--- title: 3 Teamwork Lessons from Barack Obama and Joe Biden description: As we reach President Obama and Vice President Biden’s last day in office, it seems fitting to reflect on teamwork in the context of their time in office. image: https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/obama%20biden%20teamwork%20quotes.jpg --- [![Kintone](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/logo_kinton_black.svg)](https://www.kintone.com/en-us/) [![Kintone](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/logo_kinton_black.svg)](https://www.kintone.com/en-us/) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/icon_search_black.svg) - Product Product![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/icon_plus.svg)![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/icon_back.svg) - Product ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/icon_plus.svg) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/KintoneGlobal/svg/icon_back.svg) - [Intro to Kintone](https://www.kintone.com/en-us/intro/) - [Why Kintone](https://www.kintone.com/en-us/why-kintone/) - 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[![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-white.png) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-grey.png) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-red.png) Business with Heart <3](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart) - [![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-white.png) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-grey.png) ![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/2018%20S2/assets/kin-heart-red.png) Company + Product](https://blog.kintone.com/company-news) - Business with Heart <3Operations for the Digital First Team - [Company + ProductLatest News from Kintone](https://blog.kintone.com/company-news) - [Business with Heart <3Operations for the Digital First Team](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart) ![obama biden teamwork quotes.jpg](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/obama%20biden%20teamwork%20quotes.jpg) [Improving Teamwork,](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/tag/improving-teamwork) # 3 Teamwork Lessons from Barack Obama and Joe Biden Jan 20, 2017   |   by [Travis Hill](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/author/travis-hill) [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) As we reach President Obama and Vice President Biden’s last day in office, it seems fitting to reflect on teamwork in the context of their time in office.  We often joke about the “bromance” shared by President Obama and Vice President Biden, but there are some powerful teamwork lessons to be learned from the these two extraordinary leaders.  ## **Trust** > *Mr. President, you have more than kept your commitment to me by saying that you wanted me to help govern.  The President’s line often -- other people don't hear it that often, but when someone would say, can you get Joe to do such and such.  He says, I don't do his schedule.  He doesn't do mine. Every single thing you've asked me to do, Mr. President, you have trusted me to do.  And that is -- that's a remarkable thing. - Vice President Joe Biden* There is an important distinction about team trust in this quote. Obama trusts Biden to carry out the tasks that he asks him to do, but he also trusts him to have his own schedule because the two are responsible for the larger task of governing. Often in teams we might feel that we, above all others, have the clearest insight as to what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. When that happens, it can feel like our agendas are top priority and anything else is a distraction. But in teams, we commit to a rare combination of independence (to contribute what we can uniquely provide) and shared vision (to achieve a common goal that we couldn’t achieve alone). By asking Vice President Biden to help govern while insisting that “I don’t do his schedule, he doesn’t do mine,” President Obama eloquently demonstrates that they are two individuals bringing their talents together for the sake of governing well - not for the sake of either person’s agenda. ## **Unity** > *The reason why when you send me around the world, nothing gets -- as my mom would say, gets missed between the cup and the lip, it’s because they know when I speak, I speak for you. - Vice President Joe Biden* It may seem like a no-brainer that good teamwork requires unity, but the mistake that teams often make is thinking that it is necessary to acquiesce to a team member with a strong personality or that it is acceptable to let external parties dictate the team’s direction. In some cases, one team member might go so far as to undermine the efforts of another and occasionally an external party might try shopping around for a second opinion because one team member didn’t give them the answer they wanted. Good teams understand that these departures distract them from being able to move forward in the right direction or take them off course, while unity makes the team stronger and makes the goal more likely to succeed.   ## **Honesty / Candid Communication** > *Behind the scenes, Joe's candid, honest counsel has made me a better President and a better Commander-in-Chief.  From the Situation Room to our weekly lunches, to our huddles after everybody else has cleared out of the room, he's been unafraid to give it to me straight, even if we disagree -- in fact, especially if we disagree. - President Barack Obama*  > *We've disagreed, and we've argued, and we've raised our voices, one of which we made a deal we'd be completely open like brothers with one another. - Vice President Joe Biden* For the most part, teams will agree that honesty is vital to success and yet so few are actually candid or disagree with one another in practice. In reality, honesty and candidness require an upfront commitment with consistent reminders over time. When we work together with others there are so many considerations that we make with our communication and actions. We might love and respect our teammates like family, so it can sometimes just seem easier to hold something back, and in more troubling cases where the team doesn’t get along very well on a personal level, honesty might fall through out of spite or personal agenda. Regardless of whether the love is there or not, without honesty problems don’t crop up until it’s too late and by that time they can grow out of control. For teams that are serious about accomplishing a shared goal, the setbacks and damaged relationships that come from a lack of candid communication are far worse than small squabbles along the way. **[Read more posts on teamwork.](https://blog.kintone.com/topic/teamwork)**   [![why projects fail cta](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/1857320/3bdfd1aa-4261-4ffe-8a5f-efa15f4f7ea4.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/1857320/3bdfd1aa-4261-4ffe-8a5f-efa15f4f7ea4) [![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/Travis.png)](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/author/travis-hill) About the Author [Travis Hill](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/author/travis-hill) Product Manager Recommended Posts Up Next [3 Must-Have Features of Business Databases](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/3-must-have-features-of-business-databases) Previous [Corporate Managers: Business Process Automation Made Easy](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/company-managers-business-process-automation-made-easy) [Back to Business with Heart <3 Blog Page](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart) ### Subscribe to Blog #### Recommended Posts [![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/Kintone%20%281%29-Jun-30-2026-04-48-58-0381-AM.png)](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/replace-microsoft-project-online-with-no-code-tools) Digital Transformation ##### Replace Microsoft Project Online With No-Code Tools Microsoft Project Online officially retires on September 30, 2026. After more than a decade as a core platform for project scheduling and portfolio management, the service will no longer be available after that date. But for many teams, this retirement is also... [Read More »](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/replace-microsoft-project-online-with-no-code-tools) [![Kintone Blog - 7 Steps to Redesign a Broken Business Process](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/Steps%20to%20Redesign%20a%20Broken%20Business%20Process.png)](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/steps-to-redesign-broken-work-process) Improving Teamwork ##### 6 steps to redesign a broken business process There is something so satisfying about fixing something that is broken. No matter your level of technical prowess or how complex the “something” is, it just feels good to fix things. However, we’re often guilty of tolerating broken things and not taking the in... [Read More »](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/steps-to-redesign-broken-work-process) [![project management pitfalls and how to avoid them - Kintone Blog](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/project-management-pitfalls-and-how-to-avoid-them.jpg)](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/project-management-pitfalls-how-to-avoid-them) Improving Teamwork ##### Project Management Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them Any undertaking—big or small—runs the risk of failing. And a poorly planned project is doomed to meet the same fate as Ross’s couch on the show Friends. So how do you avoid Ross-and-the-couch style project management? Hint: yelling “Pivot!” isn’t enough. For s... [Read More »](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/project-management-pitfalls-how-to-avoid-them) [![](https://blog.kintone.com/hubfs/number-one-way-improve-team-communication.png)](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/the-number-one-way-improve-team-communication) Improving Teamwork ##### The Number One Way to Improve Your Team Communication Does your team have good communication? It’s a question you should ask often—and don’t dismiss any problems if the answer isn’t “absolutely.” Why? If you do, it will likely cost you. In a report called “The Cost of Poor Communication” by David Grossman, a surv... [Read More »](https://blog.kintone.com/business-with-heart/the-number-one-way-improve-team-communication) ### Try Kintone For Free! Our clients have built and deployed over 340,000 Kintone applications. Join them by signing up for a free trial–no credit card required–or scheduling a customized product demo. 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