Wolf&Grayson EditorialWhether on the basketball court or in the boardroom, success leaves clues. Behind every championship team and thriving business stands a leader who understands how to bring out the best in people. Freddy Fri has spent years developing winning strategies for athletes, entrepreneurs, and business teams. His approach combines the discipline of sports with practical business wisdom, creating a playbook for excellence that transcends industries.
Finding Leadership in Unexpected Places
Freddy’s coaching journey began long before he officially took on the title. “I think it started when I was in high school,” he recalls. “People always pushed me to be the leader in groups, pushed me to be the leader on teams. I played basketball, so I was a point guard. Naturally, I’m used to being the coach on the floor and leading and directing.” Unlike coaches who lead through intimidation, Freddy developed a more collaborative approach. “I never led with an iron fist, but with explanation and trying to make sure people are in the best place to succeed based on their skill set,” he explains. This natural ability continued to surface throughout his life, eventually leading him to coach his own basketball team and run business teams.
Mastering the Fundamentals
When asked about the parallels between high-level athletes and successful entrepreneurs, Freddy points to one critical factor. “What makes a high-level athlete or entrepreneur is they never get bored with fundamentals. They never get bored with the basics,” he emphasizes. The greatest achievers understand that mastery comes from repetition. “The players that achieve at the highest level embrace what they call fundamentals, but they’re not necessarily that fun because you’re basically being repetitive doing the same thing over and over again,” Freddy explains. “When you continue to sharpen your tool and sharpen that knife, it keeps putting you in a position to continue to grow.”
Freddy’s background in basketball shapes his approach to business coaching. “Basketball is like a microcosm of life,” he says. “The same way I would lay out a practice plan or a game plan is the exact same way I would lay out my business plan or a plan for an entrepreneur.” This methodology follows a consistent pattern: create a plan, execute, learn from failures, revise, and repeat. “If you’re trying to go from A to Z, we have to start here. We build this up, then we move to the next step,” Freddy explains. “You have to understand there’s going to be failures along the way. You’ve got to be resilient. You’ve got to revise the plan, and then start executing again.”
Embracing Failure as a Stepping Stone
Perhaps Freddy’s most powerful coaching advice centers on making peace with imperfection. “Mess it up. You got to mess it up in order to get it right,” he insists. “Don’t look for the perfect time to do anything.” This mindset shift helps his clients overcome paralysis by analysis. “The biggest thing I tell people is don’t wait for perfection. Get started, mess it up in order to get it right and embrace the failures because the failures are the successes,” Freddy shares. He often asks a revealing question: “What’s the first syllable in the word success? It’s ‘suck.’ You have to go through the suck before you get to the success.”
Creating Team Synergy
Whether in sports or business, Freddy believes elite teams share defining characteristics. “Chemistry, cohesiveness and chemistry,” he states. “When you have a good team, when you get that chemistry, this player may make a pass to a spot, and that other player is going to be there because they’re so tight, so cohesive.” This same principle applies in organizational settings. “The leaders allow those that they’re leading to do what they have to do. They don’t micromanage,” Freddy explains. “The best teams and the best corporations and businesses, everything ties together to create this seamless action and effort to achieve the desired outcomes.”
The true breakthrough comes when clients see Freddy’s methods produce results. “The breakthrough comes when they have that first moment where what the leader was leading them on comes to fruition,” he explains. “It’s like, ‘Oh my God, you said this was gonna happen if I did A, B, C, and D.’ And they see it.” This creates a virtuous cycle of trust and innovation. “Once they have that breakthrough moment, the sky’s the limit. Now anything that leader is having them do, they’ll come running back to you every time.” As Freddy concludes, his coaching philosophy distills to three principles: “Never get bored with the fundamentals. Embrace your failures. And never be afraid to live in the moment, never be afraid of the big moment.”
Connect with Freddy Fri on LinkedIn to learn how his coaching insights can elevate your leadership game.
