We’ve all read or heard one of those phrases that just make you scratch your head and think a bit.

They’re usually quite simple, common sense and maybe even a bit cliché, but those are sometimes among the best gems.

For me the latest “aha” moment occurred while reading a simple 10-word phrase emblazoned across a book that’s been among my collection of stuff for years.

The book is a simple little management book titled, “High Five!” The book is a collaboration of four authors, two of whom are fairly well known — Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles.

The book is about building teams at work.

Although the authors would kill me for saying it, you don’t really need to read the book, just read the subtitle at the bottom of the book jacket:

“None of us is as smart as all of us.”

The logic follows the whole “two heads are better than one” saying.

That lesson is simple to understand but can be more difficult to pull off.

But it doesn’t have to be.

It just requires us all to realize that none of us is truly a star, or perhaps more on point, that one star in the sky is an interesting sight, but that millions of stars shining simultaneously make an amazingly brilliant nighttime sky. One or two individuals could never make that collective accomplishment. It requires a team approach.

The concept of working together sometimes gets a bad rap, especially in our “me, me, me” world.

It’s much easier for us to think, perhaps a little arrogantly, that we can do anything by ourselves.

The truth is getting some things done is nearly impossible without some help along the way.

Working together makes the impossible, possible.

That’s goes for baseball teams, families, work groups and certainly communities.

Today, we’re publishing our first Look Local special section. The section is the brainchild of our retail marketing manager Ryan Richardson.

The section contains messages from a couple dozen local advertisers and several articles about how important it is to spend money locally.

The aim is to begin building some momentum for putting our community’s money where our mouths, hands and behinds are — in our community.

Too much money leaves our community each year to help support the economies of Jackson, Hattiesburg, Baton Rouge, Alexandria and Monroe.

While it’s difficult to determine an exact figure, every dollar spent elsewhere is a dollar that’s taken from our community. And even just a few dollars lost is too much.

Our goal is to use the Look Local theme as not just a single special section that publishes once and is forgotten, but as a starting point for a community-wide campaign supporting local businesses.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll promote more events and specials using the Look Local brand. And if you have ideas that could help promote more business development in our community, we’re all ears.

Participants in today’s section may display Look Local signs at their businesses. Shoppers should consider that a gold invitation to shop with a business that openly wants your consideration.

Our business community not only wants your patronage, they need it to survive and prosper so that they can pay taxes and invest in their businesses and our community.

You can help by simply vowing to always Look Local first.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.