Derek Jeter was just named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, a most deserved honor. If you read the article--and study Jeter's career--you'll mostly be struck by one word: Teamwork. This is relevant to nearly everyone, considering that most Campaign Planning readers work in some sort of team environment...
What's particularly worth making a note of are Jeter's five obstacles to winning. True in baseball and everywhere else teams are at play:
5 Obstacles to Winning
1. Individuals who don't care about winning.
2. Self-promoters.
3. Measuring success by individual statistics.
4. Injury talk (i.e. if you choose to play don't find excuses for failing).
5. Negativity.
Great list.
Adding to this from elsewhere, there is also a really interesting Q&A with Tom Petty in this week's Rolling Stone that touched on similar thoughts...
The article is largely about how important Tom's band (The Heartbreakers) are to him. (Several band members have been playing with Tom since the early 1970s.)
Here's how important they are...
Tom Petty: "I get nervous, to this day, bringing a song to the band. They're tough. It runs the gamut, from being very quiet, not saying anything. That drives me insane: 'Well, what do you think?.... I look for their approval in the songs. When they give me "Good song" it makes my day."
This is famous TOM PETTY we're talking about, nervous to present his music! Makes sense though... The Heartbreakers, while not as well known as individuals, are amazing musicians and Tom knows that success is derived from all of them working together on material. The collective effort raises all.
Derek and Tom are not only great examples that success is achieved from team play but they enlighten us as to how to think and act in the team environment.