Page 80 - How to Create a Winning Organization

Wooden on Leadership
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$50 a game—but it was going to save me a lot of travel, which
meant I could spend more time with Nellie and our youngsters,
Nancy Anne and Jim.
Early in the season we were scheduled to play in Cleveland, and
at the last minute I decided to drive there with a teammate who
needed a ride. Unfortunately, we got caught in a blizzard along the
way and were slowed down to about 10 miles an hour on a narrow
highway caked with ice and snow. After a few hours of torturous
driving I stopped at a filling station to call our team owner in
Cleveland to explain our predicament and let him know that we
might be late for the game. He said, “I hope you have better luck
than those other two folks who tried to drive through this storm.”
I asked, “What happened to them?” The owner replied, “They’re
in the morgue.”
My friend and I pressed on anyway and got to the auditorium
at halftime with our team trailing by several points. We both suited
up quickly, and when the game resumed I was on the court, played
well, and helped our team come out on top.
Afterward, I showered and went in to collect my pay from the
owner, who, thanks to the victory, was wearing a big smile on his
face. As he congratulated me on my performance—“Nice going,
Johnny. We needed you in the game to win.”—he handed me an
envelope with my pay in it. As he continued talking, I opened it
and saw that it contained $25, half what had been agreed upon.
“Where’s the rest of my pay?” I asked. He looked at me and said,
“Wooden, you missed the entire first half of the game because you
were late getting here. I’m paying you for the half you played—25
bucks.”
Right there he revealed his true colors. My friend and I had
risked our lives driving through that snowstorm for him, and I had
then helped his team secure victory. But, as I learned when he
handed me the money, all this meant very little to him; it meant a
lot to me. His values were not my values.