The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership

First off, I have to admit I did not know who Coach Wooden was. It was not until his passing that I heard about him and his many, universal acknowledgements in his leadership. That's when I looked on Amazon and ordered 2 of his books, including this one.If you are in a leadership position (people mgr, coach, head of household, etc), then I would say this is one of the best books on leadership ever written. I read >20 business books a year so that is not a statement I say lightly, including many other ones that has greatly shaped me as Ken Blanchard's Leadership at a Higher level, etc. However, Wooden's book here stands out like a tall mountain, in that he goes straight to the point, bares his heart & values in full transparency, and is genuinely unselfish in sharing his wisdom. Other books tend to glorize the author and his/her book concepts too much, but in this book Wooden shares it without any attempt to bask himself in the spotlight. Jamison does a great job in the writing style of this book and I wished more business/leadership books were like this. His points are easy to understand, stimulates thoughts in your own situations, and made me hungry to read more. In the end of this short book, I found his words helped me improve my leadership styles/skills greatly, identified gaps where I need to improve, and overall more inspired to be the best leader I can be - which is precisely what coach Wooden set out to do. This is an invaluable book that clearly communicates what this great man believed in - that all of us owes ourselves to give 100%, and be the best we can be. As leaders we need to teach that to our team, and if we do that effectively, winning will come as a byproduct automatically.highly recommended. I can't say more.

Brilliant book, incredible man. I knew a little about Wooden before this book but I am so glad I read this. His quotes are priceless!!"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?""It's what you learn after you know it all that counts""Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

John Wooden's UCLA basketball team dominated the NCAA championship for several years. But Wooden is known for mentoring young men to be honorable, successful men off the court as well. My friend enjoyed the book and appreciated what it offered.

In an age where we tend to dismiss old ideas, it is nice to see John Wooden’s philosophy and approach to leadership remain timeless.

Winning is a by-product of effort. Give 100% to what you’re doing, whether as a member on a team (sports, business, club), leading a team, or simply engaging life and you will be successful…oh, and you might win sometimes too. Coach Wooden drives home this point in innumerable ways throughout this book.The Essential Wooden will be invaluable to anyone who is serious about fulfilling the purpose for which they are on the planet!

When it comes to leadership and team building, few professions compare with the ranks of organized sports coaches. From the ranks of coaching we have been given a vastness of leadership training with which to shape and improve our lives. Every venue of athletics has made its' coaching contributions. From football, we have the hard nosed precision of Vince Lombardi and the stoic presence of Bear Bryant. Baseball has given us the lighthearted leadership of Casey Stengal and the chess game cunning of Jim Leyland. Boxing has produced such brilliant motivators as Lou Duva and the no-nonsense yet compassionate Eddie Futch. And basketball has been no exception from the explosive emotionalism of Bobby Knight to the intensity of Pat Summitt. But even among such greats as these, when it comes down to success, few can even be mentioned with the name of John Wooden.His leadership and team building philosophy differs from many, lacking the emotionalism and intensity of what coaches typically display, and I wont go so far as to say Wooden's methods are better, but they certainly proved to be a championship building formula for him. In fact, Wooden even guarded against allowing emotions to reign supreme in his players.The book focuses primarily on Wooden's 15 component Pyramid of Success. Wooden explains why each component is a part of the pyramid and why it is located where it is within the pyramid. There are also bits and pieces of letters to his teams as well as brief comments from his former players throughout the book.I don't believe this is the best book with Wooden's name on it, but it is certainly, as expected, filled with sage advice ranging from simple profound statements to more complex principles of leadership, team building and ultimately, success. If you appreciate, as I do, that the coaching profession has produced some of the greatest leaders of the last century and you want insight from one of the best of the best, you'll appreciate this book.

If you are looking for ways to build on your leadership development, this is a good read. This book is about real life experiences that allows the reader to gain insight on how the legendary coach built championship teams by remaining true to himself.

Great book. This is 2nd one I have bought as a gift.

succint writer with excellent takeaways

Amazing book!

non conoscevo il personaggio..ne ho sentito parlare su internet dopo un suo discordo sulla differenza tra vincere ed avere successo...maestro di vita!!da leggere assolutamente!!