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

25Friend or Teammate?

WE GO TO the movies with good friends. We go to battle with great teammates. The Program considers a friend anyone who is a good person with whom we enjoy spending our time (a “good” person doesn’t lie, cheat, or steal). A teammate is a member of our organization with whom we accomplish a mission. Friends are held to two standards: be a good person and be enjoyable to spend time with. Teammates are held to two standards as well: meet our organization’s standards and then hold our teammates accountable to achieving them.

We go to the movies with good friends. We go to battle with great teammates.

There are very few people who don’t desire to be well liked—some more than others, but we all have an ego. If you don’t think you do, right now, go and find a group photo that you are in. Look at it. Answer the following question truthfully: Who did you look for first?

Not only do we want to be well liked, we want to be loved! For many individuals on a team, some of whom are even high performers, this desire to be popular, to be a good friend to everyone, is more important than being a great teammate who meets the standard and then holds their teammates accountable to doing so. Holding a teammate accountable is uncomfortable. When we hold some teammates accountable, it can upset them, make them angry at us, or even cause them not to like us or want to be friends with us.

Almost every organization has people who are very popular, whom everyone likes a lot. They ...

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