John Wooden

The first time I heard of John Wooden I was listening to a talk on leadership that I already wasn't impressed with.  When he was mentioned and the speaker explained who he was, in my mind it reiterated the lack of knowledge the speaker had, and I thought, "Big deal.  A coach?  That's all they could come up with?"

Don't think that about John Wooden.

I think Luke 22:32 describes John Wooden perfectly.  He was "converted" to living well with a deep value system, and then he went about strengthening others with that.  John's father was his example in that, giving him a seven point creed to try to follow, including "Be true to yourself," "Make each day your masterpiece," and "Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day."

It's interesting studying a sports figure verses a political figure, businessman, or religious leader.  Not only do you see the effects, but you get all the stats to really prove how great they are.

John started out as a great basketball player.  He was the Basketball All-American for 3 years (the first person to do that), was a college player of the year, and the college scoring champ for the year.

The year before John coached at UCLA the team had 12 wins and 13 losses.  His first year (1948) they had 22 wins and 7 losses, and in 1949 they had 24 wins and 7 losses.  As it was pointed out during our class discussion, he was probably dealing with essentially the same players that had been on the 1947 team, so a great leader does make a difference.  John retired in 1975, and in the 12 seasons leading up to that his team were National Champions 10 times, including 7 in a row (still a record).  In that same time period they had 4 perfect seasons, with 30 wins and no losses.

John Wooden was the first person to be inducted to the Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.

But enough with the stats.  People knew he was a great coach, but it wasn't until after he retired that his leadership wisdom became more widespread.

A few of my favorite quotes from him (there are LOTS):
-- "Discipline yourself and others won't need to."
-- "Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others thing you are."
-- "Never try to be better than someone else.  Learn from other, and try to be the best you can be."
--  "Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the best effort to become the best of which you are capable."

In discussing character, there are many stories that show John's.  In 1947 the team John was coaching was invited to play in a national tournament, but he refused to take his team since they had a policy against African Americans playing.  Also in 1947 Purdue wanted Wooden to be their assistant coach until the current coach's contract ran out, and be the head coach after that.  Wooden declined, not wanting to make the coach a lame duck coach.  In 1950 when that coach's contract ran out they invited him to be the coach.  John's wife didn't really like living where they were near UCLA and he wasn't sure he was where he wanted to coach so he considered it, until UCLA reminded him that he had insisted on a 3-year contract with them, and it had only been 2 years.  Feeling he would be breaking his word if he left, Wooden stayed.

John Wooden also believed that family was of utmost importance.  He was asked once if he runs his family like he runs his team.  He said no, I run my team like I run my family.  When he wife passed away in 1985, he wrote her a love letter every month and placed it on her pillow, up until just a few months before he died when his eyesight made it impossible.

John took 14 years to create what he called the Pyramid of Success, taking special care to choose the characteristics and their placement on the pyramid.  I didn't spend a lot of time studying this, but I want to.  If you glance over the pyramid, make sure you note that faith and patience are the "mortar" (as he calls it) of the whole pyramid.

The exciting thing about studying more recent leadership examples is being able to see and hear the real deal.  You can feel that John Wooden is a great person listening to him in this talk.

While planning who I would teach about to our Vanguard Youth homeschool group this year, I wanted to give the youth not only great leadership examples, but a variety of examples in different walks of life so they can see how people can be leaders in any walk of life.  John Wooden adds the biggest variety to our year, and it was definitely a meaningful study.

Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton was a great explorer with his eye especially on Antarctica.  After his first experience there, it became his goal to achieve the South Pole.  Three times he shot for that goal, yet he failed each time.  But were they really failures?

S. Michael Wilcox suggests that "His destiny seems to have been to teach us how to lead."  It is easy to categorize Shackleton as a true service-oriented leader.  Through incredible tests of survival, Shackleton always kept his vision of bringing every man home at the front of his mind, giving up his own comfort and personal goals for the benefit of the rest.

During his third attempt at the pole he was especially tried.  Their ship, Endurance, became ice bound for several months.  After the ship was crushed by the melting and shifting ice, they were stranded on the ice for a few more months.  I know our family gets pretty stir crazy when sickness or something keeps us all home bound, so imagining months and months stuck on the same ship then even more on the ice - yikes!  Besides being sick of one another, dangers were everywhere.  "[Shackleton] knew how dire their plight was.  Almost every night, he shouted himself awake from nightmares in which he pictured one disaster or emergency after another.  Would the boats be separated when they took to the ocean?  Would he himself be incapacitated?  Would Worsley's navigational books be lost?  Would they run out of food?  One after another, disasters visited him and shook him awake.  Then, in the remaining hours of the night, he would form plans for meeting the crises he had dreamed of.  In spite of his anxiety, he tried to keep up the appearance of calm in order to maintain morale.  Although tortured by worry, he remained outwardly unperturbed" (Armstrong, 70).  Much of Shakleton's success came from his ability to look clearly at potential problems and plan accordingly, rather than succumbing to the fear of what could be.

When the ice melted enough that they could get to the open ocean, the 28 men were split between three lifeboats to paddle through terrible, freezing storms to Elephant Island, 346 miles from where the Endurance sank.  Upon arrival, realizing they couldn't stay there long, Shackleton took five others and climbed back into what was deemed the strongest lifeboat, leaving behind the rest of the men to go in search of help.  Shackleton kept a careful watch on the men, knowing he needed each to make their destination.  "When someone looked particularly bad, the Boss ordered a round of hot milk for all hands.  The one man he really wanted to get the hot drink into never realized that the break was for his benefit and so wasn't embarrassed, and all of the men were better off for having the warmth and nourishment" (Armstrong, 100).  I love that he cared for each man as an individual, mindful of their needs and aiding those without making that person feel singled out or weak.  He watched the individual, cared for all, and all benefited.

After another 15 days on the cold, stormy ocean, Shackleton and the five arrived at South Georgia Island, but for safety's sake, landed on the opposite side from where the whaling ships and factories were.  The boat was no longer in any shape to sail, so with two men too sick to continue, Shackleton left one man to care for them, and took two others with him over the unexplored snow-covered mountains, taking them an amazing 36 hours to cover 32 miles with only about 50 feet of rope and a carpenters adze.  (Seriously, this man never quits!)

One of the most beautiful parts of the story comes at this part of their journey.  "As they slogged their way through the snow, a strange feeling began to grow on each of the men.  The three discovered long afterward that they all had the feeling that there was a fourth.  'Even now again I find myself counting our party--Shackleton, Crean, and I and--who was the other?' Worsley wrote later.  'Of course, there were only three, but it is strange that in mentally reviewing of the crossing we should always think of a fourth, and then correct ourselves.'

"'When I look back at those days,' Shackleton added, 'I do not doubt that Providence guided us . . . I know that during that long march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia it often seemed to me that there were four, not three.' At the time, however, Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean did not discuss it" (Armstrong, 110).  I think Shackleton's purpose was so true and so selfless, that he was supported through that by heavenly means.

Another incredible experience happened as they got closer to the whaling camp.  They found themselves at the top of a frozen waterfall.  "There was nothing to tie the rope to.  Worsley held it, while first Shackleton and then Crean went over the edge.  They went down the rope as sailors do, letting it slip through their hands and not putting their weight on it until just before they hit bottom.  At the top, Worsley bunched the end of the rope up and jammed it under some rocks.  If he didn't put his weight on the rope until the bottom, it just might hold.  Worsley stepped off into the air, plummeting downward with the rope whipping through his hands.  Shackleton and Cream caught him as he fell, and his full weight yanked on the rope.  It held.

"Startled, the three men stared up at the top of the waterfall and tugged on the rope.  It wouldn't budge.  It might have been frozen, but they couldn't understand what was holding it.  Shrugging, they turned and left their rope hanging where it was.  They didn't need it any longer" (Armstrong, 114).

When they finally reached the whaling station, their thoughts were not of their own rescue, but that the rest of the men were now saved.  Still, it took Shackleton four attempts to get to the men back on Elephant Island, where he found ALL were safe and alive.  "We knew you'd come back," one of the men said to him.  Shackleton called that the best compliment he'd ever received.

Many, many leadership lessons can be taking from Ernest Shackleton.  But I'll end with Shackleton's own words about it.  "It was like this," Shackleton said much later.  "The thought of those fellows on Elephant Island kept us going all the time.  It might have been different if we'd had only ourselves to think about.  You can get so tired in the snow, particularly if you're hungry, that sleep seems just the best thing life has to give . . . But if you're a leader, a fellow that other fellows look to, you've got to keep going.  That was the thought which sailed us through the hurricane and tugged us up and down those mountains . . . and when we got to the whaling station, it was the thought of those comrades which made us so mad with joy that the reaction beats all effort to describe it.  We didn't so much feel that we were safe as that they were saved" (Wilcox, 116).

I need to memorize part of that one.  I may not travel the Antarctic, but there are plenty of tired, hungry, just want to hide under the covers days.  But if you're a leader . . . 

Quote Sources:

Jennifer Armstrong, "Shipwreck on the Bottom of the World."

S. Michael Wilcox, "10 Great Souls I Want to Meet in Heaven."

Hall of Fame

My new favorite hobby is studying awesome people.

Last summer I discovered the book "Lessons from Great Lives" by Sterling Sill (but if you want it, get the old edition since the "co-author" of the new one took out half the people, though he did add in two, including a chapter on Sterling Sill).  For quite some time I've watched for great qualities in people that I want to emulate, but Sill talks about creating his own personal "Hall of Fame" of people with qualities he wanted to build in himself.  It's an inspiring read, and it's helped me to see history in a new, more real light.  Sill wrote biographies of over 100 people for his own benefit.  As he states, "A person who provides a good example has the blessed ability of arousing a desire in others to develop their own talents and aptitudes to their upper limits.  The tremendous upward pull that one personality may have upon another might be compared to the attraction that the planets exert as they hold each other in their orbits."  

From Sill, I learned about another source on great people.  Elbert Hubbard wrote the "Little Journeys into the Homes of Great..." series, which includes great scientists, orators, teachers, women (because they were written a long time ago when we needed our own book), reformers, musicians, etc.  Lucky enough, these are in the public domain and free for use.  I've only read a few of these, one that I thought was odd because it didn't have nearly enough about the person, and two others that I really enjoyed.

Then a couple months ago we had just walked into Deseret Book when I noticed the book "10 Great Souls I Want to Meet in Heaven" by S. Michael Wilcox.  I carried it around the rest of the time we were there telling myself to put it back, but when I didn't, I googled for a coupon and bought it.  Very glad I did.  Wilcox mentions that when he initially started making his own list of great people, he began with family, then thought of people in the scriptures, historical figures, and even great characters in literature, but for the book he chose historical figures.  One quote from the preface that gives me chills (referring to things like Psalms 8:4-5), "Sometimes it is difficult to believe such lofty thoughts are describing us and our fellow human travelers.  It is certainly true we have, as a race, often not lived up to these divine potentialities.  Yet man was created in the image of God, not only outwardly, but also inwardly, in the qualities of the soul.  Humanity was the last act of creation, its crown!  We shouldn't be surprised to see evidences of glory and honor in our fellowmen."

I've been able to teach about and discuss some of the great people I've been studying during Vanguard, our homeschool group, but I've decided I need to keep a better record of that for my own Hall of Fame, and maybe to spark the interest of others that might want to learn about some of these greats as well.  Stay tuned.  (This might actually get me blogging somewhat regularly again.)

P.S.  Here's an interesting article I found with a "discussion" between 10 greats.