Page 82 - Midas Touch

a system of winners and losers, with the “A” students, and
to some extent the “B” students, beating up on the “C,” “D,”
and “F” students. Even if there are study groups where
students can cooperate and learn together, when it’s test

time, the team is dissolved and it’s back to competition.
“Cooperate” on a test and you are labeled a cheater!

When it comes to teams in the military, cooperation is
essential for survival. In business, cooperation is essential
to success. We can’t achieve much of anything on our own
in this world, and that includes survival or success. So

ironically, rather than foster cooperation, schools foster
competition. Employees enter the workforce with a
competitive, rather than a team-based, mindset. They
compete for promotions, higher pay, bigger offices, more
prestigious titles, you name it. One of the biggest
challenges an entrepreneur faces is to break employees of

their competitive, win/lose mentality and replace it with a
team mentality. Mission goes a long way to make that
happen. So does strong leadership.
Leadership

In military school, we developed our leadership skills by
taking and giving orders. In that world, it was a way of life.
Anyone who couldn’t take or give orders was soon washed

out. It was an environment of discipline, and there were no
exceptions.

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “There is no such thing as
bad soldiers. There are only bad leaders.” That philosophy
is drummed into the head of every future military officer.
The same holds true in business. There are no bad

employees, only bad leaders.

Think about companies you’ve worked for. If a business is
financially struggling with low morale, declining
productivity, dropping sales, and increasing expenses, it is
due to poor leadership. Leaders, true leaders, take