What Can We Learn From the World’s Greatest Coach?

John Wooden stands as the best basketball coach in history, and in all likelihood the best coach at any sport.  His record as a manager of people is unequaled and will probably never be achieved by anyone else.  In 12 years the Bruins won 10 national championships, including 7 in a row from 1967 through 1973.  Only six other men's teams have won championships back to back, and none has managed three consecutively.  At the conclusion of every season, the nation's best player receives the John R. Wooden Award.  The list of his players turning pro is like reading a hall of fame roster. But Wooden, now 95 years old, turned to writing books about management in his retirement.  He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books about leadership.  In Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry with Andrew Hill (a former player of his) (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2001) they outline some of the factors that made Wooden so successful.

Most prominent is Wooden’s insistence on balance in everything.  His highest priority was not basketball, it was his family and he always made time for them.  When UCLA named its basketball pavilion after him, he insisted that his wife’s name be on it also.  He wasn’t one to pump up his team before games, because he believed that it was the quiet, relentless focus on execution that was most important.  To Wooden, wins were "pleasing" while losses were a "disappointment," nothing more or less.  He measured success by the absence of conflict in one’s own heart, and the knowledge that you have given your very best.  Outcomes are often beyond one’s control, so the benchmark is knowing that you have given your all, both in preparation and execution.  Frequently, Wooden’s advice seems like platitudes from another day, but that doesn’t make them any less true.  He was not afraid to be a stickler for rules (he’d make sure that all his players shoes were tied properly) nor did he try to be liked by everybody all the time.  He believed that failure to prepare was the same as preparing to fail.  It may sound corny, but you can’t argue with success like his.

Contributed by Joel Gordon

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