Page 12 - voices-2023-04

LET'S TALK
Coach Wooden's Keys to Success
Lorri Andersen, DTM - District 7 Director
When visiting a friend, I saw her copy of a book by
Coach John Wooden. Since she played basketball
in college, I thought he was her role model.
Curious, I asked, “did you follow him in your
basketball sports career?” “No,” she said, “he was
just one of the best coaches in history.” I couldn’t
agree with her more. He had a success theory that
earned him a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame
through coaching and winning 88 straight games
and 10 NCAA winning championships. I have always
admired him and his winning coaching style.
He had a success formula he used when he
coached players personally and professionally.
He also coached Bill Walton before Walton joined
the Portland Trailblazers, and Walton's successful
training helped him to lead his team and win the
NBA championship.
I brought up this legendary coach because of
his success formula. Being further curious about
his coaching techniques, I researched and studied
his work. If his teachings were successful, then I
want to know about them. The thing I love about
Toastmasters is the learning.
As leaders, which we all are, we are called on to
learn. The more we learn, the more we can serve
using our core values to support our District Mission. yourself. Being loyal to your word allows trust to be
So, what was his formula? Referencing a three-
page article, I share several foundational building
12 ONE COMMUNITY
blocks of his teachings. Coach Wooden felt that these
key foundations would give a person a successful
balance encompassing their spirit, soul, and body.
Industriousness: in other words, hard work! There's
no getting around it if we want to become successful,
hard work is involved. Let's say you want to learn a
new language. It takes daily practice to remember
how to use verbs and adjectives in a second language.
Perhaps your goal is to win the District and World
Championship of Public Speaking. What would be
the daily and weekly effort? I think we need to count
the cost before we start a goal. In that way, we know
the work and time we need to invest.
Friendship: is the key to our success. This year
I listened to a speech by our Immediate Past
International President, Mr. Richard Peck. He said
something I have heard him say before. To achieve
our goals, we need to enlist the help of others. We
cannot do this job alone. We are going to meet a
lot of people in our Organization. Let's learn and
work together. Without friends along the journey,
our success becomes lonely.
Loyalty: The key building block of a strong team is
trust. Without trust, the team will not last. Learn
to trust others and give others the reason to trust
built and working together as a team will benefit the
end result, not one or two people. "Coach Wooden