Fwd: The blue team. | annotated by Andrew

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: CW&T <cwandt@cwandt.com>
Date: Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 11:54 AM
Subject: The blue team.
To: <andrewpennachio22@gmail.com>

This is unresolved.

092223

Teamwork.

CW was out all week in Boston. One night he stumbled on a soccer match that he won't stop talking about. (He came home SUPER inspired) I'll summarize it for you, if only to prove that I get it. Two teams, blue and white. Both very high level soccer players and high level play.

The blue team was significantly better. They moved across the field as if every player knew exactly where everyone else was at all times. There was no star player. No dives or fake injuries. Instead of calling for the ball, an open player would make a "boop" sound and the ball would be delivered. When a mistake was made, there was no yelling "gaah" or expressive dramatization. Just a quick hand raise to acknowledge the error, and everyone moved on. And even though the blue team was significantly in the lead, they continued to hustle. No one got showy, no one got lazy, they just kept doing their thing.

CW sent this text message as the game was ending.

The best teams...

don’t give up.

just apologize and move on when they make a mistake (instead of feeling bad for themselves and acting like they didn’t live up to their expectations).

are extremely well practiced and want to get better (no matter how good they are relative to others).

always play at the highest level.

(They don’t dumb it down for others or take it easy because the other teams are not at their level)

are very well coordinated.

(Lots of trust and confidence in themselves and their teammates)

take their work seriously.

In other blue team news - Forks. Have you watched Season 2 of The Bear, specifically the episode where Ritchie "Cousin" stages at a 3-Michelin-star restaurant. Teetering on cheesy but decidedly not, there are some gems in there around the subject of work, finding meaning in life, the pleasure of showing attentiveness and care towards others. From the mushroom peeling scene with the head chef/owner to the sidewalk rant. I'm not a super fan of the show because it makes my heart beat too fast. But it is worth watching for this episode alone. I liked it so much that if we ever had to grow our team, I'd make watching it a pre-requisite.

Spotted.

It feels insanely good when you're out somewhere and see a random person rocking something you made. It feels similarly good when you randomly watch an IG reel for nothing (the phone/electronics company) and glimpse a SSW in it.