{"id":27108,"date":"2021-01-20T14:06:45","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T22:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=27108"},"modified":"2021-01-20T14:06:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-20T22:06:45","slug":"leaders-learn-leaders-teach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/leaders-learn-leaders-teach\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders Learn: Leaders Teach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was September 2006. Wooden was not quite ninety-six years old. Even at his advanced age, he was still a student of the world eager to collect one more crumb of wisdom that he could dispense to the next friend, interviewer, former player or stranger who came calling.\u201d[1]<\/a> John Wooden believed in the importance of personal growth. Seth David the author of Wooden: A Coach\u2019s Life<\/em> when visiting John at his apartment observed, \u00a0\u201cThe first thing you notice were the books. Big books, little books, picture books, children\u2019s books, art books, religious books, coaching books, sports books, fiction books, \u00a0\u00a0 science books. Before I walked through the door, they were there to greet me in tall neat piles in the front hallway. The books were stacked on floors, lines up on tables, piled on desks, jammed into bookcases.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Reading is a critical part of leadership. Why read unless you\u2019re willing to impart what you read into others. As you grow older, reading does have its benefits but, it seems to be a waste of knowledge and wisdom if it isn\u2019t first processed internally and then shared. There are plenty of articles that show that as we grow older reading improves our \u201ccognitive health\u201d it improves our memory and helps create a healthy mental focus.[3]<\/a> For John Wooden reading was more than a process to keep his mind sharp. Despite his title as \u201cCoach\u201d his primary job in his mind was to educate others. In other words, John Wooden was a teacher first and coach second. In his mind \u201ceffective leaders are, first and foremost, good teachers.\u201d[4]<\/a> Every leader is in the teaching business no matter what his environment. For Wooden his calling was clear. Teach those under his care \u201cto perform to the best of their ability in ways that best served the goals of our team.\u201d[5]<\/a> Every leader should have a similar mindset. Their responsibility isn\u2019t just to the individual but to the team as well. Each person plays a role, and a leader helps that person play their role to the best of their ability.<\/p>\n

The value of being a well-read leader is that creative ideas can be gained that can spawn innovation. It allows a leader to stand on the shoulders of others and learn from other\u2019s experiences. Reading can also broaden one\u2019s understanding creating a level of empathy for others.[6]<\/a> Let\u2019s face it. A leader can only gain so much experience throughout life. By reading and interacting with other leaders our foundations are strengthened and our ability to lead is broadened. For John Wooden learning was part of who he was. \u201cBen Franklin made this observation about a fellow he had known in Philadelphia: \u201cThe man died at 25, but he wasn\u2019t buried until 75.\u201d Mr. Franklin was describing a man who stopped learning early on.\u201d Wooden continues \u201cTo excel as a coach and leader you must be a good teacher: to excel as a teacher, leader, and coach, you must remain a student who keeps learning.\u201d[7]<\/a> When does a leader die? If they refuse to continue to learn they die much younger than they should despite how long their life is. Yet for others like John Wooden because he was a lifelong learner his leadership will live on through the lives of those he poured his life and knowledge into. What we learn effects how we live and how we live effects those around us. What we do with what we know matters, as long as, we are willing to give it away!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Seth Davis, Wooden: A Coach\u2019s Life<\/em> (New York: St. Martin\u2019s Press, 2014),1.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[2] Seth Davis, Wooden: A Coach\u2019s Life, 1.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a>[3] https:\/\/www.sunriseseniorliving.com\/blog\/february-2019\/5-benefits-of-reading-as-you-grow-older.aspx#:~:text=Reading%20requires%20you%20to%20focus,with%20and%20meet%20new%20people.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> John Wooden and Steve Jamison, Wooden on Leadership <\/em>(New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), 92.<\/p>\n

<\/a>[5] John Wooden and Steve Jamison, Wooden on Leadership, 92.<\/em><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/www.business.com\/articles\/why-leaders-need-to-read\/<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> John Wooden and Steve Jamison, The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and Leadership<\/em> (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007), 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt was September 2006. Wooden was not quite ninety-six years old. Even at his advanced age, he was still a student of the world eager to collect one more crumb of wisdom that he could dispense to the next friend, interviewer, former player or stranger who came calling.\u201d[1] John Wooden believed in the importance of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1883,1227,35],"class_list":["post-27108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dmin-lgp10","tag-john-wooden","tag-leadership","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27109,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27108\/revisions\/27109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}