Issue 737 - Empower Yourself: Be A Doer!


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 737
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
EMPOWER YOURSELF: BE A DOER! John Wooden Video Clip (3 min. 4 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Did Bill Walton ever challenge you on your rules?" Great Clip! John Wooden and Brené Brown—though separated by generation, discipline, and style—both believed that great performers do not wait to be told what to do; they take responsibility and act. Brené Brown is a world-famous author, researcher, and speaker whose work is grounded in extensive qualitative research, including tens of thousands of interviews conducted over more than two decades. She has written multiple bestselling books that examine how people show up, take responsibility, and perform under pressure, especially in leadership, business, and high-stakes environments. Coach Wooden and Brown arrived at the same conclusion. Greatness starts with the first lesson John Wooden learned from his father, Joshua Wooden: "Be true to yourself." This is the foundation of what it means to be a self-empowered person who takes initiative: That principle—personal responsibility before external validation—became the foundation of Coach Wooden’s philosophy and mirrors what Brown later uncovered through research. In her research, Brown found that the highest performers are self-empowered doers. They don’t wait for perfect conditions or guaranteed outcomes. Their behavior is consistent and predictable: Self-Empowered people don’t wait for certainty. They don’t run decisions up the food chain. They don’t hide behind excuses or explanations. Great performers act, adjust, take accountability and move forward. In her book Dare to Lead Brown describes the impact of this behavior on others: *"Trust is built in small moments when we choose courage over comfort."* Coach Wooden believed to reach your potential you must take Initiative. He advised us to: *"Cultivate the ability to make decisions and think alone. Do not be afraid of failure but learn from it."* As Coach liked to say: *"The people who don’t make mistakes are the people who don’t do anything."* Coach believed that if you were not making any mistakes, you were not working close enough to the edge of your potential. Coach wanted mistakes of commission, not of omission. In evaluating himself as Coach (a man of action) he said that if his team was not making mistakes in practice they weren’t playing fast enough. He stated his perspective this way: *"A mistake is valuable if you do four things with it: recognize it, admit it, learn from it and forget it."* Coach Wooden had a mantra I am sure Brene Brown would like: *"The worst thing you can do when action is needed is to take no action at all."* Reflect on this idea of self-empowerment. How are you doing? Write it down. Share it with someone on your team. Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 737. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 737. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Lonely The walls have seemed to say to me Where have the sticky fingers gone That always found their way to me, And left their prints to gaze upon. The halls have worn a gloomy air And seemed like tunnels, dark and black, And it has seemed that every chair Has asked me when they're coming back. The stairs have seemed to speak to me Each night as I have climbed alone, And pitifully squeak to me: 'Where have the little people flown?' The beds all smooth and sternly kept Have said with faces drawn and white Where are the curly heads that slept On us, so sweetly, every night? The untouched toys have stared at me As if to say the days are long, And all their dolls have glared at me As though accusing me of wrong. And every rug so straight and stiff Has seemed to sigh for rumpling feet, And worn a sorry look as if It missed the mud-tracks of the street. The bird has twittered low to me A sort of solemn, sad refrain As though he tried to show to me He wishes they were near again. But soon the walls and halls and chairs Will know once more the charm they lack, And little feet will race the stairs, They've sent me word they're coming back. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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