Expectations, Innocence, Teamwork

Another year turns over; winning teams continue to win, losers shrug and say, "This will be a better year" without the slightest clue as to how and why an underperforming organization might magically reverse its script. Coming from Michigan, I easily point to the most unsuccessful franchise in NFL history, the Detroit Lions. They have not won a championship since 1957. They have not won a playoff game since Moses was a sophomore.

They're only mildly interesting because we all like to point to sports stories and the people who populate them to illustrate why some organizations perpetually compete for "number one" while others go through the motions as calendar pages fade in the sun on the way to the dumpster. Looking to your "team," your season ahead, some concepts may be helpful as you assess your leaders and their people.

All people are territorial animals. We all want to stake out something and plant our flag of ownership there. We strike back when our turf or comfort is threatened in business, even in social life. We get caught up in constant and often cunning infighting; program director against talent, sales against programming, board member against board member. These conflicts shouldn't be smothered since they're a part of our human existence; in fact I'd argue they're even good for the team assuming leadership keeps clashes-of-will balanced and moving toward an outcome. Surprisingly two dynamics exist within your team -- innocence and naiveté.

Being naïve means someone fails to understand or recognize threats to their personal territory, and that's destructive. Most get past being naïvete quickly, or they're gone. Sometimes they swing all the way over to selfishness with exclusive focus on "number one" calculating, before they contribute. Innocence is about trusting -- sometimes to a fault -- but always with the team in mind, believing that "if it's good for the team, it's good for me." This, too, has its pitfalls because you're solely relying on a dream; believing everything you deserve will come to you simply for buying-in.

So step back: Look at sports teams you recognize, media companies that have avoided the crush of early deregulation's false promise of tonnage acquisitions at any price, or, simply look at a local business that has risen to dynastic respect in their category. When you focus on these perennial champions you'll still find a supply of "innocence," but it's innocence with experience that wins. From the NFL to Alabama, from BMW to Louis Vuitton, or in any field at all ... it's a beautiful thing to experience innocence-with-obligations. Through this daily process you can combat inertia-killers from complacency to selfishness.

There is only one catch: Experienced, responsible, productive innocence must be leadership-driven with a conscious start. Waiting for positive change is a field-of-dreams sucker's errand.

If you really want to be the New England Patriots as opposed to the Detroit Lions, you as a leader, a difference-maker, and a colleague must make the move to re-set the vision. What better year than a new one?

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up knowing it must outrun
the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up knowing it must outrun
the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you're a gazelle or a lion. When the sun
comes up, you'd better start running.