A Powerful Lesson On Teamwork My Client Taught Me

What does great team work look like? Whether it’s sports, business, any endeavor that requires teams, my take is people play / work for each other; but getting to that point requires great leadership.

Sports, like that which may require onewheel gt accessories by The Float Life, provide many personal development lessons. But team sports, provide lessons on team work. Last week I had a meeting with client who’s children play college baseball. He was talking about how he’s been asked to coach because he’s really good at it. He mentioned how if he decided to coach at some point in his life he would focus on teaching the fundamentals of the game .

Why the fundamentals?

Because according to him, most of the mistakes in the game of baseball come from throws between bases; bad throws lead to mistakes, and the problem is the fundamentals: picking the ball up the right way, setting your feet, turning your shoulders, looking at the base you’re throwing to and throwing the ball.

Flashy throws between infielders get to be on Sports Center, but more often than not they lead to mistakes. Why? He says mistakes happen when a player makes a throw while they’re off balance; looking to make a flashy throw.

Why is this important?

Because as an infielder, you have to make it easy for the person receiving the ball to make the catch without overextending themselves. When you make an off balance throw to a base, the probability of a mistake happening increases; thus, you don’t want to make it hard for them to catch the ball.

He used the word “together” a lot when describing team work; which reminded me of the quote below describing Coach K of Duke University:

Anyway, in the world of business everything gets done because of a team. In great teams, great teammates play for each other; not with each other. Great teammates want success for each other as bad as they want it for themselves. You play together. Win together. Lose together. And winning starts with making the right throw so your teammate doesn’t overextend themselves.


Also published on Medium.