Leadership Lessons From John Wooden

A hero of mine is John Wooden who describes himself simply as a teacher; and who is known by many as the former UCLA College Basketball coach with perhaps the most successful track record in the history of sports.

John Wooden at his 96th Birthday

Some of Wooden’s Records:

• Won 10 NCAA Championships (in 12 years)
• 88 Consecutive victories
• 38 Consecutive NCAA Tournament victories
• 4 Undefeated full seasons
• Won 905 games & Lost 205 (won 81.5% of all games) over 40 years

Teacher Wooden turns 100 this year and I’ve decided to share some of my favorite nuggets of wisdom from him in this series of postings (note: Teacher Wooden died on May 4, 2010, just short of his 100th birthday).

1. Seven Things To Do (from Wooden’s father)
2. Eight Steps To Success
3. 15 Building Blocks (with quotes) From “Pyramids of Success”
4. The Top 10 Searches of “John Wooden” Topics on My Blog

What can Wooden’s lessons do for you?

If you practice these learnings I believe that you will be more successful in business and in life.

I recommend you read any John Wooden book you can get your hands on. I’ve read these so far and can recommend them all:  (and I use them as resources for my series):

• Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success by John Wooden & Jay Carty
• Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden & Steve Jamison
• Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations & Reflections On & Off The Court by John Wooden with Steve Jamison
• Practical Modern Basketball by John R. Wooden