John Wooden

Is He Still Relevant Today?

By David F. Zirkle, PhD

Whether you’re a fervent basketball fan or not, most everyone recognizes the name John Wooden. In fact, his name has become synonymous with success. Many sports enthusiasts believe that several of the records set by John Wooden’s UCLA basketball teams are essentially “unbreakable.”

At the age of 98, John Wooden still gives 20 to 30 motivational speeches a year outlining his “pyramid of success” which he developed more than 70 years ago. John Wooden initially developed the now famous pyramid of success in the late 1930s while teaching high school English. He recognized that the traditional “A-B-C-D-F” grading system did not adequately motivate students to achieve their full potential. In response, Wooden developed the pyramid, which focused much more on peace of mind than external measures of success.

While the pyramid has evolved somewhat over the years, the basic building blocks have remained essentially unchanged (for more details see the official John Wooden website at www.coachwooden.com and one of his many books Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success: Building Blocks for a Better Life).

So, after all these years, is the pyramid of success still relevant in today’s fast-paced and highly competitive environment? It seems so since many organizations continue to use the pyramid for everything from leadership development to team building to sales training. At the same time, a good number of business consultants have made careers using the pyramid of success as part of their training programs and services.

While a thorough review of all the pyramid building blocks is beyond the scope of this article, exploring some of the basic components has merit. When John Wooden speaks about the pyramid of success, he tends to focus on those building blocks in the center or what he refers to as the “heart” of the pyramid.

The first block is condition, which extends well beyond physical conditioning to include mental and moral conditioning as well. In fact, Coach Wooden clearly indicates that strong mental and moral conditioning is a prerequisite for good physical conditioning. While long lists of rules are the normal prescription for mental and moral conditioning, Coach Wooden stresses a more common sense approach: practice moderation and balance in everything you do.

The second block is skill. It goes without saying that one needs to know what they’re doing in order to be successful. Interestingly, Coach Wooden stresses two aspects of skill: the ability to do something properly and quickly. He uses the basketball analogy of great shooters not being able to get a shot off and poor shooters who get off plenty of shots. The point is that neither approach leads to success. Another of Coach Wooden’s famous quotes about skill is that as much as he values experience, he “would rather have a lot of skill and less experience than a lot of experience and very little skill.”

The third block is team spirit. John Wooden notes that the original definition for team spirit was “a willingness to sacrifice personal interest or glory for the welfare of all.” However, there was something missing from the definition that disturbed Coach Wooden for a number of years until he changed the word “willingness” to “eagerness.” He did this to reflect the profound difference between a mere willingness and eagerness to sacrifice for the good of the team. In fact, much of Coach Wooden’s basketball success has been attributed to his ability to convince some of the best players in the game to sacrifice their individual statistics and play within a team framework.

While followers of John Wooden clearly acknowledge the professional development aspects of the pyramid of success, many believe the greatest value is the self-evaluation and reflection the pyramid requires for one to be successful. As Coach Wooden points out, the pyramid of success was not developed with basketball in mind, but rather as a tool to achieve success in our personal lives. It just so happens that John Wooden was able to apply the pyramid’s principles to become one of the most successful basketball coaches of all time.

Other Articles in the September 2009 Issue of The Market Tenor

Getting Your Physician Strategy Off to a Healthy Start GO

Creating a United Front for the External Stakeholder GO

It Takes a Team To Market a Practice GO

The Silver Bullet in Physician Relations Tracking – Part One: Creating the Right Team GO