Collected a variety of quotes on teamwork, leadership, and failure from sports and business folks today …
Poor cross-functional coordination and communication is the principal element in the delay of everything. Getting functions to stop feuding isn’t enough; they need to actively work together in a spirited, coordinated way.
Tom Peters**
Whatever you do in life, surround yourself with smart people who’ll argue with you.
John Wooden
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.
Babe Ruth
I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
Mia Hamm
A basketball team is like the five fingers on your hand. If you can get them all together, you have a fist. That’s how I want you to play.
Mike Krzyzewski
No matter how senior you get in an organization, no matter how well you’re perceived to be doing, your job is never done.
Abigail Johnson
You can’t blaze a trail alone; otherwise, you’re gonna get stuck in the woods.
Jen Welter
The most valuable player is the one that makes the most players valuable.
Peyton Manning
If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.
John Wooden
I decided I can’t pay a person to rewind time, so I may as well get over it.
Serena Williams
The knowledge that everything good can be taken away at any second is what makes me work so hard.
Ronda Rousey
Bad attitudes will ruin your team.
Terry Bradshaw
I don’t think I am that hands-on. I’m much more of a believer in finding a great team of people and trusting them to follow their instincts. They work better when they feel they have freedom and they are trusted.
Anna Wintour
The keystone of successful business is cooperation. Friction retards progress.
James Cash Penney
If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.
Henry Ford
Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.
Bethany Hamilton
No one feels strong when they examine their own weakness. But in facing weakness, you learn how much there is in you, and you find real strength.
Pat Summitt
I encourage friendly competition among the design team. But I also remind everyone that their colleague sitting across the desk is not the enemy. That’s Honda and Toyota.
J Mays
Women lead in different ways. Women rarely feel the need to speak the most at a meeting to make their point.
Patricia Bellinger**
Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.
Colin Powell
The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.
Faye Wattleton
The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.
Pelé
Winning and championships are memorable but they come from the strength of the relationships.
Jim Calhoun
Responsibility equals accountability equals ownership. And a sense of ownership is the most powerful weapon a team or organization can have.
Pat Summitt
You may have noticed I doubled the advice from two of my favorite teamwork experts: the late Coach Pat Summitt and living Coach John Wooden.
The absolute heart of loyalty is to value those people who tell you the truth, not just those people who tell you what you want to hear. In fact, you should value them most. Because they have paid you the compliment of leveling with you and assuming you can handle it.
Pat Summitt
Never try to be better than someone else, always learn from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be — that’s under your control. If you get too engrossed and involved and concerned in regard to the things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect the things over which you have control.
John Wooden
