We are getting ready to launch our updated website so the time felt right to start a blog about those matters we know the most about–Leadership, Strategy, Execution and Culture–and none of these subjects are relevant without TEAMS. At this time of beginnings in January 2013, I reflect on the gratitude I feel to be working with my team.
As representatives of the new majority we know that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. Perhaps it is because this is Martin Luther King Day that I feel moved to write about diversity as a foundational element of effective teamwork. Regardless of why this is so, our team is devoted to celebrating each other’s differences. By contributing our unique strengths and areas of expertise we are able to help our clients learn how to leverage the remarkable power of diversity to achieve their visions. This quote from Martin Luther King Jr. seeks to guide us in helping to understand the potential in coming together and working collaboratively,
“… life at its best is a creative synthesis of opposites in fruitful harmony.”
Tapping the brain trust of all employees leads to the greatest success. A firm is stronger when its people work together rather than compete against each other. A team is more powerful when trust is its foundation and each person’s unique gifts and talents are valued and then leveraged for the higher good of the team.
I have devoted my life’s work to helping teams of all types and sizes achieve high performance. There is nothing better than being part of a winning team whether on the basketball court, at symphony hall or at an ad agency. I was impressed with the teamwork demonstrated on the CBS Sunday Morning show during an interview with David Kelley, co-founder of IDEO, a design consulting firm. Mr. Kelley described how they leveraged the strengths of professionals from a variety of disciplines, a team may include an Anthropologist, Accountant, Engineer, Musician and Psychiatrist, and because of their differences, not “in spite of,” the firm has great success in making innovative product designs.
Over the years that I worked to refine and develop the Pedelty Leadership Model it became apparent to me that one of the key factors leading to success or failure in a firm’s execution of a select strategy was in their ability to bring together people of diverse backgrounds and interests and have them work together effectively. Our methodology demonstrates how to leverage diversity to become a high performance team able to effectively execute in a rapid fashion.
At Pedelty, we are devoted to practicing what we teach – stretching every day to become better and stronger, as a team and as individuals, collaborating to bring our best selves to our team with the desire to help clients move to the next level – or even better, leapfrog to greater heights. For us, the binding force of our team is our faith in the goodness of people and the belief that we all have the ability to make a positive difference that can enrich our lives and those who are impacted by our decisions and actions. We delight in the opportunity to bring our respective experiences together and unite in our common desire to help CEO’s and their teams to dream boldly and execute strategies successfully.
-Lori Pedelty