When the New England Patriots went to the Super Bowl in 2002, they did something that no other team has done before: before the game, while the other team introduced its starters individually, New England came out as a team.
“No introductions. No names. No stars. Just 53 teammates coming onto the field as a single unit,” wrote Sean Gormley, a columnist with Georgetown University’s newspaper, The Hoya. “The significance of that entrance said more about this Patriots team than any analyst ever could—the ultimate sign of team before individual in an era of me-first and go-where-the-money-is professional sports.”
I was at the Super Bowl that year, and when I heard the Patriots were going to be introduced as a team, I decided right then and there that I was going to root for them that day. Yes, I’m a fickle fan, but I liked the idea of them being introduced together with nobody standing out.
The message the players sent was clear: “We’re a team—we win together, we lose together” (As it turned out, they won together, eking out a 20-17 victory over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams).
The Patriots didn’t decide to enter the field as a group because they lacked star players who deserved individual recognition. They did so because those top players possessed a quality common to effective leaders in every arena—they knew how to check their egos at the door.
When you’re the boss, it’s tempting to take credit for the successes of your organization. This tendency is magnified by the increasingly star-struck media culture in which we live. When a leader is positive, successful and engaging, it’s only human nature for employees to lionize him.
But the best leaders refuse to let such adulation—however justified—go to their heads.
Instead of taking the glory for themselves, they are much more likely to attribute their success to hard work, good timing, a healthy dose of luck or the efforts of family members and colleagues.
Because these leaders are not driven by their egos, they are quick to turn the spotlight away from themselves and on to the people who actually make their organizations tick on a daily basis. As a result, when a great leader’s work is done, the people say, “We did it ourselves.”
Mark Twain once remarked, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished if the leader doesn’t care who gets the credit.”
It was true for the New England Patriots, and it also can be true for your organization—as long as you’re willing to check your ego at the door.
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John Maxwell grew up in the 1950s in the small Midwestern city of Circleville, Ohio. John's earliest childhood memory is of knowing that he would someday be a pastor. He professed faith in Christ at the age of three, and reaffirmed that commitment when he was 13. At age 17, John began preparing for the ministry. He attended Circleville Bible College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1969. In June of that same year, he married his sweetheart, Margaret, and moved to tiny Hillham, Indiana, where he began his first pastorate.
While serving in his second church, Maxwell began to study the correlation between leadership effectiveness and ministry effectiveness. On July 4, 1976, while preaching at a service commemorating America's bicentennial, John sensed that God was calling him into a ministry to pastors. Within days after that event, pastors began to contact him, asking for his assistance in nurturing their churches. Over the next four years, on an informal basis, John helped scores of fellow pastors. Then, in 1980, he was asked to become Executive Director of Evangelism for the Wesleyan denomination.
Though his time at Wesleyan headquarters was productive, John soon realized that his deeper desire was to help pastors from numerous denominations. He knew that desire would be unfulfilled if he were to stay at denominational headquarters. As a result, in 1981 John accepted the call to return to the pastorate, this time at Skyline Wesleyan Church in the San Diego, California area. But he did so with the church's blessing to pursue his vision. The Skyline congregation allowed him to continue mentoring and assisting pastors even as he led them to new levels.
In 1985, as he continued to equip and encourage other pastors, John took the next crucial step in leadership development. He founded a new company called INJOY and created the INJOY Life Club, featuring a monthly tape for leaders. The fledging operation, established in the corner of a garage, was soon bursting at the seams. The INJOY Life Club tapes were received with great enthusiasm, and the number of subscriptions quickly increased from hundreds to thousands. Simultaneously, the demand for other resources and seminars exploded. Pastors from coast to coast were responding, and their desire for help was even greater than John had anticipated.
As the years passed, INJOY began demanding more and more of John's time. In 1995, he resigned from his position as senior pastor at Skyline following a very fruitful 14-year tenure. The church had tripled in size and its lay ministry involvement had increased ten-fold. Dr. Maxwell is in great demand today as a speaker. Through his bestselling books, audio and video resources, and major conferences, he communicates directly with more than one million people every year. He is frequently asked to speak for organizations such as Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family, but his greatest joy and desire is to help pastors become better leaders.
Because the need for leadership development knows no borders, John established EQUIP, a non-profit organization which trains leaders in urban communities, academic institutions, and within international organizations. EQUIP is also spearheading a movement which has enlisted more than one million pastoral prayer partners who covenant to pray specifically for those who shepherd God's flock.
John continues to seek new opportunities to help churches and church leaders. He knows that one thing is constant: the only hope for the world is salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives life abundantly.