Always Wear Your Jersey

Across most organizations, very little work is individual in nature. Much of it is teamwork. You are working in a team and contributing to the team’s overall success.

Now, when execution happens, it could lead to wins and losses, and sometimes, the tendency of individuals in the team could be biased. They are happy to take credit when something good happens but eager to abandon responsibility when something goes wrong. (This is the Self-Serving Bias ; I wrote about it yesterday.)

Early in my career, one of my mentors taught me a precious lesson in the context of teamwork.

Always wear your jersey, he told me. At all times, you are a team member, and therefore, it is only right that you share responsibility for both the wins and the losses. Remember, you will always win or lose as a team.