#284: Shea Ralph, Head Coach of Women’s Basketball, Vanderbilt – Ground your team in values, not results

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Five years ago, Shea Ralph walked in as head coach of Vanderbilt’s women’s basketball team and inherited a broken program. There wasn’t much trust or talent left. But now, Vandy is flying as a #2 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, and Shea has just been named National Coach of the Year. Go behind the scenes of their turnaround, and see how Shea’s unique story and perspective helped drive it – including how she motivates her team to get good results without letting those results define who they are. You’ll also learn: Why she calls herself “the weather” (and what it means for how you show up today) The importance of learning how to lose How she finally got her team to own their core values Why care comes first, no matter what leadership role you’re in Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of How Leaders Lead with David Noback. I am so excited
0:05.9	about today's guest. It's coach Shea Ralph, who is the head coach of the Vanderbilt
0:10.9	women's basketball team. She just got named SEC Coach of the Year and National Coach of the
0:16.7	Year and she's leading Vanderbilt to the NCAA tournament as we speak. When She walked in as
0:23.2	head coach at Vandy, she inherited a broken program. There wasn't much trust and there wasn't
0:28.0	much talent. But five years later, she's turned the team around and Vanderbilt is on a role.
0:34.4	Shea's got a unique story and perspective that's helped drive her success at Vanderbilt.
0:38.6	And in today's episode, you'll learn how she motivates her team to get great results without
0:43.7	letting those results to find who they are. Anchor down and enjoy this episode.
1:00.6	Now, you and I are talking the week of March Madness as the tip-offs are about ready and Vanderbilt is a number two seed. As the leader, what's going on in your mind right now?
1:07.5	I've been here before. So I, you know, not with this team, but this is what we do.
1:13.6	This is the best part of the year when you play college basketball.
1:16.9	This is the goal for many of the athletes and coaches that are blessed to play this game at this level.
1:23.0	So really, for me, I think about how we prepare for these moments way in advance of meeting them.
1:29.8	Right. So the preparation for the moment that we met yesterday and seeing our name on the screen
1:36.1	as a number two seed, which we haven't seen yet before, was that we've earned it, but we have to
1:40.9	continue to earn it every day. And we stay super process oriented here.
1:47.0	Focusing on the day-to-day is really important, and it won't change now.
1:51.3	You are going on the big stage now, and you see so many upsets.
1:55.2	You know, I mean, you know, how do you get your team just to settle in and not change?
2:00.8	For us, at least, me it's it's just
2:02.6	really focusing on what's right in front of you and the goal is to win and you want to talk about
	...

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