Mount Vernon High School

September 20, 2024 Build a Pack Mentality The author Rudyard Kipling once famously wrote that “the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.” In that one sentence, Kipling accurately described the dynamic that drives a great team, one where individual members commit themselves to something bigger, and in doing so make themselves better and stronger together than they ever could have been on their own. It’s the kind of team that shares a common mission and creates a unique level of connection. It’s the kind of team that has each other’s back. It’s the kind of team that wins. But the truth is, teams like that are rare. In fact, it may be obvious to you here today that the teams you’re a part of - in sports, at school, at work, or at home - don’t have that kind of connection. And you’re not alone. Being part of a team is a challenging and complicated experience, one most people struggle to get right. Honestly, there are talented teams everywhere that never come close to reaching their potential. Right now your team might be one of them. If you’re here today with a desire to improve your team dynamic, then it’s worth clarifying how exactly a pack mentality gets built. Of course, you are only one person, and real improvement will probably require a more collective effort. At the same time, you shouldn’t diminish the powerful influence your choices and your behavior can have on those around you. As Kipling said, the strength of the pack (the team) is the wolf (the individual). Your personal commitment to the process of building a better team serves as an invitation for those around you to do the same. That process starts with creating more trust. If great teams are connected teams, then trust is the glue that holds them together. As a member of your team, every choice you make is either building trust or eroding it. There are a number of decisions great teammates make every day - decisions you can make, too - that demonstrate their commitment to the team and that further solidify their connection to one another. Great teammates keep their word. They do what they said they were going to do, even long after the mood in which they said it has passed. Great teammates bring their best and commit to get better every day. They willingly sacrifice their own desires for the good of the group. They take more than their share of the responsibility when things go wrong, and they give away more than their share of the credit when things go right. Great teammates cheer for, uplift, and encourage those around them, and they go the extra mile to show their people they care. Every one of those selfless decisions strengthens an individual's connection to the pack. The more team-first choices you and your teammates make, the more trust you build, and the stronger your pack becomes. At the same time, every selfish choice you make as a teammate diminishes that trust and weakens that connection. When you don’t do what you said you were gonna do. When you accept giving something less than your best. When you put your own personal desires ahead of the team's. When you can't take responsibility but you need all the credit. When you tear each other down instead of lifting each other up, and when you do only the bare minimum that being a teammate requires. Those are easy and convenient choices for any of us to make, but they are also the trademarks of talented groups that never come close to reaching their potential. So here's the key takeaway today: a pack mentality isn't built by luck or by accident. It's the result of intentional choices team members make, intentional trust they build, and intentional connection they create. Over time that turns a group of individuals into something bigger than themselves, and individuals who are better and stronger together than ever could have been on their own. That's the kind of team that has each other's back. That's the kind of team that wins. -Travis