Only so often we read praises about the value of teamwork, I am not going to criticize teamwork at all, I am a big supporter of high-performance teams; but likewise, we should praise individual efforts, either individual contributors or team leaders who take the collective game to the next level.
Rafa Nadal, 14 Grand Slam singles titles and former ATP #1
Here we have a classic example of a top performer, Rafa Nadal, nine times winner of the French Open, an Olympic Gold Medal, ATP #1, amongst a large number of records. It goes without questions that this singles player is a top performer, and has been praised for his performances. Obviously, behind the leader, there is a team, from technical and psychology coaches to therapists, nutritionist, travel arrangements, contracts, you name it. Of course, his supporting team is key to Rafa’s success, but the key element is the player, not the team, or put it the other way around align that team with a regular player and you won’t be seeing the player winning Roland Garros or Wimbledon.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not see a Top Performer being able to play solo, without the support of his or her team he or she won’t be able to succeed. A prime example can be illustrated on motorsports, whether Valentino Rossi or Fernando Alonso skills at driving their vehicles are second to none, but without a proper team of designers, engineers, strategists, …they have proved themselves unable to succeed.
Michael Jordan would be my next example on the role of the individual vs. the team. If Rafa Nadal, Tiger Woods, or you name it, play solo (on the execution level), a basketball game is a game played five a side, plus the bench of course. However, a single individual with the talent of Michael Jordan is going to redress the performance of the whole team. It’s not that if you substitute Jordan by another guard the team is going to drop performance on that position, the overall team will suffer, the gravitas of the franchise player let it be Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryan, LeBron James or Marc Gasol is taking the performance of the whole team to a level above the pure value added by the leader, is orchestrating the whole team to play in synch. Putting true meaning behind the orchestration cliché.
As expected, given the opening picture, Leo Messi helps me illustrate the next level of leader/team interplay. Reportedly I am a supporter of FC Barcelona no matter what, but it this particular case we have a prime example of how a team and a leader are built as one. Take the performances of Lionel Messi with the national team of Argentina, good at best, not great. The team is not serving their leader, the one who can make the difference, the leader is not connecting back with his peers and there is no magic.
Now, consider the performances of Leo Messi when playing along with the talented midfielders of FC Barcelona, great results almost each and every match with Messi beating all kind of scoring records. And now you might be thinking that I finally surrendered to the virtues of the teamwork, hold on, not true. Because when Leo Messi is unable to perform, whether he is or is not on the pitch, the team clearly suffers a dependency same other ten players in the grass, yet this 11th player is the one who is able to inspire their peers, and their peers inspire him.
Teamwork? Yes, no doubt. But take care of your leaders!
jaume ayerbe 