This afternoon while waiting for the start of the Butler vs. VCU NCAA basketball game CBS aired a segment about legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Wooden’s teams won more national championships than any other men’s basketball team in history. The segment on CBS featured clips of Wooden (who passed away in December) talking about what he tried to teach and his former players Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul Jabbar sharing the lessons they learned from Wooden.

The CBS segment about Coach John Wooden reminded me of a TED Talk I watched a couple of years ago. In his TED Talk from 2001 Coach Wooden explains the difference between winning and success. If you have 18 minutes, watch and listen to this video. What strikes me most about Coach Wooden’s talk is his emphasis on teaching and developing character over winning. One of his three most important rules, “no criticizing of teammates, I’m paid to do that,” is a great rule that translates well to the classroom and the workplace.