Page 60 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
42
The media sometimes called it a “fire wagon” style because the
running never ceased. Few teams were playing basketball at the
speed Ward Lambert demanded, and I was his principal speedster.
During the season while other players might go through two or
three pair of tennis shoes, I wore out one pair of Chuck Taylor Con-
verse tennis sneakers almost every week. (That’s part of the reason
why when I became a coach I was so adamant about players putting
on their sweat socks correctly. Some laughed at me for doing this,
but I understood from personal experience the absolute necessity of
taking care of your feet—how folds, creases, and wrinkles could
cause blisters that distract and then diminish performance.)
Coach Lambert’s radical style of fast play had three primary re-
quirements: condition, fundamentals, and unity. I adopted his style
of basketball when I began coaching and kept to it for the 40 sea-
sons that followed.

But I also realized these same three qualities transcended the
game of basketball. Successfully applied, they had the potential to
teach what it takes to achieve success off the court, in life and in
leading any type of organization or team. Their importance is such
that I placed them directly in the middle of my Pyramid of
Success—at the center of the structure.

CONDITION
Physical conditioning, of course, was Coach Lambert’s first goal
because he understood that players had to be strong to withstand
the rigors of his demanding basketball style. However, in choosing