Page 159 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Little Things Make Big Things Happen
Of course, they became very proficient when it came time to 141
make a free throw. By season’s end his players were perhaps the
finest free throw shooters in America. Unfortunately, they had
trouble winning basketball games. In the process of perfecting free
throws, balance was lost in other important areas: the details of
playing defense, shooting, fast breaks, and so much else. Every-
thing but free throw shooting had suffered.
When balance is lost, an organization grows weaker and is made
vulnerable. This particular coach had pursued perfection of a sin-
gle detail at the expense of most everything else. Details are vitally
important, but so is balance. Like a man walking on ice, balance is
most difficult to regain once it starts to slip away.

THE RIVET AND THE WING
I consider each detail like a rivet on the wing of an airplane. Re-
move one rivet from the wing, and it remains intact; remove
enough of them, however, and the wing falls off.
I didn’t want anything to fall off when it
came to the quality of performance of the “Minor details—like
UCLA Bruins basketball team. Whether in pennies—add up. A good
practice or in a game, I made sure every rel- banker isn’t careless with
evant “rivet” was in place and tightened up. pennies; a good leader isn’t
In my coaching, it started with feet (socks, sloppy about details.”
shoes, and shoestrings), but I addressed
other parts of the anatomy as well. Beards and long hair were for-
bidden, because I knew that during competition they become
soaked with sweat. A player who touches his beard or runs his hand
across his hair will have slippery hands and fingers. Slick fingers
lead to poor ball handling, and poor ball handling leads to
turnovers and other costly errors. Thus, to reduce the chance of a