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The Qualities Of A Good Leader

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John Wooden was a visionary leader and undoubtedly one of the greatest coaches in history. Full of anecdotes from past experiences, Wooden on Leadership details the leadership strategies of Wooden. This personal account makes it clear that it wasn 't winning games that made him a model leader; it was ensuring that, regardless of the final score, his players grew and put forth their utmost effort. His philosophy regarding leadership not only applies to sports, but to life as well. Wooden viewed the concept of leadership as a learning experience that is constantly changing within the boundaries of a core set of values; and he displayed leadership techniques that modeled these views.
In Wooden’s eyes, knowledge of material is not enough to …show more content…

In order to attract those with unfaltering character Wooden made sure to advertise the values he stood for through his actions. By displaying a clear set of values Wooden believed that he would attract players with similar values. In simpler terms, he said, “good values are like a magnet – they attract good people” (68). Wooden believed that character and values were the key to successful leadership and to his teams accomplishments in basketball. Tying together woodens views on the concepts of teaching and values he said, “ When it comes to character and values you don’t need to become a preacher, just an effective teacher who understand the power of setting a good example, especially when it comes to standards and values” (74).
A few of the values that Wooden prized are team unity, discipline, and organization. Each of these values influenced his various leadership strategies. Relating to the importance of teamwork, Wooden said, “a leader must accomplish the difficult task of getting the team to believe that ‘we’ supersedes ‘me’” (119). Although Wooden knew it was a difficult task to overcome a me-first mentality, he had a specific way of countering this natural instinct. He believed the only way to do so was to “teach each member of the group how she or he contribute to the organization” (120). Wooden made sure that each of his players felt equally valued and led them to comprehend how their individual skills and effort

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