Coach Wooden is one of the great men of modern time who exemplified the balance of family, success and contribution. If you read any Coach Wooden book, this is the one I recommend.

This easy-to-read book begins at his foundation: family, values and virtues and then discusses and offers wisdom on the topics of success, achievement, competition and leadership.

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I've pulled some of my favorite quotes from the book to share with you:

• “Being a role model is the most powerful form of education.
• [People] need good models more than they need critics.”
• “[Happiness is] being at peace with yourself knowing that you are making the effort, the full effort, to do what is right.”
• “’Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.’ If you prepare properly, you may be outscored but you will never lose.”
• “Leaders Listen.” “I feel that hard public criticism embarrasses people, antagonizes them and may discourage them from being receptive to your message.”
• “Success is peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”

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

We’re expanding our community outreach efforts through a new program called “Cydcor Cares”. Through this program our team members will volunteer and donate time to local organizations, such as food kitchens, literacy programs at public libraries, and “adopt” elementary schools, providing services such as tutoring, reading, music, and drama/coaching. Cydcor’s team members can also volunteer their expertise to business building programs in the community, such as interviewing, resume building, and career coaching.

We think it’s because of programs like this that Cydcor was named one of the Best Places to Work in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal both in 2008 and 2009.

Click here to read more about this program. .

We just announced our expansion into the retail industry. Cydcor will now be providing full service, seasonal support and niche product in-store marketing services.

After engaging with Cydcor, territory management teams and retail product experts collaborate with client staff to identify objectives and expectations, and then create and implement scalable, custom programs that translate customer engagement and service into sales.

Click here to read more about this announcement.

Join our team!  Cydcor is recruiting talented salespeople to support new in-store marketing initiatives.  Interested candidates should send a resume to retailjobs@cydcor.com.

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.