Peter Ivanov - Power Teams Beyond Borders: How to Work Remotely and Build Powerful Virtual Teams

Peter Ivanov

This edition first published [2021]

2021 Peter Ivanov

This work was produced in collaboration with Write Business Results Limited. For more information on Write Business Results business book, blog, and podcast services, please visit their website: www.writebusinessresults.com.

Registered office

John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by printondemand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in ebooks or in printondemand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119762942 (hardback)

ISBN 9781119763000 (ebk)

ISBN 9781119762997 (ebk)

Cover Design: WileyCover Image: Peter Ivanov

Set in 12/15pt and JansonTextLTStd by SPi Global, Chennai, India

I dedicate this book to my daughters Raina, Sophia, Gergana, Elena and Maia and to all the children in the world whose future depends on the decisions, dedication and commitments we make today. By uniting global talents we can resolve the toughest challenges of humanity.

I want to start by reminding you of five words, which nearly 50 years ago, cast the world simultaneously into fear and hope, and which are still a symbol of the unexpected that calls for urgent action. For three men and their families, these five words meant a oneweek lifeordeath struggle. These words are: Houston, we have a problem.

Think back to 1970, which incidentally was the year of my birth. It's 11 April and the clock in Houston shows precisely 13:30. It's at this moment that the American space agency NASA shoots the spaceship Apollo 13 into orbit, with the aim of landing on the moon in four days' time.

On 13 April, there is a loud crash and the three astronauts look out to see a plume of white as their oxygen flows out into space. The two oxygen tanks in the service module have just exploded. The initial reaction back in Houston is one of panic no one has planned for such a disaster. The families of the three astronauts are horrified. If you've seen the film Apollo 13 you might remember that at this point in the mission, the spaceship is getting close to the moon. If they continue to fly according to their original plan, they won't have enough energy to reach the gravity of Earth and therefore return to the Earth's surface.

It's now clear that the mission to land on the moon has failed and all of their planned lunar research has been blown away. The focus now is on the lives of the three astronauts. This is a matter of life and death.

Back in Houston, it's 37yearold Gene Kranz who is in charge at Mission Control when the fateful call from the astronauts comes in. Kranz quickly realises that to save the astronauts' lives, he has to win one fight: the fight for energy.

In space, energy is everything. You need it to move the spaceship, to navigate, to communicate with Mission Control and, of course, to sustain life. At this point, every single unit of energy now means the difference between life and death. They need a miracle.

What does Kranz do in this historic moment? He gathers his whole Houston team into one room. The tension and nervousness is palpable. He lays out the challenge. Brains go into overdrive. Ideas rush around. Everyone's hearts are full with care, fear and hope. Kranz listens carefully to each and every idea being put forward.

Eventually he calls for silence. Then he pulls everyone together and not just the team in the room with him. He has the three astronauts and hundreds of scientists and engineers from across NASA listening as he calmly says:

We haven't lost a man in space until now and as long as I'm responsible, we won't. Failure is not an option.

The seven days of the Apollo 13 mission were filled with incredible strength of character, flashes of genius, feats of engineering and, above all, an extraterrestrial triumph of leadership.

As we all know, Kranz and his team succeeded in safely bringing the Apollo 13 astronauts home. But what Kranz also did was succeed in pulling together all these people spread around space, through the magical gravity force of one of the strongest virtual teams the world has ever seen; one whose goal was aligned to one purpose only, to save the lives of the three astronauts on the spaceship.

On 17 April, Apollo 13 landed, or rather splashed, back to Earth with the command unit carrying the three astronauts landing safely in the Pacific Ocean. The rescue was hailed as a miracle. This is a virtual power team at work.

You might be thinking that the Apollo 13 was an exceptional case and not one that has applications in general business. But how many of you have worked on a project which has experienced an unexpected change? How often is the budget reduced but you still have to deliver? How often is the golive date brought forward? How often do team members spread across different locations lose motivation, resulting in a deterioration in the team's performance?

Personally, I've heard the statement, Houston, we have a problem more than once in my career, although thankfully never in relation to a lifeordeath situation. But for the projects I was working on, it was critical.