Jimmy Dykes | The Film Doesn’t Lie and the Numbers Don’t Lie Either | What You Don’t See / Know Is Hurting You

Show Notes

ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes joins us to share why self-awareness, watching video footage and listening to recorded calls is essential for self-improvement and growth in both your business and in the world of sports.

  1. Yes, yes, yes and yes! Thrivetime Nation on today’s show we are interviewing ESPN’s Jimmy Dykes! Jimmy Dykes, welcome onto the Thrivetime Show…how are you sir!?
  2. I know that you’ve had a ton of success at this point in your career, but I would love to start off at the bottom and the very beginning of your career. What was your life like growing up and where did you grow up?
  3. Jimmy Dykes what was it like to play for my friend and your former coach, the legendary Coach Eddie Sutton?
  4. Jimmy, before making the transition to working for ESPN the first time, you served as a men’s assistant basketball coach at University of Arkansas, Appalachian State University, University of Kentucky, Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Oklahoma State University…what is it like to be in the world of being assistant coach and moving around so much?
  5. Jimmy, at one point you served as a scout for the NBA‘s Seattle SuperSonics. What does it look like to be an NBA scout on a daily basis?
  6. Jimmy, at one point in your career you also served as Shiloh Christian School‘s Director of Athletics in 2006..what was that experience like in your mind?
  7. So, what inspired you to write your new book, Jimmy Dykes Doesn’t Lie?
  8. Jimmy Dykes your new book shares why all Elite level coaches, business owners, CEOs and difference-makers from all walks of life share a common trait: they are masters at the process of evaluating…why do most unsuccessful people tend to shy away from watching film and process evaluating?
  9. Jimmy, all of the super successful companies that I have worked with are maniacal about recording their customer service and sales calls for quality assurance…do you believe that film sessions are also the lifeblood of any successful sports team and why?
  10. Jimmy Dykes, in your new book you ask the question, “If you watched your personal “game film,” would it show someone who is accountable to himself and his family, who turns belief into action?” Why is it important that we all ask ourselves this question?
  11. Jimmy in your new book you guide readers through a tough but crucial evaluation process, incorporating wisdom from both sports and scripture…why is it important for us to search our hearts like a coach scrutinizes game film?
  12. NOTE: Jimmy Dykes (born May 3, 1961)[1] is a former American college basketball coach and current sportscaster for ESPN and SEC Network. He was the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Arkansas until resigning in March 2017.[2]
  13. NOTE: Before making the transition to working for ESPN the first time, Dykes served as a men’s assistant basketball coach at University of Arkansas, Appalachian State University, University of Kentucky, Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Oklahoma State University. He has also served as a scout for the NBA‘s Seattle SuperSonics. Dykes also served as Shiloh Christian School‘s (located in Springdale, Arkansas) Director of Athletics in 2006.
  14. Jimmy Dykes you come across as a very proactive person…so how do you typically organize the first four hours of your and what time do you typically wake up?
  15. What are a few of your daily habits that you believe have allowed you to achieve success?
  16. What mentor has made the biggest impact on your career thus far?
  17. What are a couple of books that you believe that all of our listeners should read?
  18. You’ve got the mic, what is one thing that you want to share with the Thrive Nation before you drop the mic?
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Audio Transcription

Speaker 1:
In the world of business and to the game of sports, the film doesn’t lie and the scoreboard doesn’t read two to three things I’m gonna be looking for from the baseline position, kind of a different view of this game. Lie for two or three minutes. First of all, as you mentioned, Kentucky gets 44% of their misses on the year. One of the reasons it’s a non negotiable from day one, they go after rebounds with two hands. Let me keep an eye on is Kentucky getting boards with two hands. The second thing has Texas a and M comes back towards us this direction. Do they get 10 feet in the paint like Billy Kennedy talked about today? They aren’t going to the offensive glass, Texas a and M is not. They’re retreating the defense and building out from the paint out. If you listened to your employees, sales calls, or customer service calls today, what do you think you would hear?

Speaker 1:
What do you think you would hear when, when, when the chatter of the office dies down, what do you think you would hear if you listened to the customer service calls of your employees? Now, what if you watched the video, maybe you installed the nest.com cameras and you could watch the video footage of your employees. Do you think they’re being super productive when you’re only there or when you’re not there? Well, ESPN is very own. Jimmy dykes believes that the film doesn’t lie and the numbers don’t either. And on today’s show, he shares why self-awareness watching video footage of yourself and your team will help you to raise the level of excellence within your organization and why it is vitally important for you to know what your team is actually doing versus what they say. They’re doing again on today’s show. Jimmy dykes breaks down the film doesn’t lie, and the numbers don’t lie either.

Speaker 1:
If you’ve been pushing back about the idea of call recording or video cameras in your retail store or your office, or installing GPS trackers on your employee vehicles or installing keystroke recorders on your employee’s computer. So you can know what they’re actually doing at the workplace. This is the show that you need to hear, because the truth will set you free. Some shows don’t need a celebrity narrator to introduce a show, but this show does two men, eight kids co-created by two different women, 13 Mo time million dollar businesses, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the thrive time show [inaudible] yes, yes, yes. And yes. Thrive. Nation has been an incredible week, was interviewed the founder of the co founder of Netflix, the co founder of square. And now we’ve the man, the myth,

Speaker 2:
The legend ESPN, his very own Jimmy dykes. How are you, sir?

Jimmy Dykes:
Man, I’m doing great. I really appreciate you having me on Tulsa, dear to my heart. Cause that’s where I was born. So it’s always good to talk to somebody from Oklahoma.

Speaker 2:
Well, Jimmy, you’re your new book? The film doesn’t lie and the numbers don’t lie either a really hits home for me because all the listeners to this show know that for all the business owners out there, I strongly advocate and I won’t stop advocating, putting up cameras in your business. So, you know, what’s going on. Recording calls for quality assurance, tell us what’s inside this new book, the film doesn’t lie and the numbers don’t lie either.

Jimmy Dykes:
Yeah, it’s uh, you know, the, the film doesn’t lie, uh, in my world and college athletics coaches live by that motto when they watch film with their team after when, after loss, after practice, that’s when you get a true reflection of who you are as a player who you are as a team, what areas do you need to improve on? Where are we doing well, what do we need to keep doing? And it’s all right there on that film. And you can, you can think you’re one thing. And then you watch yourself on a film and you realize, you know, I’m not, I’m really not what I thought I was as a player, as a team. So I take that analogy from the sports world and you over my 25 years now with ESPN and conversation with hall of fame coaches like John Calipari and Mike Shefsky and Gus miles on the head football coach at Auburn, uh, just I take the reader into different topics that I think are important to all of us, that we all deal with. Struggle with, need to be held accountable in, evaluate ourself on. And I think this book will really create a space in our heart for reflection in some key areas and where I think ultimately change begins. And I really challenge readers to go at that book with an open heart and in pursuit of a authentic God who I know loves us, is able to have create great change in our heart. And in any area, if we open ourselves up to him,

Speaker 2:
You know, Jimmy, it sounds like your book at its core is about self awareness and trying to figure out, you know, where we are versus where we want to be. You know, trying to bridge that gap sometimes will be called cognitive dissonance, where our values don’t align with our daily action steps and the guy that you played basketball for in college, Eddie Sutton is a, is a legendary coach in, uh, and a very good personal friend of mine. Um, what was it like playing for a guy like coach Sutton when you had to look at yourself on the film? I mean, how did he break down Phil?

Jimmy Dykes:
Yeah, he was a, he was a tough teacher and now those film sessions and evaluations going through my book, those can be some tough times, you know, but that’s, I mean, that’s the only way you grow is to be real with yourself, transparent with yourself, uh, truthful with yourself. And coach Sutton was always that in film sessions and in the right way, um, it was never a beat down session. It was a, this is, this is where we are negligent and this is where we need to get better. And he was a tremendous coach, you know, uh, very deserving to be in the hall of fame. And hopefully we’ll be there the next time around and a bit on the, on our, on our practice shorts at Arkansas. When I was with him, when I was coaching at Kentucky, Oklahoma state, where the words, dedication, discipline, and defense, and he stood for those three things, as well as anyone I’ve been around. And those first two, two words, dedication and discipline, I just think are, are, are, are, should be common threads. They are with the great ones that I’m around and I’m talking about great, great coaches, great leaders, great people that are just common folks out there just doing life the right way, that, that dedication to who they are and the discipline to stay between the barriers that God has for them in their life. I love those kinds of people. And certainly coach Sutton’s stood for those things on the basketball court.

Speaker 2:
Do you recall a time when watching game film that you caught yourself and thought, what am I doing here? Or maybe metaphorically speaking, looking at your life and going, what am I doing here? Do, do you have a moment where you kind of, from a self deprecating perspective can say, Oh man, I was off. I was not doing what I thought I was doing

Jimmy Dykes:
Well when I started writing the book. And when you start writing on chapters on, do you have unforgiveness in your heart? Um, the power of your spoken words, non-negotiables in my life. Uh, how am I doing in terms of guarding my heart and making sure that bitterness and envy and jealousy and greed aren’t growing, uh, when you’re the writer of those chapters and that cause you to did me to go even deeper in my own evaluation of myself. And it was a real growing process for me, it was a real learning process for me. Uh, it, I, it, it challenged me greatly as a writer writing the book, and I think it would challenge our readers as well. I think it’s a great tool for anyone out there through all walks of life. Um, whether you’re a business owner or a single parent, I’m a mom, whoever it is. I think there’s terrific life lessons in this book that you can apply to all areas, but it’s all geared towards our heart and in align with God’s best for us understanding who he is, how much he loves us, all those things and how that should play out in our, in our day to day. Walk,

Speaker 2:
Two final questions for you in your book, you talked about how a film sessions are the lifeblood of any successful sports team. We talked about on the show all the time. How, how watching the film of what your customer service reps are saying to customers is important. Well, actually listening to the quality assurance of the phone calls, the, the recorded phone calls for your customer service center is super important. Why, why is it a recipe disaster to never take the time to look at the actual numbers or to watch the actual game film?

Jimmy Dykes:
Well, I think if you go about life like that, or your business like that, or coaching a team like that, you’re just your path is driven by the wind and the waves, and then have her, society’s pulling you in you lack intent, you like purpose in your life. You like your like purpose in your daily plan. I just don’t think you grow. I think you get stagnant and you just go along with the normal flow, whatever that is. And I don’t think the normal flow is the best way to go through life. It’s not the best way to grow. And this is not an, it’s not a common read. It’s an uncommon read in terms of really challenging people to, to pause and reflect and get one on one with God and really evaluate where, where am I in this area of my life? And I think if you don’t take the time to do that on a regular basis, that’s certainly at some point at time in your life. I think you just get drawn down just that the current of where life will take you. And I just don’t think that’s always best that I think it’s best to have your own barriers and your own standards and your own beliefs, uh, dictating where you go in your life as opposed to outside influences, just dragging you wherever that may be.

Speaker 2:
You, you mentioned, uh, non-negotiables my, my final question is about non-negotiables and what area of your life, what, what is it an example of, of a non negotiable in the life of Jimmy dykes?

Jimmy Dykes:
I never leave the house in the morning without praying when my wife and daughter, and just, I started that probably three years ago and it’s changed our family. It’s changed our family dynamic. It’s changed our, our, uh, our one-on-one relationship with the Lord. It’s changed how we go about our day. It’s changed our perspective. I think it’s changed me as a leader in the eyes of my wife and my daughter to know that that this is a nonnegotiable with me, that we’re going to put Lord Jesus Christ in the proper perspective on our life. And we’re going to back it up with our actions and our, our, our, our film is going to show that that every morning we that’s what we do. I left my house this morning at six 30 to catch a flight to go to a college basketball game. But before I left, I made sure our daughter was up. We said a prayer huddled up and said a prayer and off we went. So that’s, that’s the first non negotiable that comes to my mind. But it’s also one that’s had tremendous impact on me as a dad, as a husband, uh, as I go about my day, just setting my hearts, setting my tone in my life on the right thing to begin the day.

Speaker 2:
Jimmy, I don’t know if you’ve watched the game film recently, have you, uh, doing some commentating? They’re on ESPN, but you’re looking good. Are you, are you on a fish oil and kale only diet? What’s your, what’s your tip?

Jimmy Dykes:
I pretty healthy. I, I stay away from fast foods. I stay away from bread. I just, um, I drink a ton of I exercise every day. That’s probably another non negotiable with me in terms of trying to take care of my body, the best I can, but you know, you gotta work at it like everything else, but it’s important to me when I’m on the road, as much as I am, if I’m not really disciplined and intentional about what I’m eating and find a kind of workout, man, it shows up over four or five months grind like I’m on a college basketball season. So, uh, either that or your, your TV sets a little blurry, you need to upgrade to a big screen HDTV.

Speaker 2:
Well, I have been watching it with rabbit ears. Maybe that’s the problem. I’ll tell you what if you’re out there and thrive nation, and you’re looking for an unbelievable read a book, that’s going to help take your career business and personal life to the next level. Pick up a copy of Jimmy dykes, his new book, the Jimmy is the Jimmy dykes. The film doesn’t lie, evaluating your life. One play at a time. Again, the film doesn’t lie, evaluating your life. One, play at a time and you get a look at Jimmy dykes right there on the cover. A beautiful man that’s as a free bonus gift.

Jimmy Dykes:
Yeah, you can also go to coach Jimmy dykes.com to order that book. And you’ll see on that website, if you order it quickly that we’re giving away a free trip to this year’s final four, get out of here and you don’t even have to order the book. If you order the book, then your chances of winning are greatly increase, but it’s a free trip to Atlanta for the final four. Um, some great experiences there with semi-final tickets and tickets to, uh, legends of the hardwood breakfast on a Saturday morning and a dinner lunch with me. So it’s, it’d be worth going to that, that website coach to be calm and checking it out as well.

Speaker 2:
I’m leading you a stray here. Go to coach Jimmy dykes.com. Coach Jimmy dykes.com. This is awesome. This is a chance to read a great book, a chance to have an unbelievable March madness experience. Uh, forget what I just said. Do not go to Amazon, go to coach Jimmy dykes.com. Sir. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule. It absolutely means the world to the listeners and to myself.

Jimmy Dykes:
Yeah, you were tremendous for having me. Thank you very much. Take care. Okay.

Speaker 2:
Now, without any further ed, two, three, boom, boom, boom.

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