“Teamwork makes the dream work” sounds cheesy and it is, but it can be very true and I like a good quip. So I was surprised to find out it wasn’t some from, say, the 70s or 80s but a creation of the 2000s. The phrase was first coined in *2002 by John C. Maxwell in a book of the same name. Maxwell is an American author, speaker, and man of the cloth who has written bestselling books on leadership. That doesn’t always mean he makes good decisions as he was charged with possession of a concealed weapon while attempting to board an airplane in 2009 and called Guatemalan Attorney General, Maria Consuelo Porras, “a rockstar” and a “leader of leaders” despite heavy criticism towards her role in “dismantling anti-corruption efforts and judicial independence, including through the ‘persecution’ of key anti-impunity prosecutors and judges.” And he’s an evangelist so there’s that too.
Maybe I should stop using a quote from a guy like this. Fortunately, my son has a better version. When I taught him the quote, he misheard me and said the following:
Teamwork makes the team work.
I’d buy his book.
(*Coincidentally, Mount Nyiragongo erupted that same year.)