When “I” Becomes “We”

A story that circulated in Chicago during the Bulls Jordan era was very insightful for leaders.

Tex Winter, a Bulls assistant coach, reminded Michael Jordan that there is no “I” in “TEAM.” Jordan’s retort was that there is an “I” in “WIN!”

The irony of that exchange is that they both are right. The best “I’s” – the “I’s” being the leaders – have the ability to turn “I” to “we.”

In the first of Jordan’s six NBA championships the Bulls had to beat Magic Johnson’s Lakers in the final round. As a 34-year college basketball coach at the time, I was at the first game and watched Jordan score 37 points, only to have the Bulls lose 93-91. They had to play the very next day and as I drove to the Chicago Stadium, I wondered how Jordan would approach the game.

Jordan, the “I”, the leader, I believed, could have scored 50 points against the Lakers. Instead, he began the game by taking only one shot in the entire first quarter.

He knew the “I” – as great as that “I” was – could not beat the Lakers by himself. He had to involve all his teammates. He had to turn the “I” to we. The Bulls won that second game 107-86 and went on to win the next three in a row in their run to the championship.

The attitude of the leader does make a difference and the great “I’s” have the ability to turn their “I” into an organizational’ “we”….just as Jordan did.