Be Quick - But Don't Hurry: Finding Success in the Teachings of a Lifetime [Hardcover]

Andrew Hill (Author), John Wooden (Contributor)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2001

Perhaps the least controversial sports honor in living memory was the selection of John Wooden as "Coach of the Century" by ESPN, honoring his ten NCAA basketball championships in a twelve-year stretch. His UCLA teams won with great centers and with small lineups, with superstars and with team effort, always with quickness, always with class. Wooden was a teacher first and foremost, and his lessons -- taught on the basketball court, but applicable throughout one's life -- are summarized in his famed Pyramid of Success.

Andrew Hill was one of the lucky young men who got to learn from Wooden in his favored classroom -- though that is hardly how Hill would have described it at the time. An all-city high school player in Los Angeles, Hill played -- a little -- on three national champions, from 1970 to 1972. Hill was left embittered by his experience at UCLA; he was upset at how unequally Wooden treated his starting players and his substitutes.

Hill went on to a successful career in television, rising to the presidency of CBS Productions, where he was responsible for the success of such popular series as Touched by an Angel and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Hill's job required him to manage many creative people, with the egos and insecurities that usually go along with such talents. And one day, some twenty-five years after he graduated, he was hit with the realization that everything he knew about getting the best out of people he had learned directly from Coach John Wooden.

With no small trepidation, Hill picked up the phone to call and thank his old coach and unexpected mentor. To his surprise, Wooden greeted him warmly and enthusiastically. A strong friendship, sealed in frequent visits and conversations, ensued, and endures.

Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! tells the story of that friendship. But it also shares the lessons and secrets that Hill learned from Coach Wooden, which hold the key to managing creatively in the idea-driven economy of the twenty-first century. Among those lessons are:

• The team with the best players almost always wins
• Be quick, but don't hurry: there is never enough time to be sure (and if you are sure, you're probably too late), but you must always keep your balance
• Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
• The team that makes the most mistakes...wins!

Full of sound advice and warm reminiscence, Be Quick -- But Don't Hurry! is the management book of a lifetime.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

John Wooden was named ESPN's Coach of the Century for the way he led his UCLA basketball team to the top of the sporting world in the 1960s and '70s. Andrew Hill was a rebellious and sparingly used reserve on the squad before becoming a successful television executive. While it's doubtful that either would have predicted it at the time, the lessons imparted on the court by Wooden eventually helped Hill reach the top of his profession. And in Be Quick--but Don't Hurry, named for one of the legendary coach's ubiquitous aphorisms, the now-grateful protégé translates that sage advice into 21 "secrets" that may help others realize similar accomplishments. Like the title, the counsel can usually be boiled down into short expressions that are deceptively simple. Examples include "Focus on effort, not winning," "Balance is EVERYTHING," "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail," and "The team with the best players almost always wins." To show their relevance and power, Hill fleshes them out with solid examples from the hardwood as well as the business world. And with the track record Wooden has compiled, who are we not to take them seriously? --Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly

When Hill, a television executive, played basketball at UCLA during the 1970s, he became one of only 200 men to play for Wooden, the winningest coach in college basketball history. The two constantly engaged in verbal sparring (e.g., on his first day, Hill suggested that Wooden cancel practice in protest against the Vietnam War, and Wooden retaliated that Hill could choose not to come to practice that day or ever, but only Wooden would decide whether to cancel a practice). Some 20 years later, Hill had an epiphany and began visiting his old coach, developing a deep friendship reminiscent of the one described by Mitch Albom in Tuesdays with Morrie. For Hill, it yielded new revelations based on Wooden's famous "pyramid of success," constructed of precepts such as "keep it simple" and "teamwork is not a preference, it's a necessity." Hill's writing is clean and clear, and his respect and admiration for Wooden are apparent. But as a tribute to a coach, the book will have limited appeal. As a life and business mentoring book, it falls short because the advice isn't particularly insightful or original. Hill neglects to explain to his readers how the principles build upon each other, and the examples focus only on Hill's professional life without discussing other business arenas. Although Wooden's name and the book's price make this an appealing gift, sports fans and business leaders interested in Wooden's "pyramid of success" will benefit more from Brian D. Biro's Beyond Success (Forecasts, Dec. 4). Agents, Christy Fletcher and Chris Silbermann, Carlisle & Co.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (March 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743213882
• ISBN-13: 978-0743213882
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, Wooden's magic is nailed! March 28, 2001

By Lynn Shackelford

Format:Hardcover

As a former UCLA basketballer under John Wooden, I have been waiting for someone to summarize his "secrets." In a quick and articulate read, Andy Hill has done it! Now when someone asks what made Wooden so great, I can tell them to read this book. Former Wooden players are honored to have played for him, but more importantly we implement his philosophy daily. I suppose many college athletes are influenced by their coaches, but everday in everything they do? Interesting, sitting on the bench and thinking he did little, Andy Hill now stands tall among the former Bruin hoopsters. Lynn Shackelford 67-69

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For Teachers, Managers, Basketball Fans, Men and Their Wives February 24, 2001

By Barbara Rosove

Format:Hardcover

Be Quick But Don't Hurry is not only a great and quick read, but Andy Hill's application of the 23 "Secrets" (Wooden's Pyramid of success)that Coach John Wooden utilized in coaching the most successful teams in the history of college basketball are transferable to teaching, business, the non-profit sector, management and even friendships. Hill's touching relationship with Wooden speaks to the lives of any man who thinks of his own father, for better and worse. After 30 years, Hill recognized that his own personal success in business was fundamentally influenced by what the Coach taught him and his team mates. This book can be of good use by teachers, clergy (of which I am one), managers in large and small business, students, athletes, men and their wives who want to better understand their husband's relationships not only with other men, but more importantly with their fathers.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Egotistical Former Player Pays Back Wooden With Condemnation August 12, 2009

By Mediaman

Format:Hardcover

This book is not a true tribute to Coach Wooden--instead an egotistical former player slams the coach repeatedly, then steals the coach's keys to success to make money in this management advice book.

You'll be shocked to read the first 1/4 of the book, where the former player reveals all the bad things about Coach Wooden. Hill was the anti-war rebel who fought team rules and here he portrays the coach as a backwards right-winger who didn't care for anyone but the top starters. At one point the author even goes out of his way to write, "It is important for you to have a clear picture of this seemingly simple man who many have made out to be almost saintly. John Wooden is not a saint."

What, then, is the purpose of this book? Hill steals the basic Pyramid of Success foundations that Wooden taught and applies them to business management. So even though the author has a great dislike of the coach (at one point even calling it "hate"), as an adult Hill had an "epiphany" where he could use everything the coach taught him and turn it into a book.

It's disgustingly ego-centric. The author was a nothing basketball player on Wooden's team who barely ever played, but he sets himself up as one of the few people in history to ever "play" on three national championship teams (though almost all of it was sitting on the bench and fighting with the coach). He went on to work for CBS--no surprise since the attitude of pretty much everyone who ever worked there is that of an egotistical jerk. There is absolutely no humility on the part of the author, which was one of the keys to Wooden's success.

There may be some lessons to be learned from some of the examples given in the book, but how Wooden ever agreed to be a part of this book will be beyond anyone who reads the first 60 pages. This isn't a loving tribute to a favorite coach--this is an initial hatchet job on the coach with analysis throughout as to the validity of the coach's philosophy. Hill could have handled it with much more class and self-introspection because in most of the examples given the immature, know-it-all Hill was the one causing his own bad situations.

It's difficult to listen to the valid points that are made when the author has shown himself to have so little character. Yes, in the end Hill reconciles with Wooden and says "thanks" to him--but that's as successful TV executive who still acts like he knows more than the coach. At one point near then end he again slams Wooden saying, "I've found it emotionally cathartic to learn that one person who knows that John Wooden was not perfect is Coach himself." OKAY, HILL--we get it already! You think Wooden wasn't perfect! Now what about yourself--can't you step forward and admit your own failings or put yourself down instead of insisting on condemning him??? The problem when the author played for UCLA wasn't the coach, it was the 20-year-old disrespectful jerk who uses faint praise in this book to get the coach back thirty years later.