I am so getting into John Maxwell's "Team 101" -- here is yet another passage that has moved me:
Chris Hodges, a good leader who is a native of Baton Rouge, is well-known for telling Boudreaux jokes, a type of human popular in Louisiana. Recently on a trip for EQUIP, he told me this one (I'll try to capture the accent in writing as best I can-just think Justin Wilson):
Chris Hodges, a good leader who is a native of Baton Rouge, is well-known for telling Boudreaux jokes, a type of human popular in Louisiana. Recently on a trip for EQUIP, he told me this one (I'll try to capture the accent in writing as best I can-just think Justin Wilson):
A group of Cajuns was sitting around bragging about how successful they were. Thibideaux says, " I just bought me another shrimp boat, yeah, and I got me a crew of ten people workin' for me". "Dat aint nottin'," says Landry. " I been promoted at the refinery, and now I got fifty men workin' for me."
Boudreaux hears this, and he doesnt want to look bad in front of his friends, so he says "oh yea, well I got three hundred people underme." "Dat's true," says Boudreaux, " but now i'm cuttin' da grass at the cemetery, and I got three hundred people under me."
There's nothing wrong with competition. The problem for many leaders is that they end up competing against their peers in their own organization in a way that hurts the team and them. It all depends on how you handle competition and how you channel it. In healthy working environments there is both competition and teamwork. The issue is to know when each is appropriate. When it comes to your teammates you want to compete in such a way that instead of competing with them, you are completing them. Those are two totally different mind-sets.
