A great man passed away on Friday. He was a teacher disguised as a basketball coach. Although I was never on any of his teams and only met him briefly, he was a big influence on my life.

Coach Wooden was voted by sports writers as the greatest coach of any sport in the 20th century. His UCLA teams won 10 national championships, by far the most ever. But it was not these successes alone that made him such an amazing man. It was his values and what he stood for: the importance of marriage and family, character and integrity, sacrifice and teamwork. Preparation, preparation and more preparation. Focus on the effort and not on the results.

A must read is "Wooden- A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court" by Coach Wooden with Steve Jamison. It is an easy read, where it is best only to read a page or two at a time. You will learn what it takes to be successful and how to have a meaningful life.

Two things that stick out most in my mind about Coach Wooden. One, some of his players say what they learned most from Coach Wooden is how to be a good husband by his example of how he was to his beloved wife Nellie. Two, the amount of preparation he put in to each practice; more time to prepare for the practice than the time it took to conduct the practice. I hope I learned these lessons well. The most important thing I can teach is how to be a husband and father; and, to maximize success, prepare, prepare, prepare.

May he rest in peace and always be in our hearts.

-Gary

Last night, in Game 5 of the Lakers vs. Suns, Ron Artest made a heroic shot with no time on the clock to win the game.  I was fortunate to be at the game and see this exciting play in person.

Before that shot, Artest was the goat.  He had a horrible game.  With about 57 seconds left on the clock he made a bad decision in taking a shot and was booed by the crowd.  Phil Jackson, the Lakers coach, who rarely criticizes players during games, spoke to Artest during a time out about his decision.

Artest did not get discouraged however.  He did not stop believing in himself and he did not hang his head.   Instead he focused on the next play and made what he said was the biggest play of his career.

The lesson here is that we all make mistakes.  We all embarrass ourselves by our poor decisions at one time or another. But it's the winners that never stop believing and always focus on the next play.

If you missed this shot check it out on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xax1FRfHV40

Making mistakes is all part of doing business.  Just ask Louis B. Mayer and Frank Capra.

Mayer, who built one of the greatest Hollywood studios ever – Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) – turned down Walt Disney when the young, struggling Walt came to him with an idea of making a movie about a mouse.  Mayer said women were afraid of mice, and that no one would ever pay money to see a film about them.

Frank Capra, the legendary movie director of It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, turned down a friend’s request to cast a then struggling actor because he didn’t think she was anything special.  Marilyn Monroe went on to become a big star.

You might say these were colossal blunders.

How can people who make such big mistakes be so successful?  They did a lot right, too.

There is nothing wrong in making mistakes.  If you are going to make things happen, you will litter the ground with mistakes.  It is part of the process.  The successful people do not let the mistakes hurt them, they just keep moving forward.