The Patriots have their perfect season. It requires certain qualities to achieve such a feat. Here’s one: Great players who become, together, more than they could ever be alone.

It takes great skill to achieve what the Pats did. Brady, Moss, Bruschi and others are simply remarkable players. Developing your natural talent matters. Developing your natural talent and then adding it to the natural talent of a team is AMAZING. When individual talent meets collective team skill and commitment, watch out–amazing thing are going to happen. This is true for teams and organizations of any type. Part of the reward of developing one’s individual talent comes when he or she finds others who are as committed to skill development, and they create something together that is greater than anyone’s single achievement.

Greatness, at the team or organizational level, is clearly a both/and proposition. It takes both great individual players and great teaming to become extraordinary.