Omar Usman – 3 Things I Learned from The Ideal Team Player Patrick Lencioni

Omar Usman
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The speaker discusses the three most important virtues for a good team: being humble, hungry, and smart. These qualities are essential for being a good team player, and the speaker emphasizes the importance of having these qualities in order to be successful. The speaker also provides examples of how people who have these qualities are often overlooked and not reflected in their work or life.

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			Hey, everyone. Welcome back to my YouTube channel
		
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			where I'm sharing 3 things I learned from
		
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			books that I'm reading. I know it's been
		
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			a long break since my last video, but
		
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			I'm hoping to start the series back up
		
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			again regularly.
		
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			In this video, I'm sharing 3 things I
		
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			learned from the book The Ideal Team Player
		
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			by Patrick Lencioni,
		
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			and I chose this book because
		
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			there's a lot of material out there about
		
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			leadership,
		
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			a lot of things about how to lead
		
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			people, build teams,
		
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			and we're used to consuming that literature.
		
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			But there aren't a lot of books talking
		
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			about how to be a good follower or
		
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			how to actually be just a team player
		
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			when you're not leading a team.
		
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			In this book, the author lays out what
		
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			he considers the 3 most important virtues
		
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			that someone needs to have to be the
		
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			ideal team player.
		
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			And it's important to note that he specified
		
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			the word virtues and not characteristics,
		
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			and this is because virtues are seen as
		
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			assets or qualities,
		
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			things that can be worked on and obtained,
		
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			whereas a characteristic might be seen as something
		
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			static, either you've got it or you don't.
		
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			The 3 virtues of the ideal team player
		
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			are to be humble,
		
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			to be hungry,
		
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			and to be smart.
		
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			And it's important to note,
		
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			all 3 of these must be there to
		
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			have the ideal team player. As we'll talk
		
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			about at the end of the video,
		
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			having only 1 or only 2 of these
		
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			characteristics
		
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			actually can be very destructive to a team.
		
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			So let's go into these three qualities in
		
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			detail.
		
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			The first is to be humble, to have
		
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			humility,
		
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			and we understand this in an obvious sense.
		
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			It means not to be driven by ego.
		
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			It means to have more concern for others
		
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			than you do for yourself.
		
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			When someone is humble,
		
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			they're able to be vulnerable and engage in
		
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			honest conflict and hold team members accountable.
		
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			They point out the contributions that others have
		
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			made,
		
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			and they seek to share credit and to
		
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			give credit rather than to take it. The
		
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			thing to watch out for in being humble
		
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			is not to go on to the side
		
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			where you start to lack self confidence
		
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			or you start to doubt your own abilities.
		
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			When a person lacks self confidence,
		
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			they start to
		
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			maybe not advocate for their own ideas or
		
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			not call out problems when they see them.
		
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			You still have to have confidence in your
		
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			abilities,
		
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			but you just have to do it in
		
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			such a way where you're not only out
		
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			for your own self interest.
		
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			Usually, when people are
		
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			egotistical,
		
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			it's very obvious that they're very self driven.
		
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			When someone lacks self confidence, they seem they
		
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			tend to withdraw, not advocate for themselves at
		
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			all. Both of these extremes are driven out
		
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			of insecurity.
		
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			To have proper humility, to have proper level
		
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			of humbleness,
		
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			you need to have confidence in your ability,
		
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			know how to advocate for your ideas,
		
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			but do it in a way where you're
		
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			not drawing attention to yourself. The second quality
		
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			is to be hungry,
		
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			and hunger is that innate drive to always
		
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			do more, to always do better. This is
		
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			the person that a manager doesn't have to
		
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			tell them, we need you to go and
		
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			do x y z. They're already ready to
		
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			go do it on their own. The hungry
		
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			person is the one that's always looking for
		
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			more work, always looking for ways to help
		
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			other people, always looking for things to learn.
		
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			They're not waiting to be told what to
		
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			do. The smart person,
		
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			the 3rd virtue,
		
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			is
		
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			common sense people skills.
		
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			They have good interpersonal skills. They know
		
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			the politics of a group or the or
		
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			the dynamics of a group, And that smartness,
		
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			and one thing that Linconi says that this
		
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			is not emotional intelligence. This is actually a
		
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			step before emotional intelligence.
		
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			It's that common sense understanding of how people
		
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			work, what people are looking for, and how
		
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			to navigate the dynamics of that team. And
		
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			that's it. Those are the three virtues of
		
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			the ideal team player.
		
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			All three of these
		
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			must be present in an individual for them
		
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			to be the ideal team player.
		
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			If a person
		
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			only has
		
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			humility,
		
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			they're only humble, and they lack hunger, and
		
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			they lack people smarts,
		
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			that person is called upon.
		
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			They're simply there. Everyone likes being around them,
		
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			but in the end, no one knows what
		
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			they really have to offer. And so they're
		
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			overlooked. They're not included in any activities.
		
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			They might stick around for a while, but
		
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			that's about it. When a person has only
		
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			hunger
		
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			and they lack
		
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			humbleness and they lack people smarts,
		
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			that person is what we call a bulldozer.
		
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			They get in there, they get what they
		
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			themselves need done,
		
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			and they get everyone else out of the
		
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			way.
		
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			We've all worked with people like that, and
		
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			we know how unpleasant it can be.
		
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			A person that only has people smarts, but
		
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			they lack the humility and the hunger,
		
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			that person is someone that's entertaining, they're likable,
		
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			people kinda like being around them, but in
		
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			the long run, no one really knows what
		
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			value they have to provide and add to
		
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			the team, and so they get left behind.
		
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			Some people might have 2 out of the
		
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			3 characteristics,
		
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			and that also can be disruptive to a
		
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			team.
		
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			If someone has
		
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			humbleness
		
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			and hunger, then that person is called the
		
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			accidental mess maker.
		
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			They come in. They do the work that
		
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			needs to be done. They have the appropriate
		
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			focus on other people.
		
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			But because they don't understand group dynamics,
		
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			they might leave a mess behind. They might
		
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			ruin other relationships within the team without even
		
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			realizing it. If a person is smart
		
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			and humble,
		
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			but they lack hunger,
		
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			that person is the lovable slacker.
		
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			If you tell them what you need them
		
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			to do, they'll do it, and people like
		
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			being around them.
		
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			But in the long run, it's frustrating for
		
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			the team because they don't take any initiative.
		
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			They're always waiting to be told. They'll get
		
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			it done,
		
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			but then that's about it. And then the
		
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			last combination
		
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			is being hungry and smart,
		
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			but lacking in humbleness.
		
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			And this is one that we often see
		
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			in a workplace dynamic.
		
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			This is the person that is the skillful
		
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			politician.
		
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			They know how to manipulate others. They know
		
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			how to get their way, and they know
		
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			how to get credit for their work.
		
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			And because they know how to do that,
		
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			they will often rise up. They'll often get
		
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			recognition,
		
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			much to the chagrin of other team members.
		
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			And the destruction that they cause sometimes will
		
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			go unnoticed
		
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			because they're producing good results.
		
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			And so by the time leadership realizes what's
		
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			going on, sometimes it might be too late.
		
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			This is why all three virtues,
		
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			humbleness,
		
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			hunger,
		
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			and people smarts,
		
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			must be present in someone for them to
		
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			be the ideal team player.
		
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			That's it. Hope you enjoyed the book. I've
		
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			got a link to the book in the
		
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			show notes.
		
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			And if you enjoyed the video again, please
		
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			make sure you subscribe and share it with
		
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			a friend. And hopefully, we look forward to
		
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			producing more videos. Thanks.