The Essential Wooden

Across 200 lessons written with Steve Jamison, John Wooden sets out what he learned about leading people, from his earliest days in charge to the UCLA dynasty that made his name. The advice covers preparing and training a team, instilling personal drive and dedication, and building an organization that holds up under pressure. Wooden extends his well-known Pyramid of Success and reproduces preseason letters he wrote to his players, showing how he shaped their attitudes. Former players and managers, among them Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, add their own previously unpublished analyses of his methods.

Ryan Holiday included it in his roundup of the best books he read in 2015, grouping it with another coach's book as standout reading on coaching and leadership.