Building a team

"I learned at a very young age that music teaches you about life. When you're in the midst of improvisation, there is no yesterday and no tomorrow — there is just the moment that you are in. In that beautiful moment, you experience your true insignificance to the rest of the universe. It is then, and only then, that you can experience your true significance."
                                                                                  -Charlie Haden

I heard the above quote from NPR Weekend Edition last Sunday.  While I was driving back from my early morning run, it happened to be on the radio.  Although Charlie Haden, celebrated jazz base player, was talking about music and how he gets in the zone when he improvises on the stage, I was able to relate to his quotation.

Charlie Haden was featured in NPR Morning Edition

I think any team player would agree.  When you are working with each other to achieve something great, you have to be able to look at yourself objectively and see the both weakness and strength as a team member.  You gotta have a perspective on how much your work is valued and also look at how your work can be improved by looking at other great team players.

With out appreciation of your work, you don't have strength to motivate yourself and go on.  Without self-critical look, you won't be able to continually improve your work and get better at it.  They are ying and yang of team play, and it's not a easy state to maintain at all times.

It is even more difficult to assemble members with similar philosophy and maintain the team's productivity at the optimal level.  As team gets bigger, this challenge becomes even tougher.

I think that is one of the reasons why there is no permanent winner in the business.  Everyone has to earn their rights each day to stay on top, and there is always an opportunity for new nimble and better assembled team to come and take the number one spot.