John Wooden – Wizard of Westwood

“An average man puts only 1/4^th of his potential & energy into his task. The world takes off its cap to those who put in more than half of their potential, and stands on its head for those far and few between souls who put in 100%” - Andrew Carnegie (Shiv Khera, 1998)

This is the way I will describe John Robert Wooden - famous American basketball coach, who is my favorite leader till today. (Key Achievements) He is the 1^st person to be honored both as a player (1961) & coach (1973) in the Hall of Fame for Basket Ball. His team’s unmatched record of 10 championship of NCAA in just 12 seasons, including 7 continuous wins from 1967-73 (with a record winning streak of 88 games, which includes four perfect 30-0 seasons) shows John’s leadership skills in managing his team’s success saga. (Wikipedia, 2010).

His team’s desire to be as good as they were capable of reflected from John’ success mantra, which states that (Vision of leader) – “Success is in acknowledging that you gave your best to become the best of what you can”. He was awarded “Sportsman of the Year” in 1972 by Sports Illustrated Magazine (Rewards & Recognition). (Wikipedia, 2010).

His spirit of true teamwork is reflected in his famous quote (Mission of leader), “Always think of passing the ball before shooting it”. To be successful in life, he focused his team’s attention on making “EVERYDAY A MASTER-PIECE” (Strength of leader) via daily dose of discipline. His famous quote – “Control of your organization begins with control of yourself. Be disciplined”, illustrates this. His goal for players was to see them become a contributing member of society off the court.

He never worked for a salary raise and his pay was never over $35,000 per annum including the famous year of 1975, when his team won the 10^th national championship (Leadership Trait - Unconditional commitment) (He even turned down LA-Lakers offer as coach which was 10 times of UCLA, his current team). John always (leadership-behavior) stood by his players, like in case of Mr. C. Walker – an African-American origin player in his team, when John turned down invitation from NAIB (National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball) in 1947 because of their rule disallowing participation of African American player. Because of his stand, the policy was changed next year & his team participated & won the title at NAIB.

Wooden never became lenient in his rules, meant for him and his team like that of good appearance (fully shaved & cropped hair) of his team players before & during a match (Leadership style – Follower is a leader). When centre player Bill Walton (1973) showed with his long hair in the 1^st practice session after winning two national championships in a row, Wooden confronted him & asked him to cut his long hairs. Bill responded immediately and got his hair cut by biking down to Westwood. (Brown, 2010). His famous success-pyramid has patience & faith that leads to apex of success. He said that when situation is against you, have patience and then one should have faith that situation will work out fine. (Core Value) In his opinion, the best leadership makes its mark by setting examples & not from the power of position or personality. He was always interested in his players & their families & was always open to their personal problems.

Wooden loved & dated only one woman in his life – his wife Nell. (Leadership quality – maintain commitment in relationship) He kept his commitment to his wife by writing a love letter every month (21^{st day}) after her death in 1985 until his death now in June, 2010.

He was a simple man who never forced a salary raise during his tenure (Leadership quality – Being humble). After retiring, he lived in a simple apartment in Encino & attended all UCLA basketball games with passion, signed autograph for everyone and gave time to people who wrote to him (This characteristic of John Wooden was evident in one of famous leadership books - Today Matters, written by John Maxwell). His modesty is reflected in his words – “Be humble as talent is god given, be grateful as fame is man-given and be careful as conceit is self given”. He is one of the legends whose lesson will always be alive & remembered amongst us, even after he is gone. (Brown, 2010)

Bibliography

Khera, S. (1998). You Can Win.Berkshire: New Dawn Press Group, Berkshire, UK

Brown, L. (2010, June 6). Wooden's Life Lessons Will Live on. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from Larry Brown Sports: http://larrybrownsports.com/college-basketball/john-woodens-life-lessons-teachings-wont-die/20292

Wikipedia, F. E. (2010, August 7). John Wooden - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wooden