There’s no ‘i’ in ‘Team’, but there are two in ‘Winning’

It has been fascinating to watch the development of Lebron James since he left the Cleveland Cavaliers and joined the Miami Heat. I want to uncover a leadership principle that can tremendously boost any team, be it in sports, business, at school or even in the home. I’d like to suggest that with the Cavaliers Lebron was more of an “i” player and failed to grasp the full essence of being part of a winning team. It is likely that the Heat will win the NBA championship this year but there are still major obstacles ahead.

Intermission Disclaimer: Winning in this article (and in my personal philosophy) is simply pursuing your personal potential and measuring yourself against what you could do. It is not about beating your competition, coming out first or measuring yourself against other people.

Let’s find our leadership principle - ”There are two ‘i’s in winning”. Michael Jordan once said that “there’s no ‘i’ in team but there is in win”. I want to take it a notch further. It takes more than one ‘i’ for a team to win. A team with one ‘i’ can win every now and then, but for a team to continue winning, there must be at least two ‘i’s. For you to win as a leader you need to align yourself to other ’i's who will enable you to leverage your potential. Rather than aim to win, you need to produce a winning combination. Look at the combination of Lebron, Wade, and Bosh. Egos have to be set aside.

No single initiative, quality, person, idea or other factor will bring you the ultimate level of success you are destined for. You’ve got to find the winning combinations that will guarantee you victory. Start thinking outside the box. You’ve got to find a way of aligning any competing ideas, people or resources into one unit that fits and works together.

The key to winning therefore is in having an arsenal of ideas, initiatives, strategies and resources and then knowing when to use which. You’ve got to have a bag of tricks up your sleeve, so to speak. You have to build your organization or business around a solid vision (your ultimate goal), have a driving mission (winning) and execute both the vision and the mission flawlessly (aligning with great ‘i’s). There’s no ‘i’ in ‘Team’, but there are two in ‘Winning’!

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