Say Goodbye to Your Ego, It's About Your Team
I write to think. And that's okay – sometimes I just need to get my thoughts down. Few people read what I write; everyone has their own stuff they're working through. But I try to write things that could, in theory, be helpful to someone else.
Last night, I decided to play some Super Smash Bros. with my son and daughter. Super Smash Bros. (for the two of you who don't know) is a video game from Nintendo that you play on the Switch platform. You basically pick from 50 characters (including Mario, Princess Peach, or Donkey Kong) and punch each other until your damage gets so high that you die.
You can play against the computer or with your friends. We played a match of 3 v 3. The three of us versus three computer generated players.
After our first match, I showed them the post-game statistics that detail information about how you did in the match. I showed them the statistic called "damage %" (the amount of damage you do to other players in the game). In the first game, I was playing with Samus and I had like 700%+ damage. My 11-year-old and 8-year-old had like 250 - 350% damage (pretty good for their age, but less than mine).
By showing them this statistic, they quickly started picking the characters with the most knock-down power (Donkey Kong, Bowser, and other large, strong players). They started ignoring their favorite players in exchange for taking on the strength so they could get their damage % stat up higher.
Each character has unique skills. Some people shoot paint, release a huge bomb, or can deliver crazy strong punches, etc. My player, Samus, isn't particularly strong, but she shoots a large light "bomb" that really packs a punch, and allows you to attack from a long-distance.
Anyway, back to the game. My kids picked Donkey Kong and Bowser because they wanted to attack with a lot of damage — it didn’t work.
We got crushed by the computer in our 3 v 3 battle. My kids picked the same characters again, saying that they just needed to “warm up” with these characters. I remained optimistic, but we got crushed again.
I suggested an idea I hoped would land.
“Hey guys, what if we looked for the characters we had the most fun playing with? Then, what if we chose characters who had complementary strengths? Like if one of us has a laser beam that can shoot from distance, and we combine that with a person who can punch really fast, we might be able to do better. If we had more fun, playing with the characters we love, and combining characters together that have complementary strengths, that might be better than picking all ‘strength’ characters.”
“Good idea,'' my daughter said. Then her wheels started turning.
She continued: "I really like to play with Jiggly Puff. She's cute, and she can put people to sleep. Dad, if I put people to sleep, and you keep playing with Samus, you could shoot them with your laser beam right after I put them to sleep!”
“Good idea, Lucy,” Liam chimed in. “I think I should be Wario because he can do a lot of damage with his motorcycle and is super strong.”
So there we went. Liam picked his favorite, Lucy picked her favorite, and I kept playing with mine. I figured this might be a better strategy, but the results were legit way better than I expected.
We crushed it.
In fact, we were able to turn the computer up to the highest difficulty level and win a 3 v 3 battle on this level that I had never been able to do before with them.
The interesting part was that Liam (who played with Wario, the strongest character of our trio from a total damage % capability) got like nearly 1,000% damage.
From that statistic, he was the most "effective." His ego jumped a bunch after our first big win. He started patting himself on the back.
I saw a surprising learning opportunity that I honestly wasn’t expecting.
“Yo, Liam. That statistic is super deceiving, man. ‘Damage %’ didn't get allocated to Lucy, but she was the one walking around and putting everyone to sleep so I could shoot them with my laser beam and you could run over them with Wario's motorcycle. Lucy was an essential role in the overall strategy, and of course so were you! But the statistics wouldn't have been able to report on her function. And, did you notice how I was sitting over on the other side of the screen launching those massive laser balls? Those really helped stun the other players so you could add more damage with your motorcycle.”
As I got ready for bed, I thought about how many CSA's, associate advisors, or administrative team members might feel similarly. Never getting any of the credit, but doing all of the behind the scenes work to actually make something beautiful happen, collectively as a team.
It's the team dynamic that really separates the elite firms from the mediocre ones.
Elite teams can accomplish SO much more than elite individuals.
How many times does our ego, or desire for "credit," cause us to miss out on the big opportunity?
The real "work" is trying to figure out how your unique zone of genius, loves, preferences (your desired character) can properly combine with team members who have different desires, strengths, and goals with their lives.
And then letting go of what you are not. Your job is to shoot the laser. It's her job to help put people to sleep. It's his job to drive the motorcycle.
Then came the special part. After we were done with our video game session my daughter told me:
"Dad, we make a really good team don't we?"
Yes, we do.
Teams are the best.
Super fun story. I enjoy your reading your content!
I'm also experiencing the benefits of simply getting thoughts out of my head with video content I've posted recently. Even if no one watches them, it's still a helpful practice for me and is giving me more confidence when I talk to people. Thanks Reese!