Leadership Wednesday 12 - Call of Duty

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out last week and it has become one of the fastest selling video games ever. The popularity of the game is based on its multiplayer component, where players from all over the world can play together online in competitive matches. I can attest from personal experience that the game is rather addicting and it’s easy to pour a few hours into the game, trying to get as many kills as possible while helping your team win. It is nice to get a team win, however the main focus for most players is on individual statistics; if I can get 20 kills and only 10 deaths, who really cares if my teams loses?

That kind of “me first” attitude is all right in the world of video games; nothing of value hinges on whether or not one team or another loses. In the real world, though, and the world of leadership, that kind of attitude can destroy organizations or, at the very least, hurt the efficacy of a team. It’s so easy to worry about our own productivity and our own future, that we can often put the team on the backburner; the team can become an afterthought to our own personal motives and intentions.

It’s easy to put the team on the backburner because the rewards and accolades for individual success are much greater than those for team success. A player on the worst baseball or basketball team can cash in on a huge contract if he has individual statistics that overshadow the record of the team. As leaders, though, we need to realize that if our teams succeed, then we’ll succeed as well. We don’t lead in order to find personal success, but there’s no greater success than seeing a team we lead succeed and do well. It’s a reward in itself knowing that we provided leadership for a group that went above and beyond, reaching levels of success that we couldn’t have even imagined.

When have you succeeded because your team succeeded?