There is No “I” in “Team”


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The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say ‘I’. And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say ‘I’. They don’t think ‘I’. They think ‘we’; they think ‘team’. They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘we’ gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.

Peter Drucker

There is no “I” in the word “team.”

It’s a popular business saying that is sometimes overused.  Despite its overuse, the words are still true.

There is no letter I in the word TEAM. Teams thrive when their purpose is fulfilling a shared vision that makes sense for the organization — not the manager. Click To Tweet

A leader does not exist alone.  He must have committed followers to implement a shared vision of a better future.

For this reason, the leader’s focus must be on facilitating his team’s success–not on fulfilling his own personal ambition and glorification.

Effective leaders serve their followers with the best interests of the enterprise always above their own. If you are focusing too much on your own needs, then you are not effectively leading your team!

It is still true that there is no I in TEAM. Click To Tweet
Written by Robert Tanner | Copyrighted Material | All Rights Reserved Worldwide

This article is accurate to the best of the author’s knowledge.
Content is for informational or educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional advice in business, management, legal, or human resource matters.

Robert Tanner, MBA

Welcome to my leadership blog. I'm the Founder & Principal Consultant of Business Consulting Solutions LLC, a certified practitioner of psychometric assessments, and a former Adjunct Professor of Management. As a leadership professional, I bring 20+ years of real world experience at all levels of management.

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