Super Stars Don't Make the Team

I was watching an interview with Charles Barkley. His basketball career was being discussed. He was asked to rate the great players during his 1985-1990 years.

Charles declared Michael Jordan #1 and Barkley #2. The commentator, to clarify the statement, asked Charles if he thought himself better than Magic Johnson. Charles replied, "Yes." The commentator then asked Charles if he thought of himself as better than Larry Bird. Charles replied again, "Yes."

Barkley went on to explain why. He felt that both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird belonged to better teams, so they seemed better because they were playing with other great players. I would disagree. The title "great player" or "super star" doesn't mean anything if their team is not involved.

I left the interview and watched a segment of Mr. 3000, a feature film starring Bernie Mac. In the movie, Bernie plays a one time great player, who has returned to Major League Baseball after a discrepancy in his hit totals was found. He joins his old team at the end of a season to get a few more hits. He's having a hard time fitting in and the team is almost out of contention for the play-offs.

After a losing game, T-Rex, the current super star of the team is being interviewed in the locker room. T-Rex blames the loss on his teammates. He believes that he did his job. He's about to make even nastier comments when Bernie steps up and draws the reporters over to himself and away from the new super star. He meets T-Rex later in the parking lot and explains that Bernie wasn't looking for glory, but rather protecting the super star from damaging relations within the team.

So often in sports we see super stars hired for their names. They come in and get their stats and a bigger name for themselves, but do nothing for the team. They think they are the team, they ignore the team, or they look down on the individual members of the team. It's the same in business. Headhunters supply hotshot executives and turn-around experts who come in and make bold moves, increase stock prices or public confidence and move on.

Super stars in sports and business are great, if they can communicate with team members. Teambuilding begins with knowing our roles, forming mentoring relationships, building trust, and improving the team.

In Mr. 3000 Bernie finally gets a hit, T-Rex joshes him and begins to show leadership. The team begins to think like a team, act like a team, and play like a team. They rally for the play off run.

If the super star works without team members, team members gain nothing. If the super star works in spite of team efforts, then the organization gains nothing. If the super star works only for himself, then the team members, the organization, and quite possibly even the super star gains nothing.



Super Stars Don't Make the Team - To learn more about this author, visit Don Doman's Website.

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