"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.
