Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 576 - My Favorite Dynamic Duo: Booker T. Washington and John Wooden: "Service or Self" (Booker T. Washington Part Thirty-Nine)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12	Issue 576
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MY FAVORITE DYNAMIC DUO: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND JOHN WOODEN: "SERVICE OR SELF" (BOOKER T. WASHINGTON PART THIRTY-NINE) John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 30 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "What is your advice on managing expectations?" In his 1902 book, Character Building, Booker T. Washington made the importance of "Service" clear to his students: "The word "service" has too often been misunderstood, and on this account, it has in too many cases carried with it a meaning which indicates degradation. Every individual serves another in some capacity, or should do so. Christ said that the person who would become the greatest of all must become the servant of all; that is, He meant that in proportion as one renders service that person becomes great. In one way or another, every individual who amounts to anything is a servant. The man or the woman who is not a servant is one who accomplishes nothing." After games, Coach Wooden and his basketball teams always cleaned up their locker room and left it nicer than the way they found it. This was not viewed as a degrading task. This was a way to be of service to the custodial crew. Chris Wright from ESPN described how Japanese Soccer fans took "Service" to a new level: "Japan supporters celebrated a shock 2-1 victory over Germany in their opening 2022 World Cup game by reprising a wonderful post-match tradition that has now been practiced at several major tournaments. Having just watched their side come from a goal down to overturn the former champions, the Samurai Blue fans stayed behind in the stands at the Khalifa International Stadium -- not to revel in the result but to make sure they left the place in precisely the state they found it. Hundreds of blue refuse sacks were handed out by Japan supporters during the match and sure enough, the vast contingent used them to tidy up and collect any litter that had been left under the seats." Are you a person of service or self? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 576. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 576. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Kick Under The Table After a man has been married awhile, And his wife has grown used to his manner And style, When she knows form the twinkle that lights Up his eye The thoughts he is thinking, the wherefore and Why, And just what he'll say, and just what he'll do, And is sure that he'll make a bad break ere he's Through, She has one little trick that she'll work when She's able- She takes a sly kick at him under the table. He may fancy the story he's telling is true, Or he's doing the thing which is proper to do; He may fancy he's holding his own with thev Rest, The life of the party and right at his best, When quickly he learns to his utter dismay, That he mustn't say what he's just started to say. He is stopped at the place where he hoped tov Begin, By his wife, who has taken at kick at his shin. If he picks the wrong fork for the salad, he Knows, That fact by the feel of his wife's slippered toes. If he's started a bit of untellable news, On the calf of his leg there is planted a bruise. Oh, I wonder sometimes what would happen to Me If the wife were not seated just where she Could be On guard every minute to watch every trick, And keep me in line all the time with her kick. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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