I did a stint in sales earlier in my career and I once walked into a sales meeting where a newer rep (rookie) had just closed the biggest deal of the quarter.
Instead of celebration, the room went cold. No smiles. No high‑fives. Just that quiet, heavy question: Why wasn’t that me?
That’s when I realized something most leaders don’t want to admit:
Most “teams” aren’t teams.
They’re a bunch of solo operators sharing a logo.
And in thirty years of building and training organizations, I’ve seen the real culture killer. It’s not the economy. Not your competitor. Not the market.
It’s envy inside your own walls.
When your people see a teammate’s win as their loss, the culture is already dead.
You just haven’t held the funeral yet.
But there’s a fix.
Old idea. Modern edge.
Mudita.
What on Earth is Mudita?
Mudita is a Sanskrit word.
No clean English translation. Of course.
The closest we get is “vicarious joy.”
It means you feel real joy when someone else wins.
Not fake polite joy.
Not the forced clap in the meeting.
The real thing.
Mudita is the opposite of schadenfreude, that ugly little thrill people get when someone else trips.
In the world of positive leadership, Mudita is rocket fuel.
It’s the teammate who loses their mind when someone else hits the game-winner.
It’s the manager who gets proud when their direct report gets recruited for something bigger.
Mudita turns “their win” into “our win.”
The Comparison Trap: Envy is a Culture Virus
We’re wired to compare.
We’ve been ranked since we were kids. Grades. Sports. Likes. Titles. Parking spots.
So when someone else wins, your brain wants to make it mean something about you.
That’s the “Comparison Trap.”
A coworker gets promoted? The trap whispers: You’re behind.
Someone gets a shout-out in Slack? The trap says: You don’t matter.
And if you don’t fight that voice, it spreads.
It turns your workplace into a zero-sum game.
It creates silos.
It breeds gossip.
It kills performance.
Here’s the leader move: you break the trap on purpose.
You move the team from “me” to “we.”
Because envy is expensive.
This is a Leadership Issue
Positive energy is a competitive advantage.
And Mudita is one of the strongest sources of it.
Because envy drains a team faster than any tough quarter ever will.
I’ve learned you can’t build a positive team when people secretly resent each other.
You can’t “collaborate” with your mouth… then compete with your eyes.
And leaders, this part is on us.
If you ignore envy, you reward it.
If you stay silent, you train your team to stay small.
When I’m in meetings and discussions I always check:
How does the team react when someone wins?
Do they lean in?
Or lean back?
Your culture is what happens after the win.
Lead with Mudita and you send a clear message: “We win together.”
That’s positive energy with teeth.
That’s results.
The Alabama Effect: Winners Celebrate Winners
You might think this is too “touchy-feely” for the corporate world.
Nope.
Mudita isn’t “being nice.”
It’s how elite teams stay together when the pressure hits.
Look at Patrick Murphy and the University of Alabama softball team.
He made Mudita a cornerstone. Not a poster on the wall.
A standard.
A metric.
And you’d see it in the moments that matter, starters supporting reserves and reserves supporting starters.
They weren’t threatened.
They were fired up.
That’s Mudita.
And it translates straight to business:
- Less politics. More trust.
- Faster decisions. Cleaner handoffs.
- More effort. More resilience.
- More ownership. Less ego.
Mudita drives execution.
When a team runs on positive energy, they get dangerous.
Because they stop wasting fuel on jealousy…
…and start using it to win.
How to Practice Mudita on Your Team
You can’t “announce” Mudita and expect it to show up.
You build it.
You practice it.
You protect it.
Here are four ways to make Mudita real—starting this week:
1. Kill the “One Winner” Story
Stop acting like one person’s win steals oxygen from everyone else.
Yes, track results.
But also reward teammateship.
2. The 24-Hour Shout-Out Rule
Leaders, don’t wait.
Celebrate wins fast.
Public. Specific. Real.
The quicker you shine a light on someone else, the faster envy dies in the dark.
Speed beats jealousy.
3. Catch the Sting. Then Act Anyway.
When you feel that jealousy pop up (and you will), don’t dress it up.
Name it.
Then do the hard thing:
Congratulate them.
Mean it with your actions first. Your feelings will catch up.
Discipline creates culture.
4. Make it Safe to Win
If people feel like success makes them a target, they’ll stop sharing wins.
They’ll play small.
Shut that down.
Model security. Model confidence. Model praise.
Your job is to protect the team.
Because culture isn’t what you print on a wall.
Culture is what you celebrate when you’re not required to.
The Bottom Line: Mudita is a Competitive Advantage
Every leader says they want a strong culture.
Most leaders tolerate the one thing that destroys it.
Envy.
It shows up as sarcasm.
As silence after a win.
As “must be nice.”
As leaders pretending they didn’t notice.
Mudita is the opposite.
It’s vicarious joy.
It’s positive energy that multiplies instead of divides.
And it’s not soft.
It drives outcomes.
Because when people feel safe, they share faster.
When they trust, they execute faster.
When they celebrate each other, they fight harder for the mission.
That’s the chain:
- Mudita → trust
- Trust → speed
- Speed → performance
Envy slows teams down. Mudita speeds them up.
So here’s the call to action:
Don’t let envy rot your culture.
Don’t let one eye-roll cancel a win.
Lead the room.
Celebrate loud.
Make “we” the standard.
Joy is fuel. Use it.
This doesn’t happen by accident.
It happens when leaders decide envy is done.
Stop letting envy set the temperature.
1 thought on “Mudita: The Secret Power of the Most Successful Teams”
Great stuff here Andrew! I’m going through some changes in how I run my day to day business and this applies in a number of ways. Keep up the great work.