Teamwork makes the dream work!

Henry Ford, founder of The Ford Motor Company is largely regarded as one of the most innovative individuals our country has ever produced.  His implementation of the assembly line for car manufacturing, not only created wealth and prosperity for his company, it also did something else – it democratized car ownership and set the stage for the United States to become the economic superpower for more than a century. He did this through the power of teamwork

The Leadership Challenge identifies Behavior #3 as “Develops cooperative relationships among the people he/she works with.”

Even though he was the innovator, one of his most famous quotes illustrates how he was also passionate about relationships…

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.

Henry Ford (1863 – 1947, American industrialist)

Robert Shindell Team Work

Check out this short video about how you can develop better cooperative relationships at work…

or Click here to watch on TED.com

What if Henry Ford did not actively engage in building cooperative relationship with people he worked with?  Would he have been able to realize the same level of success?  Would the United States have become the epicenter of the automobile industry?  Would millions of people all over the globe have had access to low-cost, high-quality cars?

We will never know the answer to these questions, but there is one thing that we can be certain…

Without the ability to develop cooperative relationships among people you work with, your ability to be a great leader will be limited.

To learn more about me, click here.

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My leadership journey began more than than 25 years ago with The Leadership Challenge, the most trusted source on becoming a better leader.  So far, more than 2 million copies of the book have been published in over in over 20 languages. Based on Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner’s extensive global research, this life changing approach to leadership and their enduring work is critical to help us navigate the world of work today.  The basic premise is that leadership is a relationship that must be nurtured and, most important, that it can be learned.