Be Quick - But Don't Hurry

Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime

Andrew Hill, John Wooden

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9780743224215
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Management

Be Quick, But Don't Hurry presents the team-building management secrets of the greatest coach of the twentieth century, cloaked in the heartwarming tale of the reluctant protege who learned those secrets in spite of himself. Perhaps the least controversial sports honor in living memory was the selection of John Wooden as "Coach of the Century" by ESPN, honoring his ten NCAA basketball championships in a twelve-year stretch. His UCLA teams won with great centers and with small lineups, with superstars and with team effort, always with quickness, always with class. Wooden was a teacher first and foremost, and his lessons -- taught on the basketball court, but applicable throughout one's life -- are summarized in his famed Pyramid of Success.Andrew Hill was one of the lucky young men who got to learn from Wooden in his favored classroom -- though that is hardly how Hill would have described it at the time. An all-city high school player in Los Angeles, Hill played -- a little -- on three national champions, from 1970 to 1972. Hill was left embittered by his experience at UCLA; he was upset at how unequally Wooden treated his starting players and his substitutes.Hill went on to a successful career in television, rising to the presidency of CBS Productions, where he was responsible for the success of such popular series as Touched by an Angel and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Hill's job required him to manage many creative people, with the egos and insecurities that usually go along with such talents. And one day, some twenty-five years after he graduated, he was hit with the realization that everything he knew about getting the best out of people he had learned directly from Coach John Wooden.
With no small trepidation, Hill picked up the phone to call and thank his old coach and unexpected mentor. To his surprise, Wooden greeted him warmly and enthusiastically. A strong friendship, sealed in frequent visits and conversations, ensued, and endures. Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! tells the story of that friendship. But it also shares the lessons and secrets that Hill learned from Coach Wooden, which hold the key to managing creatively in the idea-driven economy of the twenty-first century. Among those lessons are: -The team with the best players almost always wins-Be quick, but don't hurry: there is never enough time to be sure (and if you are sure, you're probably too late), but you must always keep your balance-Failing to prepare is preparing to fail-The team that makes the most mistakes... wins! Full of sound advice and warm reminiscence, Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! is the management book of a lifetime.

II

—————

THE SECRETS

SECRET #1

——————

THE TEAM WITH THE BEST PLAYERS ALMOST ALWAYS WINS

I TOLD YOU that some of this would sound overly simple. But there are a couple of things to consider here that every manager must be aware of. First of all, identifying talent is a genuine skill. It’s true that UCLA had many highly sought-after high school recruits, but there were also plenty of players who weren’t on every coach’s must have list. Gail Goodrich was considered too small and frail by many college coaches; Keith Erickson was no high school All American; and Fred Slaughter was clearly too small to play major college center at only 6'5″. Yet all of these men were outstanding players for Coach Wooden because they fit perfectly within his system. Coach knew what qualities were needed to be successful within the system he ran. Talent can be measured in many ways, and it is vital that you prioritize so you know who will give you the best chance to succeed.Quickness under controlandteam attitudewere the two attributes that he always put at the top of his shopping list.

Coach was also not afraid to do things his own way. While almost every other coach would sit courtside toscout players, Coach Wooden sat in the corner of the gym at a 45 degree angle. He felt he could judge quickness better from there. It’s also true that while most coaches congregate in groups and form a group opinion, Coach Wooden was not interested in fraternizing with the competition; he only wanted his own assistants as company. Quickness was the one ingredient that Coach prized over everything else. When every coach in the country was pursuing Tom McMillen in the early 1970s, Coach Wooden was more interested in a quick, skinny redhead from San Diego named Bill Walton. McMillen went on to have a nice career at Maryland despite never playing in the NCAA tournament, and he eventually went on to the NBA before becoming a United States congressman. But Walton went on to become one of the greatest players of all time, and a cornerstone in the longest winning streak in college history.

Coach also believed strongly in references, not just from a high school player’s coach, but also from opposing high school coaches. In fact, he recently told me that he would query four or five opposing coaches about every player he recruited at UCLA. He believed this was far more important than even seeing the player in person. But he maintained total confidentiality about this referral system, which is how he was able to get honest opinions. High school coaches knew that they could share their assessments with him honestly and not get burned by being cited as the reason UCLA wasn’t recruiting a certain player. He not only wanted to know about their playing skills, but about their personal character, temperament, and ability to withstand pressure and adversity. Though he rarely visited players in their homes, on one of thesevisits to see a top high school star, he actually decided not to offer the boy a scholarship because he felt the young man was rude to his mother. Coach was happy to add that this fine player had gone to another school in the conference and played well against UCLA for three years, “But he never did beat us!” With Coach, character really did count

Quickness was the primary physical characteristic he sought, but naturally, he was looking for a combination of quickness and height. Realistically, that was a tough commodity to find in any abundance. But John Wooden knew what he was looking for, wasn’t afraid to ask others, and realized that compromise would often be part of the decision-making process. When I asked him who he thought were the best coaches he faced, he said without hesitation, “the ones with the best players.” He said it with a smile, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t serious.

So many top-level managers feel they can make do with mediocre employees as long as they ride them hard. What I learned from Coach is that you must have topnotch talent to succeed. Coach also used a number of interesting strategies to evaluate talent once practices began. In addition to giving his assistant coaches the opportunity to rank the players according to their own sense of where each player stood on the team, Coach also gave the players a rating form to fill out at the beginning of the season. Naturally, Coach eventually took all this input and made these decisions on his own, but giving everyone the sense of having a voice was a powerful tool. Coach would also occasionally “disappear” during practice. In fact, he never left the building; he would go high up into the dark recesses of Pauley Pavilion, where he couldwatch practice from a different angle and get a better sense of how individuals were fitting into the flow of the game. In short, Coach got as much information from as many different sources as he could—and then he alone made the call.

The ability to evaluate and recruit your “players” is something most managers understand. But there is a secondary corollary to this that is often overlooked, either intentionally or unintentionally. If you have made a mistake and recruited a player who turns out to lack the necessary skills, you have to correct your mistake. There were many high school All-Americans who came to Westwood hoping to play for the Bruins who didn’t make the grade. All Coach ever promised was a chance to play, after that it was up to you to perform or get cut. Some players with extraordinary raw talent came to Westwood hoping to be All-Americans, only to find that they couldn’t even make the team.

Sometimes you hire people thinking they’re talented, only to find out in short order that your judgment was flawed. This happens to everyone. The hard thing is admitting you were wrong and taking action. This means that you have to let people go who can’t cut it, and no one likes to fire people. The inability to face up to your mistakes and rectify them is the Achilles’ heel of many managers. Firing people is one of the most unpleasant tasks that any manager has to face, but if you aren’t prepared to take on the tough tasks, you shouldn’t be a manager. The good manager has no choice but to cut people from the squad if they just can’t play. You cannot expect to encourage teamwork in an organization where weak performers are allowed to keep their jobs.

One of the first movies I produced was a forgettable television film for ABC calledLadykillers.Not exactly the sort of picture you hope to be remembered for, but I did learn a valuable lesson that relates to firing people. Our production designer was supposedly hard at work on plans for the sets he intended to build, and I was looking forward to going over the plans with him before he started construction. Imagine my surprise when he walked in my office and asked me to go over to the soundstage to look at the sets he had already built. When I asked him why he hadn’t shown me the plans, he claimed to have misunderstood my directions. “Besides,” he said, “you’re gonna love these sets!” I felt like blasting him on the spot, but I held my tongue with the hope that he was right and I was indeed going to love the sets. But when I saw what had been built, I was very unhappy. When I came back to my office, the director came in to see me. One look at my face and he could tell I was upset. When I described what had happened, he immediately said we should fire the production designer and get a new one. I made a couple of weak excuses as to why we shouldn’t act so precipitously, but the fact is I just didn’t want to go through the unpleasantness of sending this production designer home. The director then explained that while it was fine that I did not want to fire this man, my jobdemandedthat I do it. Being the boss is not always doing what you want. I went to see the designer, fired him, and hired a new designer the next day. The sets were built on time and on budget—and the rest of the crew knew thatthisproducer was serious about following orders.

Finding the right talent can truly be the difference between huge success and total failure. A perfect example ofthat happened when we received an order to begin to produce the series based on a pilot calledTouched by an Angel.The writer-producer who created the show was truly talented, and had done some great work on previous series. But in the process of doing the pilot, it became obvious that he was still struggling with his own belief in a higher power, and would have a very tough time doing a weekly show that focused on faith. The early predictions for the program were so negative that many people felt it would be yanked off the schedule after only one or two episodes had aired. Yet this show was his baby, and replacing him seemed like a heartless act. At the same time, we knew that a woman who had worked with CBS Productions on some other programs was a perfect fit forTouched by an Angel.Martha Williamson had a deep personal belief, a wonderful sense of humor, and a boundless imagination. After much soul searching, we decided to bring Martha in as the new writer-producer. It was painful for all involved. In hindsight, this was probably the best decision any of us ever made, since the program has now run for many years and is a cornerstone of the CBS schedule. I should also point out that the creator of the program retained a healthy profit participation in the series, and ended up making a lot of money. So, fortunately, this worked out for everyone. But being the boss sometimes calls for decisions that may seem heartless or unfeeling. Never forget that without the right players on your team, your chances of winning at anything are extremely slim. The leader who recognizes great talent and does not tolerate poor personnel will always succeed.

SECRET #2

——————

BE QUICK—BUT DON’T HURRY!

“BE QUICK—BUT DON’T HURRY! is a phrase that every Bruin player heard constantly. Over and over, day after day, Coach would briefly stop practice, and in sharp, staccato tones, with just a hint of an Indiana twang, snap out, “Be quick—but don’t hurry!” It was Coach’s mantra. Oftentimes, Coach would crouch down in a defensive stance and move his hands like a lightning-fast magician as he repeated this saying. At times it almost became a joke, but after a while, you began to understand exactly what he meant. Life, like basketball, must be played fast—butneverout of control. Coach says, “If you hurry, you’re more likely to make mistakes; but if you’re not quick, you won’t get things done. It’s like a surgeon who comes upon things that are unexpected. If he isn’t capable of responding quickly he may lose a patient. If an attorney isn’t a quick thinker, he could lose a case.” It’s hard to argue with that statement.

Coach’s first real exposure to the value of quickness came from his early friendship with legendary Notre Dame football coach Frank Leahy. Leahy took a liking to the young John Wooden when Coach was teaching atSouth Bend High School, and Leahy gave him an open invitation to attend Notre Dame football practices. The quickness with which the Notre Dame players shifted from one drill to another as soon as the whistle blew and an order was barked out made a strong impression on Wooden. He also observed that these great Notre Dame teams were actually lighter than most of their opponents, but prevailed because of their superior quickness, agility, and precision. Leahy’s practices were short and efficient, and Wooden’s practices followed the same pattern. It is interesting that Notre Dame football had a profound impact on the future success of the UCLA basketball program; Frank Leahy’s lessons stayed with Coach Wooden for a lifetime.

Coach’s emphasis on quickness revealed itself in many ways. When the UCLA team started to use the fullcourt press in the early 1960s, this tactic was almost nonexistent in college basketball. John Wooden’s Bruins were ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Colophon
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• I.
• II.
• III.
• Afterword
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix