3 Principles Every Leader Needs to Build Great Teams

In 1995, one of the greatest teams in all of sports history was about to show the world what they're made of.

I'm talking about the 1995 to 96 Chicago Bulls.

Oh, they didn't just win.

They became the standard.

72 wins, a championship, a season so dominant that people still talk about it decades later.

But what made that team world-class wasn't just Michael Jordan's greatness.

It was Scottie Pippen's versatility.

It was Dennis Rodman's relentless rebounding.

As Phil Jackson, the coach famously said, the strength of the team is each individual member and the strength of each member is the team.

That Bulls team proved that greatness is never built on talent alone.

It's built when the right people commit to something bigger than themselves.

And at the heart of every great team is leadership.

You know, I've been a student of leadership for a long time now.

My leadership journey started about 15 years ago when I was really young and I had no idea what I was doing.

And now I lead a team of a little over 50 staff and volunteers.

And so naturally I've spent a lot of time studying how this works.

Like how do you pull this off? Not only for my own benefit as a practitioner, but also because I find the topic just absolutely fascinating.

Behind every story of greatness, there's leadership.

Whether it's the innovative teamwork behind Pixar's storytelling, or the world-renowned music of the Beatles, or the 1980 US Olympics Miracle on Ice team, or the dedicated collaboration behind the NASA's 1969 Apollo 11 mission, The Manhattan Project, America's founding fathers, the British War Cabinet, or Lincoln's famous team of rivals, the greatest moments and accomplishments in history have been the result of great teams led by great leaders.