Ki Inspiring Thoughts

Last week the world lost one of the most honorable, inspirational leaders of our time, Coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden was arguably one of the greatest coaches who ever lived. Many of his coaching records will probably never be surpassed. His teams at UCLA won ten collegiate basketball national championships in twelve years. He won seven national championships in a row and during that time sustained an 88 game winning streak. He coached his team to four perfect, undefeated seasons and in his entire career the teams he coached had only one season that produced a losing record. However, what is more remarkable than any of these amazing facts regarding his career as a coach is the legacy that he leaves us as a coach, teacher, mentor and inspirational leader. As I read his most recent book, The Essential Wooden, I was left inspired by the life lessons that he taught his players by the way he lead and the way he lived his live. As an example, during his career he was charged with only two technical fouls (and one of them was a mistake by the official). In this day and age we are surrounded by coaches, parents and individuals who value winning at any cost, even if it means cheating. Coach Wooden was not that type of leader. He taught his players and inspires all of us to understand that in his words, "Success, as measured by each one of us individually, is the peace of mind derived from making the absolute and complete effort to do the best of which you are capable. The quality of your effort to realize your potential counts first and foremost." Coach Wooden valued winning and success as much as any coach but his loyalty to teaching character and instilling within his players a set of values was far more important. His success as a coach was directly related to his belief system and the manner in which he lead his teams. He authored, taught and lived according to his pyramid to success, which he strongly believed would result in what he referred to as competitive greatness. I am comforted and humbled to discover that Coach Wooden taught his players that the most important aspect of competing was not the result of winning or losing but instead was the quality of the effort. Growing up my father attended almost every game that my brother and I ever played. He was certainly my greatest fan and I miss him dearly. After every contest my dad would challenge me to evaluate my play. We would sit and talk about my shining moments as well as my mistakes. I always left these interactions with the understanding that my dad loved and cared about me very much and that if I had performed my very best, no matter what the result, he was proud of me and I should be proud of myself. The concepts that he instilled within me during these interactions are certainly the reason for most of the successes in my life and for my personal philosophy by which I live which is KAIZEN or continuous improvement. My dad and Coach Wooden taught those that they mentored to refrain from comparing ourselves to each other but instead to gauge our success based upon our personal effort and the personal improvements we should all celebrate each and every day.

Coach Wooden coached many highly successful players including Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton. However, his success was not built upon strong recruiting but instead upon team building. Five of his national championships were achieved with teams that did not possess star players like Jabbar and Walton. Although Coach Wooden was not a martial artist he taught his players and those he mentored many important life lessons which we attempt to instill within our students at The Center for Humane Living.

These include the following life lessons: