Be Quick - But Don't Hurry: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime

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 twelve years. His UCLA teams won with quickness and 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.

An all-city high school player in Los Angeles, Hill played -- a little -- in three national championships, from 1970 to 1972. Hill was upset at how unequally Wooden treated his starting players, and clashed with Wooden over a variety of social political issues.

Hill went on to a successful career in television, rising to the presidency of CBS Productions. And one day, some twenty-five years after graduating from USLA, he realized that everything he knows about getting the best out of his people he had learned directly from Coach John Wooden.

Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! tells the story of their renewed friendship while sharing the lessons and secrets that hold the key to managing creativity in the idea-driven economy of the twenty first century. Full of sound advice and warm reminiscence, this is the management book of a lifetime.

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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.

In fact, I have implemented a few of his lessons into my life already, and it has made quite a difference. In a band I have gotten together, I have gone for talent, in keeping with rule #1 "The team with the best players always wins". I have gotten the best singer, the best metal guitarist and the most unique drummer. It's incredible that Wooden's teachings even apply to a heavy metal band, something at the opposite end of his spectrum. Whenever I am selected to be in a leadership position I skim this book to better prepare myself to succeed. The way these "secrets" apply to every aspect of life where success is an issue is awe inspiring.