Page 174 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
156
UCLA was as follows: Be on time. Period. Players—even assistant
coaches—who broke this rule faced consequences.
Being late showed disrespect for me, disrespect for the members
of our team, and perhaps worst of all, disrespect for time itself. I
wouldn’t allow a casual attitude about this most valuable com-
modity. One of the ways I could signal my reverence for it was to
insist on punctuality and give no quarter when someone violated
this simple directive. It was a rule I would not allow anyone under
my leadership to trifle with.
Of course, I understood that each coach in the country had the
same amount of time to teach his team how to win. In some ways
it was like the 100-yard dash—each runner has exactly the same
distance to cover; each step is of great consequence, and one mis-
step can cost you everything.
As a leader, it is important to acknowledge that you and your ri-
vals are essentially the same in this regard. Therefore, the contest
comes down to who uses their allotted time to best advantage—
who has the fewest missteps when it comes to building productiv-
ity into each moment of time.

Is it you? Or is it the leader of one of your competitors? Even if
you work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, your competition can
do the same. Thus, what happens during that time—how effec-
tively it is used—becomes a determining factor in who prevails in
the contest.