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Capture 10 stories of leadership and teamwork from the worlds of business, corporate life, mythology, sports, politics, history, battles, conflicts, books, popular culture.
Hello! Thank you for your request about capturing 10 stories of leadership and teamwork from the worlds of business, corporate life, mythology, sports, politics, history, battles, conflicts, books, and popular culture. In a short version, my research includes 10 stories about leadership, teamwork, and other qualities like self-belief, optimism, perseverance, determination, integrity, etc. from the world of Sports (cricketer Yuvraj Singh, boxer Billy Miske, and Leicester City's football team), Popular Culture (Ubuntu from South Africa), History (Parthenon from Ancient Greece), Business and Corporate Life (Jack Ma of Alibaba, Gregg Steinhafel of Target Corporation, Steve Wynn of Wynn Resort & Casino, and Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company), and Mythology (Legend of Eklavya). Below you will find a deep dive of my findings, including and starting with, the methodology for coming to this answer.
METHODOLOGY
I found 10 stories relevant to the requested theme and recorded them according to the guidelines provided by you, while keeping in mind your plan for using this information. However, one thing I needed to bring to your notice is that the description of few stories is a little lengthier than suggested, but this was to keep historical accuracy. Also, for a few stories, I've mentioned more than one (maximum three) sources as all those sources helped me, especially for validating the data. Additionally, I've given a brief title, to each of the 10 stories, to help understand their content and the potential gain from them.
THE STORIES
Yuvraj Singh, a young, handsome and successful Indian international all-rounder cricketer was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011. He underwent chemotherapy treatment in the USA, where the legendary Lance Armstrong, who was diagnosed with the same kind of tumor in 1996, took his treatment. Yuvraj was inspired by Lance Armstrong’s story of defeating cancer and to begin his career again. During his time in the U.S, Yuvraj read the autobiography of Lance for motivation. In 2012, Yuvraj Singh was discharged from the hospital after completing his chemotherapy treatment, and made a comeback to Indian international cricket team after winning his battle with this dreadful disease of cancer. Since then, he still continues to plan and provide class performances for the Indian international cricket team. In 2012, he founded YouWeCan for cancer patients, and in 2013, he released his autobiography “The Test of My Life: From Cricket to Cancer and Back.” This legendary cricketer has numerous respectable awards on his name including India’s second-highest sports award, the Arjuna Award, 2012; the Padma Shri Award in 2014; and numerous sports performance awards.
SOURCE: http://yourdost.com/blog/2015/11/cancer-battle-inspirational-story-of-yuvraj-singh.html?q=/blog/2015/11/cancer-battle-inspirational-story-of-yuvraj-singh.html&
Other Sources:
- https://successstory.com/people/yuvraj-singh
- http://starsunfolded.com/yuvraj-singh-height-weight-age/
LABELS/TAGS: self-belief, optimism, perseverance, sports, cricket, winning, inspiration
2. Billy Miske's story - A Paramount example of Victory through Willingness, Determination, Sacrifice, and Accountability!
Billy Miske (1894-1924), then underappreciated boxer of his era, “had a record of 48-2-2”, including “wins against some the biggest players in boxing and only two losses." But apart from his boxing dexterity, his story is way more inspiring for his willingness and determination to sacrifice his life for his family. Billy was diagnosed with a kidney disease by his doctor and given 5 years to live. Though advised to retire, Billy told no one about his illness, not even to his wife, and continued boxing, because his family was financially dependent on him. Eventually, after a one-round knockout loss to Jack Dempsey, he finally decided to quit boxing. However, just 11 months later, with his family struggling to survive, Billy “somehow conned promoters into giving him a huge fight.” He could barely walk at that time and thus couldn’t train for the fight. Nevertheless, he fought and knocked out his opponent in the 4th round. He earned $2,400 which he used to buy back furniture he pawned many years ago, some toys for his kids and a piano for his wife. A week later he died at the age of 29. His dedication to his family at a time when kidney disease was impossible to treat gave his family a chance for a better life after his death.
SOURCE: http://www.totalprosports.com/2011/11/21/9-inspirational-sports-stories/
LABELS/TAGS: accountability, determination, strength, willingness, self-belief, endurance, sacrifice, sports, boxing, victory, winning
An underdog story, in the third quarter of the 2014/2015 season, the team was into the relegation zone, largely because of the direction of Coach Pearson, but somehow, the players found their composure and finished the season strong. In 2015/2016 season, former Chelsea FC coach, Claudio Ranieri was hired as Leicester City manager. Many of the players were given roles to play to their strengths and became noted for their excellence in their positions. Collectively they adopted an attitude of "mutual effort" in all parts of the game -- on the training ground and on the pitch, and committed to winning each of their league games. Finally, using tactics and maneuvers new to them, they challenged their comfort zone. After the 10th match in 2015/2016 they knew they could win a Premier League, and came back from being an underdog team to a winning team!
SOURCE: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/teamwork-lessons-from-leicester-citys-premier-league-title-tolovski
LABELS/TAGS: teamwork, team-effort, strong character, sports, football, challenge acceptance, dedication, hard work, zeal, motivation, inspiration, victory
4. Ubuntu - An Inspiring story of the African Cultural Value of Teamwork and Community from the Children!
An anthropologist, studying the habits and customs of an African tribe, decided to play a little game with the tribal children. He got some candies from nearby town and put them in a decorated basket at beneath a tree. He then suggested the children that they play a game. When the anthropologist said “now”, the children had to run to the tree and the first one to get there could take all the candies. When the anthropologist said “now”, all the children, who had lined up waiting for the signal, took each other by the hand and ran together towards the tree. They all arrived at the same time, divided up the candies, sat down and began to happily munch away! The anthropologist went over and asked as to why they all had run together when any one of them could have had the candies all to themselves. The children responded: “Ubuntu. How could any one of us be happy if all the others were sad?”
"The philosophy of Ubuntu derives from a Nguni word, Ubuntu meaning “the quality of being human.” According to Sociolinguist Buntu Mfenyana, it “runs through the veins of all Africans, is embodied in the oft-repeated: “Ubuntu ngumtu ngabanye abantu” (“A person is a person through other people”)."
SOURCE: https://morvensblog.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/ubuntu-a-lesson-from-the-children/
Other Sources:
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reverend-william-e-flippin-jr/ubuntu-applying-african-p_b_1243904.html
- http://www.humanitysteamsa.org/ubuntu/
LABELS/TAGS: Ubuntu, culture, humanity, teamwork, communism, collaboration, virtue, custom, tradition
The Parthenon has been one of the most inspiring pieces of enduring ancient art throughout history. Aristotle Koskinas, a learned archaeologist, has admired the details of perfection of the Parthenon to a great extent. Part of what makes the Parthenon extraordinary is how many people were involved in its construction: "the precision of specifications, the recording of steps, actions, processes, results, the clear structure and responsibility assignment per subject and area, and the continuous monitoring of the project progress," that were all taken into account to accomplish this great work of art. It was the vision of Pericles, the "ingenious design of Phidias", "the architectural integrity of Iktinos and Kalikratis", "the strategic planning and execution", and significantly the "excellent teamwork and cooperation of the thousands of anonymous contributors who were excellently tuned technicians" and "target-focused" craftsmen. Aristotle Koskinas mentions "that a great achievement is never the result of just one mind, two eyes, two hands, but the esteemed outcome of a shared vision accompanied by an overarching approach of teamwork."
SOURCE: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140521101009-41409875-parthenon-an-invaluable-team-work-lesson-from-ancient-greece
LABELS/TAGS: teamwork, leadership, team-effort, focus, coordination, contribution, diligence, history
6. Half-eaten Croissant Story – A remarkable example of Teamwork and Team Chemistry for Customer Satisfaction.
Wynn Resort & Casino, owned by Steve Wynn, depicts a great example of teamwork and team chemistry. The founder and his family had an unforgettable experience when on vacation in Paris, which is now a legendary story shared as an example in the Wynn organization. The family was staying at a Four Seasons, and breakfast had been delivered to the room. Steve's daughter had ordered a croissant, but she only ate half of it, and left the other half to munch on later that day. Wynn and his family left to explore Paris and upon their return to the hotel room, his daughter was disappointed to see the pastry gone, having taken by housekeeping. In this scenario, anyone would believe that the Housekeeping assumed the half croissant was trash. But it was different! The phone rang and front desk informed that housekeeping took away the half croissant, assuming that after returning the owner of the croissant “would prefer a fresh pastry". It added that upon the owner's request, the fresh pastry would at once be delivered. This shows the impressive level of teamwork and communication between various departments, and that everyone involved really understood the importance of "the end game—customer satisfaction."
SOURCE: https://michaelhyatt.com/why-great-teams-tell-great-stories.html
LABELS/TAGS: teamwork, team chemistry, communication, accountability, thoughtfulness, dedication, customer satisfaction, business
This company truly showcases remarkable Teamwork and collaboration. It began with a single discount general store in 1962 (earned the affectionate moniker Tar-zhay in the same year), and the chain employs hundreds of thousands of team members across the U.S. and numerous other countries; operates thousands of stores; and does billions of dollars in annual sales. Some of the core practices at Target include large scale collaborative communication, regular mentoring and feedback, and customer convenience and satisfaction. Target continuously strives and provides for ease of shopping for their customers. According to the source, all of the senior leaders at Target regularly gather for forward thinking, to anticipate the customer trends and for observing the competition. Owing to its incredible teamwork, collaboration and customer oriented approach, Target Corporation "benchmarks against the world’s best" organizations for developing "ideas for future growth."
SOURCE: https://www.fastcompany.com/3001988/how-targets-ceo-inspires-teamwork-massive-scale
LABELS/TAGS: teamwork, collaboration, communication, mentoring, customer convenience, foresightedness, customer satisfaction, business
Ford's most lauded accomplishment is that it "used the cost savings from mass production" to make early automobiles affordable to the public.
The story behind this accomplishment was that the founder Henry Ford and his team believed that cars should not only be reliable but should also be "reasonably priced." They mainly focused on cutting costs wherever possible and then pass those savings on to their customers in the form of reasonably priced cars. Along with affordability, another major principle behind Ford's success was efficiency. Ford and his team of engineers made sure to keep efficiency in mind during all aspects of production, leading to their unique assembly line. Ford attracted the best workers by paying twice the industry standard and reducing the daily work hours and workdays per week, which not only dramatically reduced the employee turnover but also resulted into efficient and quality production due to increased happiness and efficiency levels of his employees.
SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/four-great-teams-in-business-history/
LABELS/TAGS: efficiency, innovation, customer satisfaction, business
"Ma Yun a.k.a. Jack Ma", born on September 10, 1964, is the founder of E-commerce giant Alibaba and is now the richest man in China. But Jack's is a real and unique rags-to-riches story. It is unbelievable of the number of times this man has been rejected and failed, yet never gave up but instead remained persistent and treated rejections and failures in an optimistic way to thrust ahead. He failed twice in primary school exams, three times during middle school exams, three times in entrance exams to apply for universities, and applied to Harvard University ten times. He got rejected each time, before finally joining Hangzhou Normal University! After graduation, Ma applied for 30 different jobs and didn't land a single one. When KFC came to China, out of the 24 applicants, he was the only one who got rejected. He was one of 5 applicants to a job in police force and was the only one to get rejected. He also failed in his first two business ventures. Despite all that, four years later to that, in 1999, he started an online marketplace called "Alibaba", which has grown to become one of the world's largest retailer, as well as one of the largest Internet companies across the globe. Jack Ma’s extraordinary optimism and perseverance has allowed him incredible success where others would have given up.
SOURCE: https://www.shoutmeloud.com/jack-ma-alibaba-founder.html
Other Sources:
- http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/jack-ma-6221.php
- http://www.businessinsider.in/The-Inspiring-Life-Story-Of-Alibaba-Founder-Jack-Ma-Now-The-Richest-Man-In-China/articleshow/44153645.cms
LABELS/TAGS: self-belief, persistence, perseverance, never give up, optimism, business
10. Legend of Eklavya - A self-trained Archer's story of Determination, Devotion, Discipleship, Focus and Integrity.
Eklavya, a famous and legendary character in the Mahabharata (an Indian epic), was a son of a poor hunter. He wanted to learn archery to save the deer in the forest from being hunted by the leopards. He approached Dronacharya, the teacher of royal family, to learn archery from him. Because of the law, Dronacharya could only teach the princes of the royal family, and thus couldn't accept Eklavya as his student. Eklavya, who already in his heart had accepted Dronacharya as his Guru (teacher), was still determined to learn archery, went into the forest and made a statue of Dronacharya. After many years of practice, Eklavya became an archer of exceptional skills, greater than Dronacharya's best pupil, prince Arjuna. After Arjuna and Dronacharya found out about this skillful archer, they went to see Eklavya, who bowed down to Dronacharya. Dronacharya asked for Guru Dakshina (a token of gift or fee paid to a teacher for his teachings). Eklavya readily agreed. Dronacharya asked for the thumb of his right hand. Eklavya, without a second thought, cut off the thumb and presented it to Dronacharya! Eklavya thus became a cultural model of discipleship and devotion.
SOURCE: http://www.wisdom.srisriravishankar.org/story-eklavya-devotion/
LABELS/TAGS: determination, dedication, devotion, discipleship, focus, self-belief, integrity, epic, mythology
SUMMARY
In line with your request, I've thus recorded 10 inspiring, real-life stories from the areas including sports, popular culture, history, business and corporate life, or mythology (in that order) from which one can learn, get inspired, and grow into a better version of themselves in the format you requested.
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