Who taught : Andrew

Set the tone (source: shannonstanley.wordpress.com)

Have you ever played team sports such as soccer, baseball, basketball, etc? I strongly believe it is one of the best ways to learn how to collaborate with other people. One of the interesting things I have noticed by participating in team sports is that one person can make a big difference in terms of team performance.

When I was in Korea, I was in a soccer team. The team was not good at all at first but, a few months later, we were able to recruit one player who used to play soccer all the time in many of different soccer teams. He knew how to play a better soccer. As we all practiced and played together, we all got better. But  the main reason why we were able to beat many other teams was not that he was a good player but that he had an ability to organize the whole team.

A few weeks ago, Andrew and I were talking about his ultimate frisbee team. I said, “So, how is your ultimate frisbee these days?” He said, “That is very interesting question. So….. when I first got to know about my team members, I thought the team would lose a lot because the players are not that great compared to other teams. But, we did really good and won many games.” “Why?” said I. He answered, “Interestingly, it was because of one lady. She is a good player but, more importantly, she is amazingly good at organizing the team. She basically set the tone for the team and games. We all followed her and, as a result, won the games.”

That is right! There is an expression, “set the tone.” The meaning of the expression is to establish a particular mood. Well, if you set the tone correctly, then the outcome should usually be good, I believe, just like the soccer player I mentioned earlier. But it is also possible to set the tone in a bad way. Are you a person who sets the tone? If so, you would want to set the optimistic tone. I am sure there are so many ways to set the tone. What else do we have? Do you have any good examples you have done, setting the tone? Actually, you can set the tone for your day every day? Let’s do it, shall we? Am I setting the tone here? 🙂