John Wooden's Leadership

John Wooden was a leader who influenced others through his teachings, emphasizing not only winning, but also the principles of integrity and character. Wooden was a basketball player, but most well known as a coach, winning an unprecedented 10 NCAA championships and one of the greatest winning records of all time. He coached players who became some of the greatest basketball players of our time, including Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton.
Wooden achieved his impressive winning record in large part due to his style of teaching. He was a great role model and inspirational leader that truly engrained principles in his players that lasted a lifetime. He preferred to emphasize practice and hard work rather than exploit natural talent. He believed in doing what you are driven to do regardless of financial gain or notoriety. He believed that everything else, including accolades naturally follows.
One of my favorite stories about Wooden’s coaching methods relates to a recruiting preseason situation where a player had immense natural ability, but UCLA denied the player a scholarship on the recommendation of Wooden who identified a character flaw in the player during the
I have tried to emulate many of his qualities in running my own business, in my personal life, and especially in choosing members for teams. Even knowing Wooden’s story, I have made several mistakes that he learned to avoid. I have learned from my own mistakes, but in making them, I now better relate to the difficulties Wooden faced and recognize how remarkable his efforts were in overcoming the many obstacles he encountered during his lifetime. I revisit his story to remind myself of the importance of considering the many dimensions of people in both professional and personal relationships. Above all, I have taken his mantra of sacrificing all before character to