The mission of Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting is to make the world a better place by helping mission-driven organizations thrive.  I do that by assisting my clients with strategic planning, campaign planning, coalition building, fundraising, communications, and other organizational development challenges.

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During March Madness, a colleague recommended two books on leadership by college basketball coaches with relevance to nonprofit organizations.  So I checked out Leading with the Heart by Duke's coach Mike Krzyzewski.  Then, before I could get beyond the first 10 pages, Coach K reminded me why I hate Duke basketball when he blatantly lied about an Oregon player after Oregon's defeat of Duke.

So I didn't read it.  I'm sure it sucked.  

Instead, I read Wooden on Leadership: How to Create Winning Organizations¸ by UCLA's legendary coach John Wooden with co-authorship by Steve Jamison.  (The book came out when Wooden was 95, so I don't begrudge him the co-author).

I'm glad I read it and can definitely recommend it for those looking for leadership ideas, either as self-motivation or to teach others.  With that said, it's a light read that wouldn't be my top choice among leadership-focused books I've reviewed.

Wooden's theory of team leadership centers around a leadership pyramid consisting of 15 building blocks.  The foundation consists of five traits: industriousness, friendship, loyalty, cooperation, and enthusiasm.   The second level consists of self-control, alertness, initiative, and intentness (which probably is better called persistence).  The third level consists of conditioning, skill, and team spirit.  

Wooden doesn't just name his pyramid, he uses a combination of anecdotes from his own life and others to demonstrate the elements of the pyramid and how he used them to build UCLA into a basketball powerhouse.

Here are a handful that stood out to me as particularly interesting for their cross-over lessons for nonprofit organizations: