Organizational success depends less on high-profile 'superstars' and more on 'Sherpas'—generous, energetic team players who handle the essential, often invisible, support work. When hiring, actively screen for generosity and positive energy, as these are the people who enable collective achievement.

A "team brag session"—where each member publicly praises a colleague—is counterintuitively more beneficial for the giver. While the recipient feels respected, the act of recognizing others elevates the praiser's own morale and strengthens team bonds.

True team cohesion comes from embracing shared struggles and past failures, which Coach Brian White calls "championship tissue." Leaders must be authentic and willing to reveal their own "scars" to create an environment where people feel safe enough to be real and build genuine intimacy.

Business is a unique domain where you can pursue selfish goals (building a large, profitable company) and selfless ones at the same time. By building a successful company with ethical, people-first practices, you force competitors to adopt similar positive behaviors to compete, thereby improving the entire industry for everyone.

The "honey empire" concept pairs a commitment to kindness and empathy (“honey”) with an unapologetic drive to dominate the market (“empire”). This duality prevents the culture from becoming either callously profit-driven or delusionally soft, fostering a high-performance yet humane environment.

Achieving extraordinary results requires extraordinary, often exhausting, effort. If your team ever finds themselves in their comfort zone at work, they are making a mistake. This high-intensity environment is easier to maintain when the company is clearly winning, providing leadership with "air cover" to demand more.

Shift your leadership mindset from extraction to contribution. Success as a boss or investor isn't maximizing your return from an employee; it's being a net positive force where people gain more from the relationship than you do. This generosity builds loyalty and defines true victory in leadership.

CIO Lane MacDonald credits his elite hockey career for his core belief in teamwork. He emphasizes that collective success, built on sacrifice and a 'we, not I' mentality, is more meaningful and impactful than individual accomplishment, a lesson he applies to investing.

Don't categorize employees as either missionaries or mercenaries. Almost everyone has the capacity for missionary-like passion. The key is to design an organization that empowers people and removes bureaucratic friction, making it normal—not weird—to be "all in" on the mission.