Page 118 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
100
IT’S WHAT YOU LEARN AFTER YOU KNOW
IT ALL THAT COUNTS
I was fortunate to be taught basketball by true masters of the game:
Coach Piggy Lambert at Purdue and Coach Curtis at Martinsville
High School. Without realizing it, I accumulated a body of knowl-
edge that was comprehensive—perhaps equivalent to earning a
doctorate in the skills of playing basketball.
When I began coaching, even though my skills as a teacher were
lacking, I truly understood the game’s physical mechanics and
more. Regardless of the profession, a leader who lacks full knowl-
edge will soon be exposed. It’s difficult to get people to follow you
if you don’t know what you’re doing. While I was hardly a good
teacher at the onset, there was no question that I knew plenty
about playing basketball.
I owed my knowledge to the great mentors I had along the way.
I was lucky to have found them in basketball—men who were
ahead of their time and loved teaching the game. Mentors are avail-
able at all stages of your leadership life—early, middle, and late.
Seek them out and listen; absorb their knowledge and use it.
Of course, knowledge is never static or complete. A leader who
is through learning is through. You must never become satisfied
with your ability or level of knowledge. Subsequently, after each
season I picked one particular aspect of basketball to study inten-
sively. For example, I might select the fast break and begin com-
piling information from books, newspapers, and magazines. I
would closely examine the way various experts—other coaches—
executed and taught the fast break. I greatly admired the expertise
that Coach Hubert Brown’s teams demonstrated in executing it
against opponents. At Ohio State, Coach Fred Taylor ran a great
sideline fast break—a specialty within a specialty. I called these
coaches and others such as Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp to discuss
whatever topic it was that I had chosen to study. Sometimes it led