There really is no ‘I’ in team

Hope A. Smith
Published: June 26, 2008

Every year, our corporate catalog department chooses 25 catalog managers from around the country to participate in what we call “Catalog Council,” and for the past three years, I have been fortunate enough to take part in this elite group.

Our mission is to refine the processes by which we spread the word of our catalog offerings. One of our duties in council is to attend the annual Catalog Council Conference at our corporate office in Cincinnati. I flew out of Richmond International Airport in the wee hours of Monday morning (and you all know how much I love to fly).
We participated in daily meetings with various vendors and corporate partners, and we learned a great deal of information.

We also made some great friendships with other managers from around the United States.

One particular event will stay in my mind for a long time. Wednesday evening, our last full day in Cincinnati, we were each given a T-shirt. There were four colors of T-shirts — yellow, green, orange, and blue. Each color represented a different team. We weren’t given many details of the evening’s events, except for the fact that each T-shirt read “The Amazing Race,” with our company name below it, and we were to wear comfortable shoes.

At 6 p.m., we were taken by bus to a local restaurant called “Gameworks,” kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese for grownups.

We were fed well (as we were throughout the week — my diet has officially been blown). Then we were given a Visa prepaid credit card and our first clue in this Amazing Race.

Our team had to play the Indy 500 game until we won. We were in the second round of winners!

Our next clue — to walk to Mrs. Fields, where one of our teammates had to down a slushee while the rest of us sang “I’m a Little Teapot” until he finished. Brain freezes all around.

From Mrs. Fields, we ran to Barnes & Noble to find a book with the word “catalog” in it — but it couldn’t cost more than $15. Found it!

Next clue — off to a local restaurant to do “The Chicken Dance” on one of the tables. After this, we walked/ran to the “Purple People Bridge;” however, one of our teammates was not allowed to cross the bridge with their feet on the ground. Thankfully, we had a teammate, Julie, who was small enough for two of the guys to take turns carrying her on their shoulders. Wow, that was a really long bridge — 2,670 feet in all!

We were then given the task of running to the Great American Ballpark, home of the Cincinnati Reds, where we had to find a ticket stub. After finding the stub in a trashcan (thanks, Tony!), we had to run to Graeter’s Ice Cream and down two ice cream cones among the five of us.

Two cones down and three tasks left, we ran to the Cadillac Ranch. Two of us had to ride the mechanical bull for 30 seconds (yep, I stayed on for five, so thanks again, Mark and Tony for fulfilling our task!) and eat $15 worth of appetizers.

Karaoke was next door, thankfully, and we belted out “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” for a host of corporate managers. By this time, people all over Cincinnati thought we were really part of the TV show — they even asked for autographs! They were cheering us on — “Hey, Green just passed you guys!”

On our way back to Gameworks for the final challenge, we met our final task and thought we had won. Once points were counted up, it was a three-way tie. Time for sudden death — another round on the Indy 500 game. We lost the final match, but we learned an amazing (no pun intended) lesson that when push comes to shove, teamwork is important.

Yes, it was fun (although none of us could move very well the next day, as muscles rebelled). We learned that there truly is no “I” in “Team,” working together to complete the tasks that were laid before us. We made some lifetime friendships and learned that when it comes down to it, we’re one team, working toward a common goal.

Hope A. Smith is an independent columnist and resident of Orange County. Her column appears on Friday. E-mail