The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership »

John Wooden (1910-2010), guided the UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA basketball championships over a 12-year period, including four perfect seasons and an 88-game winning streak. He was named ESPN’s “Greatest Coach of the 20th Century” and voted “#1 Coach of All Time” by The Sporting News. Sports Illustrated said it best when they said: “There’s never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach.” In 2003 John Wooden was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Steve Jamison is America's foremost author and authority on the life and philosophy of John Wooden. Mr. Jamison is a consultant to the UCLA Anderson Scool of Business’ John Wooden Global Leadership Program. He has collaborated with Coach Wooden on an award-winning PBS presentation as well as several books, including the classic book on teaching and mentoring, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections.

“A sure winner! The Essential Wooden presents the basics of leadership

as taught by one of America's great leaders, John Wooden. His observations

and conclusions about success and competitive greatness are as

brilliant as gems—and just as valuable.”

—KEN BLANCHARD, coauthor of The One Minute Manager®

and Leading at a Higher Level

“The Essential Wooden is vintage Coach Wooden and a great book for

all managers who want to become more effective. Coach Wooden's values

and methods will lead to lasting, positive results.”

—JEFF HENLEY, Chairman of the Board, Oracle Corporation

“It has been my privilege to have several conversations with John

Wooden. Every time I learn and grow from that experience. It is now your

turn to receive nuggets of wisdom from this wonderful teacher. Each

page of The Essential Wooden will benefit you and your organization.”

—JOHN C. MAXWELL, author, speaker, and founder

INJOY Stewardship Services and EQUIP

“A wonderful exposition of commonsense leadership from an uncommon

leader—John Wooden. His legendary achievements stem from his

'old-fashioned' values. In The Essential Wooden he reveals how his character

and skills were honed and how they apply in the 21st century.

Required reading for anyone who aspires to being a great leader.”

—STEPHEN R. COVEY, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective

People and The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness

"There is nothing fancy in what I teach about team building—nothing that requires a special gift, privilege, or access to power. Rather, it requires dedication to certain principles and concepts, which I include in this book."

—John Wooden

The Essential Wooden is the ultimate collection of Wooden's opinions and observations on achieving exceptional leadership in any organization, with 200 invaluable lessons for inspiring championship performance.

Coach Wooden offers his hard-won wisdom on building an organization that performs at its full potential under pressure, from preparing and training the team to instilling personal drive and dedication. He takes his famous Pyramid of Success to the next level, filling the entire book with his straight-shooting personality and keen insight on human nature.

Wooden shares rarely seen preseason letters to his players, revealing how he instilled productive attitudes and winning ways. He also includes previously unpublished analyses from former players and managers, including Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

From Wooden's earliest days as a leader through his legendary UCLA dynasty, The Essential Wooden distills a lifetime of learning into the leadership playbook for the twenty-first century.

John Wooden (1910-2010), guided the UCLA Bruins to ten NCAA basketball championships over a 12-year period, including four perfect seasons and an 88-game winning streak. He was named ESPN’s “Greatest Coach of the 20th Century” and voted “#1 Coach of All Time” by The Sporting News. Sports Illustrated said it best when they said: “There’s never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach.” In 2003 John Wooden was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Steve Jamison is America's foremost author and authority on the life and philosophy of John Wooden. Mr. Jamison is a consultant to the UCLA Anderson Scool of Business’ John Wooden Global Leadership Program. He has collaborated with Coach Wooden on an award-winning PBS presentation as well as several books, including the classic book on teaching and mentoring, Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections.

Preface     ix
Prologue     xv
Leadership, Values, Victory, and Success     1
Preparation and Training of a Team     53
Maintaining the Competitive Edge     101
Notes to Myself     135
Epilogue     189