Teamwork in Leaders. by Cassaday

Teamwork in Leaders. by Cassaday - December 2021 Scholarship Essay

What is a leader? According to the Oxford Languages dictionary, a leader is defined as "the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country." A leader cannot be a leader if they do not have a group that supports them. Think about those that you have viewed as leaders in the past. Why are they great leaders? It is about what they do but in terms of who's opinion? Exactly, the people. A leader must have the ability to push people to be better. You may think, teamwork is not what a trait is, however, I think that is the most important thing a leader must be able to promote.
Think of an example of teamwork. My favorite is the story behind the band The Beatles. Everyone knows who The Beatles are, whether it is because you grew up listening to them, your parents inspired you to listen to them, or simply because of their electric sound. As most bands and singer/songwriters do, they started out very small. They were merely a "house band" and would play hours of gigs, with only a few songs to show for it. With songs only being a whopping three minutes long, they had to figure out how to work together to put on a show. Through their charisma, they were able to do just that and wind up quite possibly one of the most influential and famous bands of today.
A good number of years later, the band faced a management crisis within their team. Playing in the band began "to feel like, well, merely a job." While music may be their career, artists are in it for how they feel when they are up on that stage. The author of a LinkedIn post linked below writes "Workplace conflict increased in the studio. Large egos demanded more control. And one member threatened to quit. How did they respond to this crisis? They put aside their differences and rallied behind each other to create what is arguably their best album: Abbey Road."
In order to overcome this issue, they were able to draw on personal strengths just a little more. Each person brought something unique to their team, and they made sure each members' expertise was able to shine. They began to encourage one another and validate one another to accomplish the goals that each of them desired. Even having one main artist, they made it a goal to share that spotlight. Other members of the band got their time to be in that spotlight so that each member was able to experience that leadership role. Even after and through their work on the Abbey Road album, they experienced a lack of commitment. That is when the manager stepped in and pushed them to "re-evaluate their commitment to the next project" and "what followed was a re-dedication to the cause."
In my opinion, each person in this team is a leader. They were able to lead each other which led to the success of the group as a whole. Through teamwork and not giving up on one another, they were able to accomplish things that they had once deemed impossible. Lack of commitment and quarreling almost got the best of them, but they were able to stand by one another and push through those obstacles.