Andy Hill wrote an excellent book entitled Be Quick–But Don’t Hurry with the legendary John Wooden, his former basketball coach at UCLA. For any manager or leader, Hill’s book is well worth reading. I did so for the first time over ten years ago. I came back to it again recently and find that it still holds up. I am especially interested in Wooden’s central motto, “Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry”. According to Hill, the primary physical attribute that Coach Wooden looked for when evaluating a player for the UCLA basketball teams was quickness. It’s hard to imagine a college or professional coach drawing that same conclusion today.
Hill goes on to condense and apply many of John Wooden’s principles of the Pyramid of Success as follows:
- The Team With the Best Players Almost Always Wins.
- Be Quick–But Don’t Hurry
- Focus on Effort, Not Winning
- Keep it Simple
- Make Your “Yes” Mean Yes
- Balance is Everything
- A Good Leader is First, and Foremost, a Teacher
- Game Time is When the Coaches Job is Almost Over
- A Great Leader Cannot Worry About Being Well Liked
- Great Leaders Give Credit to Others and Accept Blame for Themselves
- Seek Consistency, Avoid Peaks, and Valleys
- Fairness is Giving all People the Treatment they Earn and Deserve
- The Team that Makes the Most Mistakes–Wins
- Surround Yourself with Strong, Opinionated People
- Teamwork is not a Preference; it is a Necessity
- Rules are Made to be Followed, not Broken
- Concentrate on Your Team, not the Opposition
- Adjust to Your Players, Don’t Expect them to Adjust to You
- Failing to Prepare is Preparing to Fail
- Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect, Only Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
- Be Honest, Direct, and Willing to Risk it All for your Beliefs
When leading an organization or team, the “Be Quick, But Don’t Hurry” exhortation must be invoked, especially in larger institutions that, because of their size (and bureaucracies), are inclined to move more slowly. How many opportunities are lost because of the failure to be quick? The role of fundraising management or leadership in such organizations is to encourage speed of decision making and execution, while at the same time being prudent.