A great illustration of teamwork is found in the life of Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa born in Nepal. He tells how he and Edmund Hillary accomplished what no other human beings ever had: conquering Mount Everest. Tenzing says, ‘For each level we reached, a higher degree of teamwork was required. One group would exhaust themselves just getting the equipment up the mountain for the next group. Two man teams would work finding a path, cutting steps, securing ropes, spending themselves to make the next leg of the climb possible for others. You don’t climb a mountain like Everest by trying to race ahead on your own or by competing with your comrades. No, you do it slowly and carefully, by unselfish teamwork. Certainly I wanted to reach the top myself; it was the thing I’d dreamed all my life. But if the lot fell to someone else I would take it like a man, not a cry-baby. Where would Hillary and I have been without the others? Without the climbers who made the route? The Sherpas who carried the loads? Those who cleared the path ahead? It was only through the work and sacrifice of them all that we had our chance at the top.’

Source: The UCB Word For Today , 13/8/2010