Monday Motivation: Teammates Or Lone Wolf

Good morning, everybody. Luke Wendtlandt here, founder of Cadre, chief motivational officer. Really excited to bring you this message today of being a good teammate versus being a lone wolf. Wings. And if you. If you hear this song learning to fly by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Oh, just. It's so good. Just about every life, whether it's business, whether it's going to work out, whether it's getting your musogi on, whether it's getting anything that it doesn't get much better than Tom Petty's learning to fly.

So I encourage you to listen to this one. It is really, really good learning to fly. Tom Petty and the heartbreakers. It's kind of always one of my favorite go to's in the morning, especially when I need to get going. So we'll give it just a second here. I'm seeing a lot of folks join. It's always the best when you see Monday morning and all the names that pop up. I appreciate it so much, and I hope I always give you a nugget or two that just, just may lean into something in the week that pops up.

We're like, oh, this is what it was talked about. Oh, this is something that was important or impactful. So what I wanted to talk today about was, good morning, Shannon. Good morning, Steph Erwin. Hope everything's great in the southeast east portion of the United States. It's always good to see you. Oh, it's just all these faces and names popping up on the live stream just makes me so happy. I wanted to talk about today, teammates versus the lone wolf mentality when it comes to working as a team.

Okay. There's this adage. If you want to go somewhere fast, you go alone, you want to go somewhere far, you go together. But we're seeing this real time. Any basketball fans out there, any basketball fans, any people watching the NBA playoffs, if you are, you're watching this real time with the NBA. And what we have is, I would call it almost, like, egotistical, one to one players versus a team environment. And so I want you to watch. There's a young, unbelievable player for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

His name is Anthony Edwards, and I think he just symbolizes a leader that works, whether it's at organizations, whether it's small teams, big teams, lower hierarchical teams and organizations, or higher organizational teams tiers. Regardless what this young man is doing, I want to give you the three things that I think symbolizes how he's building himself into a really good teammate, which makes a really good team number one, he's insanely humble. So although he might be, some people call it like, there's the cockiness there, but that's self confidence.

But he's also humble. What do I mean by he's humble? Listen to any postgame interview where they lost, where the team didn't go well. They lost on the playoffs, anything. Lost by 30, lost by five. And look at the very first person that he calls out. He doesn't call his teammates. He doesn't blame. I mean, look at the interview from last year's playoffs when they lost to Denver. And the very first thing he said, I gotta play better. I gotta play better. I own it. Like, this is on me. I need to improve.

I need to get back. I need to do more. The difference when you have alpha leaders, if male or female, usually alpha always comes into the male sense. That's so wrong. When you have alpha leaders, usually, more often than not, some of them point the finger at the individual in their team that's missing. The real alpha leaders will actually point it at themselves. And I also believe that that is a lone wolf mentality for good. And why do I mean that? Rarely, rarely, rarely. If anybody's listening to this, how many times have you seen a leader, the very first thing when something goes wrong, say, it's on me.

It's on me. I want to take this. So, number one, humility. Okay? So being a good teammate, building good teams, humility. Number two, the communication and rising up of other human beings. Again, listen to Anthony Edwards in interviews. We got the defensive player of the year. We got Kat, we've got Jada McDaniels. Yes, I know I'm going a lot of sports analogies today, but it works for me, and I hope it makes sense and resonates when I'm talking to you. Like he's building up his teammates, he's talking about their strengths.

He's letting them know the rest of the world know that we've got a good team. We're here together. We're in this together. It would be so easy for him to say, it's my show. It's the Anthony Edwards show. I'm the best young player in the league. And aye aye aye me, aye aye. Instead, he just flips it all to his teammates and gives the praise. He shows the praise for his teammates. He builds those other individuals up again, taking your step into leadership, working into teams, and then last but not least, is this.

When you're playing in a team, no one, let me say this again, no one is above the goals, above the mission, above the values of the direction of core, whatever you have that is determined as you move forward. Nobody's above it. Nobody's above it. And again, we are listening and watching a 22 year old that is showing the world how to lead well. And, you know, the coaches had me. They had to bring me in. They showed how I was attacking the two men, you know, pinch. They were bringing in it like they were bringing in the defense.

They're collapsing on me. They needed to show how I could actively engage my teammates better, get my teammates involved, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right? Like, again, he's doing all the things. And you wonder why the Timberwolves have literally done a 180. So I encourage you, as you're working with, you know, your teams, people you work with, you know, I really ask yourself, like, am I a lone wolf on this team, or am I a good teammate? Am I a lone wolf on this team, or am I a good teammate?

And again, I'm not saying that lone wolf mentality sometimes cannot be good. It can be. There can be a good part of the lone wolf mentality, but does it bring it into the teammate that is, am I an alpha, but can I still be a good teammate? Am I an alpha? But do I blame, am I an alpha? But I never take responsibility. Am I an alpha? But I don't communicate well, and I just go off on my own. Am I an alpha? But. And if you have any of the I am the alpha buts, I would have you change your narrative to, I am an alpha, and I am an alpha, and I'm really humble.

I'm an alpha and I really communicate well. I'm an alpha, and I build up my team. I'm an alpha. And the most important thing to me is the mission vision of our business and how we go and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I really, really want everyone to take a step back today when they're walking out of this live and ask yourself, and truly ask yourself, am I a good teammate? Am I a good teammate to the other individuals I work with? Am I a good teammate to the other individuals, the other teams that I work with as a team leader?

Right? So if you put yourself in the shoes of other. Of other human beings that you're working with, take a step back into empathy land and say, am I a good teammate to my teammates? And I think those moments in time of self reflection is really, really, really important. Okay, we have a awesome live stream scheduled for today. It's just packed full. It is going to be awesome. I can't wait for y'all to see it. If you. Again, there may be basketball fans out there. There may not be. But if you get an opportunity to listen and watch a little bit of the young boy, the young man from Minnesota who lost his mom, lost his grandma at young ages, and to see what he's doing as a leader and how you can't help but to cheer and just want this kid a young man.

Yes, I know he's a young man to just do so well in this world. So I'm rooting for him, not only because I'm a die hard Timberwolf fan, because he's a leader and he's a really, really good leader. And I just wish some individuals that, you know, this world that we work in as teammates can kind of lean into a little bit of Anthony Edwards, being humble, pointing out the finger at yourself, taking blame, taking ownership, living into mission, vision, values, even when the times are hard. So I leave you with that.

It's going to be a great week. Do good for one another, be good to one another. Lean into being the best teammate you can. It'll change your life. Always take a look and say, am I being a lone wolf here? Or am I a lone wolf for good or as my alone wolf? And. Okay, take care, you guys. Thanks. Have a wonderful week. Bye.