Page 147 - How to Create a Winning Organization

It Takes 10 Hands to Score a Basket
typical season our guards had taken just 1 ⁄2 fewer shots per game 129
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than the forwards. This was exactly my goal, balanced scoring,
which meant that no opponent could stop us by defending against
just one player. And the only way to ensure balance in scoring was
to involve everyone in the production process. This occurs when
you are able to get those under your leadership to think “Team
First” rather than “me first.”
An organization that has all members focused first and foremost
on doing what benefits the group is a force to be reckoned with. I
know personally what can happen when everyone truly believes it
takes 10 hands to make a basket. It happened most dramatically
during my sixteenth season as head coach at UCLA.

A KEEN EYE FOR TEAM SPIRIT
In 1964, for the first time ever, UCLA advanced to the finals of the
NCAA national basketball tournament. Despite the fact that we
were undefeated going into the championship game, most critics
discounted our chances and predicted we would lose. Duke was
taller and had great talent, but the Bruins had a significant asset. A
visiting foreign coach who had been analyzing the teams for sev-
eral weeks recognized it.
On the morning of the championship game that coach, Alek-
sandar Nikolic from Yugoslavia, boldly announced to reporters that
UCLA would beat Duke. “Why?” the journalists asked with great
surprise. Coach Nikolic held up his right hand with five fingers
outstretched. Then he curled them into a tight fist: “UCLA is
team! UCLA is team!” he announced confidently.
The UCLA players that faced Duke in the finals later that night
were a team—a real team, a group of individuals who understood it
takes 10 hands to score a basket. Because of it, UCLA surprised the
experts and won its first-ever national championship in basketball.