Skip to Main Content
The Program
book

The Program

by Eric Kapitulik, Jake MacDonald
September 2019
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
304 pages
5h 59m
English
Wiley
Audiobook available
Content preview from The Program

13Meet the Standards: Be a Thumb Teammate!

JAM YOUR THUMB INTO your chest repeatedly. That is being a thumb teammate. Point your index finger at a teammate. That is being a finger teammate.

Great teammates consistently meet the organization’s standards, and then hold their teammates accountable to achieving them. Accountability makes us the best versions of ourselves. Our competition, and the battlefields where we compete, will demand our very best. Unfortunately, if we wait until those moments to give it, we are doomed to mission failure. Great teammates understand this. Great teammates hold teammates accountable, but to do so successfully, we must first be “a thumb teammate.” As discussed in Chapter 2, one of the first lessons all Marine Corps officers are taught is “Never ask a Marine to do something that you aren’t willing to do yourself.” Otherwise, Marines will never trust or respect you, both vital characteristics of teammates in any world-class organization, and often two of the Core Values of high-performing teams.

Too often though, teammates cut corners on Monday, but then try to hold other teammates accountable for the same issue on Tuesday. We have no right to be “a finger teammate” if we have not already been “a thumb teammate” first. An unwillingness to do so causes individual relationships and teams to fracture and fail. Standards reinforce behaviors and how we behave requires us to make a choice. It does not require talent. Therefore, if we choose not to be ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

The Leadership Contract, 3rd Edition

The Leadership Contract, 3rd Edition

Vince Molinaro
Fit to Compete

Fit to Compete

Michael Beer

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119574309Purchase book