A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
A compelling look inside the mind and powerful leadership methods of America’s coaching legend, John Wooden
"Team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, determination. . . . Acquire and keep these traits and success should follow."
—Coach John Wooden
John Wooden’s goal in 41 years of coaching never changed; namely, to get maximum effort and peak performance from each of his players in the manner that best served the team. Wooden on Leadership explains step-by-step how he pursued and accomplished this goal. Focusing on Wooden’s 12 Lessons in Leadership and his acclaimed Pyramid of Success, it outlines the mental, emotional, and physical qualities essential to building a winning organization, and shows you how to develop the skill, confidence, and competitive fire to “be at your best when your best is needed”—and teach your organization to do the same.
Praise for Wooden on Leadership:
“What an all-encompassing Pyramid of Success for leadership! Coach Wooden’s moral authority and brilliant definition of success encompass all of life. How I admire his life’s work and concept of what it really means to win!”
—Stephen R. Covey, author, The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People and The 8th Habit: From
“Wooden On Leadership offers valuable lessons no matter what your endeavor. 'Competitive Greatness' is our goal and that of any successful organization. Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is where it all starts.”
—Jim Sinegal, president & CEO, Costco
The legendary coach talks about his life, his players, and his winning philosophies in this bestselling autobiography
John Wooden's dedication and inspiration made him America's "winningest" coach. His beliefs in hard work and preparedness brought the UCLA Bruins an unparalleled 10 NCAA basketball championships. Now in this bestselling autobiography—with a Foreword by Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton—the college basketball legend reflects on his record-breaking career, his life behind the scenes, and how his top players went on to shape and change the NBA.
From the everyday basics to important life lessons ("It's not how tall you are, but how tall you play"), Wooden shares his worldly wisdom on and off the court to offer a personal history of an unforgettable time in college basketball, answering the most-asked questions about his life, his career, and the players who made his teams unbeatable.
"They Call Me Coach is grass-roots Americana, a story bigger than basketball. One of those rare sports books that is must reading for everyone."
—Chicago Tribune
"What Knute Rockne was to football, Connie Mack to baseball, and Wilbur and Orville Wright to flying, John Wooden is to basketball. This book captures the full flavor of the man, the philosophies that work in life, and the philosophies that work on the court. I commend it to people who want to succeed at either—or both."
—Los Angeles Times
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
"I am just a common man who is true to his beliefs."—John Wooden
Evoking days gone by when coaches were respected as much for their off-court performances as for their success on the court, Wooden presents the timeless wisdom of legendary basketball coach John Wooden.
In honest and telling passages about virtually every aspect of life, Coach shares his personal philosophy on family, achievement, success, and excellence. Raised on a small farm in south-central Indiana, he offers lessons and wisdom learned throughout his career at UCLA, and life as a dedicated husband, father, and teacher.
These lessons, along with personal letters from Bill Walton, Denny Crum, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Bob Costas, among others, have made Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and off the Court an inspirational classic.
The Essential Wooden—more leadership lessons from the Wooden playbook
The Essential Wooden is the ultimate collection
of Wooden’s opinions and observations
on achieving exceptional leadership in any
organization, with 200 invaluable lessons for
inspiring championship performance.
Coach Wooden offers his hard-won
wisdom on building an organization that
performs at its full potential under pressure,
from preparing and training the team to
instilling personal drive and dedication. He
takes his famous Pyramid of Success to the
next level, filling the entire book with his
straight-shooting personality and keen insight
on human nature.
Wooden shares rarely seen preseason letters
to his players, revealing how he instilled
productive attitudes and winning ways. He
also includes previously unpublished analyses
from former players and managers, including
Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
From Wooden’s earliest days as a leader
through his legendary UCLA dynasty, The
Essential Wooden distills a lifetime of learning
into the leadership playbook for the twenty-first
century.
“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
camaraderie with those you lead
trends, and changes
arrogance
all that you do
Coach Wooden’s Leadership Game Plan for Success
drives home Mr. Wooden’s trademark 12 Lessons
in Leadership and his famous Pyramid
of Success.
When you base your leadership style and substance
on Coach’s straightforward attitudes,
values, and principles, you’ll lead your team
and business to success the Wooden way.
After eight books, many of them bestsellers, A Game Plan for Life was the one closest to John Wooden's heart: a moving and inspirational guide to the power of mentorship. The first half focuses on the people who helped foster the values that carried Wooden through an incredibly successful and famously principled career, including his father, his college coach, his wife, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. The second half is built around interviews with some of the many people he mentored over the years, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Their testimony takes readers inside the lessons Wooden taught to generations of players, bringing out the very best in them not just as athletes but as human beings. In all, this is an inspiring primer on how to achieve success without sacrificing principles and how to build one of the most productive and rewarding relationships available to any athlete, businessperson, teacher, or parent-that of mentor and protégé.
<p class="null1">Praise for A Game Plan for Life:"My time learning from Coach Wooden-sitting and asking him questions, soaking up his answers-has provided some of the most significant lessons in my life. Any way that you can be mentored by a giant like him, including reading A Game Plan for Life, will provide great lessons for you, too."-Pat Summitt, women's basketball coach, University of Tennessee
"Few coaches have affected their players' lives so fully as John Wooden, so here's a natural question: Who mentored the mentor? Well, John Wooden is glad we asked."-Bob Costas
After eight books, many of them bestsellers, A Game Plan for Life was the one closest to John Wooden's heart: a moving and inspirational guide to the power of mentorship. The first half focuses on the people who helped foster the values that carried Wooden through an incredibly successful and famously principled career, including his father, his college coach, his wife, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. The second half is built around interviews with some of the many people he mentored over the years, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton. Their testimony takes readers inside the lessons Wooden taught to generations of players, bringing out the very best in them not just as athletes but as human beings. In all, this is an inspiring primer on how to achieve success without sacrificing principles and how to build one of the most productive and rewarding relationships available to any athlete, businessperson, teacher, or parent-that of mentor and protégé.
<p class="null1">Praise for A Game Plan for Life:"My time learning from Coach Wooden-sitting and asking him questions, soaking up his answers-has provided some of the most significant lessons in my life. Any way that you can be mentored by a giant like him, including reading A Game Plan for Life, will provide great lessons for you, too."-Pat Summitt, women's basketball coach, University of Tennessee
"Few coaches have affected their players' lives so fully as John Wooden, so here's a natural question: Who mentored the mentor? Well, John Wooden is glad we asked."-Bob Costas
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
For John Wooden's millions of fans—a heartfelt and revealing self-portrait about the people and events that shaped his life
Sports Illustrated declared: "There has never been a finer coach in American sports than John Wooden. Nor a finer man." ESPN selected him as the "Greatest Coach of the 20th Century." From his birth on an Indiana tenant farm, to All-American honors at Purdue, to his historic record-setting UCLA dynasty, John Wooden is a towering figure in 20th-century sports, and his experience and wisdom an American treasure. In My Personal Best, Coach Wooden tells how he did it and the lessons he learned on his remarkable journey.
Pairing never-before-seen photos from Coach Wooden's private collection with his personal stories and affirmations, this book encompasses the dramatic arc of Wooden's larger-than-life achievements and experiences. As he did in his perpetual bestseller Wooden, Coach offers a wealth of biographical details, personal reflections, and a lifetime of lessons. His millions of fans will cherish this definitive pictorial history of a living sports legend.
"John Wooden is a living legend because he practiced what he preached—the code of ethics which created America's strength."
—Phil Jackson, head coach, Los Angeles Lakers
"Most of what I know, what's made me a smart man, has come from John Wooden."
—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer
"A man of John Wooden's accomplishments and integrity would stand out in any era, but now, almost three decades after he coached his last game, he is in some ways an even more striking figure."
—Bob Costas
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