I was recently listening to the “How to take over the world” podcast episode that discussed the life and values of basketball legend John Wooden, and there were some amazing things shared during the show.
One area that host Ben Wilson spent some time on was sharing the attributes of Wooden, with a brief comparison to Benjamin Franklin, and then Wilson shared some of his own. I’ve spent a while digging into the attributes of all three, as well as some that have been shared about Charlie Munger.
The interesting thing I found is that so many of them are the same. I don’t think any of them used the same words, but it was a lot of the same concepts. I’ll share all of theirs, and then end with some of mine.
Ben Wilson
Ben himself shared this list on the podcast:
- Puposeful
- Diligent
- Joyful
- Active
- Honest
- Frugal
- Assertive
- Creative
- Grateful
- Fast
Benjamin Franklin
Here is Franklin’s list, as found via the Farnham Street blog:
- Temperance: Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
- Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
- Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
- Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
- Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
- Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
- Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
- Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
- Moderation: Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
- Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloths, or habitation.
- Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
- Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
- Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
John Wooden
The focus of the podcast was on John Wooden, and here is his list as shared by Vautier Communications from Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success”:
- Industriousness: Hard work + careful planning
- Enthusiasm: Infectious energy comes from true enjoyment.
- Friendship: Mutual esteem + respect + devotion.
- Loyalty: Be dependable. Follow through. Resist temptation to sway.
- Cooperation: Two together can do more than one alone.
- Self control: Self control is the ability to have discipline to keep emotions under control.
- Alertness: Always be observing. Stay open minded. Be eager, not just willing, to learn and improve. Ask why.
- Initiative: Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone.
- Set intentions: Focus on goals. Resist distractions. Be determined and persistent. When reaching previous goals, raise the bar and expand what’s possible.
- Condition: Exercise and rest the mind, moral character, and physical body. Alongside training, sleep and nutrition are important. Seek moderation and avoid exertion.
- Skill: Knowledge of and ability to execute the fundamentals. Be prepared and have an attention to detail.
- Team spirit: An eagerness to work and play together.
- Poise: Celebrating the authentic self and never fighting it enables ease in any situation.
- Confidence: Respect without fear. Built on being prepared and having proper perspective.
- Competitive greatness: Be at the best when the best is needed. Enjoy the challenge. Make others better. Along the way maintain peace of mind.
Charlie Munger
All of this reminded me of something that I read near the beginning of Poor Charlie’s Almanack, which was:
The quotes, talks, and speeches presented here are rooted in the old-fashioned Midwestern values for which Charlie has become known: lifelong learning, intellectual curiosity, sobriety, avoidance of envy and resentment, reliability, learning from the mistakes of others, perseverance, objectivity, willingness to test one’s own beliefs, and many more.
Mine
With all of that in mind, combined with some work that I’ve done on this in the past, here are the attributes that I define (or in many cases, aspire to). With each one, I’ll draw some comparisons to similar items above. Not only are most of them repeated above somewhere, but drawing the line between some can be tricky. Here’s what I’ve got:
- Trustworthy, similar to Franklin’s “Resolution”, Munger’s “Reliability”, and Wooden’s “Loyalty”
- Diligent, from Wilson, similar to Franklin’s “Industry” and Wooden’s “industriousness”. “Efficient” may fit in here as well.
- Integrity, from Wilson’s “Honest”, and pulling a bit from Franklin’s “Sincerity” as well as “Justice”.
- Attentive, from Franklin’s “Temperance”, and Munger’s “Sobriety”. While I’ve certainly consumed alcohol and (a lot of) caffeine in the past, I’m currently free of both.
- Self-Control from Wooden, also like Franklin’s “Tranquility” and Munger’s “avoidance of envy and resentment”, with a bit of stoicism mixed in.
- Humility from Franklin, similar to Wilson’s “Grateful” and some of Munger’s “willingness to test one’s own beliefs”.
- Confidence from Wooden, also similar to Wilson’s “Assertive”
- Curious, somewhat like Wilson’s “creative”, Wooden’s “Alertness”, and Munger’s “lifelong learning” and “intellectual curiosity”
- Empathy, a bit like Franklin’s “Justice”, but more toward “Sonder“.
All in all, I’m happy with that list. I feel I’m pretty strong in many of those areas, and others are directions where I wish to improve. In both cases, this list feels pretty accurate.
How about you?
It was an interesting exercise to go through all of those. What are some that stand out to you?
