Now that the World Cup is over (congratulations Germany) I wanted to share a great opinion article written by the always on target David Brooks. In the op ed he makes a great case why life and work more resembles a soccer game than baseball.
In his article David Brooks points out that baseball and soccer are both team sports but there are very clear distinctions:
- Baseball is an accumulation of individual activities where the team that performs the most individual tasks will probably win.
- Soccer on the other hand is a game about controlling space that requires everyone on the team to be positioned properly in order to be effective.
As David Brooks points out:
"Most of us spend our days thinking we are playing baseball, but we are really playing soccer. We think we individually choose what career path to take, whom to socialize with, what views to hold. But, in fact, those decisions are shaped by the networks of people around us more than we dare recognize".
There are some great career coaching and executive coaching lessons to be learned from this insight. It brings home the point that our personal and professional success depends on the collaboration and teamwork of those around us. We are always going to be more effective in our career by learning to operate effectively with others.
Here is a link to the full David Brooks op ed "Baseball or Soccer?".
