I attribute a lot of the lessons I have learned in my life to the sports I played and coached, no more so than baseball. In no other sport can you fail 70% of the time and still be considered a great player and get inducted into the Hall of Fame. Two of my close friends in my life I gained through playing and coaching baseball.

One of the lessons I have learned from baseball and one that I try to teach others is teamwork. Everyone, at one time or another, wants to be the go to person, the one with the bases loaded, 2 outs, bottom of the ninth inning, down three runs in game 7 of the World Series. The fact of the matter is that without the three people on base, the pitcher who has kept the deficit to 3 runs and all of the other people on your team, you would not be in this situation. Without the help of your teammates you would not be able to become the star, the go to person.

I have seen all too often people who just do not get what it means to be part of a team and how each person on the team is just as important as the other. Not everyone can be the star pitcher or the star hitter. How many games can be won in baseball with a team of only star pitchers. Who would score any runs without any batters and who would keep the team from scoring runs without any fielders?

The same is true in business. Everyone within an organization plays an important part in the success of the business. Without Mary in accounting, or Joe in sales, or Kelly answering the phones, the business would not be successful. If you find a person within your organization who wants to be the star and thinks he/she is more important than everyone else, help them out with teamwork. He/she needs to understand what is takes to be part of a successful team and probably has never been part of such a team.