Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 604 - "Don’t Pass Along the Pressure" (Liz Wiseman)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 12	Issue 604
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
"DON’T PASS ALONG THE PRESSURE" (LIZ WISEMAN) John Wooden Video Clip (26 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "When people reflect on your life how would you like to be remembered?" Quite a question to ask yourself. Liz Wiseman is a bestselling author, researcher, and elite leadership coach. Her New York Times bestseller Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter is a must read. In her research of over 150 leaders worldwide, she described a behavior that great business leaders and John Wooden had in common: "They Don’t Pass Along the Pressure". In her book she uses Robert Enslin, a legendary executive who has led SAP North America, Google Cloud and Ui-Path over the past 27 years, as an example: "Robert is known for his calm consistency, but this was tested when he took over the SAP North American business in 2008, just as the global economy was melting down. As spending was locking up and large capital purchases were being put on hold, executives everywhere were beginning to panic. You could feel the tension as you walked through the halls of SAP’s Newtown Square office near Philadelphia. Inside a conference room, Robert and his new management team were assembled to plan their sales strategy in this new economic environment. Every person on his team knew that Robert had been meeting with the senior executives and was under a lot of pressure. Robert was calm and constant. His team began to wonder if he had skipped the executive meetings. He opened the meeting by acknowledging the severity of the economic issues, but suggested they put them aside. He kept the team focused on the issues within their control. His team said, "We know he must have been getting pressure from up higher, but he didn’t create anxiety for us. He doesn’t create whiplash for his team." In his book, The Essential Wooden, Coach Wooden described his approach: "I removed stress - the kind that comes from a fear of losing or an overeager appetite to win - by focusing exclusively on improvement and teaching the team that ongoing and maximum progress was the standard, our daily goal. I never mentioned winning or beating an upcoming opponent." Do you: "Pass Along the Pressure?" Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 604. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 604. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE At Sugar Camp At Sugar Camp the cook is kind And laughs the laugh we knew as boys; And there we slip away and find Awaiting us the old-time joys. The catbird calls the selfsame way She used to in the long ago, And there's a chorus all the day Of songsters it is good to know. The killdeer in the distance cries; The thrasher, in her garb of brown, From tree to tree in gladness flies. Forgotten is the world's renown, Forgotten are the years we've known; At Sugar Camp there are no men; We've ceased to strive for things to own; We're in the woods as boys again. Our pride is in the strength of trees, Our pomp the pomp of living things; Our ears are tuned to melodies That every feathered songster sings. At Sugar Camp our noonday meal Is eaten in the open air, Where through the leaves the sunbeams steal And simple is our bill of fare. At Sugar Camp in peace we dwell And none is boastful of himself; None plots to gain with shot and shell His neighbor's bit of land or pelf. The roar of cannon isn't heard, There stilled is money's tempting voice; Someone detects a new-come bird And at her presence all rejoice. At Sugar Camp the cook is kind; His steak is broiling o'er the coals And in its sputtering we find Sweet harmony for tired souls. There, sheltered by the friendly trees, As boys we sit to eat our meal, And, brothers to the birds and bees, We hold communion with the real. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
For more information visit www.woodenswisdom.com