Learning from The Master

In the October 2008 issue of Toastmaster, the monthly publication of Toastmasters International Inc., there is a wonderful interview by Craig Harrison with Coach John Wooden, Head Basketball Coach, University of California, Los Angeles - on lessons in leadership. Inspired by the article, I visited Wooden's website at www.coachjohnwooden.com and soon realized that I was in the presence of a Master. Here was a man who was larger than life; who had reached the top of his profession and yet was modest, and humble; who had no airs about him and just told it like it was. His philosophies on success, leadership, team-building were so clear and yet so simple that you could not help but marvel at the man's clarity of wisdom. Here are some of Coach John Wooden's pearls of wisdom taken from Mr. Harrison's article:

On Leading and Motivating Teams
"In my opinion, one of the greatest motivating tools we have is a pat on the back. Another technique is listening."

Tips for New Leaders
"Lead, don't drive. And give credit. Don't blame. Criticism must always be given in a gentle way, never harshly. As a coach I had 3 rules:

1. Never be late
2. You must never criticize a teammate
3. I would not tolerate profanity from anyone, anytime

Pursuit of Excellence
"My bench never heard me mention winning. My whole emphasis was for each one of my players to try and execute the fundamentals to the best of their ability. Not to try to be better than somebody else, but to learn from others, and never cease trying to be the best they could be."

On Resolving Conflict
"Unless a problem is brought to the forefront, it will just continue to fester."

On Struggle and Difficulty
"Hardship brings people closer together if you share it."

On Patience
"Leaders must have patience for those under their supervision. Don't expect too much too soon. Maybe it was easy for you, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy for somebody else. And then you must believe in what you are doing, that what you're doing is the proper thing, the right thing."

Tremendous insights indeed from a true Master!

ian

I would recommend that you review Coach John Wooden's 'Pyramid of Success' which you can download from his website (provided above). The building blocks are a reminder of what builds winning teams.