2010 28 Jun
Currently, I am initiating a new project and building its team and giving the responsibilities and missions for the people working with me.
Without any researches or waste of time, and as always in such situations I came back to the God of leadership John Maxwell, who says “to build a successful team, you have to add people who make things happen, you need a catalyst in your team”.
If you ask a football player who is the best player in the game, 90% of them say do you want us to exclude Maradona?
If you are the coach of the world's greatest football team and you have a free kick in the last 5 seconds of the match, for which player do you give the ball? 99% of coaches answer to Diego Maradona, and he'll make the goal.
Why Maradona? Is it just because he's a good player? Of course not, Maradona has created a class for him, his not comparable to other football players, he can bring the victory to a team in a short time, and he can inspire all other people around him, he’s a catalyst.
In your team, if you have a goal to be reached, the team member that you’ll give the ball to, is your catalyst.
A catalyst is the one who makes things happen, and he has nine well known characteristics:
- Intuitive [Sense]: he's born leader, a native leader.
- Communicators[Say]: he says things that the other team members do not say.
- Initiators: you don't have to tell them, they're always there.
- Passionate [feel]: they can feel the work needs.
- Creative [think]: they think out of the box.
- Givers: they are second mile people and not the first one, they give.
- Responsible [carry]: they take the responsibility.
- Gifted [do]: they have the ability to do.
- Leaders [influence]: they influence the people around them.
Winston Churchill in the second world war, when Germany was attacking all the Europe said that we have to worry, Hitler can attack the UK, while others were saying that we shouldn't worry and the fire is away from the UK,Churchill was right, he was a catalyst leader.
In consequences these people make thing happen, these are the true leaders.
But is it hard to find this kind of people? How can you identify them? You should be really a catalyst to find the catalyst people.
it is a nice document, and i think that it is very important to have a catalyst person in a software development team who is able to cooperate with each member in the team to meet deadlines and present the exact requirments. Regarding Maradona, he is a catalyst player but not a catalyst leader.
Hey Adel, thanks for your comment but don’t you think that Maradona lead the team and built the soul in latest world cup? Maradona had mistakes, and made a lot of bad things in his life, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not a leader, a leader is who inspire the people around him, who can influence the team, and that is the main characteristic of a leader !