Despite the presence of former UCLA basketball greats including player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the legendary coach John Wooden, all eyes were on FedEx president and CEO Fred Smith.
On Tuesday, Smith received the third annual John Wooden Global Leadership Award at a dinner held at the Beverly Hills Hilton.
Hosted by ABC reporter Deborah Roberts, the dinner honored the leadership achievements of Wooden and Smith and featured interviews with Abdul-Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Keith Erickson.
The John Wooden Global Leadership Program was started by the UCLA Anderson School of Management because the values Wooden embodies are necessary for leadership in all aspects of life, not just coaching, said Alfred Osborne, Anderson senior associate dean.
While Wooden was primarily known as a basketball coach who led UCLA to 10 NCAA championships, Wooden’s principles are considered universally and are often adopted by many corporate and business leaders.
“I think Coach Wooden has meant a lot to the game, but he has also meant a lot to America as someone who was a teacher and a mentor in a very positive sense,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
Through the program, one global leader is honored every year and is chosen by a committee on the Board of Visitors for the Anderson School.
“The committee meets to try to identify, from a lot of recommendations, individuals who would be deserving of the award,” Osborne said. “We are trying to find American leaders whose style embodies what the coach stands for.”
Past recipients include Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz and American Express chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault.
Smith founded the $35.5 billion FedEx company, which has been recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the world’s most respected companies, in 1971. Since then, he has led the company that has revolutionized modern shipping as its president and CEO.
“He is so deserving of the John Wooden Global Leadership Award for his principled leadership and business legacy,” said Judy Olian, dean of the Anderson School, in a statement.
In true John Wooden fashion, Smith has made teamwork and leadership principles in his company, said Olian, who was drawing comparisons between the coach and Smith throughout the dinner.
“I think Coach Wooden would be the first to say … that he was a great coach because he had great players and great assistants,” Smith said in a speech. “I can assure you that I’m sitting up here being interviewed tonight, not mainly because of my efforts, but because of the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people who make up the FedEx team.”
More than just awarding a global leader, the program also awards two Anderson MBA students with the John Wooden Leadership Fellowship.
Funded by proceeds collected from the award dinner, the fellowship grants each student $25,000, which pays for one year of schooling at the Anderson School.
Archana Rajan, an executive MBA student, and Joanna Schochet, an MBA student, received the 2010 fellowships for their respective leadership roles in service programs.
“I think winning the fellowship puts a bigger responsibility on our shoulders to be better leaders,” Rajan said.
Aside from the award, the program has introduced a whole host of activities to the Anderson School, including making Wooden’s pyramid of success an integral part of its leadership foundation and curriculum. This provides MBA students with a model for achievement, Osborne said.
“(Wooden) was the type of leader that set a good example by the way he lived his life, and demonstrated by his actions that he would not ask any of us to do anything that he wouldn’t do himself,” said former UCLA basketball player Mike Warren at the dinner. “All he ever asked was that we gave 100 percent on and off the course and that we strived to be the best we could be as people first.”