by Kevin Eastman, Boston Celtics Asst Coach
I begin by saying how fortunate I have been to be in the coaching profession. I have been a coach for 30+ years. It has taken me to all parts of the world as well as afforded me the opportunity to meet some great people along the way. It is these great people that I wish to focus on in this article.
In 2008, the team I coach with - the Boston Celtics - won the NBA World Championship! Many remember the great thrill of the games; the tremendous individual performances of our future Hall of Fame players; the title celebration; or the Championship parade in front of 100's of thousands of fans who just loved the Celtics!
It is actually something quite different that I remember! I remember the first team meeting we had when Doc Rivers - our Head Coach - introduced our team to a new concept. A concept that would turn a great group of individual players into a true team; a team that understood the importance of others!
In that team meeting, Doc introduced us all to "Ubuntu". Simply put, Ubuntu is an African way of life. It's basic core principles are:
- "people are people because of other people"
- "I can only be all I can be if you are all you can be"
Ubuntu got us to understand that we need each other if we truly wanted to become the best we were capable of becoming. We needed others on our team to be the best they could be and we understood that we all needed to help each other become "all that we could be"!
If we work with at least one other person we are a team! They may not be in the same office; the same city; the same state; or even the same country; but we are a team! As I travel the country speaking to the corporate world and the world of entrepreneurs, my hope is that all see the value of Ubuntu as it relates to teams!
I strongly believe if you live the life of Ubuntu, it has a great chance to do for you what it did for us. When we stop concerning ourselves with "me" and we begin to understand the power of "we"; potential and growth always seem to follow!
As we say every time we put our hands together as a team: UBUNTU!