Page 133 - How to Create a Winning Organization

ON WOODEN Emotion Is Your Enemy 115
Fred Slaughter: UCLA Varsity, 1962–1964;
three national championships

A COOL LEADER PREVENTS OVERHEATING
I think there were four or five games in my career at UCLA
when we started out behind something like 18–2—just get-
ting killed. I’d look over at Coach Wooden, and there he’d sit
on the bench with his program rolled up in his hand—totally
unaffected, almost like we were ahead. And I’d think to my-
self, “Hey, if he’s not worried why should I be worried? Let’s
just do what the guy told us to do.”
And you know what? We won all those games except one,
and even that was close. It’s the doggonest experience to see
that. He was cool when it counted; his confidence and
strength became ours. In my three years on the UCLA varsity
team I never once saw him rattled.
Coach Wooden dealt in the positive. He would not spend
time on the negative—he was always focusing on moving
forward with what we had to learn to make us better.
He could sense when we might be thinking negatively, get-
ting down on ourselves. Then he’d come in all positive: “This
is what you guys are supposed to do. Follow this and we’ll be
fine.” No browbeating or yelling. And after a while we’d look
back and, doggone, we were fine. Coach Wooden had his sys-
tem, and he believed in it, and he taught us to believe in it.
He’d keep telling us, “Focus on what I’m teaching. Don’t
focus on the score. Just do what you’re supposed to do and
things will work out fine. Just play as a team and we’ll be
fine.” He was always supportive, even when he was correct-
ing something wrong.