Leadership and Teamwork: You Are Very Important

I still remember this story very vividly today even though it happened in 2006 or thereabouts.

Our overall boss who was addressed as the Chief Marketing Officer then let out a short scream in his office and charged out. We all wondered what the trouble was. We ran after him as he walked very briskly towards the security men. We had never seen him so agitated before that way.

It turned out that a prospect we had made several pitches to without success decided to show up that day. He was an HNI (High Networth Individual) that everyone wanted to onboard. We had been on this prospect for more than a year. Having him in your books would make all his own customers follow him. He was a market maker and the value chain was very robust. Signing him on was a very big deal back then.

He had finally made up his mind and visited without any prompting. He was dressed very simply–in Jalabia and carried a polythene bag. He wore a pair of slippers. His car parked across the road and he walked to our office. When he approached the security guard and mentioned that he wanted to see the Chief Marketing Officer, the guard scanned him with his eyes and asked if he had an appointment. The Baba said no.

The security guard, apparently misjudging the book by its cover, now made a very disparaging remark. He said very off-handedly that that is how people come to disturb his oga by begging him for money. The Baba heard, got very upset, turned back and walked across the street to where his driver was waiting for him. He got into his car, called our boss and said in Yoruba:

“You have been calling me to do business with you. Your people have been coming to my office for over a year. Today, I decided to come and start a relationship. I even brought money. But your security guard insulted me and called me a beggar. Don’t ever come to my office again”.

It was at that point we all heard him scream and storm out of his office. What happened to the security guard?

Every member of a team is important, it doesn't matter if someone works in the background or in the limelight. A slip by a team member can cost the leader a lot. Share on X

In a team, the attention is usually on the leader. Often, he/she takes the credit if everything goes well and all the time they become the scapegoat if things go south. We have so many books on leadership and so many conferences on leadership training. We often encourage followers to up their leadership game. And that’s so much on point. However, leadership can only function effectively if the team play is very tight.

A leader is only as good as his/her team. A leader is only as strong as the strongest team members and as weak as the weakest links. A leader takes the colouration of his team. If the average is blue, he’s blue. If the average is red, he’s red. Consequently, everyone is important in a team, including the security guard. A slip by a team member can cost the leader a lot.

Look at Jesus, the best example of a leader ever. Everyone talks about Him. But He had a team that was very tight with some working in the background. In any team, you have those who are very visible, like Peter and the other disciples who were ready to run any assignment and had natural leadership abilities. You also have those who work in the background and are not so visible, like Luke who just focused on writing. All of them are very important.

Without Peter, the team won’t be motivated and there will be no push. Without Luke, the whole team would become folklores in a few years because no one is documenting. We know about Peter today because of a man like Luke. Don’t think your work is not important because no one gives you accolades directly.

Don’t think you’re insignificant because your name doesn’t come up frequently. Continue to do your work very diligently in the background so that the back of your team will not be on the ground. Everyone is important in a team. You are important.