With the movie coming out next month, I re-read Michael Lewis’ book “Moneyball,” (my second go round) – a remarkable depiction of Billy Beane’s unique leadership of the Oakland A’s.

Beane was a natural. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, he excelled at every sport he tried. Stanford University attempted to recruit him on a joint baseball-football scholarship, but Beane rejected the offer fearing a football injury would threaten his baseball career. Beane signed with the New York Mets. It was 1980.

As a major league player, Beane struggled. Over his ten year career as a player, he never achieved the promise that seemed so attainable to him. In 1990, Beane was recruited by the A’s general manager Sandy Alderson and became an advance talent scout.

His job, find the kids that will one day make the A’s a winning team.

And this is where the story truly begins.

By 2002, and under Beane’s leadership, the Oakland A’s became one of the most winningest teams in baseball, finishing first in the American League’s Western Division. But this stat was dwarfed by one far more impressive – Beane did this with the lowest player payroll of any major league baseball team.

Beane wasn’t cheap. He was smart.

When Beane scouted, he didn’t look for the star recruit with the most home runs or highest batting average; instead, he wanted players with the highest on-base percentage. Players who did what it took to win day in and day out.

Beane taught us the importance of a balanced team. What makes a team successful is not necessarily having the star player, producer or agent, but having a group of people who are all capable of doing what it takes to win or succeed. Having a wide range of skills and talents on your team is critical. Does your team have all the skills it takes to succeed? If not, what can you do to change that? Training? Recruiting?

The second critical part of the team is that everyone is in sync. A team is the sum of its parts. If people on a team aren’t working for the same goal and aren’t willing to help each other out at their own expense, then the team isn’t functioning to its full capability. Think about when you played a team sport as a child. Your goal was to win and you did everything in your power to accomplish that. Most likely you weren’t concerned with making yourself look the best at the expense of your other teammates and it would never cross your mind to do something that benefited you at the expense of winning the game. A good team player makes sacrifices and it pays off.

So stop worrying about being #1 and start focusing on your goal and how you can most efficiently and effectively accomplish it. Success will follow!