Imagine a world where work doesn’t drain us, but fills us. Where Monday mornings feel like possibility, not punishment. Where we don’t just tolerate our teammates, we’d go to battle for them. That world exists. And it starts with the choice to stop building teams of stars and start building teams that trust.
There’s a stat Simon loves to cite, and it reveals everything about what makes teams truly great: teams of average performers consistently beat teams of high performers. Not sometimes. Consistently.
We obsess over hiring stars, the top 1% individuals with killer résumés and metrics. We chase the people who shine brightest in interviews, who have the most impressive achievements listed on LinkedIn. But here’s what happens when you stack them together without trust: they fracture. They compete internally, hoard wins, focus on personal glory.
Average folks? They prioritize the team. They serve each other, share credit, cover weaknesses. That’s the secret sauce for real outperformance.
Simon has seen it in action with groups he’s studied. The “stars” burn bright alone but dim in ensembles. The everyday players, bonded by mutual devotion, win marathons.
Why This Matters Now
We’re entering 2026 carrying the weight of years that asked too much. We’re tired. Our teams are tired. And in that exhaustion, there’s a temptation to look for the hero, the superstar who’ll save us all.
But salvation doesn’t come from one brilliant person. It comes from many good people choosing each other, again and again.
When Simon taught, he stacked his top performers on one team. They fought over credit, complained about slackers in his office. “My grade, my work,” they’d say. The average team? They covered for each other, focused on the group grade. They won every time because they trusted, they teamed.
Why does this surprise us? Because our metrics worship individuals. We celebrate the person who closed the biggest deal, hit their numbers, got the promotion. But leadership’s job isn’t to crown winners. It’s to build the container for collective magic. It’s to create the space where people feel safe enough to serve something bigger than themselves.
The Habit: Ask One Question Every Time
Here’s the one leadership habit that will transform your 2026, and it’s beautifully simple: every time someone on your team has a win, ask them one question: “Who helped you?”
Not as an afterthought. Not casually. But as the first response to every success.
Then, and this is critical, publicly recognize those helpers by name. In the team meeting. In the Slack channel. In the email to leadership. Make the assist as visible as the goal.
When Elizabeth closes the big client, don’t just celebrate Elizabeth. Ask her, “Who helped you?” Then send a message: “Elizabeth landed this client, and she says it wouldn’t have happened without Jake’s research, Maria’s introduction, and Tom covering her other accounts. That’s what winning looks like here.”
Do this every single week. Every win. Every milestone. Every success.
Watch what happens.
People will start helping each other more because they know it will be seen. They’ll stop hoarding information because collaboration gets recognized. The quiet contributors, the ones who always made others better but never got noticed, will finally feel valued. And your stars? The good ones will lean into it. They’ll realize their legacy isn’t what they achieved alone, but who they brought up with them.
What Changes
This one question reshapes everything. It shifts you from scorekeeper to culture guardian. It changes what people compete for. Instead of fighting over individual glory, they’ll compete to be the person others name when asked who helped.
You’re teaching your team what you value. And when you consistently value mutual devotion over individual brilliance, you build the trust where average people choose to serve each other. That’s how you create a real team, not just a group working together.
Teams that trust outperform every time.
The Choice Ahead
As we head into 2026, most leaders will keep doing what they’ve always done. They’ll chase the next superstar hire. They’ll celebrate individual metrics. They’ll wonder why their talented teams underperform.
You can choose differently.
You can be the leader who builds something rare: a team that actually cares about each other. Where people show up not just for the paycheck, but for the people. Where the work matters because we’re doing it together.
“Leadership is not about being in charge,” Simon says. “Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.”
Your team doesn’t need more stars. They need you to see the constellation they’re already forming. They need you to illuminate the connections between them, to make visible all the quiet acts of service that make the magic possible.
One question. Every win. “Who helped you?”
That’s how you transform 2026. That’s how you build the world where work fills us instead of draining us.
