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A Creed For Life From John Wooden
This week we share a message from best-selling author and leadership trainer, John Maxwell. The subject of our message today centers on a man who, in our opinion, was the best basketball coach—college or pro—to have ever lived: the great John Wooden.
(We have been talking a lot about "Content Creation Marketing" here is another example from one of our clients, Lawyer Tom Spraggs)
Let's look at why John Wooden's teams won and how we can apply those winning principles to our lives and businesses.
To most he was known as the “Wizard of Westwood,” the UCLA basketball coach who guided the Bruins to an unprecedented 10 national championships over two decades. But for those who played for him, he was much more than a coach. He was a teacher, father figure, mentor and master motivator who got every inch and more out of his players.
When I heard of his passing last June, my mind was flooded with many memories of this great man, and the impact he had on so many people, including me. I was also reminded of memories and life lessons I shared with him personally.
I spent some time with Coach Wooden a few years ago at his modest home in Los Angeles, where he lived for more than 30 years. It would have taken several hours just to read all of the plaques, memorabilia and awards that adorned his walls.
For three weeks, I prepared for our meeting, and I had my questions ready. I came away from that day with stories I will treasure for the rest of my life.
Creed for Life
I want to share with you the simple creed Coach Wooden kept in his wallet since his father gave it to him at the age of 12. The words on this tattered paper served as his guidepost his entire life:
Be true to yourself.
Make each day your masterpiece.
Help others.
Drink deeply from good books.
Make friendship a fine art.
Build shelter against a rainy day.
Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
For 87 years, this creed molded Coach Wooden’s life. When I asked him how successful he was in keeping each of these principles, he said, “You know, John, we’re never perfect. But every day I still try to live up to the creed.”
What a great lesson to us all. Here was a man in his late 90s, at the pinnacle of success, telling me he was still trying to live up to those principles.
Most of you who are reading this are interested in winning and learning how you can get ahead in your own life and businesses. So let me share with you two things that helped set Coach Wooden apart from other coaches.
First, he achieved personal victories before he led his team to victory. When you look at John Wooden’s life, one of the things you come away with quickly is he was truly disciplined. Many people feel that a leader’s biggest challenge is leading other people. I don’t subscribe to this opinion. The biggest challenge as a leader is living the life of a leader. As I listened to Coach Wooden that day, I asked myself, how could he bring such success to the teams that he led? It was the victory he had over himself that allowed him to also help others become victorious.
Our standard of excellence and code of conduct can be summed up by Coach Wooden’s strategy to find happiness. He said happiness comes from making and keeping nine promises:
1. Promise yourself that you will talk health, happiness and prosperity as often as possible.
2. Promise yourself to make all your friends know there is something in them that is special that you value.
3. Promise to think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best in yourself and others.
4. Promise to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
5. Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
6. Promise to forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements in the future.
7. Promise to wear a cheerful appearance at all times and give every person you meet a smile.
8. Promise to give so much time improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
9. Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit trouble to press on you.
As leaders, if we haven’t won our personal battles, we’ll never be able to lead other people to victories in their battles.
I truly believe that everything rises and falls on leadership. In my book The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, I explain that the difference between two equally talented teams is leadership. When two teams come together with all things being equal—talent, experience, desire—the team with the best leader will always win. Coach Wooden had some of the most talented individuals in the country playing for him, but talent will only get you so far. It was his superior leadership that molded this talent into some of the best teams of all time. This is the second thing that set him apart.
Coach Wooden was a master at selecting players, and he knew how to motivate each person to fulfill his role on the team. Coach Wooden told me he recruited a lot of average shooters. But he also knew each player had a spot on the floor where they shot the best. He would design plays to get these players into the areas where they shot the best. If any player shot outside of their designated area, they knew they would be joining Coach Wooden on the bench. Everyone had a role, and the majority of his players mastered their roles on the team. Wooden said, “Teamwork is not a preference; it’s a requirement.”
He took that mantra of teamwork to heart. One of Coach Wooden’s sayings was, “If you listen to them, they’ll listen to you.” He told me that was a lesson he learned early in his coaching career. As a new coach, Wooden says he thought coaching meant pointing and directing players where they needed to be on the court. Five or six years into his career, he realized he was leading by assumption. He assumed his players had the basics under their belt; he assumed they knew what was happening in a game. That’s when he learned the only way to close these gaps was to listen to his players. Once he found out where they were in their learning and basketball knowledge, he could lead and give them direction.
I learned so much from John Wooden that day in Los Angeles. The time we spent together will be etched forever on my mind. His words continue to touch lives the world over. And I don’t say this about a lot of people, but after I left his home I said to myself, “I want to be just like him.”
We hope you will take some of these nuggets of wisdom and look at yourself; hopefully they will have the same effect on you as they did on us.
Have a great week unless you choose otherwise.
Drago
(by the way you can also follow us on twitter now @AdamAdGroup)
PS - We have just finished a series of videos for our new website and would love your feedback,Click Here or copy and paste the following link into your browser http://www.youtube.com/v/LHm4nno0-8E
PPS - We have some exciting news going on at The Adam Ad Group. We have spun out a new company to handle our amazing growth in online marketing, SEO, PPC , video production and business consulting services, our new company is called The Rainmaker Group. We are in the process of building new websites for Adam Ad Group and Rainmaker Group that will better showcase who we are and what we do.
We also recently announced the arrival of Arthur Zhang to The Rainmaker Group/Adam Ad Group. The team continues to grow. We are now pleased to welcome Gerry Shea as the latest addition. Gerry will be working with us to expand online marketing services in North America. Gerry is focused primarily on helping North American automotive businesses to expand market share while reducing marketing expenses by leveraging the web.
Gerry grew up in Kamloops where he ran a successful chiropractic clinic before a shoulder injury sustained while water skiing forced him to close the practice. In 2002 he began acquiring certifications and now Gerry is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) and a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA). Gerry worked as a Computer Network Engineer for a few years, which led to a passion in website production.
Prior to joining The Rainmaker/Adam Ad Group Gerry worked with ASL Internet, a full-service website development company specializing in design, production and maintenance of websites for the automotive industry. We are thrilled Gerry has joined us! If you'd like to learn more about how The Rainmaker/ Adam Ad Group can assist you company to capitalize on the opportunities present on the web, email or call us at 604.937.8886.
Special Note : Many of you know that my 12 year old son has Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. We are extremely excited to introduce to you our new program called MyBrandit.
This system offers our customers and subscribers, great selection, pricing and quality on all promotional products and merchandise. The products are hand selected as proven winners and the best part for us is that we will be able to donate a portion of all sales to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Please Click on the banner below to have a look around and let us know what you think! or copy and paste the following link into your browser http://adamadgroup.mybrandit.com/
Testimonial Of The Week - I have had the privilege to know Drago for 15 years on a professional and personal level. He is thorough in his business dealings with his customers best interests in mind. I would highly recommend his company as he has been instrumental in some very successful marketing strategies for us at Sears Carpet Care in Vancouver. As one of Drago's successful slogans for Sears states" Clean is Good" I would have to say "Adam Ad Group is Better.
We also wanted to say Thank You for allowing us to meet with you every Monday Morning. The MMM has experienced incredible growth with a subscriber base of 80,512 people.
To Sign Up For The MMM simply send an email to drago@adamadgroup.comwith the word subscribe in the subject line.
We are truly grateful and humbled by the positive comments we receive weekly. If you enjoy the MMM please pass it along and let others know about it.
This week we would like to recognize a very special couple who not only built a successful company but are making a difference out of a very tragic circumstance, Jack & Margaret Lee.
Jack Lee founded 4Refuel in 1995 and it has become one of North America’s fastest growing fuel logistics companies. The company manages nearly one billion litres of fuel per year and is currently growing at 26% annually. Then things took an unsuspecting turn when Jack and Margaret's daughter Janice took her own life, Monday, December 4, 2006. To read about Janice's story click here or copy and paste the following link into your browser (http://www.ok2bblue.com/History).
Jack and Margaret have taken this devastating situation and are making a difference by their creation of The Blue Wave Foundation. The purpose of BLUE WAVE and its website is to be a media/portal where youth and parents can learn about the challenges surrounding mental health issues.
The underlying message is that we all feel "Blue" from time to time, and that it is: OK2B BLUE. However, prolonged "Blueness" or depression, may be a symptom of what could be a more serious mental health issue if left untreated. Hence, the need for broad scale education relating to the mind which, in such cases, would raise awareness for early intervention.
Please help Jack and Margaret spread the message of The Blue Wave Foundation, by visiting or sharing the website with others. www.Ok2bblue.com
Contact Drago Adam at drago@AdamAdGroup.com or call 604 937 - 8886 or 866 923 - 6477
PS: Thank You for sharing your Monday Mornings with us. The MMM started three years ago with 35 subscribers, today's issue is going out to over 80,512 Weekly Subscribers.
