Anton Guinea
Entrepreneur, Speaker, bestselling author, and founder of The Guinea Group of Companies. For over 15 years, Anton has helped leaders move their teams to become psychologically safe, physically safe and overall better versions of themselves.
What would shift in your workplace if everyone stopped asking “what’s in it for me?” and started asking “what does the team need right now?”
I ask leaders that question a lot. Because here’s what I know for sure: teams don’t fail from lack of skill, they fall apart when trust, safety, and shared purpose are missing. And that all comes down to mindset.
Specifically, a teamwork mindset. Moving from me to we is not just a slogan. It’s the shift that unlocks collective performance.
What ‘me-first’ leadership really costs us
I’ve worked with leaders who didn’t even realise they were stuck in a me-first loop. They were focused on their next role, their KPIs, their visibility. And on the surface, they were getting results.
But the team underneath them? Stressed. Disengaged. Confused about direction.
People are smart. They can feel when they’re being used as a stepping stone.
One thing I often bring up in workshops is how individual wins can create team losses if they come at the expense of connection. That pressure to be seen as the top performer? It kills collaboration. I’ve seen it in high-performing mining teams and frontline healthcare crews. The sector doesn’t matter, the mindset does.
What the ‘we’ mindset actually looks like
A leader with a we mindset is less concerned with being the hero. They’re focused on lifting the standard for everyone. They speak last. They share credit. They don’t just ask how someone is, they actually listen.
If you want a practical guide to how that plays out, I’d recommend this piece on the real meaning of collaboration for leaders. We wrote that after seeing too many good teams struggle because they had the wrong definition of what “working together” meant.
Here’s what it comes down to: collective success over individual control.
And yes, that means leaders need to get comfortable letting go.
But what if I lose control?
I get this fear a lot. If I stop driving everything, won’t things fall through the cracks?
Short answer: not if you build shared ownership.
Here’s an article that outlines why moving from a ‘me’ to ‘we’ perspective creates stronger teams.
In my own work, I’ve seen this play out over and over. The leader who creates space for others to lead? They end up getting more buy-in, not less. Their team brings solutions instead of just problems.
And maybe more importantly, their people stay.
Culture eats structure. Every time.
You can have the best reporting lines, slickest dashboards and beautifully colour-coded KPIs. But if the culture is still “cover your own backside”, nothing sticks.
Culture is shaped in the quiet moments. In how you respond to bad news. In who you praise in front of the team. In whether you ask, “What can I do to support you?” instead of “Why didn’t you hit that target?”
That’s where a team-first company culture is born—in micro-moments, not manuals.
There’s a great breakdown on this in our article on why psychological safety is the foundation of every high-performing organisation.
Small signals matter more than big gestures
One of the best insights I’ve picked up over the years (and I’ll admit, it mirrors a comment I once read in a leadership thread online) was this:
If you want to see who really believes in teamwork, watch what they do when no one else is watching.
- Do they leave things better than they found them?
- Do they take the time to mentor someone?
- Do they clean up after themselves—literally and figuratively?
Because teamwork isn’t about your job title. It’s about how you show up.
And yes, leaders set the tone. Always.
From intention to action
If you want to actually build this into your leadership approach, don’t wait for an annual offsite.
- Ask your team what’s working for them, not just for the business.
- Rotate meeting leads.
- Share tough feedback as a group. Not to blame, but to build.
- Publicly recognise collaboration wins, not just solo stars.
There’s another great breakdown on how aligned teams outperform siloed ones that I often share in training sessions.
If you’re serious about putting this into practice, check out our take on building high-performing teams using simple leadership shifts.
You can also book a leadership session with me here or get in touch to talk through your team’s needs.
It starts with you
We can talk all day about strategy. But the shift from me to we doesn’t start with posters or a clever acronym.
It starts when a leader stops asking, “What do I need to prove?” and starts asking, “What do we need to build?”
That’s the moment everything changes.
And if you’re ready to build that? Let’s get to work.
Please click the image below if you’d like to chat about what leadership means to you
If you would like to learn more about Anton or The Guinea Group, please click here to book into Anton’s calendar, to:
UPGRADE your Mindset
UPSKILL your Leadership
UPLIFT your Teams