Leadership game plan for success: The Pyramid of Success

1. Leadership game plan for success: The Pyramid of Success John Wooden

2. John Wooden Biography • Teacher/Coach at the high school and college ranks • Won 10 national championships including seven in consecutive years while coaching at UCLA • Four perfect seasons • 88 consecutive wins • All-American at Purdue University • 2003 Recipient of the Medal of Freedom Award (Nation’s highest civilian honor)

3. Success • Quick Write (2 Minutes) • What is your personal definition of success? • Partner-Pair-Share • Compare your definition with Coach John Wooden’s • Success is peace of mind that is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming • Similarities/Differences

4. Background • Coach Wooden became frustrated with pressure put on young people to get “A”s in school or to win athletic games • Searched for alternative ways to evaluate success • Definition based on effort rather than results • Inspired by advice given to him by his father, “Don’t worry about being better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be.” • He found his definition more productive than doing just enough to earn a certain grade or merely aiming to “outscore” somebody or trying to be better than someone else • Puts success under your own control

5. A guide to success: Coach Wooden’s Pyramid • The pyramid was developed as a blueprint to attain success. • Wooden felt there were 15 personal qualities and values that were needed to make the total effort to reach your potential as a person. • He called them the characteristics and qualities of success • As a teaching tool he choose the structure of a pyramid to teach the 15 personal qualities • Each one makes up a block in his pyramid

7. The pyramid of success • Industriousness • Friendship • Loyalty • Cooperation • Enthusiasm • Self-Control • Alertness • Initiative • Intentness • Condition • Skill • Team Spirit • Poise • Confidence • Competitive Greatness

8. Alertness • The ability to observe, absorb and understand what’s going on around you; Most of what we learn in life comes from others, this can only happen if you exhibit alertness • Constant evaluating yourself (strength and weaknesses) and seeking to improve • “Never be a spectator. Be in the mix at all times.”

9. Initiative • As a leader he wanted to create an environment where individuals were not afraid to risk failure • “Fear of failure is often the biggest failure of all”

10. Confidence • Believing in yourself, this is earned through preparation • Confidence should not become arrogance which Wooden defines as the assumption that past success can be repeated without the same effort that brought it about in the first place • “You must earn the right to be confident”

11. Cooperation • The sharing of ideas, creativity, responsibility and tasks. • Much can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit • “Seek the right way, not just having it your way”

12. How have I used it? • Weekly Definitions • Model Behavior • Need to teach life skills along with curriculum • Readings of people exhibiting blocks in the pyramid