5 Ways Cupid Is a Good Teammate

Happy Valentine’s Day Eve!

According to the National Retail Foundation, Americans spent nearly $26 billion on Valentine’s Day gifts last year. That averages out to about $193 per couple. (Does that seem high to you? It does to me.)

The top Valentines gifts annually are candy (58%), greeting cards (40%), flowers (37%), an evening out (32%), and jewelry (21%).

Valentine’s Day is the second biggest holiday for exchanging greeting cards, after Christmas. Hallmark estimates an astounding 145 million cards are exchanged every February 14^th. And that statistic doesn’t even include kids’ valentines exchanged in classrooms!

Cupid—the Roman god of love and the son of Venus—is the figure most associated with Valentine’s Day. The winged cherub has been connected to the holiday since the early seventeenth century.

Here are five ways Cupid is a good teammate:

1. He brings people together. A single shot of Cupid’s arrow creates an unbreakable bond. Good teammates are the ultimate uniters. They use their skills to bring their team members together in pursuit of a common objective. And they can do so with a single “good teammate move.”

2. He’s iconic. How can you think of Valentine’s Day without thinking about Cupid? How can you think about kindness, loyalty, and selflessness without thinking about good teammates?

3. He’s reliable. You can count on Cupid to faithfully appear every February 14^th (And December 26^th at many retail outlets!). You can count on good teammates to faithfully appear every time their team needs them. Good teammates are reliable.

4, He provides levity. Who can resist chuckling at that cute, chubby, diaper-wearing, winged cherub? Sometimes being a good teammate means using your sense of humor to lighten the burden of the team’s stress.

5. He makes people fall in love. Most notably, Cupid gets people to fall in love. Good teammates do this too through emotional contagion. By espousing positive attitudes and sharing their love for their teams, good teammates compel others to fall in love—with the team.

I hope your Valentine’s Day is filled, in one way or another, with love.

As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.

Lance Loya is the founder and CEO of the Good Teammate Factory and the creator National Be a Good Teammate Day. He is a former sports coach turned bestselling author, blogger, and professional speaker, who inspires TEAMBUSTERS to become TEAMMATES. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or through his weekly Teammate Tuesday blog.