victory for the Eagles and a painful loss for the 49ers, it was a master class in real-time problem-solving for the Fox broadcast crew. Andrews’ obsession with preparation — meticulously completing pregame homework and knowing every player, trainer and doctor on the sideline — allowed her and her team to carry the broadcast through an almost-freakish chain of events. “Preparedness is everything for me,” she said. “It really, really is. It’s massive — and I think anyone in their job can relate to that.”

Andrews drew parallels — preparation, on-your-feet thinking and trust — between navigating a live NFL broadcast and hashing out real estate deals. Trust built on relationships, like those she has cultivated across her career as a sports broadcaster, is the common denominator, she maintained. “What I do for a living is so relationship-based,” Andrews said. “The guys trust me. They know I’m not going to burn them. They know I’m there to do my job. And they also know I’m not there just to be there. They know I’m obsessed with it and I love it. That’s why they trust me.”

Coach K on Ownership, Teamwork and the Speed of Trust

Krzyzewski — who led the U.S. men’s basketball team to gold medals in 2008, 2012 and 2016 — spoke about the mindset of players competing not for Team USA but as Team USA. Coach K, as he’s known, challenged the audience to bring that ownership instinct to their own teams, organizations and deals. “If you own something, you’ll fight like hell for it,” he told the room. “It’s not rental property. All of you do really great things. You don’t do all the great things, but if you share all the great things you do, you’re going to do your stuff better.” Coach K’s message: Talent makes talent better, but only when it’s shared.

Key to that collective mindset is trust and how fast you can build it, he maintained. The coach said ownership and collaboration work only at the “speed of trust,” a concept made famous by Stephen M. R. Covey’s book of the same name and a philosophy rooted in the honor code Krzyzewski obeyed as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point. In other words, the quicker your team, players or colleagues can trust you, the quicker everything else happens. Krzyzewski graduated from West Point in 1969 and coached its men’s basketball team from 1975 to 1980 before four decades as head men’s basketball coach at Duke University.

Once you’ve established trust, Coach K said, leadership should be “plural,” meaning your team should hear from more than one voice. To illustrate this point, Krzyzewski recounted the gold medal men’s basketball showdown between the U.S. and Spain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. With Spain just two points shy of the U.S. and 8:13 remaining, Krzyzewski drew up a play. But player Kobe Bryant intervened, making the case that the team was prepared for the moment and didn't need a play call, the coach recalled. Back on the court, Bryant answered with a two-point bucket and later a three-pointer, LeBron James scored to push the lead to 103-92 and the U.S. went on to clinch the gold medal 118-107, according to a CBS News/Associated Press game recap. “As a leader, if you can get a natural, adaptable, accountable team on a day-to-day basis,” Krzyzewski said, “you develop a winning attitude where your team is making plays so that you don’t have to make all the calls for your championship team.”