4 business lessons from the legendary John Wood

I was fascinated by the life story of the former UCLA basketball team coach John Wood , told by himself in the book “Wood: Observations and Reflections Life-long” (“Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections”). Wooden was a modest, closed-minded man who led his team into the hall and took it away from there. His lessons will be useful to anyone who seeks to improve themselves or their own business.

At the first team meeting at the beginning of each season, Coach Wooden took the time to personally demonstrate to his players how to put on their socks.

“Gently roll up the socks and start at the tips of the fingers, then the pads of the foot, the rise and the heel. Then tightly tighten the sock so that it does not have any wrinkles. ”

Having finished with one leg, Wooden forced the players to work with the second with the same meticulousness and accuracy. After the team members wore socks, the trainer carefully checked their feet to make sure there were no wrinkles, folds or assemblies. It looks like the scene from the movie "Full Metal Jacket" ("Full Metal Jacket"), yes? At first glance, all this seems superfluous. But Coach Wooda had his reasons for this behavior.

“Wrinkles, wrinkles and folds can cause water callus. Bubbles reduce the effectiveness of players in training and games. Since there is a way to prevent the appearance of blisters available to me and the players, we must use it. Otherwise, it cannot be said that during the preparation we did our best. ”

John Wood insists: their goal was not victory. During all the seasons, they simply tried to demonstrate everything they were capable of. And to achieve this, he inspired his players: success creates details . Wooden was a modest, closed-minded man who led his team into the hall and took it away from there. His lessons will be useful to anyone who strives to improve themselves or their own business. Here are my favorite ones.
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1. Failures provide unexpected opportunities.

“There is often an unexpected opportunity behind the scourge. Find her. Rate and use it. It will not be easy for you to do this if you feel sorry for yourself because of the test that fell to your lot. ”

Everything that happens to us can be of some benefit. To notice it, you just need to open your eyes. One of my favorite chapters of the great book, Graham Hunter, about the Spanish football team is dedicated to the story of her former coach Lewis Aragones about the loss to the French at the 2006 World Championships.

“... we just could not compete with a team like the Germans: they were physically very strong. But now our rivals cannot sustain our pace and two-touch dribble. ”

The Spanish Federation has noticed: Spanish players are too small to withstand the more resilient and strong European teams. To overcome this “flaw”, Aragonés introduced a style of play in which emphasis was placed on quick passes and short dashes. The Spaniards could not push the resistance. So, they drove the ball around their rivals, moving towards victory in the following European tournaments (2008 and 2012) and at the 2010 World Championship.

2. When the opportunity arises, prepare late

“You need to prepare not when you were given a chance. This should be done long before its appearance. When the opportunity arises, it's too late to prepare. ”

In his book The Education of Millionaires, Michael Ellsberg emphasizes the importance of learning sales and marketing techniques that are useful in most professional fields. I read the book, trying to figure out what to do after completing my studies at the university, and learned Michael's advice. Looking ahead: a few years later during an internship at Waze, I was asked to sell our advertising product. I had no sales experience, but thanks to the books I read, the seminars I listened to and the marketing talks, I was able to get to work right away.

Using sports terminology, the coach will never invite a physically unsuitable player. It must be in shape. And if they call him, he must be ready. Likewise, you must prepare for the desired chance long before it falls. For example, Gerard Piquet got FC Barcelona in 2008 as a backup for the main defender, Gaby Milito.

But in May of the same year, Milito was injured, which put him out of action until the end of the season, and Piquet was brought into the starting lineup of the team. By the end of the season, the 21-year-old has become one of the best not only in Spain, but throughout the world. Piquet was ready to work long before he received the invitation.

3. Remember the details

“But it all starts with attention to detail and with honing the little things. Details. Details.

When at the end of 2014 we were making plans for 2015, one of the questions facing the team was: “Why can we not achieve our goals?”

This is not a negative attitude . We just tried to look ahead and identify weaknesses that could impede our undertakings, first, if you want. It is difficult to change what has already happened, but if you and your players are able to predict, then you have a chance to increase the probability of success. That is why forethought is so popular in the world of technology and business.

A study by professors at Wharton, Corneille, and the University of Colorado, found that the idea that an event had already occurred "increases the ability to correctly determine the causes of future results by 30%."

4. Extract the best

"I am also sure: everything is going well for those who make the best use of what is happening."

Even without being able to control the situation , we are responsible for our own actions and reactions. So if you fully own your thoughts and mind, why not extract the best of what you have? Under the leadership of John Wooden, his team received 10 NCAA titles in 12 years. And 7 of them got it in a row. But was the winner. And it's not about the rewards, but the fact that he always did his best.

“You will never lose if you are sure that you did everything you were capable of. I tried my best. And that's all I could. ”

And this is all that is available to us, both in business and in life.

PS We recommend another useful article on the work on yourself - How to become more self-confident: 5 tips, supported by scientific research .

The author of the translation is Vyacheslav Davidenko, the founder of the TESTutor company.