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John Wooden was a legendary basketball coach at UCLA who is famous for developing the Pyramid of Success almost sixty-seven years ago. Wooden’s famous philosophies that surrounds coaching and life have been incorporated in the minds of his former players how have dedicated themselves to living in such a way. The pyramid of success was not created keeping just basketball in mind but it was Wooden’s aim to develop a new definition of success. Wooden describes his definition of success as having a peace of mind which is considered to be the diret resultant of satisfaction of one’s self by knowing that they have made the effort to become the best at what they are capable of. The paper will attempt to determine the extent to which Wooden’s Pyramid of Success fits into the environment of today’s business.
The Wooden Pyramid of Success can be used to build a strong organization by building fundamentals and then train to promote these fundamentals from within the organization. Several principles that have been developed by Wooden can be implemented into today’s business world in order to build a strong and lasting organization. It needs to start with the highest point on the organization’s hierarchical level. The head of the organization needs to learn and implement the principles of the base of the pyramid which are: industriousness, loyalty, friendship, cooperation, and enthusiasm. The head of the organization needs to first believe that the organization and the training that is provided is competent which is seen in the organizational structure that is established at Microsoft. The leader needs to remain positive when it comes to molding employees in their organization to believe as much as themselves. The second level of the Pyramid of Success, known as: Self-Control, Alterness, Initiative, and Intentness. The head of the organization is responsible for making decisions and they should not let their emotions get in the way of what is best for the organization. As seen in the case of Valley, a former player of Wooden who owns a business and coped with the death of his daughter while conducting business (Edelhauser, 2007). Wooden stresses that knowing the people that work under you can help them in understanding how to care for organization as a whole rather than for their own interests. The last level of the pyramid, level 5: Competitive Greatness, is what leads many organizational leaders to produce and the lead in the best way. This can be seen in the continuous leadership competition that is held by the companies Samsung and Apple when it comes to the production of smart phone, with both companies have competitive leadership the integrates that Wooden’s Pyramid of Success in to the organization’s lasting stance in the market.
My personal leadership style is a mix of participative and transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is that the idea that the team members agree to obey the leader once they have accepted to take on the job. This leadership style clarifies each individual’s roles and responsibilities during the course of the project. It also judges team members on their performance. Democratic or participative leadership on the other hand is the inclusion of team members in the decision-making process. This gives encouragement to creativity and the members of the team are highly engaged in the project and the decisions. This causes team members to have higher job satisfaction are become more productive because they are involved in the decisions of the project. Since the team members feel more in control of their destiny, they are motivated to work harder without the just the use of a financial reward. This mix of leadership style is coherent to the Wooden Pyramid of Success philosophy it induces all team members to look for their success and givens confidence to the team members through the leadership style described. It eliminates the aspect of self-doubt in team members which is a significant cause of failure. The level 3 of the pyramid: Condition Skill and Team Sprit builds on the leadership styles described, as it alleviates pressure which makes many team members struggle to achieve their success and the ultimate success.
The most agreeable points of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success are Level 3 and Level 5. Level 3; Condition Skill and Team Spirit highlight the needed qualities in leadership and the team to meet both individual and organizational success. If co-workers bring one of the team members down due to an error, then the individual will feel more pressure to perform which may cause an increase in errors and a decrease in self confidence. Therefore, the leadership needs to main and teach the team a sense of camaraderie in order to succeed. Level 5 deals with competitive greatness, without competitive leadership, organizations are less likely to survive with the intense amount of competition in the market for every industry. The philosophy of patience that is involved in the success of the pyramid is somewhat disagreeable; this is because it has become difficult to maintain a constant level of firm patience in the economic conditions that many people are facing (Bloomberg, 2009).
If a project crisis were to occur, self-directed project team members can use the Wooden’s Pyramid of Success to deal with the crisis. First, the team members must have faith in the process of the project and believe that they are sold on it. The team members need to look at the positive aspects of the project first, and give positive comments. Second, the team member should not let emotions take control of their decision making sense and should not be slow to act as well. There needs to be a decision made on the best course of actions. Third, team members need to make sure that the goal that they wish to attain is clear and coherent with their actions. Fourth, all team members should come together to discuss the goal and the plan of action. Lastly, a leader is appointed who will execute the plan of action in order to attain the goal and maintain the crisis.
Bloomberg. (2009). Leadership lessons from UCLA’s John Wooden. Bloomberg Business Week. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/may2009/ca20090520_806471.htm
Edelhauser, K. (2007). John Wooden’s pyramid still standing. The Entrepreneur. Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/176282-2
Johnson, N. J. (2003). The John wooden Pyramid of Success. New York, NY: Cool Titles.
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