Patrick Lencioni - The Ideal Team Player : How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues

The Five Temptations of a CEO

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Death By Meeting

Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars

The Truth About Employee Engagement

The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family

Getting Naked

The Advantage

Cover image: iStock.com / ulkan (background); iStock.com / mediaphotos (inset)

Cover design: Wiley

Copyright 2016 by Patrick Lencioni. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A John Wiley & Sons, Inc. imprint, Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 9781119209591 (cloth); ISBN 9781119209607 (ebk); ISBN 9781119209614 (ebk)

This is dedicated to Tracy Noble, who guided me through the process of writing this book, and who lives humble, hungry, and smart every day.

If someone were to ask me to make a list of the most valuable qualities a person should develop in order to thrive in the world of workand for that matter, lifeI would put being a team player at the top. The ability to work effectively with others, to add value within the dynamics of a group endeavor, is more critical in today's fluid world than it has ever been. Few people succeed at work, in the family, or in any social context without it.

I'm sure that most people would agree with this, which is why it's a little surprising that great team players are somewhat rare. I think the problem is that we've failed to define what being a team player requires, which leaves the concept somewhat vague, even soft.

It's not unlike teamwork itself, which still gets more lip service than practical attention. In my book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, I explained that real teamwork requires tangible, specific behaviors: vulnerability-based trust, healthy conflict, active commitment, peer-to-peer accountability, and a focus on results. Thankfully, with enough coaching, patience, and time, most people can learn to embrace those concepts.

However, I must admit that some people are better at being team players, at embracing those five behaviors, than others. They're not born that way, but either through life experiences, work history, or a real commitment to personal development, they come to possess the three underlying virtues that enable them to be ideal team players: they are humble, hungry, and smart. As simple as those words may appear, none of them is exactly what they seem. Understanding the nuances of these virtues is critical for applying them effectively.

During the past twenty years of working with leaders and their teams, I've seen time and again that when a team member lacks one or more of these three virtues, the process of building a cohesive team is much more difficult than it should be, and in some cases, impossible. We've been using this approach for hiring and management at The Table Group since our founding in 1997, and it has proven to be a remarkable predictor of success, as well as a reliable explanation of failure. As a result, we've come to the conclusion that these three seemingly obvious qualities are to teamwork what speed, strength, and coordination are to athleticsthey make everything else easier.

The ramifications of all this are undeniable. Leaders who can identify, hire, and cultivate employees who are humble, hungry, and smart will have a serious advantage over those who cannot. They'll be able to build stronger teams much more quickly and with much less difficulty, and they'll significantly reduce the painful and tangible costs associated with politics, turnover, and morale problems. And employees who can embody these virtues will make themselves more valuable and marketable to any organization that values teamwork.

The purpose of this little book is to help you understand how the elusive combination of these three simple attributes can accelerate the process of making teamwork a reality in your organization or in your life so you can more effectively achieve the extraordinary benefits that it brings.

I hope it serves you well.

Part One

The Situation

After twenty years, Jeff Shanley had experienced more than his fair share of the Silicon Valley. The hours. The traffic. The pretentiousness. It was time to make a change.

To be fair, it wasn't really the work that Jeff had grown tired of. In fact, he had enjoyed an interesting and successful career. After a few jobs in high-tech marketing, at age thirty-five he cofounded a technology start-up. Two years later, he was fortunate enough to get demoted when the board of directors hired what they called a grown-up CEO. During the next four years, that CEO, Kathryn Petersen, taught Jeff more about leadership, teamwork, and business than he could have learned in a decade of business school.

When Kathryn retired, Jeff left the company and spent the next few years working at a small consulting firm in Half Moon Bay, over the hills from the Silicon Valley. Jeff thrived there, and was on the verge of becoming a partner. But during that time, he and his wife began to grow tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses, which happened to be the name of the family that lived in the over-priced bungalow next door.

Jeff was definitely ready for a change. Where he would go and what he would do next was a mystery to him. He certainly didn't expect the answer to come via a phone call from his uncle Bob.