It's amazing how much can be accomplished with teamwork if no one wonders who gets the credit. This idea was a central theme in Coach John Wooden's leadership and coaching style.
The coach was adamant that you had to have great talent to win, but he was also quick to point out that this alone does not guarantee you victory. Talent had to work together.
A selfless team starts with a leader who gives credit when things are going well and accepts blame when they don't.
Related: True Success Begins Where Selfishness Ends
In his book with Don Yeager, A Game Plan for Life:The Power of Mentorship , Coach explains this approach:
"As my dad reminded me more than once," great leaders give credit to others and accept blame themselves. “If any of my assistant coaches made a suggestion that we decided to implement, I would be sure to commend him for his foresight in the press conference afterwards. But if anyone made a suggestion that wasn't as successful, I accepted the blame myself rather than laying it on the assistant. After all, as head coach, I had decided to move on. I have found this to be the most effective way for my assistant coaches to feel involved in the game, willing to make suggestions and ready to help improve the team. It also worked with my players. I would never publicly criticize a player for poor performance. Even in times of extreme frustration, I would check myself because it didn't feel right – because it didn't feel like something my dad would have done. And I'm proud to say that to my knowledge, I've never slipped up in that regard. »
In the book Wooden Essentials , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar described his former coach this way:
“We understood that if we lived up to the standard he set in training, we would probably win. Otherwise, if we lost, he took the blame and tried to fix it the next training session. He was very focused, very intense. Always, always with his emotions in check. ”
And Coach Wooden said this about Kareem:
“Lewis Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) thought the team came first. I said to him, "Lewis, I can design a system that will make you the leading scorer in college basketball history. Lewis said, "I wouldn't want that, Coach." (Of course, I knew he would say that, or I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place.) A great player who isn't a team player isn't a great player. Lewis Alcindor was a great team player. Why? Because his first priority was the success of the team, even at the expense of his own statistics. ”
It seems that it was very difficult to convince either of these men.
Together with the coaching staff, coaches, managers and great teammates, they have achieved incredible things:three consecutive national championships.
Related: The qualities of a humble leader
