By The John Maxwell Company
March Madness got its name because the NCAA basketball tournament
provides stunning upsets each season. Unpredictability is big part of
the tournament’s appeal. At any point in the competition, an unknown
squad can suddenly catch fire, hitting shot after shot, to knock off a
heavily favored opponent.
However, if you were filling out an NCAA tournament bracket from 1967 to
1973, then you should have chosen the same champion every single year.
Coach John Wooden’s UCLA Bruins won seven consecutive titles! No other
men’s collegiate team has won more than two NCAA tournaments in a row.
Why did John Wooden’s teams win so often? Obviously, they had talented
players, but what set UCLA apart from the competition was their
commitment to loyalty. UCLA’s players were intensely loyal to their
leader, Coach John Wooden, as well as to their fellow teammates.
How to Earn Loyalty:
1) Make your values visible.
Leaders attract who they are. If you want a cohesive team, one that’s
loyal to a common cause and to one another, then be clear and candid
about your values. John Wooden arranged his values into a visual aid
that he called the “Pyramid of Success.” The pyramid consisted of
fifteen building blocks Wooden believed were essential to success in
life, and he taught these values to his players. He placed loyalty as
the building block at the center of the pyramid’s foundation.
2) Be loyal to yourself.
Coach Wooden liked to quote a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “To thine
own self, be true.” His coaching philosophy wasn’t just a strategy to
win games; it flowed directly out of his deepest beliefs about life.
John Wooden not only believed in the principles of success he instilled
in his players, he also exemplified them. He inspired loyalty because
his players knew that he was the real deal—he authentically practiced
the values he professed.
3) Give loyalty to your people.
Leaders cannot demand loyalty; they have to earn it. However, leaders
should give 100% loyalty to their people from day one. People need to
feel your trust, care, and commitment to them. As Wooden wrote, “People
do not arrive at your doorstep with loyalty. It comes when those you
lead see and experience that your concern for their interests and
welfare goes beyond simply calculating what they can do for you—how you
can use them to your advantage.” Once you give loyalty, you open up the
channel to receive it in return.
Thought to Consider
In an economy where individuals bounce from job to job, quickly
moving in and out of relationships, how can a leader be expected to
build loyalty? Coach Wooden is proof that loyalty doesn’t take a decade
to develop. He led in a climate of constant turnover, where players
stayed only a few years, at most, before graduating and moving on. To
inspire loyalty, a leader simply must dare to go against the grain of
contemporary business culture. Look to invest in people rather than to
wring productivity out of them. Instead of asking, “what have you done
for me lately?” inquire: “what can I do to add value to you?”
Read the full article and others from John Maxwell online.
