Topic: Does working with others lead to better results than acting as an individual?
Hold on, I’m going to form a committee. We’ll come to a conclusion together.
Here’s one of my favorite George Carlin quotes:
“I don’t like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. Individualists. I often warn people: “Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, ‘There is no “I” in team.’ What you should tell them is, ‘Maybe not. But there is an “I” in independence, individuality and integrity.’” Avoid teams at all cost. Keep your circle small. Never join a group that has a name. If they say, “We’re the So-and-Sos,” take a walk. And if, somehow, you must join, if it’s unavoidable, such as a union or a trade association, go ahead and join. But don’t participate; it will be your death. And if they tell you you’re not a team player, congratulate them on being observant.”
-George Carlin
If you want a perfect example of “teamwork”, look at the government. You can really see how well that turned out.
Not including state and local debt, so-called agency debt (whatever that is), and “unfunded liabilities of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare” (whatever that is), today’s federal debt is about $19,456,631,843,000. Teamwork has really gotten us so far.
Everyone’s heard it: if you want something done right, do it yourself. More often than not, an idiot in a group screws something up, and your plan for world domination is ruined.
When you’re by yourself, there are no arguments. There are no disagreements over something stupid, and you’re responsible for every good and bad thing you’ve done. When you’re working in a group, you get imbeciles trying to implement their own ideas into a collective group idea. In other words, there is no possible way EVERYONE will get along. In a world of two people, they will both disagree.
a writer's blog 
[…] two years ago, I was inspired to address this debate by a blogger that I very much admire (“Confident Individualism” by Lani Rodriguez). She presented a very nice case for the side of individualism, but now, echoing Joni […]
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This is the type of topic I can get into. I like to inject a little non-conventional wisdom, if you will, but will use this as an inspiration for my own post instead of subjecting all of your listeners to what could be considered boring political rhetoric. I would like to say two things, though:
1) In your reference to the government, you conclude the first paragraph with “You can really see how well that turned out” – past tense. Funny, I didn’t hear the fat lady sing. For a little perspective, I’m pretty sure that all of the individuals and virtually all of the companies around when it started are no longer around today, so you can see how well that turned out also. With the present political climate and current events (including the national debt (we won’t get into how social security could be considered an unfunded entitlement program)), I can see how one might be concerned about our future, but I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet – and since you have much more future at stake than I do, neither should you be.
2) How many of those rugged, confident individuals have stepped on the moon. That took a team (a government team at that). If you set your sights low enough, you can certainly go it alone, but abandon all of your delusions of world domination right now unless you can get a good team together (and if one idiot can so easily foil your plans, they probably weren’t that good of plans anyway). Forming that team, as you well pointed out, is not a trivial challenge. History suggests that conquering the world without one is most likely impossible.
As a courtesy, when I do finish my post on the subject (although my day job hasn’t allowed me much time for that lately) I will let you know so you can come point out the flaws in my logic (and my poor grammar (your working vocabulary seems to be much larger than mine)). Actually, I would appreciate such thoughtfulness. Thanks.
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