"United we stand..."

You have probably heard most of the teamwork clichés that I am about to recite.  Perhaps some of their power lies in the fact that they are so easily remembered.  Most of these have been repeated so many times that it is almost impossible to know who said them first.  Here are some of my favorites:

Teamwork makes the dream work (author unknown).

If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together (apparently an old African proverb).

You can do what I cannot do.  I can do what you cannot do.  Together we can do great things (maybe not as well known, but a great quote from Mother Teresa).

TEAM.  me (author unknown, but often frequently used as a slogan on the practice jerseys of basketball teams).

There's no 'I' in 'Team' (author unknown, but this quote is particularly interesting - during his Hall of Fame induction speech, legendary basketball player, Michael Jordan, famously quipped that while there was no "I" in "Team", there was an "I" in "Win."  Interestingly enough, earlier during his playing career, Jordan reportedly once said, Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships).

United we stand, divided we fall (this quote is often erroneously attributed to Abraham Lincoln, who actually said in a famous speech during his first Presidential election campaign, A house divided against itself cannot stand.).

The last quote is actually from a famous story from ancient Greece (one of Aesop's Fables) called the "Four Oxen and the Lion" that provides an important lesson on teamwork.  Aesop tells how a lion used to hunt in a field where there also lived four oxen.  The lion had tried, on a number of occasions, to attack the four oxen, but whenever he attacked, they would flick their tails to warn each other and then form a circle, head (and horns) out.  One day, after the lion had attacked several times unsuccessfully, the oxen started quarreling with each other, and each walked away into separate corners of the field.  The lion, in turn, attacked them one by one and ate them all.  United we stand, divided we fall.

There is a similar story, again one of Aesop's Fables, of a man who had three sons who often quarreled with each other.  The man decided to teach his sons a lesson, so he brought them a bundle of sticks.  He asked them to break the sticks in half.  Each of his sons tried unsuccessfully - the bundle of sticks was too strong to break.  The last son threw the bundle to the ground in disgust and said, We can't do it.  The father picked up the bundle of sticks, separated the sticks, and easily broke them in half, one by one.  He then looked at his sons and said, My sons, if you work together - if you are united, you will be as this bundle.  Nothing can ever break you.  However, if you keep working alone and are divided, you will be broken as easily as one of these sticks.  In other words, United we stand, divided we fall. 

There is one final example.  The ancient Spartans were some of the strongest warriors (for a great illustration, see the movie, 300 about the Battle of Thermopylae between King Leonidas of Sparta and Xerxes I of Persia).  Apparently, one of the most revered weapons that a Spartan warrior carried was his shield.  Shields were often passed down from one generation to the next as family heirlooms.  Soldiers who lost their shields in battle were dishonored and often punished severely, even by their own families.  The ancient Greek historian, Plutarch, famously tells a story of a Spartan mother who tells her son as he is leaving for war to return home either with your shield or on it (there is a scene in the movie 300 that uses this quote - the wife of King Leonidas tells him, Come back with your shield or on it).  Why was the shield so important?  The shield was fundamental to the battlefield tactics of the Spartan army.  The Spartans would group together and use their shields defensively to form a tight, impenetrable phalanx from which they could use their spears to kill their attackers.  The shield was fundamental to their teamwork.  In other words, together they would be impossible to defeat.  United we stand, divided we fall.

The message from all of these quotes and stories is the same.  Indeed, it is a universal truth - teamwork is critical to the success of any organization.  Leaders can't be successful on their own, and in reality, without the team, there is no such thing as a leader.    There are countless examples of professional sports teams who have gone out to acquire free agent superstars - on paper, these teams look like they would be unstoppable.  The truth?  Many times these teams have resulted in losing seasons.  Why?  The superstars could not work together as a team.  The same is true for any organization - if your top talent can't work together, your organization will fail.  Leadership turns teams of superstars into winning organizations.  United we stand, divided we fall.