Pride can come from many sources, but ultimately it can be defined as self-respect and a feeling of satisfaction over an accomplishment. It can also be a feeling you get from being a part of something bigger than you.
There is a dignity that comes from doing something well or being a part of a group that does something well. Pride means having an understanding that you put your signature on everything that you do and ensuring then that what you do is done in the best manner possible.
The first person to ever teach me about pride was my mom. She told me, "Michael, everything you do has your personal signature on it. You should take pride in it because it's yours." As I have grown older, I have come to develop a better and deeper understanding of what she meant. You do not have pride in something because it earns you accolades or because someone gives you a trophy or tells you it's great. The pride comes not in the recognition you receive for something, but merely in doing that thing to the best of your ability. Whether you are playing a basketball game, painting a portrait, or cleaning your house, you should take deliberate pride in it because it is a reflection of you. It will always carry your signature.
But my mom didn't merely teach me pride by telling me what it means, she taught me by being an example of pride in everything she did, right down to the way she made chocolate chip cookies. No matter what day it was or who the cookies were for, she always made them the exact same way: the very best way she could. She put the utmost care and paid such attention to detail that each cookie would have an equal number of chocolate chips. When we couldn't afford much, there were three chips. Later, there were four. But they were always the very best chocolate chip cookies she could make. After all, they were hers. Anything that Emily Krzyzewski did was going to be the best.
That type of pride is individual pride and it is vital to have in every aspect of your life. But the greatest pride of all comes from being a part of something that you could never do alone—being part of a team. Players on a basketball team, members of a great family, troops serving in the military: those people have the potential to feel the greatest pride of all. Then, in everything you do, not only do you sign it with your personal signature, but with that of the group as a whole: Duke, the Krzyzewskis, the United States of America.
One of the proudest days of my life was when I was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. While standing at the podium that day, I could not help but think of my dad. When my parents were young, times were difficult for an immigrant family with a distinctly Polish name. In order to avoid the inevitable ethnic discrimination he would experience, my dad actually shortened his name to the more acceptable William Kross. This helped him in applying for jobs and when he served as a private in the United States Army during World War II. The pride I felt at my induction was multiplied by the pride I knew my father would feel were he still living. Now the name Krzyzewski would join some of the greatest names in basketball: Erving, Russell, Knight, Smith.
To think that at one point my dad had to change his name, and now—his real name, our family name, the name we are all proud of—would be looked upon with honor and distinction. What an amazing moment!
It was the concept of collective pride that inspired my staff and me to bring our team together the evening prior to a home conference game in 2006. Typically, we all meet in the locker room for our standard pre-game meeting. This time, however, I asked them to join me on the Cameron court where the center circle is painted with the large "D" that is our Duke Basketball logo. We vowed that the next day, each of us was going to do our very best to represent ourselves with pride as individuals, the Duke team, and as defenders of our home court. Giving each member of the staff and each player a permanent marker, we all signed the "D" at center court, thus agreeing to the terms we, as a team, had established.
In signing the court that evening, we symbolized how everything we did on that court, as members of this team and as individuals, was going to be done with pride. And now it, most literally, had our signature on it. We were going to hold ourselves accountable to take care of what was ours. Nobody had the right to come into our gymnasium and take away our pride. Our house, our tradition, our Duke name meant too much to us. We would play to the best of our ability, we would uphold our standard of excellence, and we would do it together. We won that night, and in his post-game interview, Duke senior guard Sean Dockery said, "It was something where you look down there and it's your house. Today I saw my own signature down there and said, 'Come on, you have to play hard.'"
Pride means ensuring that anything that you do, anything that has your name on it, is done right. So for my team, anything that Duke does should be done to the highest level. I want myself, my players, and my staff to have as much pride as my mom and dad did. Remember, the effort that you use to do this is rewarded tenfold by the feeling you get from your actions.