Lessons for a father - A Supercar And Teamwork

Image Courtesy: Top Gear

What does a super car and teamwork have in common? Maybe there is nothing on the surface, but there is a lot of commonality if we looked "under the hood".

The Car

The car I in question (and oh, what a car it is!!) is the Porche 918. Consider this from the car's Wikipedia page:

The Spyder is powered by a 4.6 litre V8 engine, developing 608 horsepower (453 kW), with two electric motors delivering an additional 279 horsepower (208 kW) for a combined output of 887 horsepower (661 kW).

Those are some very big numbers belonging to a very good car. There are a few numbers and facts which are more than just technical specifications. They represent to me the very foundation of great teamwork.

A 4.6 litre V8 engine giving 608 horsepower is a very strong engine. It can be the core of a good car. However, that engine, coupled with 2 electric motors and an additional 279 horsepower, delivers possibly the greatest car of today. 

The 2 different sets of technology and innovation display teamwork and, in the words of Aristotle, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

And Us

So what is the commonality then?

We work with multiple people in a day. It does not matter what we do in life - professionally or otherwise. At work, if we are a part of an organization, we might be working with sales, accounting, administration, engineering and marketing. At home, we might be working with our spouse, our children and members of the group fondly, and collectively, referred to as "family and friends".

If we, with our individuality intact, work towards a common goal of being successful (whatever our definition of success be) we can create our own version of the Porche. We can create a team of super charged components that can leave any competition trailing in our wake and do seemingly impossible things.

If we are able to emulate what the beautiful piece of machine has proved to be possible, where we work not just to give our best individually but also work towards the benefit of the entire team, who knows,  we might even get away with the price tag of US$ 845,000.