As a new year begins, it is the season for many of us to make New Year’s resolutions. However, statistics demonstrate that 23% of us will quit our resolutions during the first week of January, and 43% will quit by the end of January. With these statistics in mind, I was wondering what one of the great coaches of the 20th century, John Wooden, also known as The Wizard of Westwood, would encourage us as business professionals to make our New Year’s resolution.
For those of you who are not familiar with John Wooden, he was an All-American point guard at Purdue, and at one point during his collegiate career, he made 100 free throws in a row. Afterwards, he was the basketball coach at UCLA from 1948 until 1975. During this period, UCLA won ten national championships in 12 seasons. At one point, his teams won 88 games in a row, equating to playing four collegiate seasons without losing a game. To put that in perspective, the last collegiate team to have an undefeated season was Indiana during the 1975-1976 season under Bobby Knight.
In studying John Wooden, I have found that there are many reasons for his success, but I would like to suggest that we consider making one of his practices our New Year’s resolution. In reading the book “Wooden on Leadership,” I was drawn to the following statement which outlined one of the reasons for his success at UCLA. Coach Wooden stated that there was no single big thing that made UCLA teams successful – not the press or the fast break, not size or condition – no single big thing. Instead, it was hundreds of small things done the right way and done consistently. Later in the book, I read that Coach Wooden taught that great things could only be accomplished by doing the little things right.
In reviewing the previously stated thoughts, I would like to suggest that a powerful New Year’s resolution would be to ensure that we focus on ensuring that the details/processes in our businesses are handled with excellence. In doing so, we may not be able to match the accomplishment of Coach Wooden, but we will come closer to making big things happen.