Tip #3 - Teamwork, it works for Public Enemy, it will work for you

“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” - Henry Ford spoke these words at the beginning of the  20th century.

“Find like-minded people and try not to be individualized to the point where you try to fight it all and think about it all on your own.” - Chuck D spoke these words in the late 1980’s.

“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” - Steve Jobs spoke these words at the beginning of the 21st century.

These quotes tell us that the value of teamwork has long been recognized, and this value is the same to a 19th century industrialist, a 1980’s Hip Hop icon, and a 21’st century tech giant.

We hear the slogans and phrases about teamwork every day, if you don’t believe me, just turn on the local news and wait for the sports to come up. What we need to understand is that in order to reap the benefits of teamwork, you have to be a member on your own team.

At Hardboot, I’ve learned the difference between preaching “Teamwork” and assembling “Teams that work”. You can’t simply gather a group together, assign a task, and bark orders at them from the office or phone. You need to become part of the team, giving everyone equal input and accept equal criticism from all members. By flattening the team landscape, you avoid the bottlenecks that come along with hierarchies and rankism, and you set an example by doing your share of the heavy lifting.

Or, in the words of the Notorious B.I.G.- "everything you get, ya gotta work hard for it."