Most leaders think they have to choose.

Hire the "culture fit" team player who underperforms but is good for morale, or the competitive lone wolf who disrupts the team.

It’s a false choice.

Every high-performing team needs both. The tension between them isn’t the problem. It’s what drives growth.. The problem is misalignment.

There's a useful way to think about this, and it comes from an unexpected place.
The Philadelphia Eagles have a play that's almost impossible to stop.
It's called the Tush Push.

In her book Strong Ground, Brené Brown uses this play as a metaphor for leadership grounded in both values and execution. She notes that when a player loses contact with the ground, their power disappears. Teams, she says, work the same way: when people lose connection to their purpose or shared mission, they lose their force.

The Tush Push (also sometimes referred to as the Brotherly Shove) works because everyone stays grounded, in both physics and purpose. That connection is what allows coordinated effort to turn into progress.

The Tush Push is a highly effective version of the quarterback sneak. The quarterback lines up at center, takes the snap, and pushes forward as the offensive line surges ahead. Even if you don't follow football, picture a wall of people driving forward in perfect sync. They gain a yard, sometimes two. It works about 90% of the time.

It works because every person on the field executes their role with precision. It’s part teamwork, part physics, and all grit rolled into one gloriously unglamorous and wildly effective move.

Here's what most people miss: plenty of those players care about their own stats. They want their highlights, their bonuses, their recognition. That doesn't stop them from lining up and pushing forward together.

That’s what real alignment looks like: individual drive in service of a shared goal. It’s also where most leaders struggle.

The False Choice Leaders Make

A client of mine, a $10 million SaaS company, faced that choice. All their sales were inbound. Great niche market. Solid content engine. Daniel, one of the co-founders, handled sales. An introvert who didn't follow a formal sales process, rarely followed up, and mostly evangelized by email or virtual demo.

The company plateaued. They decided to hire an outbound salesperson. A “hunter.”

The guy they selected was Marcus.

During interviews, Marcus “culturally” irritated them in every way. Talkative. Outgoing. Loud. At the end, they said, "He could do the job, but he's not someone we'd want to have a beer with. We're not making an offer."

We talked through why choosing beer buddies over capability was a problem. They hired him.

Day one, Marcus high-fived everyone and spent the whole day on the phone.
Open office. Complaints started immediately.
"He's so loud."
"He's always on the phone."
"He booked the conference room all the time."

Yes, well, that’s his job.

After Marcus's first month, he started outselling Daniel.

Daniel was a great evangelist. Marcus was wired for sales. He needed the win, the commission, the scoreboard. The role rewarded his drive.

Teams Need Both

Leadership’s role is to channel individual strengths toward collective goals. Collective purpose doesn't erase individual motivation. It focuses it.

Every high-performing team needs strengths from both sides of the spectrum. Long-term thinkers and short-term executors. Planners and improvisers. Structure followers and rule breakers.

Without both, the team is weaker.

Nowhere is that tension clearer than between team players and competitive players.

When Competitiveness Serves the Team

Marcus was competitive and exactly what that team needed to reach the next stage of growth.

Teams thrive when members trust each other's strengths and allocate tasks based on capability. Competitive players, when aligned, raise the bar for everyone.

Competitiveness doesn't always mean ego. With the right incentives, it channels personal drive into collective performance.

I've seen it in myself. I used to pull all-nighters to find a bug, me versus the machine. Relentless on deadlines and quality because I held myself to higher standards. The competition wasn't against teammates. It was against my own potential.

Being wired to compete doesn't mean you can't work as a team.

When Competitiveness Destroys the Team

McKinsey research shows that stacking a team with "superstars" doesn't guarantee high performance. In fact, it often backfires. Individual performance matters, but it's not enough. What separates great teams is how those individuals interact.

I've also seen competitive players hit their numbers while tanking morale.

Salespeople who hoard leads. Developers who ship fast code that breaks everyone else's work. Leaders who make decisions that make them look good and their teams look bad.

That's not competitiveness serving the team. That's competitiveness destroying it.

The difference? Whether your wins require coordination or come at its expense.

Marcus's wins depended on him showing up, working the phones, and closing deals. His success lifted the company.

When someone's drive leads them to hoard information, take shortcuts, or undermine teammates, they're not just competitive. They're selfish.

When Team Players Hold It Together

Not everyone is fueled by competition. Some people are driven by connection, trust, or shared accomplishment. These are the ones who hold the team together when things get hard.

They celebrate other people’s wins. They smooth over friction. They make space for different voices.

Without them, competitive players can burn out or burn bridges.
Without competitive players, team-first cultures can stall in consensus and caution.

The goal isn’t to make one type more like the other. It’s to create an environment where both can thrive, because both are necessary for sustained performance.

What This Means for Your Team

Yes, some people hate the Tush Push. It's controversial. It’s difficult to officiate. It feels unfair to defenders who can't stop it.

You can't deny its effectiveness.

The Tush Push works because every person on the field executes with precision. No one's job is more important than another's. Each role matters. Every action has to align.

Individual excellence serves collective coordination. The Eagles coaches don't ask their players to stop caring about personal achievements. They ask them to do their job, and to do it well, when the play is called.

Leaders who align individual strengths toward shared goals create environments where both competitiveness . Not one or the other. Both.

Your job isn't to choose between competitiveness and teamwork. It's to build an environment where drive and trust move in the same direction.

Your team doesn't need everyone to be the same.
It needs everyone to know their role and execute it well.

When that happens, you don’t just move the ball. You move together.

Oh, and Go Birds!