Only Eagles Soar Alone
Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 9:25 am
the following material is from a newsletter which I get in snail mail.
Only Eagles Soar Alone
by Doug Sider
As much as we admire solo achievement, the truth is that lone individuals do not achieve greatness. As Bill Gates recently enthused on one of his popular team sessions, "Only eagles soar alone-at least successfully and beautifully."
The belief that one person can build a great business, or be a superstar, is a myth. There are simply no real Rambos who can take on a hostile army by themselves. It has been aptly stated that "one is too small a number to achieve greatness."
Look below the surface and you'll find that all seemingly solo acts are really team efforts. A Chinese proverb alludes to this: "Behind an able person there are always other able people--always!"
We would be challenged to think of one single act of genuine significance in the entire history of humankind that was performed and achieved alone by a lone human being. No matter what is named (climbing Mt. Everest, winning a hockey game or a war), you'll find that a great and highly skilled team of people were involved. President John F. Kennedy himself stated, "No one individual landed on the moon. We stepped onto the moon together, by standing on one anothers' shoulders." Rex Murphy loves to quote, "Where there's a will there is a way. Where there's a team, there's more than one way."
John Wooden was a great basketball coach. Called the wizard of Westwood, he brought ten national basketball championships to UCLA in a span of twelve years. Two back-to-back championships are almost unheard of in competitive sports, but he led the Bruins to seven titles in a row. It took a consistent level of superior play, good coaching and hard practice. But the key to the Bruin's success was Coach Wooden's unyielding dedication to his concept of teamwork.
Coach Wooden stated in a rousing speech following his seventh title one snow November evening, that the greatest ability of any coach is simply to "get the best players, place them correctly, and then get out of the way as you inspire them to play as a team." Coach Wooden added, "You have never seen in the history of basketball one, single player-no matter how great a superstar-take on another team alone. Even the superstar loses without the benefit of the team."
Donal Trump, the New York billionaire whom people love or love to hate wrote in his recent book Becoming A Billionaire, "I have learned how to hold a team together-how to lift people up, how to calm others down, how to inspire still others, until finally they've got one heartbeat together as a team." Donald continued, "If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes really good, they did it. That's all it takes to get people to win."
Donald Trump, when asked his path to success, replied: "build a like-minded team. Surround yourself with smart, hard-working, self-motivated people who share a common goal. If they happen to be people you enjoy, then so much the better. However, if you don't particularly like them, that doesn't matter either. You don't hire great team players because you like them. You hire great team members because they're great and smart and hard-working. If they happen be smarter, hard working and more self-motivated than you, then so much the better on these fronts as well. I know know you but I find that I thrive in a team environment, feeding off my colleagues in such a way that we make each other better, faster, stronger, smarter, and ultimately more successful."
Great leaders, the truly successful ones who are in the top one percent, have one thing in common. they know that acquiring great people is the key to success. The asset that truly appreciates within an organization is people-systems become dated. Buildings deteriorate. Machinery wears. But people grow, develop and flourish when they have a leader who values their potential.
Andrew Carnegie was a master at spotting potential team leaders as team players. Once asked by a reporter how he had managed to hire forty-three millionaires, Carnegie responded that the men had not been millionaires when they started working for him. They had become millionaires as a result. The reporter next wanted to know how he had developed these men and women to become such valuable and wealthy leaders. Carnegie replied, "People are developed the same way gold is mined. Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But you don't go into the mine looking for the dirt." He added, "You go in looking for the gold."
That's exactly the way to develop positive, successful people. Look for the gold, not the dirt; the good, not the bad. Let people discover their potential, help them to achieve it and then stand back and watch them become valuable and wealthy leaders.
Fred Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx, claims that he tells his drivers over and over again, "You are involved in the most important commerce in the history of the world. You are not delivering sand and gravel; you are delivering someone's pacemaker, someone's chemotherapy treatment, the part that may keep the F-18 flying, or the legal brief that may decide the case." And when you talk to FedEx drivers, they don't think they are just delivering packages. Whatever the task-working in a factory, a call centre, or an executive office-people need to feel that they are part of a larger mission.
Fred Smith calls this concept the Law of Building a Cathedral: "When people don't think they're building a cathedral, they think they're chopping stone, and no one likes to think they are chopping stone."
The six most important words: I made a mistake.
The five most important words: You did a great job.
The four most important words: What is your opinion?
The three most important words: I appreciate you.
The two most important words: Thank you.
The one most important word: We.
The least important word: I.
"Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret." Mary Kay Ash
"Be a credit maker, not a credit taker." Bill Hybells
Only Eagles Soar Alone
by Doug Sider
As much as we admire solo achievement, the truth is that lone individuals do not achieve greatness. As Bill Gates recently enthused on one of his popular team sessions, "Only eagles soar alone-at least successfully and beautifully."
The belief that one person can build a great business, or be a superstar, is a myth. There are simply no real Rambos who can take on a hostile army by themselves. It has been aptly stated that "one is too small a number to achieve greatness."
Look below the surface and you'll find that all seemingly solo acts are really team efforts. A Chinese proverb alludes to this: "Behind an able person there are always other able people--always!"
We would be challenged to think of one single act of genuine significance in the entire history of humankind that was performed and achieved alone by a lone human being. No matter what is named (climbing Mt. Everest, winning a hockey game or a war), you'll find that a great and highly skilled team of people were involved. President John F. Kennedy himself stated, "No one individual landed on the moon. We stepped onto the moon together, by standing on one anothers' shoulders." Rex Murphy loves to quote, "Where there's a will there is a way. Where there's a team, there's more than one way."
John Wooden was a great basketball coach. Called the wizard of Westwood, he brought ten national basketball championships to UCLA in a span of twelve years. Two back-to-back championships are almost unheard of in competitive sports, but he led the Bruins to seven titles in a row. It took a consistent level of superior play, good coaching and hard practice. But the key to the Bruin's success was Coach Wooden's unyielding dedication to his concept of teamwork.
Coach Wooden stated in a rousing speech following his seventh title one snow November evening, that the greatest ability of any coach is simply to "get the best players, place them correctly, and then get out of the way as you inspire them to play as a team." Coach Wooden added, "You have never seen in the history of basketball one, single player-no matter how great a superstar-take on another team alone. Even the superstar loses without the benefit of the team."
Donal Trump, the New York billionaire whom people love or love to hate wrote in his recent book Becoming A Billionaire, "I have learned how to hold a team together-how to lift people up, how to calm others down, how to inspire still others, until finally they've got one heartbeat together as a team." Donald continued, "If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes really good, they did it. That's all it takes to get people to win."
Donald Trump, when asked his path to success, replied: "build a like-minded team. Surround yourself with smart, hard-working, self-motivated people who share a common goal. If they happen to be people you enjoy, then so much the better. However, if you don't particularly like them, that doesn't matter either. You don't hire great team players because you like them. You hire great team members because they're great and smart and hard-working. If they happen be smarter, hard working and more self-motivated than you, then so much the better on these fronts as well. I know know you but I find that I thrive in a team environment, feeding off my colleagues in such a way that we make each other better, faster, stronger, smarter, and ultimately more successful."
Great leaders, the truly successful ones who are in the top one percent, have one thing in common. they know that acquiring great people is the key to success. The asset that truly appreciates within an organization is people-systems become dated. Buildings deteriorate. Machinery wears. But people grow, develop and flourish when they have a leader who values their potential.
Andrew Carnegie was a master at spotting potential team leaders as team players. Once asked by a reporter how he had managed to hire forty-three millionaires, Carnegie responded that the men had not been millionaires when they started working for him. They had become millionaires as a result. The reporter next wanted to know how he had developed these men and women to become such valuable and wealthy leaders. Carnegie replied, "People are developed the same way gold is mined. Several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold. But you don't go into the mine looking for the dirt." He added, "You go in looking for the gold."
That's exactly the way to develop positive, successful people. Look for the gold, not the dirt; the good, not the bad. Let people discover their potential, help them to achieve it and then stand back and watch them become valuable and wealthy leaders.
Fred Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx, claims that he tells his drivers over and over again, "You are involved in the most important commerce in the history of the world. You are not delivering sand and gravel; you are delivering someone's pacemaker, someone's chemotherapy treatment, the part that may keep the F-18 flying, or the legal brief that may decide the case." And when you talk to FedEx drivers, they don't think they are just delivering packages. Whatever the task-working in a factory, a call centre, or an executive office-people need to feel that they are part of a larger mission.
Fred Smith calls this concept the Law of Building a Cathedral: "When people don't think they're building a cathedral, they think they're chopping stone, and no one likes to think they are chopping stone."
The six most important words: I made a mistake.
The five most important words: You did a great job.
The four most important words: What is your opinion?
The three most important words: I appreciate you.
The two most important words: Thank you.
The one most important word: We.
The least important word: I.
"Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don't keep it a secret." Mary Kay Ash
"Be a credit maker, not a credit taker." Bill Hybells