Rusty Komori

Rusty Komori is a motivational speaker, leadership consultant, and tennis professional based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

From 1994 through 2015, he was the head tennis coach at Punahou School, where his boys’ varsity teams won an unprecedented 22 consecutive state championships, a national record in all sports that still stands.

“For more than two decades, Rusty Komori has set thousands of student athletes on the road to excellence. His unique brand of physical and mental training has garnered him many awards, yet he’s never lost sight of his true focus—giving young men and women useful insights to help them succeed in any field.”
Daniel Dae Kim, actor and producer

“What characteristics lead to success? Read Rusty’s book and make some surprising discoveries about improving both your professional and personal lives.”
Allen Doane, former CEO, Alexander and Baldwin, Inc.

Beyond The Lines takes you on a journey of inspired leadership through insightful, tangible lessons that can drive teams to success. The book challenges you to take your leadership to the next level to achieve extraordinary results, and has become required reading for all our leadership conferences.
Corey Campbell, CEO and founder, Akamai Training & Consulting

Beyond the Lines offers a game plan for any leader to help an organization achieve and sustain success. We all know that success is not easy. If it were, everyone would be successful. The question is, do you deal with your challenges in a positive way? What’s more, can you help others deal with their challenges in a positive way? People don’t want to be “managed,” after all—they want to be guided. They know that no matter how challenging a situation might be, they can trust the leader to make the best decisions for the team.

In direct, simple terms, author Rusty Komori lays out a path for achievement and excellence in leadership, drawing from notable examples in sports history, as well as his own experience during more than two decades as a successful, championship-winning tennis coach.

When I saw the book and learned of Rusty Komori's achievement of an unprecedented 22 consecutive state championships with his boys' varsity tennis team at Punahou College Prep School in Honolulu, I thought this is simply so amazing, I wanted to read it. I took his word for it regarding the 22 consecutive state championships being a national record in all of sports since googling this subject seems an impossible task.

Dr. Mark Kovacs must have been able to verify that record because he states in his foreword that Rusty Komori "will go down in history as the greatest high school coach, by record, in any sport." I always value Dr. Kovacs' findings and comments. He writes that Beyond the Lines "provides the details for any leader to help an organization to achieve and sustain success." He goes on to explain that he knows Coach Rusty for nearly the entire duration of his winning streak. "His principles and teachings have applications in sports, business, and life." I like being able to take what I read in a tennis book and apply it in business and life.

I think the premise of the entire book is disclosed in Chapter 2 "GREAT LEADERS ARE MADE." Setting up the reasons for him being such a successful leader, Komori points out that there is a big difference between a boss and a leader. "A boss cares about work. A leader cares about people." I can relay to his next statement that a boss often says "I" and a leader often says "we." Haven't we all met those bosses in our lives? I have for sure.

Komori continues describing the character traits of great leaders and the high standards they generally adhere to and live by. He quotes Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group which controls more than 400 companies. "A lot of things learned through sports are transferable into other aspects of life. Skills acquired through tennis have been beneficial to business." Everyone knows that Branson is a regular tennis player. He continues, "One key lesson I've learned which applies far beyond the tennis court, is to treat each point separately. It's critical to move on from the last mistake you made and focus on the next point, or in business, the next challenge."

This quote from the author of The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) seems like the perfect intro to Komori's definition of "The Four P's of Success" - People, Purpose, Process, Performance. Komori wanted a system in place that does "everything I set out to do." Since every leader needs to have a plan for his team, the four P's provide the framework. The details on how to implement the plan of becoming a successful leader are Komori's "Eight Keys."

I don't want to give it away in my review, but the "Eight Keys" are the juice, the core of the book. We're reading about Komori's rich experience collected in those 8, from "The Character of a Champion" to "Real Winning Occurs Within." I just want to point out my favorite part of this section of his book. In Key No. 5 "You Create the Environment" he writes about his experience with Bernard Gusman, a teaching pro whom he met at a weekend clinic and who subsequently became Punahou's Director of Tennis. Komori writes, "The environment that Barnard created for us was extremely positive, and I looked forward to coming to work every day. He set a high standard for himself and all of us to live up to, and he understood everything we were going through." He describes Gusman as "a great leader we respected - but more important, he became my friend."

I had a similar experience with a leader at The Active Network, Philip Rowcliffe, at the time when I worked for them on the USTA Tennislink Team. He also set high standards and was also very encouraging and positive. I know how much such a leader contributes to the success of every team he or she leads.

I loved reading Beyond the Lines. It was quite inspirational for me since I am a strong believer in learning from the experience of successful people, their outlook on life, their methods and strategies.