Page 156 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
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appearance of their teammates. New practice uniforms, good
shoes, jerseys tucked in—these things make a difference.
From the minute a UCLA Bruin put on a UCLA uniform—
even a practice uniform—I wanted him to recognize that he was
now part of something special, an organization, a team, a group
that did things differently. And it did things the right way all the
time, starting from the ground up.
For much the same reason, I wanted the players to look “pro-
fessional” when we traveled as a group—shirt and tie, coat, and
slacks. Not only were they representing the university, but their
wearing that attire also signaled to the players themselves that being
a Bruin was something special and that they should conduct them-
selves accordingly.

NOT A PERFECTIONIST
Nevertheless, while I strove for perfection, “‘perfectionist” is not
the description I would choose for myself. Perfection, as I under-
stand it, is not attainable by mortal man. Striving for it, however,
is very attainable. And I strove for it ceaselessly.
I don’t think it’s being a perfectionist to identify those things that
would improve team performance. If something occurred to me
that might help us, I implemented it. It was as simple as that—
common sense. Do it enough times in enough ways, and good
things will happen.

For example, I stopped providing bits of chocolate to players
during halftime because I determined that it left phlegm in their