Remembering the Wisdom of John Wooden

One of the best things about my job is that I get to meet really interesting people and go to interesting places. I love my clients and I consider the majority of them to be very good friends. Those stations we consult where we do the absolute best are where we have great relationships. Those great relationships generally are not only me offering suggestions to them in an effort to improve their product, but they offer advice, comments and suggestions to me that expand my thinking and help to increase my level of intelligence. I don’t consider myself “that” smart. I’m still learning.

With the recent death of John Wooden, I'd like to share my dinner with this brilliant man so that you to can utilize it to motivate your staff and remotivate yourself.

Our clients in Kalamazoo, Michigan invited me to join them for a Western Michigan University fundraiser in which the station was involved. John Wooden was going to be speaking to a crowd of 2,400 people. There was a private dinner prior to Wooden’s formal presentation. Roughly ten tables of business executives had a chance to see John Wooden talk and share some insight into what made him the winningest coach in history.

Many of Wooden’s records, mainly from UCLA, continue to remain unbroken. His style and systems work beautifully.

Most of us have heard the story of legendary Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry who would begin football camp every year with a story that drove home the point to his players that they have to go back to the basics season after season. Landry would hold up a football and say, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” You can’t get any more basic than that. John had a similar story and a like tactic that he utilized to drive home a point to his players. It was something that he taught every preseason:

John Wooden said that he taught his players how to put on their shoes and socks. Yes, their shoes and socks.

Wooden explained that if a player’s socks don’t fit right, the odds are good they’ll get a blister, their foot will slide around their shoe, and it will slow them down as they try to get up and down the court. If a player’s shoes aren’t tied right or if they don’t fit tightly, the players foot might slip and the player could lose his balance, or instead of the shoe moving with their foot the player will be moving their shoe as well as their foot.

The explanation brought a chuckle to everyone. It seems almost silly that a winning coach would credit teaching someone how to put on their shoes and socks as one of the things that benefited his winning record.

Coach Wooden explained that when people buy shoes, they leave a thumb space between the end of the toe and their shoe. That space is something our parents did in order to give us room to grow. As adults, we are done growing. Wooden didn’t even care about the players having room to grow, because he could afford to buy them new shoes when their feet did grow. He wanted shoes that fit like skin. Socks that were tight and wouldn’t slide, and shoes that fit perfectly like skin, can give you an extra half-second. That extra half-second could be the difference between a player beating his opponent to the basket or not. That shows you how competitive this man was.

The other thing coach John Wooden was teaching was that no detail was too small to deserve attention.
What I Learned

John Wooden taught me, “No detail is too small to deserve attention.” That means that we shouldn’t tolerate “good enough.” We need to make sure that every commercial is right and that every song that is scheduled is in keeping with the station’s music essence.

Every thing that comes out of the speakers on your radio station, no matter how large or how small, deserves attention. I believe that our competitors don’t beat us; we beat ourselves. Every little detail on your radio deserves focus.

The shoes have to fit perfectly so we can get to “the basket” a half-second quicker than our competitor.

This past quarter spent traveling to McVay Media clients have been one of the most fun and exciting in years. To my friends who invited me to dinner with John Wooden, I say THANK YOU.