There is no "I" in team: Implications for academic radiology.

Abstract

All of us must find the right balance between team science and fostering leadership with dynamic colleagues. That dichotomy was well-encapsulated in a famous exchange between basketball players Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant regarding there "being no 'I' in team". In our view, there is nothing more satisfying than collaborating with a team of people and publishing impactful papers or making key discoveries. At the same time, there are innumerable instances of collaborations stumbling along and the team failing to gel in a meaningful way. Strong leaders may be very important to propagating the overall team approach. Those leaders may be acknowledging that the team is composed of individuals who all bring something to the table. In this way, a diversity of backgrounds of the individual teammates makes the team stronger. The key, of course, is to find the right team and build within that team a strong foundation. Ultimately, we need to emphasize the importance of both team science and individual excellence in our work. In this manuscript, we will emphasize that as scientific endeavor continues to become more complex, leveraging diverse teams will be increasingly important - but also that team success cannot come at the expense of the uniquely talented individual.