Trojans and Greeks from the Vergilius Romanus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I read this quote recently…

“The team with the best players wins” Jack Welch

In general, I would agree with Jack Welch  and after reflecting on this quote it’s not always the team with the best players the one that wins. We can go back to one of the oldest stories ever written, the Iliad. In this epic story, the Greeks and Trojans have been fighting a long dreadful war in the land of Troy.

The Greeks had a superior team with great talents such as Achilles, the son of the king of Phthia and of the sea goddess Thetis as well as Agamemnon, the leading commander of the Greeks. These two men were extraordinary warriors with the ability to motivate and lead their troops to great feats. Unfortunately, their egos got in the way of what was best for the whole team of soldiers. This caused a rift between these two leaders weakening the efforts against the Trojans.

At the lowest point in the story, the Greeks are being cornered back to their ships by the Trojans.

“They have never been able to stand and face us-not even a little, yet now they are cutting a a path to our ships because our leaders’ weakness…” The Iliad

By allowing their egos to dictate their behavior, both Agamemnon and Achilles had demonstrated weak leadership. A strong leader will not fall prey to the pull from the ego. Instead, he will step back and do what is right for the team. True leadership is the ability to work together to truly benefit the whole team, even when our ego is hurt.

How many organizations with the best talent lose to a weaker team because of lack of cohesiveness?

Great organizations with amazing talent not working cohesively ultimately hurt the team by giving the weaker competing team an edge.

I’d like to modify Welch’s quote to say: the most cohesive team with the best players wins.

Are you allowing your ego to hurt the cohesiveness of your team?

Is great talent something reserved for the few? It appears that throughout history great talent is viewed as a freakish accident that is accessible only to a few selected individuals. Even today, we seem to put on a pedestal people who have achieved greatness thinking that this may only happen to the very few.

In the Illiad, Achilles is said to have been born of a mortal father and an immortal goddess. He is a mortal with special abilities inherited by his mother. He is a skilled fighter who surpasses most in skill and courage.

Is talent so rare that it’s only reserved to the semi gods? I believe that what makes these leaders great is not their genes but the ability to have no fear of failure while working towards a goal. To see the outcome already accomplished and move towards that goal step by step regardless of the obstacles that are faced without giving up.

We hear about people like Lincoln who failed so many times before becoming President. What about Steve Jobs? He is one of the most admired leaders in businesss-viewed by many as a rare talent with godly qualities. Again, he did not get to the top without setbacks and challenges. Rather than stop when  faced with a challenge, these people don’t give up. Rather than step back, they keep moving forward regardless of the obstacles faced. They find a way to tackle each problem with ingeniuty, confidence and resilience. This is what talent is really all about. It is not a special gift that is reserved for the demi gods-I believe it’s a choice that can be made by each one of us.

So where does talent really come from? Your thoughts?

Photo Credits, by dalbera

What about  a story that does not center its conflict on villains and still captivates  us?

That’s exactly what Homer did with the Iliad.  I’ve been reading this magnificent poem for over a month now and have been captivated by the story even though Homer has not focused on making anyone a villain.   As a Greek himself, he could have portrayed the Trojans, his enemy, as evil. Instead he makes us have compassion for his enemy. Homer is impartial and still keeps it interesting.  I wish I knew the magic of his art.  Of course there’s a lot of conflict in this story and I believe that conflict is still a key ingredient to making an interesting story.

What he does for me is makes me want the two sides of the Iliad to make peace rather than have one or the other win the war.  What a lesson to take into the world.

Some lessons that I’m taking away from the Iliad into my life are:

• Making it a point to see the world from an opponent’s perspective
• Refraining from labeling others in extreme terms
• Having more compassion

Do you allow anger to cloud your thinking? Have you been subjected to a leader’s rage?

That’s exactly what Achilles was experiencing when King Agamemnon insulted him and treated him unfairly.

In the Iliad, Agamemnon is forced by the gods to give his beautiful mistress Chryseis back to her father.  In exchange for giving up his prize, he demands that Achilles give up Briseis, a prize that was given to Achilles in another war victory.

They both start a vicious argument that starts to turn dangerous.  Achilles has tremendous physical powers because he is a hybrid human-his mother a goddess and his father a mortal. He could easily kill Agamemnon and anyone that gets in his way.

When Achilles is about to draw his sword against Agamemnon the great goddess Athena shows up. She holds him by his hair and stops him from reacting from a place of rage. Unlike Achilles, Agamemnon does not have a goddess looking out for him and gets angrier by the minute.

One of the elders tries to intervene and counsels the two of them to work together.  He recommends that Agamemnon allow Achilles to keep his girl and that Achilles show Agamemnon the respect he deserves as his superior.

Agamemnon does not listen to the advice of the elder and is consumed with anger. He continues to bully Achilles who quits the fight against Troy. Without Achilles the Greeks can’t beat the Trojans.

Here are a few ideas on how to deal with a bully:

1. Listen , then observe the offender’s body language
2. Control your tone of voice and volume and remain calm
3. If you need to deal with the offender again, try to meet in a neutral place and if possible make sure that you’re not alone.

Have you ever read the Iliad?

Are you wondering what does the Iliad have to do with better blogging?

Well, I believe it has everything to do with it!

I came to this conclusion when I was reading an article in Fast Company about How to lead a creative life. The article was about Martin Scorsese. He believes that all stories come from this poem.

This peaked my interest and I picked up a copy of this book and researched more about its history.  There are a lot of theories about who wrote it and whether Homer even wrote it. Some believe that the author memorized it and never put it in writing. Others believe that several authors wrote it. Regardless of who wrote it-the bottom line is that this poem was written to be spoken out loud.

I believe that blogging needs to be written as if you and I were speaking out loud.

Aren’t we supposed to be having a conversation right now?

Hopefully you feel that we’re having a conversation and that you’ll be compelled to comment below and add to it.

For blogging to be effective it needs to be written the way we speak.

Here are a few suggestions on how to write the way we speak:

• Don’t over analyze when you write a post
• Start and end the post with either interesting or conversational questions
• Read your blog post aloud before clicking the publish button to ensure it sounds like a conversation

I would love to hear your ideas on how to write the way you speak.

Any thoughts?

Photo Credits by, Lee Gillen