Team building has never been more important than it is today. The business world is changing daily and in order to compete, business’ must be unified and individuals respected. In the following excerpt from my new book, The Rival, I explain how the best leaders approach team building and how you can apply their lessons to your own business.

Culture in a company tends to follow what the senior team is doing. The executive management team sets the tone for culture and communication across the board. Nevertheless, I see a lot of companies that are so consumed with their position that they completely forget about the most important thing, which is to have respect for the individual.

Imagine you are standing on a field as a team captain with a set of qualified players before you. Each of these people has gifts, talents, skills, and weaknesses. As a CEO, you are required to lead by example and introduce a vision of change. Like an alchemist, you assess each player. They are a batch of chemicals whose mixture could produce the perfect team or dangerous combinations. You’ll have to decide who makes it on the team and who doesn’t belong, who will subsidize your weakness and who will augment your strengths. Above all else, you will have to decide who wants to be there, who will give it their all, and who will do it with integrity. After all, this is the place where history is made.

Unfortunately, in this day and age, people are happy to have a job but they aren’t always excited about who they work for or the culture that is projected across all angles of the organization. If you aren’t hiring people you know—say, a good friend and someone who knows you personally—this is what you will come up against in the job market. Individuals who are good at producing quality work often do it because they are personally and emotionally invested. Those who are doing it because they just want to take home a paycheck are going to play the game of politics, and politics are bad for a company’s morale. Employees and stakeholders will smell it a mile away. What you want are people who crave greatness and want to work for a team because of its intrinsic value. Only you can decide who those people are. Surround yourself with successful, knowledgeable people who are driven to achieve success and adapt themselves to a climate of change.

Benjamin Von Seeger is an entrepreneur, frequent C-suite member and telecommunications veteran with twenty years of global business experience. His new book The RiVal: Play the Game, Own the Hustle, Power in Competition, Longevity in Collaboration (available now) draws on vast personal experience and proven philosophy to inspire a new generation of businesspeople and students. Visit his website BenjaminVonSeeger.com and follow Ben on Twitter @benvonseeger.