You may have noticed that we have a rotating quote feature on our website.  As you navigate through each page, a different quote that has inspired us appears on the middle of the left side (underneath our main menu). When I clicked on our site today, the following quote appeared:

“Coming together is a beginning.  Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”

Henry Ford said this.  I love this quote for several reasons.  One, I am the product of growing up in a Ford family.  My dad worked for Ford Motor Company for over 30 years and I credit Ford (and my dad’s job, of course) with providing me with health insurance, paying for my braces, paying for my college education, etc.  Having grown up in Detroit, I find I have a certain allegiance to the automotive industry, especially Ford Motor Company.

I also love this quote because of the vision it inspires in me.  I envision people coming together, then keeping together, and ultimately working together to achieve something far greater than any one person could accomplish individually. There are so many examples of this, but having just watched the closing ceremonies this past Sunday, I will use the 2010 Winter Olympics as my example. 

Pulling off a feat as tremendous as hosting the Olympics is monumental.  Think of all the resources, all the hundreds and thousands of people, who need to come together to make the Olympics and all of its individual events and ceremonies a success.  As Henry Ford said, coming together is just the beginning.  Keeping together is necessary.  The people of Canada, and all the competing nations, needed to keep together for years in advance of the Olympics to ensure that adequate preparation was being done.  The highlight, however, comes when all of these people ultimately do more than simply keep together.  It comes when they work together to produce an event as awesome and inspiring as the Olympics. 

Working together isn’t always easy.  Issues arise which can often serve to destroy the ability to work together towards success.  It’s the people, the organizations, and the enterprises that know how to rally the troops and respond to issues appropriately that eventually find the success they are seeking. 

I cringed when the Olympic Torch lighting ceremony fizzled during the Opening Ceremony when one leg of the Olympic cauldron failed to rise from the stadium floor. How frustrating for all the people who had worked together so diligently to make it a success.  I smiled when the Olympic Torch lighting ceremony was recreated for the Closing Ceremony and that pesky leg on the cauldron rose smoothly, and former speedskating modality Catriona LeMay Doan was able to fulfill her obligation of lighting the torch (that she missed being able to do on opening night). 

How perfect of Canada and all the people ‘working together’ to poke a little fun at themselves about the mechanical issue which sidelined them during the Opening Ceremony, only to show the world how the torch was intended to be lit.  And, how fitting to make the event complete by inviting the one person, who missed out on lighting the torch on opening night, to return to light it during the closing ceremony.

Henry Ford was right.  It’s ‘working together’ that creates success.  It doesn’t guarantee success every time as other ‘issues’ can arise and mess up even the best-laid plans, but it does allow for a group of people to regroup and come up with an ‘alternative plan’ that will then lead to success. 

I enjoyed watching the Olympics – so many great and inspiring stories about people overcoming obstacles, relishing challenges, going outside their comfort zone, enduring change – all components that are applicable to leadership development.  What do you think?