Here are some memorable quotes from John Wooden related to leadership and some of my thoughts related to an article that I used as a resource not too long ago in a seminar. It was a Sports Illustrated article entitled “The Birth of a Dynasty.” John Wooden is awesome.
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
Wooden, recognizing that his coaching had grown a bit stale and that he was surrounded by yes men, intentionally went out of his way to hire the most contrarian player he had ever coached as an assistant coach to create debate and challenge. Wooden said,
“I guess I wanted a rebel, someone who would stand up to me.”
A former player made a powerful insight into what made the difference between the decades in which Wooden and UCLA didn’t win any championships and the years that they won ten. Jack Hirsch said,
“People say he didn’t have the horses before us. No – he didn’t win because he wasn’t a great coach. He was a good coach who filled in all the blanks.”
John Wooden has humbly agreed,
“We’d have had a little better chance in earlier years, if I’d have known a little more.”
What a powerful notion…that John Wooden wasn’t a great coach in his earlier years because he was too tied to tradition, to his methods, and to the security of being the only one with a say. The article, Wooden, and many of his players all indicate that what helped make Wooden a great coach was his willingness to break from traditions, move away from the security and ego-stroking that comes from surrounding yourself with “yes-men”, and embrace a paradigm shift from forcing players to conform to his system towards a philosophy of fitting his coaching system to the gifts and talent of his players.As I read the article, what is clear to me is that what is being described in this article is John Wooden’s journey towards servant leadership. He simply wasn’t a great coach until he began to understand and embody what it means to be a servant leader.
