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Coach Wooden's Leadership Game Plan for Success: 12 Lessons for Extraordinary Performance and Personal Excellence
“Each member of your team has the potential for personal greatness; the leader’s job is to help them achieve it.”
―JOHN WOODEN Coach Wooden’s Leadership Game Plan for Success presents a unique opportunity to study under the man ESPN hails as “the greatest coach of the 20th century.” Practicing character-based leadership before the term was invented, John Wooden consistently led his legendary teams to victory and has since taught countless business leaders his fundamentals for achieving and sustaining success. Now, using this hands-on book based on the acclaimed John Wooden Leadership Course©, you can “interact” with Coach to learn and apply his philosophy of world-class leadership. This unique tutorial introduces you to his core fundamentals of success as a leader and reinforces them with examples, exercises, quizzes, and quotations. You’ll learn how to
―JOHN WOODEN Coach Wooden’s Leadership Game Plan for Success presents a unique opportunity to study under the man ESPN hails as “the greatest coach of the 20th century.” Practicing character-based leadership before the term was invented, John Wooden consistently led his legendary teams to victory and has since taught countless business leaders his fundamentals for achieving and sustaining success. Now, using this hands-on book based on the acclaimed John Wooden Leadership Course©, you can “interact” with Coach to learn and apply his philosophy of world-class leadership. This unique tutorial introduces you to his core fundamentals of success as a leader and reinforces them with examples, exercises, quizzes, and quotations. You’ll learn how to
273 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
John Wooden
78 books373 followersJohn Robert Wooden is a retired American basketball coach. He is a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (class of 1961) and as a coach (class of 1973). He was the first person ever enshrined in both categories; only Lenny Wilkens and Bill Sharman have since been so honored. His 10 NCAA National Championships in a 12 year period while at UCLA are unmatched by any other college basketball coach.
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August 2, 2011John Maxwell, Michael Josephson & others have raved about John Wooden's leadership skills. This book is a quick read and worth your time. It's a little light on content compared to some of the other leadership books I've read, which is why I only gave it 3 1/2 stars. The book describes how John Wooden's father and his basketball coaches influenced him and how Wooden's leadership style evolved over his coaching career. The book describes John Wooden's Pyramid of Success, his leadership lessons and other observations on leadership. Some of John Wooden's former players & coaches share their stories about how John Wooden exemplified various leadership traits. After reading this book you'll be impressed w/ John Wooden's leadership, not only as a coach, but more importantly outside of basketball.
September 17, 2026
The essence of John Wooden
John Wooden is a legendary college basketball coach from UCLA. He is famous for instilling life lessons into his players' head, lessons that have since spillover to other walks of life.
Coach Wooden's core philosophy centers on a redefinition of success, focusing on what they can control: personal character, effort, and preparation instead of external accolades. He prioritized character and discipline above all else, including above reputation and comparing ourselves with others. He never even talked about winning with his players, instead he taught them how to maximize their potential.
This create an interesting reality, where you could lose a game but still be a "success" if you gave 100% of your effort. And by contrast, you could win a game but still be a failure if you underperform your own potential capabilities.
And no matter how talented a player is, coach Wooden still enforce 3 non-negotiable rules to maintain unity in the team: 1. Never be late (respect other people's time) 2. No profanity (practice emotional self control) 3. Never criticize a teammate (that's the coach's job, players on the other hand must support each other).
As you may have guessed, coach Wooden's philosophy became a mighty formula to success: In the span of 12 years (1964-1975) he won 10 NCAA national championships, while setting an all-time record for 88 consecutive victories. His UCLA teams also won 38 straight playoff games (a record) and played in the Final Four 12 times during a 14-year period (also a record).
And along the way, Coach Wooden produced numerous professional basketball players, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Jamaal Wilkes, Willie Naulls, Walt Hazzard, Marques Johnson, and Sidney Wicks. Coach Wooden also took an immense pride for producing successful students that did not go on to play professional basketball, but became successful in their own fields. Students such as Mike Warren (critically acclaimed actor), Dr. Ralph Drollinger (government and ministry leader), Raymond Lewis (corporate executive and philanthropist), Andy Hill (Emmy-winning producer and author), and Dr. George Stanich (Olympic Medalist and educator), among others.
This particular book was first published in 2009, and it consists of a mix of biography, the analysis of his core principles, his many famous sayings (and their elaborations), and testimonies from his former players. It is written in an easy to digest format, where Coach Wooden's abundant wisdom are broken down and organized into neat little short chapters, complete with the backstories of how and when and where Coach Wooden first learned about the lessons.
It is such a compact book for everything there is about John Wooden's philosophy. Deep enough that it can inspire us, but light enough to be read in one single sitting.
John Wooden is a legendary college basketball coach from UCLA. He is famous for instilling life lessons into his players' head, lessons that have since spillover to other walks of life.
Coach Wooden's core philosophy centers on a redefinition of success, focusing on what they can control: personal character, effort, and preparation instead of external accolades. He prioritized character and discipline above all else, including above reputation and comparing ourselves with others. He never even talked about winning with his players, instead he taught them how to maximize their potential.
This create an interesting reality, where you could lose a game but still be a "success" if you gave 100% of your effort. And by contrast, you could win a game but still be a failure if you underperform your own potential capabilities.
And no matter how talented a player is, coach Wooden still enforce 3 non-negotiable rules to maintain unity in the team: 1. Never be late (respect other people's time) 2. No profanity (practice emotional self control) 3. Never criticize a teammate (that's the coach's job, players on the other hand must support each other).
As you may have guessed, coach Wooden's philosophy became a mighty formula to success: In the span of 12 years (1964-1975) he won 10 NCAA national championships, while setting an all-time record for 88 consecutive victories. His UCLA teams also won 38 straight playoff games (a record) and played in the Final Four 12 times during a 14-year period (also a record).
And along the way, Coach Wooden produced numerous professional basketball players, such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Gail Goodrich, Jamaal Wilkes, Willie Naulls, Walt Hazzard, Marques Johnson, and Sidney Wicks. Coach Wooden also took an immense pride for producing successful students that did not go on to play professional basketball, but became successful in their own fields. Students such as Mike Warren (critically acclaimed actor), Dr. Ralph Drollinger (government and ministry leader), Raymond Lewis (corporate executive and philanthropist), Andy Hill (Emmy-winning producer and author), and Dr. George Stanich (Olympic Medalist and educator), among others.
This particular book was first published in 2009, and it consists of a mix of biography, the analysis of his core principles, his many famous sayings (and their elaborations), and testimonies from his former players. It is written in an easy to digest format, where Coach Wooden's abundant wisdom are broken down and organized into neat little short chapters, complete with the backstories of how and when and where Coach Wooden first learned about the lessons.
It is such a compact book for everything there is about John Wooden's philosophy. Deep enough that it can inspire us, but light enough to be read in one single sitting.
September 2, 2019
I read this book for leadership training, and I have to say that there is only one main flaw; the fact that there is so much writing. For example, when one finishes the pyramid of success section, they are greeted with 3 questions; who best examples Industriousness in your life/history, who does it best on your team, and how do you encourage this. After you finish these three questions, you turn the next page to see that you have to do it again with enthusiasm. In total, you have to do this 15 times. I wish that there could be less writing and more in-depth explanations of things. But, overall, I really liked it. It was easy to read, short (yet, again, that caused it to lack depth), and powerful. I think everyone could read this and benefit from it. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
"Have one team, not starters and substitutes. No one feels good being a 'substitute'" (Wooden 122).
Considering how I have been a treated like a sub many times, this really resonates with me. A wonderful read; if one of my two complaints that it isn't long enough, then it means that I enjoyed it that much! :)
"Have one team, not starters and substitutes. No one feels good being a 'substitute'" (Wooden 122).
Considering how I have been a treated like a sub many times, this really resonates with me. A wonderful read; if one of my two complaints that it isn't long enough, then it means that I enjoyed it that much! :)
September 24, 2021
I’m speechless… This is a must…..
it is not a simple history of the great John Wooden, this is a life forever story. You can’t ready this book and thing - nah this isn’t for me… for every single chapter you just got grabbed inside to read more and more, you get excited to implement all that someone challenged you for.
it is not a simple history of the great John Wooden, this is a life forever story. You can’t ready this book and thing - nah this isn’t for me… for every single chapter you just got grabbed inside to read more and more, you get excited to implement all that someone challenged you for.
November 20, 2023
An excellent workbook on leadership and coaching guided by the lessons and learnings of John Wooden. Though predominantly beneficial to the sporting arena, the lessons can be equally applied to business and life.
June 7, 2017
Wow! His teachings stand up to the test of time! Great book for coaches and anyone that works with people!
August 31, 2018
Three books: an overview of Wooden’s philosophy, quote breakdowns and observations by others without theme.
It may have worked as one kind of book...but not three.
It may have worked as one kind of book...but not three.
January 21, 2024
Coach Wooden's philosophy harkens back to the days when character was king. The ultimate team work book. Put away ego, work 100% to be the best you can. Keep an open mind. Quite a few life lessons.
May 1, 2024
You must earn the right to be confident. The kind of confidence that comes from proper preparation
March 15, 2016
I really liked this book. I would recommend it to my friends and family. Even if you are not a big reader this book is still incredible helpful and prepared the reader to some consequences and pro of being a good leader. Being a good leader isn't just about productivity it is about what type of leader has a great heart and intentions. This book taught me many lessons of what a good leader should look like and gave many life scenarios. These life scenarios will stick with me forever and I am very grateful that i had to opportunity to read this book even though I am not that big of a fan of reading.
Overall, I believe that this book gave me many emotions and scenarios that will help me throughout the rest of my life and I believe that this book is very important and should be in every house-hold.
Overall, I believe that this book gave me many emotions and scenarios that will help me throughout the rest of my life and I believe that this book is very important and should be in every house-hold.
February 5, 2014
If you are looking for a leadership book that puts you into action and gets you really thinking, this book is for you. Instead of just theory, the work book style of the content challenges you to journal and answer questions about yourself and your team while helping you put together a plan to execute.
April 14, 2012
A great book teach great lessons. What's more John Wooden has the track record to back up his teachings. Like all books of this category it does have the issue of giving many, many examples of the same principal.
July 5, 2011
My book study for summer staff development. Time to get started before summer is over!
March 11, 2016
I love John Wooden, which makes me love his leadership book!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews