Wooden's Wisdom | Leadership Resource Center

Issue 676 - "What’s the Difference between an Impact Player and a Contributor?" (Liz Wiseman and John Wooden)


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 676
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"WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN IMPACT PLAYER AND A CONTRIBUTOR?" (LIZ WISEMAN AND JOHN WOODEN) John Wooden Video Clip (122 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "What are your thoughts at 96 reflecting on the past and future?" In her bestselling book, Impact Players, Liz Wiseman classifies team members in three categories: High-impact contributors: Those who are doing work of exceptional value and impact. Typical contributors: Smart, talented people who are doing solid (if not great) work Under-contributors: Smart, talented people who are playing below their capability level. Wiseman explained it this way: "High impact contributors separate themselves with the fundamental difference in how they see everyday challenges. Impact Players Wear Opportunity Goggles. Where others may spot a single bee but fear an entire swarm, the Impact Player is figuring out how to build a hive and harvest the honey. To Impact Players, unclear direction and changing priorities are chances to add value. They are energized by the messy problems that would foil others. Lack of clarity doesn’t paralyze them; it provokes them. Invitations to make changes are intriguing, not intimidating. Perhaps most fundamentally, they don’t see problems as distractions from their job; rather, they are the job—not just their job, but everyone’s job." The impact players have Competitive Greatness in the way John Wooden described it: "Be at your best when your best is needed. Enjoyment of a difficult challenge." Impact Players have the John Wooden mentality: "A setback is a set up for a comeback." "Things usually turn out the best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out." THE IMPACT PLAYER’S MANTRA: A PROBLEM IS AN OPPORTUNITY* WAITING TO HAPPEN* WHATEVER HAPPENS KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE GET IN THE SOLUTION DEPARTMENT FIND THE ADVANTAGE IN THE DISADVANTAGE EXIT QUIETLY SEEKING NO CREDIT FOR THE SUCCESS Are you an Impact Player? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 676. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 676. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE The Sweetest Soul I Ever Knew The sweetest soul I ever knew I Had suffered untold sorrow, Had wept full many a long night through And feared the dark tomorrow. Oh! she had seen her baby die And seen her loved ones taken, Full many a tear had dimmed her eye, But her faith remained unshaken. Her hair was white as the driven snow, And her brow with care was lined, But all untouched by the years of woe Was the sweetness of her mind; And all unharmed by the years of care And the dreary nights of grieving Was the gentle smile of that woman fair, Still trustful, still believing. Joy never produces a soul like this, They come from the fires of anguish, This perfect sweetness of mind they miss, Who in rose-red bowers languish; For out of the heartache and out of pain And the suffering unabated, The shattered hopes that were held in vain, Was this wonderful soul created. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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