Winners Give Up Going It Alone!

When I was a senior in High School, I had this psychology teacher, Vic Yurick, who made us do all kinds of crazy things. We carried around a raw egg for a week to learn responsibility. He made all the males embrace, much as they do in other cultures, which made our small farm town student body VERY uncomfortable. He made us sit in a circle and intimate our deepest fears to each other and give up what we thought our projected image was, only to have our self illusions shattered by a collision with the perceptions of our peers. Some of those things seemed really on the fringe, especially to the males in the class. The self-identified loners cringed at the thought of sharing, being made examples of, and letting people know what they thought. But through this process, connections were formed; some as thick as bridge cables, some barely visible like a spider’s silk.
We once broke down the Simon and Garfunkel song, the main theme being, “I am a rock, I am an island.” We likened it with the lone wolf…living in a self-imposed solitude, rather than living with the pact.
Unlike wolves, NO man is truly an island. Humans are a social creature, genetically designed to mate and cohabitate for a period of time. We were designed to function at our finest in groups, interacting with others. Historically, members of a group or tribe acquired skills that the tribe needed…hunters, cooks, weavers, blacksmiths, cobblers, thatchers and the like. This was how man survived.
Even in today’s highly complicated, electrified, grid laden world it is nearly impossible to single-handedly create and supply everything one needs. Yet, I watch countless people trying to “go it alone”…especially business owners. Have you ever worked for someone who just has to wear all of the hats? This guy has to be in charge of cash flow, do all the selling, manage the inventory, and make the coffee. This guy tries to do SOOO many things, that he can’t really do any of them well.
The same thing is true in our personal lives. I can’t tell you how many projects I have taken on that would have been done at half the cost, in two thirds the time if I didn’t just HAVE to conquer it myself.
Great leaders, efficient businessmen and happy people have learned to use the strengths and talents of those around, next to and underneath them. They let those assets work for them…THEN they spread the credit around. When we learn how to do this our aspirations race towards us, our mutual needs are met and our projects excel. Winners have learned to stop going it alone. Rocks never move, and islands slowly, eventually, and ultimately sink beneath the sea.