Issue 710 - "Friendship 2025: Sincerity Makes Friends"


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 710
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
"FRIENDSHIP 2025: SINCERITY MAKES FRIENDS" John Wooden Video Clip (1 min. 29 sec.): "What is the key to sustaining a high level of excellence over time?" Coach Wooden felt that we can accomplish a lot if we open our lives to others. When speaking about friendship, Coach described the importance of initiating the effort to make friends; in his own words, "You may have to prime the pump first." I never knew anyone who had as many friends as Coach Wooden. He was always friendly to everyone. His phone number was always listed in directory assistance (818 343 2266). He returned all his calls and tried to make time for anyone who wanted to visit him in person. At the Final Four (National Coaches Convention) Coach and his wife Nellie would sit in the hotel lobby and visit with anybody who wanted to. Coach was known to encounter a group of young coaches eating lunch and ask if he could join them. Over his lifetime, he personally mailed out more than 75,000 Pyramids of Success. He responded by hand to all correspondence, usually within 24 hours. When Coach started winning National Championships(1964-1975) the means of communicating were postal mail, land line telephones, and in-person meetings. If he won championships from 2024-2035, I believe he would still make himself available to everybody and be equally enthusiastic about making friends. In his original Pyramid of Success Coach Wooden said: "Sincerity makes friends." I don’t know how Coach would use today’s communication tools, but I do believe he would be responsive, reliable and kind. Applying his character and habits here is what I think he would do if used any of these platforms: ✅ Reply quickly to emails, texts and direct messages, never leaving people on "read." ✅ Put only thoughtful positive comments on Instagram, X or Facebook posts. ✅ Respond to messages on LinkedIn promptly and congratulate young professionals without being asked. ✅ Always make time for FaceTime’s or calls. ✅ Share others’ successes far more than his own. Coach wouldn’t argue in comment sections or post negativity. He wouldn’t chase likes or ghost people. Coach Wooden put it this way: "Be more concerned with loving than being loved, giving than receiving, being a friend than having a friend." What are you concerned about? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 710. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 710. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE God Made This Day For Me Jes' the sort o' weather and jes' the sort of sky Which seem to suit my fancy, with the white clouds driftin' by On a sea o' smooth blue water. Oh, I ain't an egotist, With an 'I' in all my thinkin', but I'm willin' to insist That the Lord who made us humans an' the birds in every tree Knows my special sort o' weather an' he made this day fer me. This is jes' my style o' weather—sunshine floodin' all the place, An' the breezes from the eastward blowin' gently on my face; An' the woods chock full o' singin' till you'd think birds never had A single care to fret 'em or a grief to make 'em sad. Oh, I settle down contented in the shadow of a tree, An' tell myself right proudly that the day was made fer me. It's my day, my sky an' sunshine, an' the temper o' the breeze— Here's the weather I would fashion could I run things as I please: Beauty dancin' all around me, music ringin' everywhere, Like a weddin' celebration—why, I've plumb fergot my care An' the tasks I should be doin' fer the rainy days to be, While I'm huggin' the delusion that God made this day fer me. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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