don't care who gets the credit

you can learn something from watching soccer. many times a goal scorer did nothing more than receive the gift of a beautiful ball delivered to him on a silver platter. the play maker did all the work and made the goal happen. who gets all the credit and praise? of course... the goal scorer.

i have learned that success for a mission is largely dependent on something that's counter intuitive to our human nature.

it's called don't care who gets the credit!

it's natural to want the credit, recognition, praise, honor for whatever you did to help achieve success for the mission.

but for me, it's all about the mission. who cares who gets the credit? who even has time to worry about that? there's too much to do - we're on a mission!

i've learned by watching some great leaders that success is all about setting others up to be successful. the greatest leaders want success so bad for the next generation of leaders. and they are comfortable with the fact that no one will ever know that most of that success traced back to their efforts.

*i desperately want to have this same attitude throughout my lifetime.

unfortunately most leaders are more concerned with being personally known as great. So they intentionally or unintentionally set up the next generation to fail.  They think that's a great testament to them as leaders - if it all fell apart after they left.

but that's the opposite of a great leader. that's horrible leadership if it all falls apart when the leader leaves.

These kind of leaders can see great success for a mission, but after they leave it all fails.

i am passionate about the mission i'm a part of and will always be a part of. i want to contribute and see a TON of success in this mission, but i really don't care if i get the credit or the praise.

i CAN'T care who gets the credit! i think a lot of our success depends on having leaders and teams who are cool with that.

*When you have a bunch of wanna be goal scorers (credit seekers) and no play makers - you don't score many goals.