John Wooden

You do make a difference.

To make a difference to someone, you don’t have to change the world, you simply have to change their world. That which seems like a small thing for you to do, can have a big impact on another. As Winnie the Pooh said, “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in our hearts.”

You can make a difference. Do you think you don’t have anything to offer? If you do, you would be wrong. Here are some things that everyone can offer: encouraging words, a listening ear, ideas from your own experience, a smile and a hello, a thank you.

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.”– Anita Roddick

Do it, don’t just think of it. We are not measured by our intentions, but by our actions. You may want to make a real difference, a big gesture, something that will be remembered. Well, the smallest action is better than the biggest intention. What can you do today that will benefit someone? That is the question to be asked and the surest and fastest way to make a difference.

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.”– Peter Marshall

What about those big things? Good news. We have discussed the little things that you can do every day that make a difference in someone’s life. As it turns out, the big things are made up of the little things that you do.

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” – John Wooden

 

 

 

 

Listen to history, apply it to the future.

listen-to-historyKevin Love played one year of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins in the 2007-2008 season where he led the team to a final four appearance. He was a First Team All-American, Pac 10 player of the year, First Team All-Pac 10.

As a Freshman in UCLA in 2007-2008, Love often reached out to John Wooden for advice. John Wooden was the head coach at UCLA from 1948 – 1975. During his tenure, the Bruins won 620 games in 27 seasons and 10 NCAA titles during his last 12 seasons. During his freshman year Love said of Wooden, “I just turned 19 and I know my history. He’s not only the best coach of any coach of all time, but he’s also one of the best human beings you’ll ever meet.”

Drafted after his Freshman year in college, he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves where he was a three-time NBA All-Star and the Cleveland Cavaliers where he was part of the team that won the NBA Championship in 2016. And when he became an NBA player, Love remembered what he learned from Wooden, “Coach Wooden, when he speaks you listen. I’ve taken a lot of things from him… It’s not just about basketball, it’s about life as well.”

United States Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. summarized the importance of listening to history, and then applying it to the future when he said, “It is the province of knowledge to speak, and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”

Those who want to have a positive impact on the future, must first seek to become wise about the past. In the story of Kevin Love and John Wooden, the result was learning the steps that Wooden took so that they could be repeated. In studying history, it is also just as likely that one may learn of the past mistakes to know what not to repeat.

I’ve heard it said this way, “Make sure you understand why the fence was put up before you take it down.” You may have equal chance to leave the fence up as you do in taking it down, but your decision will be made based on knowledge of the history of the reason for its placement in the first place.

 

How do champions give 100 percent?

champions-give-100-percentHow do you give 100 percent to all the important activities in your life? Do you give part of your time to each one – if there are five activities, should you give twenty percent to each? No you should give 100 percent to each, when you focus on each one. This isn’t 500 percent, its 100 percent five times. When you focus on one thing, the others are not on your agenda at the moment. Champions give 100 percent attention to each activity…one activity at a time.

Baseball great Yogi Berra is known for his great quotes that meant more than meets the eye. On the topic of dividing your 100 percent he said, “You have to give 100 percent in the first half of the game. If that isn’t enough, in the second half, you have to give what’s left.” Always give 100 percent of you.

A basketball season covers six months and 82 games. Every game counts if you want to be the best. Three times NBA champion, four times NBA Most Valuable Player, LeBron James says, “Every night on the court I give my all, and if I’m not giving 100 percent, I criticize myself.” Bring all you have to each opportunity.

Rebuilding the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996 involved getting the team to think and act like champions. Tony Dungy evaluated the team at that time and said, “They were unwilling to give 100 percent if they didn’t personally think it was important. What you don’t understand is that champions know it’s all important.” Everything you do deserves your best.

John Wooden coached the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team to ten NCAA national championships over twelve years. He said that practice was just as important as the games. “What you do in practice is going to determine your level success. I used to tell my players, you have to give 100 percent every day. Whatever you don’t give, you can’t make up for tomorrow. If you give only 75 percent today, you can’t give 125 percent tomorrow to make up for it.”

How do champions give 100 percent? The secret is they don’t divide up their 100 percent. Champions give 100 percent attention to each activity…one activity at a time.

 

 

Do you deserve success?

success climbYes you deserve success. Not only do you deserve success, you need to be successful.

Andy Andrews is a wonderful author and a gifted speaker. I attended one talk where he spoke about people in the world that will be able to one day help his young sons in some way. He didn’t know who they were, or when or how they would help, but was sure that their paths would cross. In order for his sons to be all they could be, he needed these people to be all they could be.

In his book, The Butterfly Effect, Andy says it like this, “Everything you do matters. Every move you make, every action you take matters. Not just to you, or your family, or your business or hometown. Everything you do matters to all of us forever…There are generations yet unborn, whose very lives will be shifted and shaped by the moves you make and the actions you take.”

So for those of you who doubt whether you deserve success, here are three steps you can take to get you back on that path of success that we all need you to be on:

Define success differently

Too often we define success as our personal achievement – how much more we got this time. True, fulfilling, success is not you getting more, it is you helping others get more. When your definition of success shifts to be this outward focus, it is easier to believe you deserve success.

“Success is finding satisfaction in giving a little more than you take.” – Christopher Reeve

Define your past differently

Your past mistakes are only failures if you fail to learn from them. When finding a way to positively deal with mistakes Napoleon Hill advised, “Ask yourself: What did I learn from this experience that I can put to good use next time?”  If you view your past in this light, you will not get discouraged and continue to believe you deserve success.

Long time Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger said, “The past is a great place and I don’t want to erase it or to regret it, but I don’t want to be its prisoner either.”

Define your future differently

The best thing you can do to be a success is work to be the best you, you can be, and surround yourself with others who are the best they, they can be. Together you can accomplish great things. If you focus your future on simply being everything you were made to be, you will believe you deserve success.

“Success is…knowing you did your best to become the person you are capable of becoming.”– John Wooden

The secret to leading virtual employees

leading a virtual workforceThe days where all employees work in one building with desks, cubes, offices right next to each other from 9 to 5 are gone. The advancement in computer technology has enabled everyone to be a virtual employee of some sort and the trends show that an increasing number of us are taking advantage of this ability.

The definition of a virtual employees has evolved over the years.  It used to be a select few that didn’t work in the office with all of the other employees.  The work they performed could be completed remotely, at their home for example, and their hours could be set differently to fit their personal situation.  Then it expanded to include the off-shore and on-shore workforce where certain specialties could be centralized for a lower cost apart from the office. Today it is common place to have a percentage of the workforce completely virtual and in most cases the entire workforce partially virtual.

Why did this shift to virtual happen? According to Global Workplace Analytics there are some compelling real-life examples of the benefits of virtual employees:

Costs. Forty percent of the IBM workforce operates without a dedicated office space. The employee to desk ratio is currently 4:1, with plans to increase it to 8:1 in field locations. IBM saves $450 million a year in reduced facility infrastructure and associated initiatives through telework.

Productivity. Ecolab, a Fortune 500 sanitation and food safety company, reported a 16% increase in the number of calls answered and a 10% increase in quick call resolution among its teleworkers

Absenteeism. British Telecom realized a 64% reduction in absenteeism due to its flexible work program

Lifestyle. More than a third of college student in the US (37%) say they would take a lower salary (up to $10,000 less) for the option to work wherever they are most productive and happiest. When the same question was put to existing employees, the percentage who would take a lower salary was 38%.

Employee engagement. According to a 2013 Gallup study, 39% of employees are virtual for some part of their work.  Those that are remote for 20% or less are the most engaged (35%) compared to those that are not remote (28%). 

What is the secret to leading virtual employees? The needs of a virtual employee are no different than those that work in an office.  Today’s leader needs to focus on the same leadership areas – Clarity, Communication, and Connections –  But using the technology that empowers the virtual workforce to keep virtual employees engaged – video conferencing, skype, gotometting, and some frequency of travel for the in-person connection.

Clarity. I think of clarity in very simple terms, “Get everyone on the same page, and keep them on the same page.” The importance if this simple idea can’t be stressed too much.  There are two main areas where clarity is needed: Purpose and Priorities.

Purpose:  If you want your virtual employees to be connected to the success of the team, they need to understand the big picture goals of the team.  Make sure you are talking about the purpose of the team and the success in achieving that purpose on a regular basis.

“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.”  – Napoleon Hill

Priorities:  Knowing the purpose of the team is very important, but what drives the achievement of that purpose is the tactical actions that each member of the team executes.  Everyone needs to understand the priorities for their work, for other members of the team, and how it all fits together. 

“It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau

Communication. Whether your employees are virtual or in the office, they are people, and people need communication.  They keys to communication with your team is that it be planned and purposeful.

Planned: Communication is an important part of leadership.  I have found in my career that if something is not scheduled it is not done.  It is too easy for perceived fire-drills to overtake all of your time. So plan out your communication schedule.  Devote time every week for one on ones; get your leadership team together every month; meet every quarter with your whole team; and complete year end reviews on time.

“Failing to plan is planning to fail” – John Wooden

Purposeful: As a leader you should never hold a meeting without a clear goal in mind of what you are trying to accomplish with that meeting.  Meeting just to meet is a waste of everyone’s time. When you do this right, your team will feel the impact of the positive outcomes.

-In the one on ones your directs, be available for them.  It is their time to update you on progress, ask questions, and maintain comfort that they are heading on the right track. 

-In the leadership team meetings it is time for a higher level of updates across your team leaders.  This is an education for your leaders so they are aware of all that is important outside of their direct responsibility.  This level of knowledge helps them to see where they fit in the big picture and how what they do impacts others.

-Each quarter you should meet with your entire team through conference calls, video conferencing, or sometimes visiting in person.  Here you need to re-present the strategy and give them an update on how the entire team is doing.  This is time to celebrate successes.

-And finally, while you may be meeting with your directs frequently, the year-end formal review is important. Take time to talk through what went well and develop a plan for ongoing development. 

“Meetings are a symptom of bad organization.  The fewer meetings the better.” – Peter Drucker

Connections. All people need to feel connected personally to other people and professionally to a great cause.  There is no better proof of this than the world-wide success of Facebook and Twitter.  This is virtual connection at its finest. In business today, it is imperative that people are connected to learn from each other – the world is changing to fast not to take advantage of everyone’s expertise.

The obvious answer to fulfilling the need for connection with a virtual team is to use what has been proven to work.  Set up internal blogs, wiki sites, and other forums for electronic exchange of information, conversation and mentoring.  Of course the phone call now and again to just catch up works – like the coffee break conversations.

“No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals.” -Brian Tracy

What is the secret to leading virtual employees? The needs of a virtual employee are no different than those that work in an office.  Today’s leader needs to focus on the same leadership areas – Clarity, Communication, and Connections – But using the technology that empowers the virtual workforce to keep virtual employees engaged.

 

 

Is there an “I” in Team?

there is a me in teamI once heard a story of a coach giving a beginning of the year pep talk to his young baseball players.  Trying to stress the importance of teamwork he said, “There is no ‘I’ in team.” After practice one player approached the coach and asked innocently, “Coach, my English teacher taught us that ‘I’ and ‘Me’ mean the same thing, there just used in different ways.  It wouldn’t be correct to say ‘Me is on the team’, the proper sentence would be ‘I am on the team.’ So there is an ‘I’ in team, and it’s me” 

This young baseball player may have misunderstood the coach’s initial statement.  However, he was exactly correct in his understanding of teamwork – its success is dependent on the individual success of each “Me.”

Teamwork does not discount the individual, it relies on their unique abilities working together.

“Teamwork divides the tasks and multiplies the success”

Each “Me” can’t do everything needed for success, and that is the great thing about teamwork. John Wooden said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do,” and Napoleon Hill said, “If you cannot do great things do small things in a great way.” It is the combination of individual talent that brings success to the team.

Each “Me” won’t be as successful alone as they will being part of a team.  This holds true whether you play Baseball or an individual sport like Tennis (think of the coach and racket manufacturer as part of the team), or if you work for a large corporation or for yourself as an Author (think of the publisher and Federal Express as part of the team).  The reality is that working together to accomplish a goal raises everyone’s success.   

“Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities… without becoming very good at it.”  – Brian Tracy

In answer to the title of this article, as our young Basaeball player said, “There is an ‘I’ in team, and its ‘Me.'”

 

Leaders: Follow the discipline of positive discipline

imageWebster’s dictionary provides several definitions of discipline:
-A branch of knowledge or learning
-Training that develops self-control, character, and efficiency
-Treatment that corrects or punishes

Too often we seem to focus on the third definition of discipline in a negative light and punish those who “mess up” in a effort to “teach them a lesson.”

Positive discipline removes the word punish from consideration and considers discipline an end to end process for leaders to bring out the best in their teams.

Jim Rohn has a great definition, “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” It’s the way you achieve your goals.

The three outcomes of positive discipline:

Positive discipline provides direction. Taking a positive discipline approach to accomplishing goals requires planning the steps to success. Is everyone on your team clear on what they are being asked to do and the deadline?

Inspirational author H. Jackson Brown, Jr. says it this way, “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.”

Positive discipline provides inspection. Successfully achieving your goals through positive discipline requires that you regularly check in to make sure that everyone on the team is on track.

Peter Drucker, world renowned management expert, coined the phrase, “What gets measured gets done.” If you don’t know that there is risk in achieving your goals, you can’t take the right actions to succeed.

Positive discipline provides correction. Yes there is correction in positive discipline, but in a positive way.

John Wooden, the great college basketball coach said, “A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” This doesn’t just happen. It takes a positive discipline approach to working with your team so they trust that you have their best interest at heart. Wooden goes on to coach us on how to build up this trust, “Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.”

 

 

 Scroll to top