Teamwork
I recently came across two very different YouTube videos, one about Russia and the other about China, that made me think about the future of humanity and the world that my children will have to navigate. The one about Russia highlighted the loss of assets recently for foreign companies and native business owners. The one about China discusses the change in China's internet policies and the punishments for accessing outside information. Both point to an alarming trend: constriction, a loss of freedom and choice.
Over the years, I have casually followed two streamers from these countries: a small family in Russia and a Chinese woman who shared traditional crafts. As I came to appreciate their lives, something shifted. These places stopped feeling foreign. The people became real. The distance shrank, and the borders (at least in my mind) began to disappear. We were no longer so different. We were just people trying to live peacefully and build something beautiful and meaningful for our families.
“What does this have to do with teamwork?” you might be asking. I’m getting there.
The unfamiliar is often what we fear most. Different languages, religions, foods, and ways of living can easily turn into “us vs. them” thinking. Left unchecked, that thinking can justify atrocious behavior, because if “they” are not like “us,” are they even fully human?
When people are cut off from outside perspectives by governments, religions, societies, or even families, it becomes much harder to understand other points of view, and even harder to care. It prevents connection. It prevents unity. And that is what teamwork is at its core: unity in pursuit of a shared goal.
Teamwork cannot exist if individuals are driven solely by personal gain or recognition. It also cannot exist if team members never take the time to understand one another as people. As Phil Dooley put it, “The best teams are made up of a bunch of nobodies who love everybody and serve anybody and don’t care about becoming somebody.”
No individual can operate at 100% all the time. Strong teams recognize this. They step in when someone struggles. They carry the weight when needed. Over time, this mutual support builds something essential: trust.
“Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.” — Stephen Covey. So how do we build that trust?
It begins with a choice: to believe in one another. To believe that people have the capacity to be good and to do the right thing. To believe that a better future is possible and that we can build it together. Without trust, there is no true teamwork, and without teamwork, we cannot build the kind of world we claim to want.
"There are four words that, when said, will bring out the best in your team, your employees, and your family. They are: I believe in you." - Coach Mike Kryzewski. Not the person someone used to be, or even who they are today, but who they have the potential to become.
Teamwork is not about looking back. It is forward-facing and focused on where we are willing to go together. It recognizes a simple truth: when one of us loses, we all lose. As Robyn Benincasa puts it, “You don’t inspire your teammates by showing them how amazing you are. You inspire them by showing them how amazing they are.”
And yet, not everyone agrees. Comedian George Carlin once criticized the very idea of teams, arguing for independence, individuality, and resistance to group identity. There was a time when I might have agreed with him. But now, I’m not so sure.
We are a social species. We need each other to survive. If we retreat into our countries, our communities, our families, or ourselves, what happens then? If we decide it is every person for themselves, the shared rules that hold us together begin to erode.
“Good teams have rules. Great teams have standards. Rules tell you what you can’t do. Standards define what you won’t accept.” - unknown. Those standards become culture, and our culture is a shared set of beliefs, values, and behaviors that shape how we treat one another.
Last week, in What You Deserve, I explored the idea that life is not inherently fair. We may believe people deserve kindness, freedom, and happiness- but the world does not guarantee these things. That is why we must choose to create them in the ways we live and how we treat others. Teamwork is one of the ways we do that.
On the largest scale, humanity itself is a team. We will either move forward together or fracture and fail. Without trust, without understanding, and without a shared vision of what is possible, progress becomes impossible. But this is not a call to despair.
Your individual impact on the world may feel small, but it is not meaningless. The way you show up with patience, with forgiveness, and your willingness to engage rather than withdraw matters more than you think.
We cannot build a better world if we cannot first imagine it. So imagine it. Then act accordingly. Be inclusive. Be forgiving. Be someone others can trust. Be a good teammate, even when it feels like you’re the only one trying.
Love and Hope,
Big Sky Baby