A good leader is not the most handsome, the most powerful or the one who scores the most baskets, but rather the one capable of uniting his entire team towards a common goal. And what is most important: with a left hand and generosity to make everyone feel comfortable being part of that unit. This is how Pau Gasol, former professional basketball player and protagonist of a new installment of Mejor Conectados, understands leadership, a Telefónica initiative to make visible the talent and importance of the connection between people to achieve everything they set out to do.
One of the experiences that generates the most uncertainty for us is how to face our first day in a new environment, whether it is a job, school, or the neighborhood running club. A generous welcome from our new teammates will be decisive in making us feel comfortable in those first moments, but it will also help us to show an attitude that Gasol summarizes with one word: humility. “You have to arrive with respect, know how to listen and observe what that team needs. They welcome you with open arms, they support you because they know that you are going to contribute something necessary, but you have to earn their respect. This is essential, whether in the sporting or professional field.”
In these first days the most sensible thing is to show an open, relaxed and collaborative attitude. It is not about arriving and imposing reasons at the first opportunity, but rather observing how the team's capabilities can be improved. Nothing is more wrong than being the new guy, arriving with airs of grandeur and entering like an elephant in a china shop. “Mutual communication and respect are key when creating a positive work environment. In any team it is essential to identify the roles of each team member and promote the conditions for each one to perform their functions as best as possible. I have been on great teams and the best are those in which each person plays their role at the highest level,” declares Gasol.
The arrival of a big signing to a team or a company can arouse misgivings in the person who until then is the captain of the ship. Instead of engaging in an ego fight that rarely benefits the team, Gasol emphasizes that “it is very important that the team leaders receive you in a special way and integrate you immediately. We all like to be recognized and welcomed, to be told 'this is your home, we are very happy that you are here and excited about what you can contribute'. Sometimes these things are taken for granted, but communicating them expressly makes the newcomer feel good. And that is, without a doubt, the best way to get off to a good start.”
The former power forward and Olympic medalist, now a member of the International Olympic Committee, founder and president of the Gasol Foundation, businessman, investor and philanthropist, fondly remembers an anecdote from his arrival at the Lakers with the late Kobe Bryant. “He came to see me at the hotel in Washington, before I even got to the locker room, and he said, 'Welcome, I'm very excited that you're here.' “Now we are going to win the ring.”
This brief visit full of sincerity from one of the greatest basketball players of all time filled the Barcelonan's tanks of self-confidence. “It is a gesture that makes you feel special. We all like to feel that we contribute value and that we are appreciated, but also that they clearly indicate to us the objectives that are expected of us. Kobe marked it from the first second I landed and joined the team,” he recalls excitedly when talking about how he would end up becoming a great friend. Also a visionary: in 2009 Pau Gasol won his first NBA ring with the Lakers.
Behind every basket, every goal or every best-seller there is teamwork that goes beyond what is seen in the photos. A good team leader knows this and takes advantage of any opportunity to empathize, bring out the best in each member, even those with less visible roles, so that everyone feels involved in the same project. “When you are part of a team you have to take care of how you treat people. Address each person with respect, greet everyone, regardless of their role in the team, whether it is the physios, the props, the children who collect the rebounds or those who help the fans to sit in the stadium. Not only do you create a more pleasant environment, but also a more productive one because everyone will feel part of the group, regardless of whether they play or not,” he points out. “It is what my parents have instilled in me as a child and I continue along that line because I feel it is the right one.”
The one who wore the shirt with the everlasting number 16 – he wore it for FC Barcelona, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls – went on to score more than 22,000 points throughout his entire NBA career. Despite the overwhelming number, he takes the edge off the goals and highlights the value of the team above the great scorers. “Collective success affects everyone, whether we have scored more or less points. When we are champions, we all are. Understanding this is leadership, but it is also a question of experience and maturity,” he comments. The good leader flees from self-complacency, deification and the desire for superiority endorsed simply by the results on the field. “You can't proclaim yourself leader just because you're the one who scores the most points. If you plan to lead, do it from humility. He shows little by little that you are that figure that the team can follow, even in adversity. In the end, a team is not about me or you, it is about us.”
