It seems like most Americans are obsessed with being members of a team. We align ourselves with our favorite sports teams like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in baseball, or the LA Lakers and the Chicago Bulls in basketball. We identify ourselves by the city that we live in, like San Francisco or New York City. We identify our political affiliation as Democratic, Republican or Independent. We live in a red state or a blue state.

I guess we have our parents to thank for all of this. When we were young, our parents made us join the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or some other team. As we grew older and began hanging out with our friends, we identified with our peer groups. We even had our secret signs, handshakes and codes. I guess we never grew out of it even after we joined the work force.

Many of us identify our team by the work that we do (e.g., lawyer, accountant, software engineer, etc.) or the companies that we work for (e.g., IBM, Google, GM, Wal-Mart, etc.). Others join social clubs, not-for-profit or other community based organizations for social and community benefits. Joining a team gives us an established identity. It announces to the world that we belong to a group or team, that we are a part of something greater than ourselves.