Issue 729 - Champions Go Beyond Responsibility

Issue 729 - Champions Go Beyond Responsibility — They Assume Accountability


Wooden's Wisdom - Volume 13	Issue 729
Craig Impelman Speaking \| Championship Coaches \| Champion's Leadership Library Login
CHAMPIONS GO BEYOND RESPONSIBILITY — THEY ASSUME ACCOUNTABILITY John Wooden Video Clip (83 sec.): Coach Wooden is asked: "Could you share your perspective on competitive greatness?" Great poem recited by Coach. There is a major difference between just doing what you are told and doing what is needed. Responsibility is completing the assignment. Accountability is owning the result. Coach Wooden was never satisfied with just meeting the requirements of an assignment. He put it this way : "While others will judge you strictly in relation to somebody or something else—the final score, the bottom line, or a championship—this is neither the most demanding nor the most productive standard." Coach Wooden’s said : "Success is peace of mind attained only through self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable." He defined accountability as best effort not just meeting your responsibilities. A perfect example of this difference happened in the 1970 National Championship game against Jacksonville University and their 7'2" All-American center, Artis Gilmore. Before the game, Coach Wooden instructed Sidney Wicks to defend Gilmore by playing three-quarters in front and denying the entry pass. Wicks did exactly what he was told. He fulfilled his responsibility. And it wasn’t working at all. Gilmore was scoring easily, and UCLA fell behind early. Responsibility was being met, but the outcome was failing. This is where champions separate themselves. During a timeout, Wicks stepped forward and told Coach Wooden the strategy wasn’t working. Then he proposed something bold and unconventional: let Gilmore catch the ball and block his shot afterward. Wicks wasn’t defying instructions, he was assuming accountability. His responsibility was to deny the pass but he took accountability to stop Artis Gilmore from scoring. Some would call that "above and beyond". Coach Wooden called it: "the effort to do the best of which you are capable." Wicks returned to the court and blocked six of Gilmore’s shots. Gilmore finished nine for twenty-nine. UCLA won its sixth national title, 80–69. Responsibility means doing your part. Accountability means improving the outcome. Do you improve outcomes? Click here for personal development exercise: Issue 729. Click here for Printable Poetry: Issue 729. Yours in Coaching, Craig Impelman www.woodenswisdom.com Follow @woodenswisdom	COACH'S FAVORITE POETRY AND PROSE Selfishness Search history, my boy, and see What petty selfishness has done. Find if you can one victory That little minds have ever won. There is no record there to read Of men who fought for self alone, No instance of a single deed Splendor they may proudly own. Through all life's story you will find The miser—with his hoarded gold— A hermit, dreary and unkind, An outcast from the human fold. Men hold him up to view with scorn, A creature by his wealth enslaved, A spirit craven and forlorn, Doomed by the money he has saved. No man was ever truly great Who sought to serve himself alone, Who put himself above the state, Above the friends about him thrown. No man was ever truly glad Who risked his joy on hoarded pelf, And gave of nothing that he had Through fear of needing it himself. For selfishness is wintry cold, And bitter are its joys at last, The very charms it tries to hold, With woes are quickly overcast. And only he shall gladly live, And bravely die when God shall call, Who gathers but that he may give, And with his fellows shares his all. Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959)
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