Learning's by the Wizard of Westwood

John Wooden (Wizard of Westwood) was probably the best college basketball coach ever...

He arrived at UCLA in 1948 who - at the time - had egregious basketball facilities and would raise the team up over the years to win 10 national championships, 4 perfect 30-0 seasons and record-breaking streaks of 38 and 88 consecutive NCAA tournament wins.

Wooden would finish his college coaching career with a distinguished 664-162 record.

Over his 27-year historic coaching career, a number of Wooden’s players went on to enter the NBA (a prestigious standard that very few reach) including Gail Goodrich, Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, who would go on to dominate his era as a Los Angeles Laker and become one of the greatest basketball players of all time.  

Wooden himself was well acquainted with personal athletic success long before his coaching stint; as a college player, he was team captain for the Purdue University (Indiana) team, played guard position, was selected as an ‘All American’ player on three occasions and named college basketball player of the year.

With a life steeped in athletic and coaching success, and the ability to create united, triumphant teams, his achievements can seem aloof or unreachable to many.

However, it was all done through a mindset of growth and success that he shared in his two books, ‘Wooden: A Life of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court’ and ‘Wooden, on Leadership,’ but mainly through his coaching ethos: ‘The Pyramid of Success.’

‘The Pyramid of Success’ was conceived by Wooden in 1934 whilst teaching at South Bend Central High School.

It details the qualities and mindsets needed for success, with 10 changeable mindsets for success and 15 qualities to succeed.

The qualities and skills are extensive, so I won’t go through all of them, but at ‘My Total Office Solutions,’ we’ve studied the pyramid and implemented some of the major qualities that can be found across the different attitudes and skills, and synthesized them into 3 simpler guidelines.  

1)     Adaptability: Wooden lists resourcefulness, adaptability, action, industriousness, and initiative in his pyramid. These can all fall into an effective practice of adaptability - not only to the needs of our customers and within the office, but also by having a resourceful, action heavy and flexible approach to the changing market and business world.

This enables us to constantly change and provide effectively current services and business techniques that we have learned from other influencers in the business sphere and by watching our competition and the needs of our customers.

For example, our infinity printing scheme came at a time when homework became more dominant and domestic printing demand grew, whilst our tree planting action came in reactivity to global warming and the climate crisis.

2)     Hard Work: Wooden’s pyramid details qualities such as skill, confidence, conditioning, assertiveness, and self-control: this specifically relates more relevantly to athleticism; however, the construction of a peak athletic body requires hard work.

Similarly, we have worked hard to create a stellar customer service approach and innovated our products and services with commitment.

3)     Team Spirit: This is arguably the most important quality for a business; creating and developing a well-oiled, respectful, enthusiastic team who believe in the organisations values and create a great culture.

Our team brings a level of camaraderie and friendship that drives service and business and undoubtedly contributes to our successes.

This is partly because we have stayed true to our roots, understanding the skills that our team bring individually and offering them a platform to capitalise on this, and how we have adapted to the digital world, creating new channels and a smoother service experience.

Wooden’s pyramid of success is an important tool in any kind of success, and his achievements certainly validate the methods that are proposed in it.

We’ve adopted his methods and would encourage it in any environment, whether that be the pursuit of an NCAA basketball championship or in creating a winning business team.