The Elite Team

In the early 1970s, a vice president of one of our client companies sent around a memo on the subject of travel expenses to everyone in his division. You may have received similar memos on the topic yourself, but this one was different. It said more or less this: "It
has come to my attention that some of you, when traveling on expenses, have been traveling economy class. This is not an economy-class organization. This is a first-class organization. When you fly on business from now on, you will fly first class." Of course that memo cost money. The expense was very real and the only thing you could balance against it was an enhanced sense of eliteness. At least one organization thought that was a valid tradeoff. Couldn't happen in a real-world corporation, you say? It happened at Xerox.

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams.
by Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister

This is a very good sample of understanding the team spirit background. To feel and act as an elite team, its members must not just hear slogans propagandizing that they are the best. Each team member must know that they are allowed to be different, and really to be elite.