Last fall, at the Build­ing Cham­pi­ons Expe­ri­ence, I gave the open­ing pre­sen­ta­tion.  The topic was cen­tered on best prac­tices for suc­cess in chal­leng­ing times. Ear­lier in the year, as I pre­pared for this pre­sen­ta­tion, I inter­viewed sev­eral clients and friends who serve as lead­ers of large orga­ni­za­tions to iden­tify the most com­mon behav­ioral disciplines. 

Dur­ing my inter­view with a client who is the CEO of a UK based petro­leum addi­tives orga­ni­za­tion, the topic of team came up.  He said that he believes we fall short as lead­ers when we see our teams as an “asset.”  He explained that peo­ple do not want to feel owned, or to have their value sum­ma­rized on a cor­po­rate bal­ance sheet. 

His belief is that our team is more than an asset.  They are our com­pet­i­tive advantage.

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