There's that old mantra, “With struggle and conflict there can be no growth,” but no one says you have to go that struggle solo. Up and over, out of the trenches and onto the battlefield. Do you really want to be out there alone?

In war the immediate need for teamwork might be more obvious; you're probably more inclined to meet challenges alone when your life isn't being threatened. As a culture we do not like to share our glory, and unless it's absolutely unavoidable, we like a lone hero: Luke Skywalker, Rocky, Indiana Jones, Peter Pan. How quickly we forget that while these characters may have been the ones with the vision and leadership, they were surrounded by people who made their success possible.

In the real world it works the same way. Could T.S. Eliot have written The Wasteland without Ezra Pound? Lebron James is a gifted athlete, but he's amazing because he has a team behind him. Warhol had a factory to sustain his vision.

Collaborations that produce memorable outcomes are the result of good, solid teamwork. Often the knowledge that there's someone behind you who you can count on is enough reason to keep your head up when the going gets rough. And it does. Always. If not on the battlefield, then it gets rough in the studio or the office or the boardroom or on the court.

Wikipedia has a quaint list of skills needed for teamwork: listening, questioning, respecting, sharing, participating. It's hard to talk about teamwork with a bulleted list and not have it end up sounding hokey. We love teamwork that is the unfettered, fearless exchange of ideas, ideally in a large empty room where the involved parties can circle each other, wildly waving their hands and stretching their voices.

This scenario can end up sounding a lot like war, because when you've got a new idea and you're going to rush it out there, push it into the harsh light of practicality, you've got to be prepared to fight for it, and that's when you want a team.

People on teams have different skills that make them essential to the success of the team. We are not all visionaries, nor are we all implementers. A team of visionaries would fail miserably. A team needs grandiose ideas, but it also needs people who know how to make things work, connect A to B, push the execute button.

Take the time to get to know the people you're working next to. Look beyond the hour at hand. Plan for the future with your teammates the way you would plan for the future of a family. The team is a vital family, for from it come the nuclei of ideas, and those ideas are what make the world new every day.