One of the first lessons I learned about regarding what makes a team great came from Alan Lefkof at Netopia, a computer networking company. He introduced me to something called “CAP” — Clarity, Alignment, and Purpose. It was simple, memorable, and powerful. And once I understood it, I started seeing it everywhere.
Great teams always had those three things. Teams that struggled? Usually missing one — if not all — of them.
Finding the blueprint
But my first real taste of what alignment felt like in practice came earlier, at a company called Livingston whose innovative technology enabled ISPs to scale in the early days of dial-up before it was acquired by Lucent. It was a place where people genuinely teamed up. Titles didn’t matter much. Egos didn’t get in the way. If someone needed help, you just jumped in. No red tape, no politics. It was easy to do business — internally and externally — because people actually wanted to work together.
That culture made an impression on me. It was informal, but intentional. And that, combined with Alan’s framework at Netopia, gave me the blueprint for the kind of culture I’d spend the rest of my career trying to build.
Your team shapes your fate
Here’s what I’ve come to believe: your team shapes your fate. Period. You can have the best idea, the slickest product, the biggest war chest — but if your team isn’t aligned, none of it matters.
Misalignment slows everything down. It breeds confusion, tension, and waste. But when a team is aligned — when people are connected to the mission, to each other, and to themselves — they move as one. They willingly cooperate towards a common goal. And that’s when the real magic happens.
Some of the strongest teams I’ve been part of weren’t the ones with the most resources. They were the ones where people felt the mission. They knew what they were building and why. They covered for each other. They challenged each other. And they held themselves to a high bar – not because someone told them to, but because they wanted to.
The problem is that most teams don’t get there by accident. Alignment doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it.
Building real alignment requires:
1. Being relentlessly clear about why you’re doing what you’re doing. You have to connect each person’s role to the bigger picture.
2. Creating trust. Real trust isn’t just “we like each other” trust. It’s trust that can survive conflict. Trust that can take a punch and keep moving forward.
3. Giving people permission to show up fully. When people feel like they belong, like their voice matters, like they can be their authentic selves, they bring more than just their output. They bring their energy, their ideas, their drive.
When alignment slips
I’ve also seen what happens when that alignment slips — when communication breaks down, when teams get siloed, when individuals start optimizing for themselves instead of the group. That’s when trust erodes. That’s when execution gets clunky. That’s when things fall apart — not in one big moment, but in a hundred small ones.
A daily practice
If I could give one piece of advice to anyone building a team, it’s this: treat alignment like a daily practice. Keep the mission visible. Keep the conversations honest. Keep the feedback flowing. Connect people not just to the work, but to each other.
Because the truth is, strategy shifts. Products change. Markets move. But an aligned team? That’s your leverage. That’s how you punch above your weight. That’s how you make the impossible feel inevitable.
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