Leadership John Wooden: The Power of The Fundamentals!

Basket Coach John Wooden was born in 1910 in Indiana. After years of coaching, He led the Bruins of UCLA to 10 victories in 12 years in the NCAA, a record in College basketball victory, and —arguably the most successful coaching and recruiting project in college basketball history.

This was not an overnight success. As Coach Wooden said, “It takes time to create excellence. If it could be done quickly, more people would have done it.”.

Wooden arrived at UCLA in 1948. He inherited a little-known program that was not famous . He left it in 1975 as a national powerhouse  with a 620–147 overall record.

Author Cameron C. Taylor mentioned “The power of the Fundamentals” as an attribute of great achiever. And he said Coach Wooden focused and on teaching and practicing the fundamentals”..

Wooden wrote, “i believed in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might commonly be overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. they are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business and life. They are the difference between champions and near champions… There are little details in everything you do, and if you get away from the little details, you’re not teaching the thing as a whole. for it is in the little things, which taken together, make the whole. Little things make the big things happen. In fact there are no big things, only an accumulation of little things things, done at a very high standard of performance.”.

Wooden died in 2010. He left a Seven Point Creed, given to him by his father Joshua upon his graduation from grammar school:

1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.

I just watched this amazing, inspirational recording he left sharing his philosophical building blocks for winning at basketball and at life.

With profound simplicity, Coach Wooden redefines success and urges us all to pursue the best in ourselves. In this inspiring talk he shares the advice he gave his players at UCLA, quotes poetry and remembers his father’s wisdom.

God bless,

Roosevelt