Leadership Thought: "Talent Wins Games, but Teams Wins Championships"

Dear Friend,

At our church staff meeting yesterday, I asked our team members, "What was the best team, sports or otherwise, they ever played on and why." It was interesting to hear their answers. Most mentioned athletic teams on which they played and they identified characteristics like common goals, encouraging coaches, excellent work ethic and outstanding chemistry, but few mentioned a characteristic that I would consider to be the  most important ingredient, and that would be unselfish players or team members.

Coach John Wooden, who may have been the best coach ever, regardless of the sport, had something very interesting to say about the importance of having unselfish basketball players on his team. He often pointed out that the team with the five best players didn’t always triumph on the basketball court. One would think that this would be the case, but Coach Wooden explained that this was not always true. He went on to describe a situation where one of his greatest players often sat the bench next to him during the game. The player would say to him, “Coach, you know I am the best and most talented player on the team, so why am I on the bench?” And Coach Wooden would respond, “Yes, Sydney, I know you are the best player on the team but the team doesn’t play its best when you are on the floor.” As a former high school basketball coach, I know Wooden’s statement to be true. 

If your best basketball player happens to be selfish and is one who plays for himself and not the team, then he is going to find himself riding the bench for much of the time. Teams are not going to be particularly successful unless everyone is willing to unselfishly contribute to the success of the team.

If you have ever played a sport, you have probably heard those familiar clichés: “There is no I in team.” and “Teamwork makes dream work,” and “One is too small a number to achieve greatness,” and while they may be clichés, they are true and accurate statements regarding the  value of teamwork to the success of a team.

I am told that there hangs a sign in the New England Patriots locker room which reminds players that “Individuals play the game, but teams win championships.”

The writer and leadership expert John Maxwell said “The true measure of team leadership is not getting people to work. Neither is it getting people to work hard. The true measure of a leader is getting people to work hard together.” 

And perhaps the greatest basketball player ever, Michael Jordan, comments “One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

If you want to be a successful coach with a long tenure, you had better cultivate players who place a high premium on adding value to others. If you have a team, whether on the playing field, or in the church, or in the workplace, you must have members who are willing to subordinate their own goals for the good of the team. Teams that do that may find the smartest and most talented member on the bench or on the outside looking in, because raw talent doesn’t win in any field of life. As one coach of mine used to say to us, “You need to check your egos at the door.” Good advice, but sometimes hard to follow, unless in fact,  you are truly committed to your team’s success. 

Yours in faith and friendship,
Pastor Tom