Whisper Words of Wisdom
The Beatles’ 1970 album, Let It Be, hit the record stores when I was a junior in high school in the UK. “The Long and Winding Road” brought tears to my eyes and became my go-to Beatles ballad for a very long time. In his new documentary, “Get Back,” Peter Jackson chronicles the making of this seminal album over a period of days and in doing so, according to a wonderful recent article from The Economist, reveals some reliable and creative thinking about an effective team of four.
The piece, called “Teamwork and the Beatles,” appears in the December 18th, 2021 issue. It certainly caught my eye because I love the Beatles; in addition, it helped me to think differently about the make-up of groups that work together effectively. Ironically, we often think of the fractious nature of the Beatles. The endless competition between John and Paul; the fact that George often felt ignored; and of course, Ringo frequently seemed invisible. The Economist article however, basing its conclusions on several pieces of research, argues convincingly that it was in fact the very nature of their differences, and perhaps that there was no single dominating leader, that make the work of the Beatles illustrate the work of a successful team.
One article cited by The Economist, from Carnegie Mellon and MIT researchers, reveals that psychological make-up is important to productivity: sensitivity and giving others time to speak, for example, are important traits of high-performing teams. This same study mentions that when one team member dominates, the group performs less intelligently—the whole group’s intelligence is actually boosted by each member’s psychological make-up. So, while Ringo may have looked at times sleepy, even bored, his constant background presence and sensitivity to the needs of his group-mates, added to the success of the foursome.
In a deeper perusal of the McKinsey piece mentioned in the magazine, I found several other references to the strength of a group working together for a common cause: ‘“It’s why 90 percent of investors think the quality of the management team is the single most important non-financial factor when evaluating an IPO. And it’s why there is a 1.9 times increased likelihood of having above-median financial performance when the top team is working together toward a common vision.” “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team,” is the way Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder, sums it up. Basketball legend Michael Jordan slam dunks the same point: “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”’
Getting back to the beauty of the Beatles, and the influence their music had on all of us in the mid- to late-Sixties, it is also important to look at them as artists. Deeply creative and imaginative musicians who cast the net of their talent wide and far, or as The Economist and the Beatles say: “Here, there and everywhere.” Their ability to integrate their life, travel and relationship experiences into their music, not only made each of them more alive and innovative, but also made them more exciting contributors to their team. “Keeping staleness at bay, by taking risks, by learning from others and by innovating” meant, as McKinsey refers to it, that renewal was present in the day-to-day for this group of four. And whether they were traveling on the long and winding road, or “the one after 909”, their journey, and Jackson’s documentary, illustrates dynamic, enviable team work from which we can all learn.
References:
https://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2010/October/oct1_collectiveintelligencestudy.shtml