Temecula, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/14/2017 -- Nearly two decades ago, Lynn Guerin had the incredible good fortune to meet, work with, be mentored by, and develop a business partnership with legendary UCLA basketball coach, author and philosopher John R. Wooden. What began as a project and consultation to help Toyota Motor Sales USA launch The University of Toyota and teach managers and their retail dealers how to be more effective coaches turned into a lifelong purpose, passion and personal pursuit to spread the wisdom and life lessons of America's greatest coach and teacher to as many business, education, government and coaching professionals as possible.

John R. Wooden, coach to the likes of 9 consensus All- Americans like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Walt Hazzard, Gail Goodrich, Bill Walton, Jamal Wilkes, Dave Myers and others, left a monumental legacy.

He has been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championships within twelve years—seven in a row, with four undefeated seasons. He was awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom and had college basketball's highest award named after him. He co-authored 19 books – 14 in his 80s and 90s.

But perhaps the greatest contribution Wooden left behind was his renowned "Pyramid of Success". This work represents the most powerful, insightful and effective blueprint for achieving personal and team success ever developed. Mr. Guerin's assessment is based on 35 years of coaching, consulting and training many of America's top companies and studying and teaching the tenets, behaviors and principles of The Pyramid for the past 18 years.

The Wooden Way – according to Mr. Guerin – is "The Way" for an individual or an organization to achieve their full potential. As Coach Wooden believed and practiced – to become the best you are capable of comes down a few critical fundamentals:

- Have a set of core values and philosophy that defines who you are and provides the filter for everything you do.

- Know and communicate clearly and constantly your vision for true team and personal success

- Conduct a comprehensive and periodic assessment of the quality of your performance and the vitality of your team culture.

- Provide rigorous, inspiring, enthusiastic and constant training using your teachable point of view on the most important fundamentals.

- Sweat the details, encourage, model, and reward maximum effort, positive attitude and precise execution, each and every day. "Make each day your masterpiece".

The John R Wooden Course assists corporations, organizations, teams and individuals to define, develop, execute and sustain these success fundamentals using a very robust set of tools, implementation strategy and program delivery methodology. These include: Team Success Assessments – 4 different coaching skills and leadership forums and workshops – Foundations and Fundamentals, True Success Behavior, Head Coach, and Championship Culture. Also, there is The JRW Team Camp Experience, Wooden's Wisdom – a five year coaching video and application newsletter as well as custom tools like coaching guides and teachers kits, Fat Head Pyramid wall graphics, Pyramid and Team personal laminates, and wallet character cards to name a few.

A recent one day John R Wooden Team Camp took place in Anaheim, California in November, 2016 bringing together executives, teachers and principals from 3 area counties and organizations like Wells Fargo Bank, Arris Corp, JRC Industries, ES3 Corporation and the U.S. Navy.

Participants shared these comments:

"The world needs more examples of good character. Loved the balance between class and active learning. I will recommend this to my colleagues and all my team members."

"The core message is so very positive. The Pyramid of Success is a goal of mine to reach. The class and lessons on the basketball floor all come together so well."

"This course was everything I thought and hoped it would be. Thank you for sharing your love, passion and enthusiasm for Coach Wooden and his lessons. This information is so fundamentally sound."

"Where else can you find 14 years of brilliant thinking, insightful design, and extraordinary understanding of human behavior on one sheet of paper?"

How did The Pyramid of Success come about?

Wooden's father Joshua had taught him: "Never try to be better than someone else, but never cease to be the best you can be." He remembered this – along with a short poem he had seen: "At God's footstool to confess, a poor soul knelt and bowed his head. I failed, he cried. The master said: thou did thy best. That is success."

Add to these lessons, Coach Wooden's frustration as a young teacher with the grading system at the school in which he taught, and the attitude of parents at the school not understanding how their child could ever earn anything lower than a B or an A.

Out of these experiences, the young teacher in 1934 began his construction of The Pyramid of Success by writing his own personal definition of "success".

"Success is peace of mind attained only through self- satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable." From the definition, which he put at the apex of his pyramid design, came 25 carefully placed, painstakingly defined "blocks" of personal characteristics and human behavior that were necessary for an individual or a team to achieve success based on his personal definition.

At the cornerstones, he placed industriousness and enthusiasm. Completing the foundation were friendship, loyalty and cooperation. Up to the second tier, he placed self-control, alertness, initiative and intentness. At the 3rd tier came condition, skill, and team spirit. Moving to tier four he put poise and confidence in place. Next came the peak, competitive greatness, "the enjoyment of a difficult challenge and being your best when your best is needed". A final challenge he met was how to cement all these strong behaviors together. Coach Wooden got the idea for "mortar"-five blocks up both the right and left side of the pyramid which would solidify the other 15 behavioral blocks. On the left came ambition, adaptability, resourcefulness, fight and faith – 5 characteristics representing "the force of the human spirit". On the right side were placed sincerity, honesty, reliability, integrity, and patience-5 final characteristics standing as "the strength of human character".

The Pyramid of Success was now complete. It was 1948 and, for the next six decades, this extraordinary body of work guided the day to day actions and thinking of Coach John Wooden who went on to produce the greatest sports dynasty in college athletics and influenced the personal success of hundreds of thousands of people nationwide.

The Pyramid of Success also became the centerpiece for the John R. Wooden Course, and a core component of a professional development process and system known as "The Wooden Way".

As a result of growing demand Lynn Guerin and his partner Craig Impelman (a member of the Wooden Family, former UCLA basketball coach, executive and author of Wooden's Wisdom [developed originally for NABC-National Association of Basketball Coaches, already used by over 40,000 coaches, executives, managers and teachers]) are responding to multiple requests by life coaches, performance improvement consultants, leadership and team culture development firms to join in the mission of bringing the wisdom, life lessons and exemplary character and coaching model of John Wooden to a much larger business, education, personal and professional audience.

In Mr. Guerin's view, "There has never been a time when there was more of a need for a humble, high character, servant leader, role model as a mentor and coach for current and future generations."

In April 2017 (24th-28th), The John R Wooden Course will be conducting a five day Wooden Coaching Certification event in Temecula California. This Wooden Way immersion experience will offer participants the opportunity to learn, to teach and to coach using the complete curriculum, tools and processes that made Coach John Wooden an American treasure, as a coach, teacher, leader, philosopher and speaker.

This experience is meant for those professionals who want to start, develop and/or build their own business or practice. It is also meant for leaders, teachers, coaches, managers and professionals who want to make a greater impact in their company, school, community and family.

"If you have a passion for being your best, serving, coaching, teaching, and helping others to be their best, at a time when everyone's best has never been more needed, this will provide a personal and professional platform for you to create influence and impact", stated Mr. Guerin.

To learn more, visit http://www.woodencourse.com or contact Mr. Lynn Guerin by email at lg@woodencourse.com or by phone at either 714-505-7500 or 714-349-5966 (cell).

About The John R. Wooden Course
The John R. Wooden Course is a professional success development process and methodology designed for individuals, teams, corporations and schools. The course content is based on the values, principles, life lessons and wisdom of legendary UCLA basketball coach, teacher, author and philosopher, John Robert Wooden.

www.woodencourse.com
714-505-7500
714-349-5966 cell