#2 Book Notes and Quotes - Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden
These book notes are split up into three parts: Quotes, Mental Practices, and Coaching Practices. If you’re an athlete, check out the quotes and mental practices. If you’re a coach, check out the quotes and coaching practices. If you’re a beast, do all three.
Obviously, Wooden is a master of leadership and coaching. I mean, he was named ESPN’s coach of the 20th century. 100 years of coaches and they ranked him #1. That’s amazing. Not so obviously are the techniques as to what made him a great coach. My biggest takeaway… DETAIL DETAIL DETAIL. Nothing is too small to be overlooked.
I’ve put my $.02 in after the quotes to help guide you towards mastery using my knowledge from Performance Psychology, team consulting, and 1-on-1 coaching. You can buy the book on amazon here.
Mental Practices
“Don’t worry about whether you’re better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can become. You have control over that; the other you don’t.” - John Wooden’s dad
Set up reminders around your life that your ONLY GOAL is to be better today than you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you were today. A mental reminder is something physical like a piece of paper of a sticky note that mentally triggers your brain into a certain way of thinking.
“Learn to master The Four P’s. The Four P’s are planning, preparation, practice, and performance.” - John Wooden
“It comes when those you lead see and experience that your concern for their interests and welfare goes beyond simply calculating what they can do for you…”
When you have to go out of your way for them… that’s loyalty.
“The ego gets in the way of your eyes and ears.” - John Wooden
Look and listen. We’ve heard it before: You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.
“A strong leader accepts blame and gives the credit. A weak leader gives blame and accepts the credit.” - John Wooden
Extreme ownership. Ask yourself: How can I get better?
“I believed and taught that a steam lacking self-control will get outplayed and, usually, outscored.” - John Wooden
Challenge yourself to harness your self-control. One thing John Wooden DID NOT do was swear, and he didn’t allow his players to swear either because he wanted them to develop self-control. Self-control develops consistency.
“All we’ve worked so hard to accomplish on the court today can be torn down quickly, in a matter of minutes, if you make the wrong choices between now and our next practice.” - John Wooden
What you are doing between practices and games matters JUST AS MUCH as what you do during the game. Journal, eat, move, meditate, sleep - it’s these 5 things that help you show up at your best every day on the court.
“…a player who is more concerned with his or her own statistics rather than those of the team is a player I welcome on the opponent’s side of the court. The presence of such an individual weakens the team and makes it vulnerable during competition to a disciplined group filled with Team Spirit.” - John Wooden
What’s one thing you can do today to become more of a team player? It’s that thing that will hold the team together and make it invulnerable.
“Never life; never cheat; never steal. Don’t whine; don’t complain; don’t make excuses.” - John Wooden
nuf said
“The aim is not to make new friends but to do what is best for the team without carelessly damaging its members in the process.” - John Wooden
You’re job is to do your best at the end of the day for yourself, your team, and your organization.
“There’s a quicker way to gain the information experience provides, namely, ask somebody who already has it.” - John Wooden
Wisdom = Gathered Information. Want more? Ask questions.
“Control emotion or emotion will control you.” - John Wooden
I’ll follow this one with another quote by the late, great, Dr. Ken Ravizza, “What you are aware of, you can control. What you are unaware of, controls you.”
“Each member of the team is there for a reason, a reason that in some way contributes to the team’s success. If not, why on Earth are they on your team in the first place?” - John Wooden
Find out why you’re on the team. Find your reason for being there. If you need help finding it, ask around.
“There are no big things, only a logical accumulation of little things done at a very high standard of performance.” - John Wooden
How you do anything is how you do everything.
“Carelessness, like sloppiness, is not a characteristic seen in successful organizations.” - John Wooden
Need I repeat myself? How you do anything is how you do everything.
“Being late showed disrespect for me, disrespect for the members of our team, and perhaps worst of all, disrespect for time itself.” - John Wooden
BE ON TIME
“The praise and criticism I wanted to have meaning and positive impact was that which came from me and my assistant coaches.” - John Wooden
Know who matters. Write down your top five for those who care about you as a person and those who care about you in your career. Those are who matters.
“…mental readiness: “Be ready and your chance may come. If you’re not read, it may not come again.” - Doug McIntosh
In any game, there is always one or two plays that define it. In the moment though, you never know which play it will be, that’s why you have to be ready for each moment, because you never know which one will define you.
Stop saying “no” and start asking “how?”
When you assume that each moment is an opportunity for improvement, you will meet your potential.
“The surest way not to win 94 games in a row )or even two games in a row) is to start thinking about it - to be looking up at the scoreboard and out into the future.” - John Wooden
Be present and do your best in every moment.
Coaching Practices
“How did he do it? how did he set all those records? Here is the answer: Coach Wooden taught good habits. That’s it - that’s the answer.” - Steve Jamison
You want to be a great coach? Teach great habits, and that starts with you! Check out the beginning of this article on one of the greatest Icelandic basketball coaches to ever live and how he changed his own life to get the most out of his athletes.
“Make no mistake: We all want to win the race.” - John Wooden
It’s not about the trophy, but it is about the trophy. It’s not about winning, but it is about winning. It’s not about the outcome, it’s about the process, but by focusing SUPREMELY on the process, you’ll get the outcome you want.
“I rarely, if ever, even uttered the word win…” - John Wooden
How long can you go without saying the word win? Test yourself.
“When it’s over, I want your head up. And there’s only one way your heads can be up - that’s to give it your best out there, everything you have.” - John Wooden
This was basically Wooden’s speech before every game. It’s not about winning. It’s not about getting them hyped up. It’s about getting them to play their best.
“Write down the tasks, initiatives, and actions that each member of your team needed do to perform at his or her peak level.” - John Wooden
“Most of all I attempted to demonstrate in my behavior - on and off the court - those qualities I hold so dear, the values within the Pyramid.” - John Wooden
Go back to #1 on this list. It starts with YOU!
“First and foremost, you are their leader, not their buddy.” - John Wooden
Don’t get it twisted. You are in charge. At the end of the day, the progress of the organization falls upon your shoulders.
“Make your values visible.” - John Wooden
It shouldn’t be hard for someone to figure out who you are as a coach. Put your values on full display in how you talk, how you act, and how you’ve set up your work environment.
“A leader with character attracts talent with the same.” - John Wooden
Again. Be who you want your athletes to be. How do you teach character?
Do the little things. How you do anything is how you do everything.
Be honest about who you are and what you want. Then, do what you have to do to get what you want. Need help figuring that out? Give me a call 847-922-1371
Fall in love with how to get to the goal, not the goal itself.
“Winning was never mentioned by him. For Coach Wooden it was, “Fellas, we’ve got to play at our best. Let’s do that.” That’s a lot different from saying, “Fellas, we’ve got to win.” A lot different.” - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
It’s about doing your best, not winning. Winning is a by-product of doing your best. Let me rephrase… doing your best gives you the best CHANCE at winning.
“By the second week of practice at UCLA I was just totally hooked on how he did things - the progression of skills he had us work on and then putting it all together as a team.” - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
SYSTEMS SYSTEMS SYSTEMS. What’s your system for optimizing potential?
“Approval is a great motivator. Use the pat on the back”, especially after severe criticism.” - John Wooden
Gottman’s Principle says that for every 1 critique, you should have 5 affirmations. Approval is strong, but only as strong as it is repetitive.
“…team members wouldn’t be treated the same or alike; rather, each one would receive the treatment they earned or deserved.” - John Wooden
You can’t treat all your players the same because they’re all differently people. If there’s one thing you learn when paying attention to the greatest coaches of all time, it’s that they’re high on individuality. Treat every player as their own case-study.
“I didn’t place a wall between my professional and personal life, and at appropriate times I invited players and coaches to our home.” - John Wooden
The more your athletes can see you as a real person, the more you’ll connect with them. The more you connect with them, the more they’ll want to compete for you.
“I pushed harder and talked louder. Harder and louder were my teaching techniques. When that didn’t work, I started complaining to others about the players’ problems, lack of progress, and inability to learn what I was teaching.” - John Wooden
Wooden talks here about how when he first started coaching, he didn’t have any techniques for teaching, so he told them what to do and when they didn’t do it properly, he said it louder. During this time, he also had his worst record of all-time.
“Laws of learning: explanation, demonstration, imitation, correction when necessary, then repetition.” - John Wooden
EDIP - explain, demonstrating, imitate, practice, practice, practice, practice.
“Acknowledging top producers does not always have to be done publicly. It is often more effective for a leader to praise their outstanding performance when others are not around. It gives the “superstar” deserved recognition without creating envy or resentment. Conversely, praise for those in lesser roles is often maximized by doing it in a more public manner.” - John Wooden
I had a friend coaching a basketball team and one of his players quit. Although this player was good, he wasn’t receiving the playing time that he wanted because of the talent ahead of him. Him quitting was a big loss to the team because he was there 9th or 10th man for 5-on-5 practices. When I asked the coach if this player felt wanted, the coach said he didn’t talk to the player much because he wasn’t that good. Result… the whole team suffers because this one player wasn’t publicly criticized enough.
“Sometimes during practice he would have the guards switch positions with the forwards - have us do the other guy’s job.” - Gail Goodrich
Switch it up. Have the players play differently positions so that they can learn the game better.
“…my private notebook.” - John Wooden
Wooden had a personal and private journal that he would jot notes and ideas down in as well as reflect on that day’s practice.
“Most often, however, a leader resorts to punishment because he lacks an understanding of its limitations as well as the skills necessary to create motivation based on pride rather than fear.” - John Wooden
I’ll follow this one up with one of Wooden’s antidotes: In fact, simply withholding a properly selected carrot can become a most forceful punishment and powerful motivator. Its denial creates desire; the carrot becomes a stick.
Quotes
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” - John Wooden
“…when you give your total effort - everything you have - the score can never make you a loser. And when you do less, it can’t somehow magically turn you into a winner.” - John Wooden
“I want a hustling, fighting team that never had time to crab or complain to anyone about anything.” - John Wooden
“There is choice you have to make, in everything you do. So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.” - Anon
“The start of every team is the team.” - John Wooden
“Enjoy the thrill of a tough battle.” - John Wooden
“Aristotle said: ‘We are what we repeatedly do.’ He was referring to character - the values and habits of our daily behavior that reveal who and what we are.” - John Wooden
POEM: No written word or spoken plea, can teach your team what they should be, nor all the books on all the shelves, It’s what the leader is himself.
“When you start having all of the right answers, you will stop asking all the right questions.” - John Wooden
“Intensity makes you stronger. Emotionalism makes you weaker.” - John Wooden
“Laziness is a euphemism for sloppiness.” - John Wooden
“If your word is nothing, you’re not much better.” - John Wooden’s dad
“Communication is essential in sports. Are you a good communicator?” - John Wooden
“A leader truly dedicated to the team’s welfare doesn’t make himself irreplaceable.” - John Wooden
“Apply what not to do as rigorously as what to do.” - John Wooden
“‘Does anybody here remember who was the runner-up in last year’s national championship?’ Nobody raised his hand. That’s as close as he ever got to a pep talk.” - Gail Goodrich
