I didn’t realize this but new studies show that being a “Team Player” stifles your creative end result. Helping others achieve success steals from your personal goals often leaving you depressed, confused and several miles off what you assumed was the right path.
I first bumped into this thought process while studying the words of former Philadelphia 76er’s owner Pat Croce who vibrantly pointed out how unimportant being a “Team Player” is. It doesn’t have the potential; it without a doubt the energy to generate an avenue for the lazy to become weaker and the strong to locate ample space to discuss last night’s game.
I’m often accused of being a loner. Laughingly I point out that my process of doing has yet to position itself in the center of a team that sees where I’m going. I’m the kid on the playground that doesn’t play tether ball or four square; the visionary that walks below the tall 200 year old Oaks wondering if a leaf finds fascination in feeling the sensation of falling during an extremely important part of the year.
Team work for me is a joke. The moment you’re forced to depend on someone’s dedication and loyalty is an agreement that far exceeds the expectations of marriage. Once those vows are shared it’s a nonprofit organization but in the world of business survival, a working relationship feeds the pocket with a canal of loose change and without a doubt there’s always a team player more willing to take then give…which in return silences your endeavor to maintain success.
I live and work by a single rule self dubbed The Beatles. Four diverse guys with enormous amounts of visibly different talent and yet there was harmony. If Lennon had chosen to silence McCartney you might not be singing Yesterday. Paul once said, “I never feared taking my music to John. I knew who I was and knew he’d make my music better.” Lost but not forgotten is the impact that each of them invited after the divorce. George Harrison helped to raise millions of dollars for Bangladesh while continuing to inspire guitarists that arrived decades after his inception and through his willingness to share music continues to change the face of current disasters.
I’ve yet to read the radio book that tells the true tales of a pied piper. Publishers aren’t interested in the battle wounds required to make a dent in an industry that’s endured more changes and challenges than any other medium and it still continues to hold up its arms with fierce fire shooting from its nose. It doesn’t require a Team Player to enhance your interest to listen—radio is still visual pictured by a passerby and ultimately it’s the weekend or late night talent on the air that’s creatively designed the canvas that’s given birth to a safe place for your imagination to travel.
It may have taken a team of people to clear the way for a single thought to travel the distance between a control board and your car stereo but ultimately the loner has carved out the connection.
Look what happens on television when two and sometimes three news anchors spout their waves of thought all over your flat screen…count how long it takes for you to tune out. Mike Edwards used to tell me, “People don’t know why they find dislike in a broadcast…they just know they don’t like it. Your job is to make sure you don’t provide that stage.” He didn’t say “Our” job…he said “Your” job.
I pulled into an RV outlet one afternoon basking on the idea of letting go of the world to dine on the wonders of nature. The sales rep had me until the team playing manager walked onto the scene and boldly told me how bad the economy is and that with prices like this the unit will be gone tomorrow. I had no problem looking the rep in the eyes and calmly saying, “You had me at hello but lost me when you decided that you needed him to seal the deal.”
The banking industry has a CEO not CEO’s. It’s called a Department Head not heads. If we are to find truth and faith in research than the releasing of there being no true purpose behind investing in Team Work should be looked upon as being a tool. The report didn’t say we shouldn’t work together. It viably points out that dumping all your Doritos into the chip bowl doesn’t guarantee you something to pour your salsa on during the big game.
Players bring things to the table. Team Players kick the chair, mumble while stumbling through the hallway, hated the idea of having to wake up so early and usually take two hour lunch breaks or munch a bunch of snacks at their desk where communicating to the client. What they don’t see, a client can feel inside the depths of their presentation.
Players are leaders. Team Players are followers. Players calmly walk up to a Wal-Mart manager and gently share “You spend millions of dollars in advertising every Christmas promoting how your guests never have to wait in long check out lines and in the off season I’m spending fifteen minutes wondering why I shopped you and not Target. Am I supposed to believe the only money you want from me is what I might make this December?”
It opens gates…
Oh! Speaking of Wal-Mart…those electric fans in front of the cashier are purchased by the minimum wage employee. I asked, “Do you take it home with you after the shift is completed?” Shaking her head from side to side she said, “No…the majority of us can’t afford this fan so we’ve learned to share it.”
That’s not team work…that’s a Player who saw a need then decided to share. Leaders are born everyday…even at Wal-Mart. Know the difference and start having a better day at work. If you’re depressed, angry and torn a part…before you quit, decide first to participate as a player and not a follower.
I believe in you…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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