--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is better to be a Number Two in a…" description: "\"“It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than be a Number One yet lack capacity to make the system work.”\" — Dele Ayo Bankole" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg" --- # It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than… ![“It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than be a Number One yet lack capacity to make the system work.” quote by Dele Ayo Bankole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg) > ““It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than be a Number One yet lack capacity to make the system work.”” Dele Ayo Bankole ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Advocates humility and teamwork over solitary ambition. **In simple terms:** Being second in a team can be better than leading alone. Key Takeaway Value collaborative roles and shared responsibility. Themes leadership humility collaboration service capacity Mood reflective inspirational practical Type Ambition:1 Humility:1 Leadership:1 Service:1 Number Two:1 Lack Capacity:1 Better Number:0 Number Lack:0 Working Number:0 Number Working:0 When to use this quote - workplace - project teams - nonprofits - startups - community groups Key Concepts team dynamics leadership theory organizational behavior Questions to Reflect On - When is solo leadership necessary? - How to balance humility with ambition? A Different Perspective May not apply where decisive leadership is essential. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) [Humility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humility/) [Leadership](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/leadership/) [Service](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/service/) ## Related quotes > [A sold-out crowd is better than a number one. But being in the studio is better than all of that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charli-xcx/a-sold-out-crowd-is-better-than-a-number-one-but-being-in-the-studio/) [Charli XCX](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charli-xcx/) > [“Piety /pi•e•ty/ (modern definition) 1. When you use Christ’s teachings to put someone in their place out of anger and self-righteousness. It is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shannon-l-alder/piety-pi-e-ty-modern-definition-1-when-you-use-christ-s-teachings-to/) [Shannon L. Alder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shannon-l-alder/) > [Shouldn't Democrats insist that Sen. Durbin step down as their whip, the number two man in their leadership?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/shouldn-t-democrats-insist-that-sen-durbin-step-down-as-their-whip/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Resolution number one: Obviously will lose twenty pounds. Number two: Always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important, will find sensible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-fielding/resolution-number-one-obviously-will-lose-twenty-pounds-number-two/) [Helen Fielding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-fielding/) > [Let me tell you girls the three most important things I learned about life: Number one: Hold fast to your friends; number two: There's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle-getty/let-me-tell-you-girls-the-three-most-important-things-i-learned-about/) [Estelle Getty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle-getty/) > [We need a president who stands up, number one, and says, we will defeat ISIS. And number two, says the greatest national security threat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-cruz/we-need-a-president-who-stands-up-number-one-and-says-we-will-defeat/) [Ted Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-cruz/) > [“He spun in clear air, weightless again but traveling too fast to breathe the air that tore past his lips. As his vision darkened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-schroeder/he-spun-in-clear-air-weightless-again-but-traveling-too-fast-to/) [Karl Schroeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-schroeder/) > [I always believed that my work should be unfinished in the sense that I encourage people to add their creativity to it, either conceptually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoko-ono/i-always-believed-that-my-work-should-be-unfinished-in-the-sense-that/) [Yoko Ono](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoko-ono/) > [“So… what? You want me to sign my name in blood or something?” “Hmmm,” he said, tapping his finger against his cheek as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-j-kentowski/so-what-you-want-me-to-sign-my-name-in-blood-or-something-hmmm-he/) [L.J. Kentowski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-j-kentowski/) > [“Tell me, do you have Tate waiting naked for me in my office? 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Livia now counted on the same sort of feverish, rain-soaked determination that had driven Blake to the train station for smile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debra-anastasia/remember-two-eighty-six-livia-now-counted-on-the-same-sort-of/) [Debra Anastasia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debra-anastasia/) > [I raced because I was paid to do a job and I felt like I had to do the job. Number two: I raced…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-armstrong/i-raced-because-i-was-paid-to-do-a-job-and-i-felt-like-i-had-to-do/) [Lance Armstrong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-armstrong/) > [Antidepressants are the biggest fraud in the world. Number one, Prozac gives you a royal soft-on like you wouldn't believe, and number two you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-evans/antidepressants-are-the-biggest-fraud-in-the-world-number-one-prozac/) [Robert Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-evans/) ## More Ambition quotes > [Ambition drives you on, ability certainly helps, but the fickle finger of fate and luck are great things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fergus-henderson/ambition-drives-you-on-ability-certainly-helps-but-the-fickle-finger/) [Fergus Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fergus-henderson/) > [One needs more than ambition and talent to make a success of anything, really. There must be love and a vocation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessye-norman/one-needs-more-than-ambition-and-talent-to-make-a-success-of-anything/) [Jessye Norman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessye-norman/) > [I just think my own ambition would not allow me to sit on the gifts that my creator had given me. And so that's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janelle-monae/i-just-think-my-own-ambition-would-not-allow-me-to-sit-on-the-gifts/) [Janelle Monae](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janelle-monae/) > [A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-man-s-worth-is-no-greater-than-the-worth-of-his-ambitions/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I'm hungry and ambitious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julen-lopetegui/i-m-hungry-and-ambitious/) [Julen Lopetegui](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julen-lopetegui/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [I was always attracted most to joining City, and I am pleased to be at such a good club with such a big ambition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edin-dzeko/i-was-always-attracted-most-to-joining-city-and-i-am-pleased-to-be-at/) [Edin Dzeko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edin-dzeko/) > [Work towards your goal and dont watch the post size,its either they hate,or like you.there is no room for both sides.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-buabeng/work-towards-your-goal-and-dont-watch-the-post-size-its-either-they/) [Isaac Buabeng](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-buabeng/) > [“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/but-young-men-have-not-only-this-frivolous-ambition-of-being-thought/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I almost never have a plan for myself... I'm not ambitious in that way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-plimpton/i-almost-never-have-a-plan-for-myself-i-m-not-ambitious-in-that-way/) [Martha Plimpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-plimpton/) > [I play for high stakes and given an audience - there is no act too daring or too noble.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/i-play-for-high-stakes-and-given-an-audience-there-is-no-act-too/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [There's nothing worse than a leader who lacks ambition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/there-s-nothing-worse-than-a-leader-who-lacks-ambition/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If i can't even protect my captain's dream, then whatever ambition i have is nothing but talk..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zoro/if-i-can-t-even-protect-my-captain-s-dream-then-whatever-ambition-i/) [Zoro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zoro/) > [It may seem unattainable but if you put actions, your heart and your mind into it, you will prevail.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/london-mond/it-may-seem-unattainable-but-if-you-put-actions-your-heart-and-your/) [London Mond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/london-mond/) > [Obligation is what's leading us to toward successful, and what keeps us moving towards the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wazim-shaw/obligation-is-what-s-leading-us-to-toward-successful-and-what-keeps/) [Wazim Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wazim-shaw/) [Browse all 4,601 Ambition quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambition/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than be a Number One yet lack capacity to make the system work.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Dele Ayo Bankole" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dele-ayo-bankole/it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-working-system-than-be-a-number/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambition" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dele-ayo-bankole/it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-working-system-than-be-a-number/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a91/dele-ayo-bankole-232135_ambition_it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-wor_511885.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is better to be a Number Two in a working system, than be a Number One yet lack capacity to make the…” — Dele Ayo Bankole", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dele Ayo Bankole", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dele-ayo-bankole/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is better to be a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dele-ayo-bankole/it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-working-system-than-be-a-number/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dele-ayo-bankole/it-is-better-to-be-a-number-two-in-a-working-system-than-be-a-number/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```