When the Seattle Seahawks won the 2026 Super Bowl, their head coach, Mike MacDonald, shared the secret: everyone played for their teammates, not themselves.
And that’s a well-known secret for any team that dreams about being a part of something bigger than each of its members.
The same goes for the creative work.
It’s easier to do our best work when we do it for others. Solve their problems. Help them get ahead.
The hard part isn’t understanding this secret, but overcoming the fear of losing our own advantages so that we are falling behind.
There isn’t much to fuel our creativity when self-centered interests and a focus on personal gain dominate, especially in a world where everyone has a camera and a microphone.
