We will spend about a quarter of our lives at work, how much time will we spend thinking about how to make it better?

Personal story: In junior high and high school I was an all Dade and all State soccer player. I went on to play at a division one college and realized very quickly that I was no longer the best player on my team. Not even close. Not by a long shot.

At this level I didn’t have the raw talent to be a stat. But I learned a valuable lesson here - how to become a key contributor to your team when you are not their biggest star.

Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame did the stats to shoe that too many stars are less productive. It leads to less productivity. Think of the Miami Heat when Lebron showed up here. They didn’t win their first year together and Wade and Bosh had to learn to become more supporting role players with James as their stand out star.  How did they do this?

Humility

After the first year of not winning, the Heat did not go after another star, they went after the ‘no-stats all star’ – Shane Battier. He statistically made everyone around him better. When Battier is on the court the shot taken by any member of the team tended to be a better shot and on defense, he made the other team less efficient.

Humility is the ability to know what you are good at AND what you are not good at. Harvard studies show that when there is humility on a team, people are more likely to play to their strengths. Instead of looking for the spotlight, humble people look for the way to help their team win. In this paradigm, stars are overrated and role-players are underrated. Humble people and players do the work that has to be done but may not be the most exciting.

Humility is about being grounded. Is it about not being above whatever our team needs.

One – Recognize your own shortcomings and limitations and adapt to them

Two – Appreciate others’ strengths, give credit where credit is due and highlight he teams success over your own achievements

Three – Show openness to learning from others

When we win, we all look back and recognize we are a part of this amazing team.  TEAM IPT.

Happy Fri-yay everyone.

Have a great and restful weekend – Happy 7^th Birthday Emma – and thank you Team IPT for being amazing.

-C