Coach John Wooden on Leadership
Lessons learned from one of history’s greatest coaches
I had the great pleasure of spending time with Coach Wooden and presenting him with a leadership award. He spent the day with our College’s student athletes and in the evening, he spoke about his well-known “Pyramid of Success,” a grouping of 25 behaviors that together create character. It is best known as a path for personal or athletic success, but it is also a blueprint for great leadership.
Coach Wooden was impressed with our student athletes (we are NCAA Division III, which means no athletic scholarships). He told me, “I think if I had it to do all over again, I would coach Division III.” I was stunned. Here was the greatest coach in the history of NCAA Division I sports, saying that he would give away all of the glory and attention for the “love of the game.”
Lesson One for Leaders: Coach Wooden displayed his sincerity and his humility. Coaching was not about him, but about the student athletes and the success of their shared endeavor. The very best leaders are confident but display great humility. At dinner, Coach Wooden engaged all of the students at the table. He spoke directly to each and answered questions clearly and honestly.
Lessons Two and Three for Leaders: Be transparent and present your true self to others. Like John Wooden, leaders should be both teachers and positive role models.
Coach Wooden made himself accessible to our student-athletes — he wanted that to be a central part of his visit. Coach was told that one of our women’s teams was away at the national playoffs, and that they were very disappointed to miss his visit to campus. When the team returned, he personally invited them to his home for lunch.
Lesson Four for Leaders: Focus on your people. Make leadership about the followers, not about the leader.
For Development: It is important to have positive leadership role models — leaders who you can try to emulate in order to improve your own leadership. Coach John Wooden was that for me. I will always cherish the brief time that I spent with him and remember his leadership lessons.
