IdeaBank : Free Samples : Teamwork

Teamwork—samples from our database

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves. Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

Michael Jordan (1963- )
American professional basketball player with the Chicago Bulls
in "I Can't Accept Not Trying"
Harper San Francisco, 1994

Keywords: cooperation, sharing, sports, synergy, teamwork, unselfish, winning

From the Anecdotes/Excerpts file of IdeaBank

Have you ever watched a flock of geese flying in their traditional "V" formation, heading for Canada?

Two engineers learned that each bird, by flapping its wings, creates an uplift for the bird that follows. Together, the whole flock gains something like 70 percent greater flying range than if they were journeying alone.

Keywords: ally, anecdote, cooperation, flying, inspirational, nature, partnership, synergy, teamwork

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924)
Twenty-eighth President of the United States

Keywords: colleagues, cooperation, delegation, depend on, empowerment, help from others, information, lack of ego, others, partnership, plagiarism, research, shared objectives, smart, staff work, synergy, teamwork, wise

From the Quotations file of IdeaBank

A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.

Japanese Proverb

Keywords: ally, consensus, cooperation, crowd, friends, independent, majority, partnership, power, shared objectives, synergy, teamwork, unanimity

From the Anecdotes/Excerpts file of IdeaBank

Picture a building. Companies all added floors as they got bigger. Size adds floors. Complexity adds walls. We all built departments—transportation departments, research departments. That's complexity. That's walls.

The job all of us have in business is to flatten the building and break down the walls. If we do that, we will be getting more people coming up with more ideas for the action items that a business needs to work with.

John F. Welch, Jr. American businessman (1935- )
CEO, General Electric

Source: Fortune, December 30, 1991

Keywords: bureaucracy, business, cooperation, decentralization, efficiency, synergy, teamwork

From the Anecdotes/Excerpts file of IdeaBank

TEAMWORK AND EGO—A FABLE

The sin (and danger) of excessive pride (or an excessive ego) is admirably demonstrated in this simple fable:

A frog asked two geese to take him south with them. At first they resisted; they didn't see how it could be done. Finally, the frog suggested that the two geese hold a stick in their beaks and that he would hold on to it with his mouth.

So off the unlikely threesome went, flying southward over the countryside. It was really quite a sight. People looked up and expressed great admiration at this demonstration of creative teamwork.

Someone said, "It's wonderful! Who was so clever to discover such a fine way to travel?"

Whereupon the frog opened his mouth and said, "It was I, " as it plummeted to the earth.

Keywords: air, anecdote, animal, brag, dumb, ego, false pride, florida, humor, innovation, joke, migration, pride goeth before a fall, problem solving, stupid, tourist, transportation, travel