Why is it that a football team can consistently play better than any other team? Why is it that one company can consistently outperform others? Why is it that one family stays together when others don’t? How is it that a team of people can play 10 different instruments in such a beautiful way as to play a symphony? And how is it that a team of XXX people could build Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris 800 years ago, with no technology, computers or machines?
Last week (Feb 2025) Cookie and I visited Notre Dame shortly after it reopened due to a terribly destructive fire in 2019 (there are a few documentaries on the fire itself so if you’re interested in seeing the sheer destruction that took place, check one out). It was a few minutes from the great walls and bell tower completely falling down. This cathedral is over 800 years old and took 100 years to build. If it were to have fallen to the ground even given today’s technology, it would have never been rebuilt due to a bunch of factors (cost being one).
Teams of people who have never worked together before came together to take down the destroyed parts of the cathedral – some of which were risking their lives with one wrong move – and to rebuild, resurface and renovate the cathedral. In fact, there were a couple of critical moves that had to be done perfectly or the entire remaining cathedral could have imploded (if the bells that were hanging from burned wood fell, if the flying buttresses that held the building up were not re-supported and those man made supports not aligned perfectly with a crane, as examples) killing scores of workers and forever losing this great cathedral.
Now, I (and your parents and Cookie) have been to ND before. And while awesome, I am not sure we felt anything special in our bodies and souls. Sadly, we were probably “those” tourists just checking the boxes. But when Cookie and I walked into the rebuilt Cathedral I can’t adequately describe to you the emotions we felt – they ranged from true awe, to goose bumps, to tears and even to the presence of God. And we weren’t alone. We could see scores of people who felt that way.
The question is why? What made this different than the first time, or what made that emotion so different from the other masterfully build cathedrals (including St. Peter’s in the Vatican). I can’t speak for Cookie but I can describe exactly why I felt that way.
For me it was understanding the power of a Team; undersanding the mystery of how small groups of people can get together and accomplish exponentially more than they can individually; understanding how rare this type of a feat is in our world.
So you might ask, what made this team one of the best ever assembled in modern day history? What did this team have in common with other types of amazingly productive and special teams?
First, the best teams have a Purpose (I have written an essay for you on your Purpose). This team felt like they were rebuilding to save history while at the same time they were working for God. It is clear that God wanted that cathedral to survive (you’ll see what I mean when you watch the documentary). So it is with this purpose that they dedicated (and sometimes risked) their lives. It is a common Purpose that they were all driving toward.
Second, they were working for the pride of their country. The world watched as it burned and nearly fell, and the Prime Minister promised it would be rebuilt in 5 years. These men and women felt that pride each and every day when they went to work. Nobody, and I mean nobody thought that goal could be reached. It was impossible. Until it wasn’t.
Third, people from all different walks of life, ages, religions, family backgrounds, temperments and beliefs came together based on this common purpose. They worked next to people they didn’t know, put differences aside, and strived to do something no other team has ever done before in modern history. Incidentally, remember that catholics, protestants and muslims have all warred with each other in history. But each of these religions and more were represented on the demolition and rebuilding teams. Hmm isn’t that interesting. Sort of a good lesson here.
Fourth, the team members were the best in the world at what they did – and in some cases they were good and became great – whether it was the firefighters who practiced a burning cathedral, an architect who has studied the great cathedrals, the author who helped (Ken Follett who wrote The Pillars of the Earth about 14th century cathedrals), fund raisers who raised the money ($800 million), art restoration experts, scaffolding workers, mortar makers, statue restorers and electricians.
Fifth, they had to learn on the job. They had to improve. None of these people, not one, had ever had to deal with something like this in their lives. So they took their knowledge and improvised and learned on the fly and made it happen.
Lastly (although I’m sure there are other reasons as well) is the fine leadership. I will give you an example. The fire chief in charge during the fire had to make a decision (several hours into the raging fire) when the bell tower caught fire (if it really ignited the entire cathedral would have been lost) whether to send his men and women into the fire to halt the spread. He had to determine the risk vs the reward. This was a 50/50 grey choice (by the way, these are the hardest ones. It’s easy to make no brainer choices). He sent 20 people up the tower to meet the fire. And they stopped it. And these firefighter heroes trusted the judgement of the chief and they sprinted up the tower to save it.
You have been members of teams all your lives. You are members right now, whether you are in school, your family team, your work team, your business team, your sports team, the list goes on. You have seen great leaders. You have seen bad ones. You have seen mheh ones. And you are or will be a leader someday. I know this is a bit of an extreme once in a lifetime event that I am referencing, but the lessons learned from this apply to each and every team you will ever be a part of or lead. If you can apply these lessons to your teams there is no doubt that you will be a great leader if your aren’t already one. What kind of a leader do you want to follow and what kind of a leader do you want to be? And make no mistake, you must be a leader. It isn’t a choice. You don’t have to lead a giant company if you don’t want to. But you do need to be a leader in your family. You need to be a leader in the community relative to how you carry yourself. You need to be a leader through your example to your friends and colleagues. You will always be a leader to your children. You become a leader when your grandparents become ancient. It’s impossible not to be a leader.
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