Customer Reviews

Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership from the Twentieth Century's Greatest Winner

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mr. Russell and Mr. Falkner have combined to create a fascinating series of insights into the elements that turned Mr. Russell's competitive intelligence and zeal into a winning approach to basketball wherever Mr. Russell played or coached. Basically, the idea is to play your own role in such a way that the performance of the team versus its competition will be elevated. The book contains many riveting basketball and personal examples from Mr. Russell's life. There are also a number of business examples to help you apply these lessons to your own situation. Although the book advertises 11 rules, these are supplemented by three subrules for each rule. So, in total, you get 44 rules. Although it's more than you will easily be able to remember, it will certainly round out your understanding of the mental, emotional, and physical processes involved in building the successful habit of winning. I thought that the book was the best example of sports thinking applied to business that I have seen.

I was a Lakers fan when I first moved to Boston in 1964. Naturally, I went to the Boston Garden to see the Celtics play. That was a transformational experience, because television and radio did not really capture what the team did. Never before or since have I seen basketball like I saw in those glory days. My admiration for the Celtics and Mr. Russell knew no bounds. Anyone who has been a fan or an admirer of the Celtics will find this book to be essential reading. You will get many new perspectives on what you saw during those 11 world championshps in 13 years.

Mr. Russell deserves respect for an unequaled sports record. He was named the 20th century's greatest team player by Sports Illustrated. HBO called him the greatest winner in the 20th century.

What many will forget is that he also had a very successful coaching career. He led the Celtics to two world championships as a player-coach (with no assistants!). He also built up the Seattle franchise into a world champion as general manager and coach.

What many never knew about are all of the individual examples of his integrity. For example, after divorcing he raised his daughter by himself.

Let me rephrase Mr. Russell's 11 rules to make them clearer to a business person:

(1) Commitment is essential to success, and commitment has to be based on insatiable curiosity that emotionally rewards the person. In other words, pursue an area of business that endlessly fascinates you.

(2) Apply your ego to the success of your team and your business, rather than to your individual success.

(3) Become the best and most active listener you can be. Act on what you learn.

(4) Be tough about demanding what needs to be done, but be considerate of people as you do this.

(5) Cast a long shadow with your ideas and standards, so that you influence the right result even when you cannot be present.

(6) Seek perfection and encourage it in others, bolstered by joy in what you are doing.

(7) Encourage trust, truthfulness, and mutual reliance.

(8) Immediately take control of the action to move forward constructively, regardless of what happens to your organization.

(9) Use your imagination to design new and better ways to enhance performance.

(10) Lead by establishing and reinforcing discipline, as much delegation as possible, and cooperative participation in decision-making. But don't forget to lead when it counts.

(11) Always be looking for the win, even when it seems impossible.

The book's final section emphasizes how to apply these principles of Celtics' Pride to your own organization.

I found the examples employed for rules 1, 2, 5-9, and 11 to be extremely helpful in understanding how to make a business better, even though they were usually basketball examples.

I recommend the chapter on Everyone Can Win as the best articulation I have ever seen of why focus on winning can make the difference.

Even if you are not a basketball fan, you should read this book. If you do not know the professional game, some of the examples won't work for you, but most of the message will.

After you finish this book, I suggest that you give it to those you work with, and follow up with a discussion of what the lessons are for your work.

Be a winner . . . always!

Bill Russell has never been called conventional. With the myriad of self-help, leadership and personal improvement books in the marketplace, it's hard to break through the clutter...RUSSELL RULES clearly does. This book, like the author, is a WINNER.

As a woman, I was a little skeptical of the usefullness of the book, quite expecting a macho look at winning. A lot of kick butt talk and posturing.

I read this book and found the lessons applicable within minutes with my family and other situations we all experience on a daily basis.

The chapters on listening vs. hearing was particularly meaningful and are worth reading and rereading. He also introduces a very unique concept that is simple in meaning but powerful in reality; the concept of outside-in thinking.

This book is for everyone and we are going to introduce it as the first book of its kind to our book club.

I always find it a bit pretentious when a sports book is written or marketed to have general application to life (Rick Pitino's obnoxious Success is a Choice comes to Mind), but with that caveat almost anything Bill Russell has to say is worth listening to if only because of the man's profound intelligence, wit, insight, and unique perspective on sports and the world in general. Will this book change your life? I doubt it. But then again, if we read for entertainment and enrichment, this book well suits the purpose, and if you happen to be a sports fan or better yet a basketball fan, so much the better as Russell provides much material about the golden age of basketball and the wonderful Boston Celtics before too much money spoiled it.

Other reviewers have correctly praised Russell for his achievements in competitive basketball throughtout his school, collegiate and professional years. Fair enough. What I most admire in this book is his clarification of what a "winner" is. Long ago, Jack Dempsey said that "champions get up when they can't." Russell has essentially the same attitude toward "winners" and thereby extends the definition to include people who are not "celebrities" but who demonstrate exceptional courage, decency, and integrity...especially amidst adversity. They are the appropriate role models for young people. By their example, they reveal themselves to be values-driven leaders. The "rules" Russell affirms are the same rules by which he has defined himself both on and off the basketball court. They are worthy of our consideration.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bill Russell when he was on a brief book-signing tour that made a stop in Cleveland, Ohio.

I never saw him play pro basketball, but his life has not been defined by the success he had as a player and coach. Russell is a champion in the game of life, with a very small part found on the parquet floor.

Russell Rules is not some book for people simply striving for success in the corporate world. The rules Russell defines can be applied to any facet of life. We all can be better leaders in the things that we do.

From personal relationships, school and work, Russell succinctly provides 11 rules as a guide. His game plan includes commitment; being an active listener; encouraging trust, truthfulness and mutual-reliance; using the imagination to design new & better ways to enhance performance and seeking perfection & encouraging it in others, while having joy in what you are doing.

The book may initially be a quick read, but it will be picked up time and again in the future. And doesn't that define a book with a "winning" message?

Bill Russell is insightful and applies his attitude that made him the greatest basketball player ever to play the game to the attitude that can make one successful in life. I really enjoyed the book.

Russell was also, by far, the best TV "analyst" that has ever done NBA basketball games. I really miss his insights.

you can Never say enough about the Legacy of Bill Russell.The Man has words of Wisdom&He sheds Light on it.this Book brings you into His Views&what got Him to His Destiny.a must read from a Man who Proved on&off the court He was a Winner&one step ahead of the curve.

I found this to be one of those books that was very hard to put down. It is filled with incredible bits of wisdom that he generously shares.

He also applies his life on the basketball court to real life situations and makes for a very valuable research.

I would recommend getting this book and reading it a few times for all the insight that it provides.

' Building a firm foundation for success

RECOMMENDED READING from HospitalityEducators com - RUSSELL RULES

RECOMMENDED READING - RUSSELL RULES

Team, leadership and accountability

Sports have a certain effect on people everywhere in the world. This effect can include excitement and enjoyment when our team wins, and frustration and disappointment if the outcome is not what we hoped for. As the US University basketball championships are now being played for both men and women, it seemed like the right time to include this recommendation.

Bill Russell became a sports icon with reason. He is an original, with more championships than any other team player as evidenced by his recognition in being named the 20th century's greatest team player by Sports Illustrated and HBO called him the greatest winner in the 20th century. He was the 1st African American to coach a professional sports team and won two championships as a player/coach without even an assistant coach. He won championships in the NCAA, the Olympics and an NBA championship â" all in the same year (1956).

The book, RUSSELL RULES is a collection of basketball and personal examples from Russell's career. The balance between sports, business and personal integrity is clear, easy to follow and is genuinely interesting, whether one likes sports or not.

The 11 lessons address commitment, team decision processes, accountability, change, discipline, the need for the desire to win and a number of how-to business examples. These lessons include easy to follow messages on ego management, active listening, setting standards and meeting them, seeking and encouraging perfection, building mutual trust, positive control, using imagination to to enhance performance, leadership by establishing and reinforcing discipline, as well as earned delegation and finally, always looking for the win, whatever the odds.

Russell has not been an active part of the Celtics in recent years, but in a 2008 televised interview with the current center, Kevin Garnett, one could hear that his public words of counsel and planning reflected what must have been said in private between the two men of different generations. Russell expressed that he felt the current Celtic team could win two or three championships if they played as a team. Those exchanges were meaningful to me as part of team, leadership and accountability in every day examples of life.

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On a related note (after this book was written), in February of 2011, US President Barack Obama awarded Bill Russell with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. This recognition is given to men and women who have "made an especially meritorious contribution to (1), the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors." The White House issued the following statement regarding Russell's honor.

Bill Russell is the former Boston Celtics' Captain who almost single-handedly redefined the game of basketball. Russell led the Celtics to a virtually unparalleled string of eleven championships in thirteen years and was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player five times. The first African American to coach in the NBA--indeed he was the first to coach a major sport at the professional level in the United States--Bill Russell is also an impassioned advocate of human rights. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been a consistent advocate of equality.

The book epilogue has an outstanding message " making CELTIC PRIDE work for you. I urge you to read this resource and enjoy!

As always, feedback or comments are welcome

Dr. John Hogan CHA CHE

HoganHospitality

HospitalityEducators com

Feel free to share an idea anytime or contact me regarding consulting, customized workshops or speaking engagements

Wonderful book. Each of the the lessons were well-worded and invaluable. The analogies he made to his basketball career were entirely on-point and made his lessons that much easier to comprehend. Lots of great things to be learned in this book, and I feel blessed to have been able to read it.