The matchup was set. The world-famous Chicago Bulls would take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on the evening of March 28, 1990. This was the beginning of the era when the Bulls dynasty would be built. Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, John Paxson, and Horace Grant all led a successful season that year. Off the bench was a lesser-known player, Stacey King, hailing from Oklahoma.
That night, it would take overtime to separate the Bulls from the Cavs ultimately ending in a 117-113 win. In addition to the win, the night also proved memorable with Michael Jordan putting on a show. All told, he tallied 69 points, 18 rebounds and 6 assists. And Stacey King? He scored 1 point from the free throw line. After the game, King was quoted “I’ll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordan and I combined to score 70 points.”
Quite humorous if you ask me.
Yet, he was on the team, and together, they picked up the win. Albeit, that win was one sided with Jordan picking over half the total points scored, but King’s 1 point did count, and helped the Bulls pull off the victory that night.
Team.
Reminds me of the overused saying: “There is no “I” in Team.” I’ve used this often with my kids when they’ve been a ball hog or displayed some other form of prideful individualism.
At work, we have a set of core values, in which Teamwork is listed. Simply stated, we define Teamwork as “We are better together.” In other words, no one person is to thank or to blame in any given situation. We’re together, we help each other, we all take the blame, we make no excuses. When we succeed, we celebrate as a team, there are no individual awards. We put others before self and collaborate with other team members to find the best possible solution. 1+1=3.
Rugged individualism rarely works. It takes a team to win a game. It takes a team to accomplish a vision.
Finding yourself alone? Working on things by yourself?
Go find a teammate, and be better together.
Do the work. And live on purpose today.
