Page 154 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
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to ensure that in the course of conducting our business, basketball,
we maintained very lofty standards in the detail department. My
norm was abnormally high.
Many onlookers thought the hundreds of specifics I selected and
refined were laughable, but I wasn’t laughing. I knew very well that
those relevant details, done right, were the foundation for UCLA’s
success. It’s the same for your organization. Little things make all
the difference in the world.

WEAR THE OPPONENT’S JERSEY
When it came to perfecting details I worked “feet first,” from the
ground up. Socks? During our first team meeting I personally

HER PERSPECTIVE IS CORRECT

Mother Teresa once said: “There are no big things. Only little
things done with love.” That sums it up very well. When you
derive pleasure and pride in perfecting seemingly “minor”
details—and teach those you lead to do the same—big things
eventually start falling into place. This is what separates achiev-
ers from the also-rans, the great from the good, the doers from
the dreamers. (Of course, you may have noticed that many ex-
ceptional achievers are both doers and dreamers. It’s a good
combination, so long as you make sure to do those little things
“with love.”)