Page 161 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Little Things Make Big Things Happen
whatever pressures and obstacles the competition imposed upon 143
them. An individual grounded in the fundamentals has, I believe,
a much higher likelihood of success when sudden change is forced
upon him.
Before making the change or the adjustments, I wanted each
player to know how to do things the right way. After that, I had
some flexibility when it came to allowing exceptions where results
were, or could be, significantly above the average. For example,
Keith Wilkes shot free throws from behind his head; that is, as he
lined up to shoot, his head was between the basket and the basket-
ball. You could hardly make it any more difficult on yourself un-
less you were blindfolded.

When it came to free throws, I was willing to wait until the
shooters started missing free throws before I taught them how to
shoot correctly. Once they started missing, it was easy to get them
to change. However, Keith never started missing. In fact, during
my 27 years as head coach of the UCLA Bruins, Keith had a stel-
lar single season record for making free throws: 87.2 percent. Dur-
ing that particular season, he had 94 free throw attempts, made 88
of them, and missed only 12. I’ve coached players who missed
more than 12 free throws before the season was two weeks old.
Occasionally, I found it best to let those I coached do it their
own way, when it was productive. In those instances, their own way
worked best and I didn’t change it. This was the case with the un-
orthodox style of Keith Wilkes.
An effective leader allows exceptions to the rule for exceptional
results or when circumstance demands. On those occasions when