KPR CORNER...

Americans pass many hours enjoying sports of all kinds during their downtime – maybe from a neighborhood ball field where some like to get down and dirty with friends for a pick-up game of volleyball or softball.  And of course, there are the millions of fans who enjoy college or professional team sporting events on a grand scale.  There’s even that special category of sports fans that like to demonstrate ultimate team spirit by showing up to games with faces and bodies painted and decorated with favorite team colors, logos, players’ numbers, or what have you.

What is it about team sports that gives us a sense of unity and ignites fiery passion from deep within us, moving both players and fans alike to embrace one another with hugs, high-fives, and belly bounces?  Or, the defeat and agonies that reduce this same group to tears?  If you’ve ever been involved in a team sport as a participant, you’ve no-doubt heard coach’s golden rule of “There’s No ‘I’ In Team” time and time again.  This is not only a great truism in sports, but one that applies to the corporate world.  Team sports are in no way won by individual performance alone, rather by a group effort. 

As I’ve spent my fall rooting for the A’s baseball club, a club that demonstrates better than any other professional sports team out there, a total and complete sense of unity without a single ‘big-ego’ standout, it strikes me that corporate America could stand to be reminded of sports’ golden and simple motto: “There’s No ‘I’ In Team”.  It’s a mentality that we often take for granted, a cliché, but what can a company actually achieve without abiding by this law?  What is a company other than an effective, functional, coordinated unit heading toward a common goal?  

The HP board leak scandal is a very high profile example of where this rule could have been more adeptly applied.  We may never know for certain what went down in the HP board meetings and behind-the-scene sessions that led up to the ugly scandal’s public outing.  But what we do know is top former executives close to the incident have gone on record to state that actions, decisions, and steps that led up to the current situation were fueled by the perception that certain board members had lost sight of sports’ golden rule.  In doing so, these individuals strayed from team agendas to pursue personal agendas, losing sight of the big picture – the best interest of the team – the company.  HP is no doubt paying dearly for this misstep. 

My bets are still on HP. They’ve got a “championship” history as a corporate team; one scandal does not necessarily destroy a dynasty.  But for now, HP serves as a great reminder of why sometimes the simplest of lessons are the most important: “There is no ‘I’ in Team.”

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