Coach John Wooden Tribute with Steve Jamison

As we continue to pay tribute to John Wooden, we hear from a gentleman who's had the distinction of being his business partner, co-author and friend for over 15 years.

Steve Jamison is a best-selling author and America’s preeminent authority on the leadership philosophy of Coach John Wooden and joins me on the program to help reflect on Coach.


Steve has collaborated with Coach Wooden on projects including several best-selling books, an award-winning PBS television special, WOODEN: Values, Victory, and Peace of Mind,and numerous personal appearances.

Steve reflects on Coach Wooden's life and discusses the impact he's had on others, the significance of the Pyramid of Success and Steve will describe their final meeting.


Click below to listen to the interview.

See you on the court!

Coach John Wooden Tribute with Orlando Magic's Pat Williams

What's going on y'all!

It's been one year since the passing of legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden, so we take a moment to reflect by speaking with a gentleman who had the privilege of not only knowing him personally but wrote about him as well.

That's right!

Senior VP of the Orlando Magic, Pat Williams takes time out of his very busy the schedule and returns to the program to not only chat about the man named greatest coach of all time but also to fill us in on a book written in dedication of John Wooden.

It's called Coach Wooden: The 7 Principles That Shaped His Life and Will Change Yours.

When Coach Wooden graduated from the eighth grade his father gave him a hand written card and said, "Son, try and live up to this." On the card, his father had written seven simple yet profound life principles:

• Be True To Yourself
  
• Help Others
  
• Make Friendship a Fine Art
  
• Drink Deeply From Good Books, especially the Bible
  
• Make Each Day Your Masterpiece
  
• Build A Shelter Against A Rainy Day By The Life You Live
  
• Give Thanks For Your Blessings and Pray For Guidance Everyday
  

These principles were the key to Coach Wooden's greatness and his goodness. Through powerful stories and advice, this book shares the wisdom that made Coach Wooden happy and successful, not just in his career but in life.

Pat and I had a great chat and it was a wonderful opportunity to gain a better understanding of Coach Wooden and the principles he used to impact so many people.

Click here to listen to the interview.

"Coach Wooden didn't just teach basketball ---he taught life"

TONY DUNGY

See you on the court!

Shane Battier - The Ultimate Teammate

The regular season has ended and the 2011 NBA playoffs are in full swing! After an 82 game marathon, the top 16 teams head into the post season for an opportunity to compete for an NBA title and a chance to solidify their names as among the greats.


It's an exciting time for basketball fanatics like myself because the level of play and intensity immediately gets raised a few notches. With the increased stakes, everything that happens in the game matters even more. Every basket that's scored has significance, every play is dissected and each decision a player makes on the court is made with the intention of helping the team win.

My good friend, Don Yaeger recently highlighted one such "Ultimate Teammate" in his recent Moments of Greatness newsletter.

On April 17, 2011 Shane Battier hit a game winning shot to give his Memphis Grizzlies their first ever playoff win in franchise history (16 years). That win propelled the Grizz to become the second team in NBA history to upset the top-seed in a seven game first round playoff series.


When you take a step back and look at the entire picture, it's makes sense that Battier is the one who made the shot. And the thing is that it's got nothing to do with the fact that he's a superstar because by today's definition, he isn't.

This former Duke product has never lead any team that he's played on in scoring, never selected to play in an All Star and plays a very effective game with little to no flash.


The reason it makes sense that he hit that shot is because throughout his entire NBA career, Shane has had a history of making the teams he plays on better.

Case in point:

• After his rookie season, the Memphis franchise finished with back to back 40+ win seasons for the first time before he was traded to the Houston Rockets prior to the start of the 06/07 season.
• The Rockets went on to have three consecutive 50+ win seasons before he was traded back to Memphis just before the trade deadline this season.

The 6ft 8in small forward has a reputation throughout the league of being a hustle guy that's willing to do the little things like diving for loose balls or drawing offensive charges against his opponents.

These little things or Game Changers (Hard Court Lesson #6) can be the difference between winning and losing.

If you're on a team or part of a group, you have an opportunity to be that "Ultimate Teammate". Regardless how big or small, your actions can contribute to the team's bottomline.


In sports, they're called, "glue guys" because of their ability to pull everyone together through selfless team oriented play and willingness to sacrifice their own stats for the good of everyone else.

Shane is one of those guys, how about you?

PS - Click here to subscribe to Don's newsletter.

See you on the court!

Being a Better Leader in the Digital Age

With the ongoing changes taking place in this digital age, leadership styles must also adapt to not only these rapid advancements but also the multi-generational issues that exist between Baby Boomers and the Gen Y group.

We're being bombarded with new technology all the time and today's leaders must be fluid and adaptable to these changes if they hope to survive. The challenge becomes even greater when you add into the mix the ongoing generational differences out there.


Brad Szollose, author of 'Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Multi-generational Management Ideas That are Changing the Way We Run Things' joins HCL Radio to discuss these issues.

Brad outlines 7 credos in Liquid Leadership to help leaders adapt to these changes:

1. Place people first
2. Create a safe place to tell the truth
3. Nuture a creative enviorment
4. Support re-invention
5. Lead by example
6. Take responsibility
7. Leave a lasting legacy


He'll also discuss how the introduction of video games in the home 1977 coupled with the internet heavily influenced those that would go on to lead the Dot.com boom.

About Brad Szollose:

During the Dot Com Era of the early 90′s, Brad co-founded K2 Design, Inc. which later raised over $7 million through private placement and an IPO... [The company] saw 425% growth for 5 straight years, expanded from 2 business partners to 4 partners and 60+ employees with offices worldwide and valuated at over $26 million.

As as an added bonus, Brad will also share a free special report:

Cracking the Gen-Y Code: How They Think, How They Work & How They Buy!

All you have to do is email him to request a copy:

Brad@liquidleadership.com

Click below to listen to Brad.

See you on the court!

Making Dreams Come True

Being charitable and lending a hand to those around us is something we're all familiar with but helping so that others can meet their dreams takes the Good Samaritan philosophy to a whole new level.

The story of high school basketball coach, Jim Johnson and his equipment manager, Jason McElwain, (AKA J-Mac) is a great illustration of what this concept is all about.


On Feb. 15, 2006, Coach Johnson gave J-Mac an opportunity to play in the final game of the regular season by inserting him for the last four minutes.

And that's when a MIRACLE happened:



Jim Johnson joined me on HCL Radio to talk about the story that inspired the book, "A Coach and a Miracle".

As you'll hear from the coach, it's a story that provided hope and inspiration not to only those involved but to others as well.

Helping dreams come true does three things:

• It demonstrates kindness
• Reinforces the importance of our individual actions and the impact it can have on others
• Motivates people to help others.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. ~Sydney Smith

See you on the court!

Get In The Game and Take Action!

On Friday, February 4th, 2011, I was honoured to be the recipient of a Speakers Bureau Spirit Award from the United Way of Peel for being an outstanding ambassador for the United Way.

I was presented with the honour during its Community Achievement Celebration when the 2010 campaign total of $13,752,578 was announced.


As a member of the Speaker's Bureau, I would visit different workplace campaigns to encourage giving and to help increase awareness of how United Way funded programs support our community.

A key characteristic of leadership is recognizing when action needs to be taken and then actually doing something about it. I'm constantly reminded how true this is on a seemingly daily basis through the lessons provided by my six year old daughter who was diagnosed with autism.

Autism is a disorder of neural development and Jahleesa's speech has been severely delayed. While this can make communication challenging at times, she's also proved that our ability influence others isn't tied into the things we say, its the things we do that matter.

Leaders are the ones who take action when action is needed and the best part about it is that you don't have to be a professional speaker to make a difference.

Organizations like the United Way are always interested in people looking to make positive contributions and be leaders in their communities. If this is something that you've considered in the past but haven't acted on, I'd encourage you to do so.

It's not hard.

So stop hanging around the sidelines and

Get In The Game and Take Action!

See you on the court!

Influence Is Like Flowers and Candy

Without question, leadership and influence go hand in hand with another. The most effective leaders are those that posses the ability to lead those around them from one place to the next.


There are a variety of influence and persuasion principles at our disposal to help us with this but it's important that we properly read the situation and recognize which tool is most appropriate.

Here are the six main ones we can refer to:

Liking - People respond much more readily to people that they like, and even to the friends of people that they like. They feel comfortable if they see similarity or like the things that you’re associated with.

Scarcity - People get so much more interested in something if they feel that it’s about to run out.

Consistency & Commitment - People respond to others who are consistent in their messages. If you are constantly giving the same messages to people and acting in a consistent way, they will respond positively.

Social Proof - If people see others doing something, they assume that it must be okay to do it and therefore, they will be happier about doing it themselves.

Authority - People invariably act more positively if they have respect for the authority of the person who is giving them information.

Reciprocity - Reciprocation is about how, if you do something for somebody, they will feel obliged to do something for you, or they will at least feel better about doing something for you.

Flowers & Candy

“An earnest and sincere lover buys flowers and candy for the object of his affections. So does the cad who succeeds to take advantage of another’s heart. But when the cad succeeds, we don’t blame the flowers and candy. We rightly question his character.”

"The Art of Woo"

The principles of persuasion are as neutral as flowers and candy because they and can be used to influence people either positively or negatively. The tools themselves are neither good or bad, it's how they are put into practice.

Brian Ahearn joins HCL Radio to chat about the topic of influence and persuasion and explore these principles a bit further.

Brian has the distinction of being one of a handful of people trained by persuasion and influence expert, Dr. Robert Cialdini.

I asked Brian to comment on the connection between influence and leadership.

See you on the court!