Page 101 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Use the Most Powerful Four-Letter Word
the organization to resist and even be angered by your judgment 83
and decisions. That’s just one of the many things that makes lead-
ership, at times, a solitary profession. You are the person charged
with making the final, tough choices, while everybody else has the
option of sitting on the sidelines, complaining about it.
Hard feelings occur even within the best of families. But a strong
family survives when love is present. A team—your organization—
is a family. Love must be the glue that holds it together, and love
must start with the leader.
When Andy called after 27 years I was happy to hear from
him—just like a father welcoming the return of a son who’s been
gone a long time. When I picked up my telephone, a voice on the
other end said, “Coach Wooden, this is Andy Hill. Remember
me?” I said, “Andy, where have you been?”

NOBODY CARES HOW MUCH YOU KNOW
(UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE)
Love may not conquer all, but it conquers much, and a leader who
has it in his heart is much better equipped to handle the natural
challenges, differences, and difficulties created by those in your
organization.
Could you be a great parent without love? Probably not. And
the same answer is true in leading your organization. The players
on our UCLA teams, and those I coached at Indiana State Teach-
ers College, South Bend Central, and Dayton High School—
hundreds of individuals over the decades—became true members
of my extended family.
While I never violated a recruiting rule while I was coaching, I
did ignore a few rules after players arrived at UCLA, but only in
extending a kindness—love and concern—to those under my lead-
ership. At UCLA during holidays such as Thanksgiving or Christ-