Everything Counts: 52 Remarkable Ways to Inspire Excellence and Drive Results

Chapter 10. Teamwork Counts

"Success depends on a combination of good timing, natural advantages, and harmonious teamwork."

Sustainable competitive advantages, such as patents, licenses, brands, and leadership, are the unique characteristics of a company that cannot be replicated by competitors. Teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage; it plays a determining role in the success of any enterprise, and is far more important to success than strategy, finance, and technology.

Teamwork consists of two or more people coordinating their activities to accomplish a common goal. The moment you start doing anything at all with just one other person, you've established a team. Begin a conversation—pick up the phone, brainstorm an idea—and you're engaged in teamwork.

Teamwork is a force multiplier that is central to virtually every activity of every business. It's a way of organizing people to support interdependence and cooperation. Team performance includes both the outputs produced by the group as a whole, as well as the contribution of individual team members to the success of the team.

While many companies and leaders hail teamwork as a core value, most neglect to establish true group unity. These companies fail at teamwork because they underestimate its benefits and power; because their level of commitment is not sustained or serious enough; and because they become overwhelmed by the difficulty and amount of time required to make teamwork a reality. Executives get bogged down in tactical ...