I cringe when I read job descriptions for technology positions that mention the word “team”.
I’ve worked in a couple of environments in which this word was bandied about by clones of Jack from “Lord of the Flies”. These people had no idea, no clue in heaven or hell, of what it means to lead a team.
And I think I know why.
I’m watching the AFC Championship game between the Patriots and the Steelers. One thing you notice about these guys: in spite of enormous pressure from the media to make individual heroes, the players themselves will have nothing to do with it.
Having never been athletic – or, rather, having stayed away from athletics because that was the venue in which my younger sister wanted to (and did) excel – I’ve never had the experience of really feeling part of a team. Or any group, for that matter.
But I think that to really understand the art of coaching, and being a member of a team, one pretty much needs to have played at least one group sport.
The Jack clones I know brag about their athleticism, and more power to them.
But their sports are not group sports – running, surfing, skiing, etc.
That’s all I want to write about this at the moment. I think it’s interesting and need to cogitate on it a bit.