The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, 20th Anniversary Edition

By Patrick M. Lencioni

The New York Times best-selling team leadership handbook for modern executives, managers, and organizations

After her first two weeks observing the problems at DecisionTech, Kathryn Petersen, its new CEO, had more than a few moments when she wondered if she should have taken the job. But Kathryn knew there was little chance she would have turned it down. After all, retirement had made her antsy, and nothing excited her more than a challenge. What she could not have known when she accepted the job, however, was just how dysfunctional her team was, and how team members would challenge her in ways that no one ever had before.

For twenty years, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has been engaging audiences with a page-turning, realistic fable that follows the travails of Kathryn Petersen, DecisionTech’s CEO, as she faces the ultimate leadership crisis. She must unite a team in such disarray that it threatens to derail the entire company.

Equal parts leadership fable and business handbook, this definitive source on teamwork by Patrick Lencioni reveals the five behavioral tendencies that go to the heart of why even the best teams struggle. He offers a powerful model and step-by-step guide for overcoming those dysfunctions and getting every one rowing in the same direction.

Today, the lessons in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team are more relevant than ever. This special anniversary edition celebrates one of the best-selling business books of all time with a new foreword from the author that reflects on its legacy and lessons.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Jun 3, 2010
• ISBN: 9780470893869

Book preview

FOREWORD

I would be lying if I said that I expected this little book to become as widely read and adopted as it has been since it was published in 2002. In updating my thinking about teamwork over the past 20 years, it begs the simple question ‘what has changed?’ The answer would be, ‘a lot, and very little.’

Since I wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, much has happened in the larger world around us. For one, I remember putting the final touches on the manuscript on the day after the tragic events of 9/11. I can’t begin to fathom all the ways, large and small, that day impacted how we see life and work and teams.

And then there is technology. In 2002, cell phones were not at all smart. Zoom was the name of a children’s show that I watched as a kid. Electric cars were something you played with on a miniature track in your bedroom. And the term ‘social media’ might have provoked thoughts of a dance party with videos, not an all-consuming, addictive form of interacting without really interacting.

Daily life has changed drastically since Kathryn Petersen assumed control of DecisionTech. and taught the world about these Five Dysfunctions.

On the other hand, and somewhat to my surprise, little has changed. Teamwork remains a deeply personal and human affair, one that I now realize has been the same since people started working together with a common purpose. Whether those people are building a railroad, designing a virtual network, coaching a professional basketball team, running an elementary school or leading a rural church, the same principles have always applied and continue to do so today.

At the heart of it all, at the foundation of being a team, lies the most precious of all virtues and the antidote for all sin, which is humility. It is the ingredient that makes vulnerability palatable and creates the possibility of trust among human beings who are naturally inclined toward self-protection. Yes, as desirable and powerful as teamwork is, it remains unnatural and requires people to willingly enter into risky discomfort. And it always has.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years, and one that I was reminded of two days before I wrote this foreword, is the universal nature of teamwork as it applies in organizations regardless of size and sophistication level. I was in a room with the leaders of one of the largest corporations in America and was amazed—yes, even after 20 years!—how much the behavioral challenges that these men and women faced were no different than the small businesses, non-profits, start-ups and churches I’ve come to know.

I must admit, however, that I was surprised that the Five Dysfunctions were not quite enough to bring about teamwork within an organization. I came to learn that there are two helpful precursors that make overcoming the Dysfunctions easier and more likely. What I’m referring to is, first, the need to ensure that the people on a team are, in fact, capable of being team players. Almost a decade after this book was published, I wrote The Ideal Team Player to help people better understand what virtues to look for in potential hires and to foster in themselves and their colleagues, so that they would be more able to engage in this team thing.

And then a few years ago, I developed something called The Six Types of Working Genius, a model for understanding how we can identify the God-given talents and limitations of ourselves and our teammates, so that we can tap into one another’s geniuses to improve morale and productivity in tangible, immediate ways.

But even after hiring and developing the right people, and getting them into the right roles, it all comes down to real people having the courage to sit down with one another and accepting the discomfort that is necessary to improve. I am glad to say that the rewards for teams who are willing to do this are as great as they have ever been. Maybe greater, given the societal trends toward isolation and separation.

And so, I’ll close this short foreword by repeating the first line of the introduction of this book:

Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.

I have no doubt that this is as true today as it was twenty years ago, and that it will be true in another twenty years. I hope you are able to extract all the goodness from this book, and experience the relief, joy and gratitude that comes about when a group of people decide that they want to work together to make things better.

Introduction

Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.

A friend of mine, the founder of a large, successful company, best expressed the power of teamwork when he once told me, If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.

Whenever I repeat that adage to a group of leaders, they immediately nod their heads, but in a desperate sort of way. They seem to grasp the truth of it while simultaneously surrendering to the impossibility of actually making it happen.

And that is where the rarity of teamwork comes into play. For all the attention that it has received over the years from scholars, coaches, teachers, and the media, teamwork is as elusive as it has ever been within most organizations. The fact remains that teams, because they are made up of imperfect human beings, are inherently dysfunctional.

But that is not to say that teamwork is doomed. Far from it. In fact, building a strong team is both possible and remarkably simple. But it is painfully difficult.

That's right. Like so many other aspects of life, teamwork comes down to mastering a set of behaviors that are at once theoretically uncomplicated, but extremely difficult to put into practice day after day. Success comes only for those groups that overcome the all-too-human behavioral tendencies that corrupt teams and breed dysfunctional politics within them.

As it turns out, these principles apply to more than just teamwork. In fact, I stumbled upon them somewhat by accident in my pursuit of a theory about leadership.

A few years ago I wrote my first book, The Five Temptations of a CEO, about the behavioral pitfalls that plague leaders. In the course of working with my clients, I began to notice that some of them were misusing my theories in an effort to assess and improve the performance of their leadership teams—and with success!

And so it became apparent to me that the five temptations applied not only to individual leaders but, with a few modifications, to groups as well. And not just within corporations. Clergy, coaches, teachers, and others found that these principles applied in their worlds as much as they did in the executive suite of a multinational company. And that is how this book came to be.

Like my other books, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team begins with a story written in the context of a realistic but fictional organization. I have found that this allows readers to learn more effectively by losing themselves in a story and by being able to relate to the characters. It also helps them understand how these principles can be applied in a nontheoretical, real-world environment, where the pace of work and the volume of daily distractions make even the simplest of tasks seem arduous.

In order to help you apply the material in your own organization, a brief section following the story outlines the five dysfunctions in detail. That section also includes a team assessment and suggested tools for overcoming the issues that might be plaguing your team.

Finally, although this book is based on my work with CEOs and their executive teams, its theories are applicable for anyone interested in teamwork, whether you lead a church, a school, a small department within an organization or even if you're simply the member of a team that could use some improvement. Whatever the case may be, I sincerely hope it helps your team overcome its particular dysfunctions so that it can achieve more than individuals could ever imagine doing alone. That, after all, is the real power of teamwork.

Luck

Only one person thought Kathryn was the right choice to become CEO of DecisionTech, Inc. Luckily for her, that person was the Chairman of the board.

And so, less than a month after the previous chief executive had been removed, Kathryn Petersen took the reins of a company that just two years earlier had been one of the most talked-about, well-funded, and promising start-up companies in the recent history of the Silicon Valley. She could not have known just how far from grace the company had fallen in such a short period of time, and what the next few months had in store for her.

Backstory

DecisionTech was located in Half Moon Bay, a foggy, coastal farming town just over the hills from the San Francisco Bay. It was not technically part of the Silicon Valley, but the Valley is not so much a geographical entity as a cultural one. And DecisionTech certainly fit within that world.

It had the most experienced—and expensive—executive team imaginable, a seemingly indestructible business plan, and more top-tier investors than any young company could hope for. Even the most cautious venture firms were lining up to invest, and talented engineers were submitting their resumés before the company had leased an office.

But that was almost two years earlier, which is a lifetime for a technology start-up. After its first few euphoric months of existence, the company began experiencing a series of ongoing disappointments. Critical deadlines started to slip. A few key employees below the executive level unexpectedly left the company. Morale deteriorated gradually. All of this in spite of the considerable advantages that DecisionTech had amassed for itself.

On the two-year anniversary of the firm's founding, the board unanimously agreed to ask Jeff Shanley, the company's thirty-seven-year-old CEO and cofounder, to step down. He was offered the job of heading business development, and to the surprise of his colleagues, he accepted the demotion, not wanting to walk away from a potentially huge payout should the company eventually go public. And even in the difficult economic climate of the Valley, the company had every reason to go public.

None of DecisionTech's 150 employees were shocked by Jeff's removal. While most of them seemed to like him well enough personally, they couldn't deny that under his leadership the atmosphere within the company had become increasingly troubling. Backstabbing among the executives had become an art. There was no sense of unity or camaraderie on the team, which translated into a muted level of commitment. Everything seemed to take too long to get done, and even then it never felt right.

Some boards might have been more patient with a stumbling executive team. DecisionTech's was not. There was just too much at stake—and too high a profile—to watch the company waste away because of politics. DecisionTech had already developed a reputation within the Valley for being one of the most political and unpleasant places to work, and the board couldn't tolerate that kind of press, especially when the future had looked so promising just a couple of years earlier.

Someone had to be accountable for the mess, and Jeff was the man at the top. Everyone seemed relieved when the board announced the decision to remove him.

Until three weeks later, when Kathryn was hired.

Kathryn

The executives couldn't agree on which of Kathryn's features presented the biggest problem. There were so many.

First, she was old. Ancient, at least by Silicon Valley standards. Kathryn was fifty-seven.

More important, she had no real high-tech experience other than serving as a board member of Trinity Systems, a large technology company in San Francisco. Most of her career had been spent in operational roles with decidedly low-tech companies, the most notable of which was an automobile manufacturer.

But more than her age or experience, Kathryn just didn't seem to fit the DecisionTech culture.

She had started her career in the military, then married a teacher and basketball coach at a local high school. After raising three boys, she taught seventh grade for a few years until she discovered her affinity for business.

At the age of thirty-seven, Kathryn enrolled in a three-year business school night program, which she completed a semester early at Cal State Hayward, which was not exactly Harvard or Stanford. She then

Reviews for The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

[urnmo-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Let's be blunt: business books are all trash because capitalism is trash.

However, sometimes you just gotta read some interpersonal guides that shed light on the minds of the people who don't understand that the whole thing is toxic.

This book was slightly better written than average for the genre.

[hskey-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought the fictional company was a genius move, a way of incorporating business theory and applying it to a situation that we can easily understand, and be invested in. I've known nearly every type of personality that Lencioni constructs and I couldn't believe how interested in the story I was. It forced me to look back at all the successful teams I've been apart of, and all the terrible teams I've been a part of and it's remarkable how true the book's lessons are and how they apply to all types of organizations in real life. Terrific!

[razinha-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is my second assigned reading for a year-long management seminar. Less intellectually offensive than the first (a Ken Blanchard classic), it still suffers from trying to be the smartest book in the room. The subject is yet another one that is intuitively obvious to me, but that's because I've been building teams for 30 years.

In case it's not clear, I'm not a fan of these "fable" formats, but this was easy to read. The too-pat setups were there, but done well enough as to mostly overlook how obvious they are. Lenconi is selling a product, so can't see the problems with his "this is the way it is" presentation, but as with most of these self-help business books, there are nuggets to mine and toss in the mental toolbox. I liked it better than most I've read (obvious in retrospect because my critical notations were fewer than similar books.)

[kimgroome · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

French translation of Five Team Dysfonctions.

[jantzens-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favourite book on leadership.

[wellreadsoutherner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Published in 2002, this book is still totally relevant in 2019. Every leader in every organization I’ve ever worked for needs to read this book. Heck, every person in every organization I’ve ever worked for needs to read this book whether you are a leader or not. I promise you will see yourself in the examples represented.

What I liked most about this book was that 90% of the book was a story. You were reading what to do or what not to do in the form of a story. You were seeing in the story the model of what to do. So, it read like a fiction novel. The leader of the company in the story was a woman. For me, that made it easier to “see it in action” per se. The last 10% of the book was actually more of the typical leadership business book.

Some reviewers said the characters in the book were cartoonish and full of childish melodrama. But, to me, it was accurate as I work with people like this daily and always have no matter the company. An easy read as I read it in a few hours.

[ichadwick-475335 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent overview of why teams fail to coalesce into operational units. Good for politics too - was particularly enlightening about the local Collingwood Council's dysfunctions.

[06nwingert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this for a book club at work, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lencioni describes how teams fail and what they must do to succeed. Rather than a cut-and-dry non-fiction version, Lencioni writes in the 3rd person narrative, fictionalizing the people and organization in order to drive his points home. The fictionalization made the book easy to read and follow.

[kathy_dyer-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am never sure when I read a leadership book that is more story than to-dos. Lencioni did a good job of weaving the scenario to describe the 5 dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. Visualizing personally and professionally and relating to the characters in the story was helpful.

[sprite_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Half of a review: The fable kept my attention but I ran out of library time before finishing the rest. Maybe some other time... the premise seemed reasonable.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a "fable" in which a company gets a new top administrator who realizes that some of the failings of the business come from top brass not working together as a team. I appreciate how instead of being a book of just do this, do that, etc., the author chose to make this a story that showed how to have good leadership skills. My one complaint is that is clearly designed much more for corporations than nonprofits, although lessons for the latter could still be gleaned.

[kellswitch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A look at the five dysfunctions that can derail teamwork. We were given this book at my work place to read as a team building exercise and I was very surprised at what a quick, easy and pleasant read it turned out to be, I read it in less than two days.The first part is written like a story and deals with a promising company that is not living up to its potential and a new CEO’s efforts to find out what is holding the company back and how to fix it. The second section, a very short section, breaks down the five basic dysfunctions that can prevent teamwork and gave examples and exercises to help work on them. We’ve only had one meeting so far where we discussed and started to use it’s techniques but it’s already shown some promising benefits and I am looking forward to seeing if we can continue to build on that. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to work on teamwork for their business but really, these techniques could easily be applied in the personal sector as well.

[wishanem · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The model of teamwork and the team dynamic described in this book are catered to the needs and desires of the leader. This book gives leaders a set of additional problems to identify and blame their subordinates for, and also pits the subordinates against one another. However, it doesn't provide a cooperative model that uplifts those subordinates. I also don't see the applicability outside of teams with a powerful leader and a small number of equal subordinates.
The principles presented in the book are oversimplified to the point of uselessness, but they could be boiled down into an even simpler set of principles:
Assume the best of one another
Treat one another with respect

The actual practical suggestions included in the book (such as the idea that meetings which don't have a conflict to resolve are a waste of time) are nice, but they are extremely few and far between.

[jmcdbooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Rated: ALencioni is a master. Love his parable style. Get's to real world relevance. Great insight into what causes dysfunctional behavior within a group trying to be a team. Absence of trust leads to destructive conflict is foundational. Helpful ideas to change team behaviors. Highly recommended.

[skybalon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of those modern business books that teaches through a story. Most of those book's stories are so contrived to make it easy to lose the lesson in the mess of the story. This book actually has a more reasonable story that makes helps make the lessons clearer.

I found the dysfunctions interesting and helpful and the quiz at the end could be valuable. If you try it, don't mention the name of the book or your team might rebel at being thought of as dysfunctional in any way.

Well worth the read.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This work straddles the fence between a short novel and a book on business. It covers a helpful topic of five common dysfunctions of a team. Through reading it, I helped identify pits that teams I have participated in have fallen prey to.

The story itself is relatively easygoing, if a bit short and superficial. A new CEO faces the scenario where her new form has more cash and more talented leaders, but is underperforming. Her answer, as indicated by the books title, is to address teamwork.

The company’s leadership gets shaken up, but (as it seems always in the novels of this genre) success is finally borne out by applying the right management principles. And everyone becomes more productive and happier in the end.

While this sort of novel is not particularly known for its depth, the format of fiction engages the reader in helpful discourse about the applicable principles of management. It’s a lot more fun, inspiring, and thought-provoking than just reading a dry theoretical treatment. (For those who like such treatments, look to the end of the book, which contains a section on theory.) A fan of this genre, I find that these types of works encourage me to see the interpersonal issues better than mere theory.

Lencioni’s book teaches common theories of leadership in a short and engaging way. It only took me about three-and-one-half hours to listen to the entire book. It’s a lot more edifying than listening to the top forty pop songs… again. Maybe I’ll be able to lead myself and my co-workers better in the long run.

[suzemo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars.

This is a remarkably well written book (with regards to structure, not necessarily language). Many management/business books are written so dry, with anecdotal examples or pages of statistics and studies... this book starts with a fictional account of someone creating a team and working on the 5 eponymous dysfunctions. The story is painfully simplistic, but there is no way to include every facet of a problem (or more than a handful of problems).

After the instructive "fable,", the book then lists out each dysfunction, what happens or what a team looks like when a team is functional or dysfunctional with regards to that specific trait, what a team member can do to help, and how the team leader can help.

It's nice that the book discusses, in detail, each of the five problem areas and how people in different functions can work on it.

Some of the book is common sense, but then again, common sense isn't as common as it should be, and people could all use a primer on things they may not be seeing.

Unfortunately, I think the book is not suited to every type of team. The team best suited to this type of system/suggestions in the book would have to be middle-management and above (therefore better for an upper management that is managing people with a little more drive and maybe more intellectual). I say this because it feels like it needs the team members to be more intellectually inclined than a middle-manager's (possibly) entry level minions, and it also assumes that the manager has a pretty substantial amount of power (with regards to promotion/demotion/firing) that you don't necessarily see a lot of.

With all of that in mind, I can see why it is that the HR trainer I have taken classes with recommends this book, and this book is not a total waste of time (which is a better standing than I can give most management books I've read).

[itentertainsme · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book for teaching concepts in an interesting manner. My only complaint is the convenient manner in which everything worked out in the end. It should have included a chapter or section on resolving conflict between team members who are at uncompromising ends of a decision besides leading to one quitting or getting fired. That aside, it is still an informative read - and quick - without making you want to take a nap in the middle. I would definitely recommend it to anyone working on a team, whether they're the leader or just a member.

[stringsn88keys · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This information shouldn't be this novel, but, unfortunately, it is.

[nisly_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good book on organizational team dynamics.

[amramey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Patrick Lencioni. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002. 224 pp. $24.95.Typically a fable refers to anthropomorphized animals (e.g., Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny), not the classically generic idea of a mere fictional story. Patrick Lencioni writes a short story that illustrates what five dysfunctions look like at DecisionTech, a fictional company near the San Francisco Bay. A fifty-seven-year-old woman named Kathryn is hired as the new CEO of a 150-employee software company. She is now the lead executive of a highly dsyfunctional staff. The story allows the reader to be the proverbial fly on the wall in their numerous meetings. Dialogue dominates the unfolding plot. The book ends with 35 pages overviewing the model.The narrative style is not your typical leadership genre of choice. The genre and small page size make for a quick read.

[rdwhitenack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Part of my summer study on leadership, I thought this book was going to be a dog. Total drudgery. I was way wrong. I read the book in a single sitting (something I have never done before). The fable was short and really interesting. I had (and still do) have some difficulty applying the philosophies to a school setting, but I think a light second-reading would easily solve that problem.Don't be fooled: this book serves the purpose of informing people on leadership that desire such knowledge. Readers picking up this book without that intent will most likely not enjoy it, but for the mission Lencioni set out on he accomplished it quite nicely. I purchased this book for the library at CVHS in regular format, it's manga version, as well as the follow up book Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions....

[vvilliam_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun fable of an ailing company and the CEO who saved it. The practices here worked great for the CEO, but I would have liked to see real examples or case studies. The overall message of trust being important on a team is a good one.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The main message of this book is that leaders need to focus on their teams. Effective teams will succeed, while dysfunctional teams will fail, or at least not live up to their potential, even if they have superior products or marketing.Most of the book is written as a "leadership fable" -- a story about a CEO and her team's struggles as she takes them through a team building process designed to buld trust, engage in healthy conflict, commit to common goals, hold each other accountable and remain focused on results. In the last part of the book, the model is explained and suggestions are provided for leaders who want to work on one or more of the dysfunctions.The model and the ideas presented are simple, which the author admits. The challenge comes in walking the talk on a continuous basis. The book is easy to read and has practical ideas that can be implemented in the real world.

[kivarson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Using the narrative device of a a new leader trying to improve the effectiveness of her management team, Lencioni explains common interpersonal relationship traits that function as obstacles to effective teamwork.

[atomheart_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been in corporate America for just under 4 years now. In my time, I've never really bought into the majority of management strategies I've seen because well, they blatantly do not work; and if they do, its at an absurd cost of employee retention, dissatisfaction and needless overwork. Passive aggressiveness, no accountability, scared of conflict... I see it too often, and I'm constantly frustrated by it. And just when I thought I was alone, I read this book and was completely blown away. Everything I've felt, is here, written down in this book. Its quite extraordinary. I feel a bit like Jerry Mcguire did after writing his 'Mission Statement.' I want to buy copies of this book and put it in the mailboxes of management across corporate America. Unfortunately, one thing I've learned in life is you can't force people to change, they have to be willing and accepting to move forward on there own... or be forced by a higher hand. I can't force others who don't see it themselves, and as the low man on the totem pole, its a hard to play the upper hand. But dammit, at least I'll go down swinging, knowing I'm not alone.

[bsanner_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

In this engaging, insightful, and deceptively simple read, Lencioni blends a “leadership fable” (the fictitious account of DecisionTech’s executive board) with a number of invaluable leadership principles. Specifically, Lencioni outlines five team dysfunctions that have the potential to render a team ineffective: (1) absence of trust, (2) fear of conflict, (3) lack of commitment, (4) avoidance of accountability, and (5) inattention to results. While far from exhaustive, Lencioni provides a thoughtful and penetrating snapshot on the importance and principles of team leadership. A

[duckieyazi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book talks about team-building in a story-telling way and so it effectively illustrates the key concepts in team building. And it emphasize even more the importance of a good leader in building a team. If the leader does not view building a team as important, the team will never get formed. In this fable, the leader believes that with a good team built, results will follow. Hence, she was willing to let go of good but problematic staff that will affect team development and morale. If only all bosses can see the importance of team work and understand that it takes more than just some visionary words typed on a nice piece of paper..

[quinton.baran · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent book to read for any team - including family teams, although the book is written from a business perspective, particularly for executives.

The bulk of the book is in a story from of a CEO and her reports as they work out the issues they have as a dysfunctional team. This helps to illustrate the five dysfunctions. The last part of the book then reinforces the ideas behind each dysfunction and what can be done to address the dysfunction and become a strong, flexible team that produces high level results.

[bbbart-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This Leadership Fable is really very good. I read it on a single plane travel, but it created a lasting impact on me nevertheless. It really very simply and gently provides you with insights in teamwork applicable in your work and personal life.

The structure of a fable (95% of the book) and the theory and exercises behind the model (5% of the book) seemed a bit strange to me at first, but it does work really well.

I truly believe that not finance, not strategy, not technology, but teamwork is the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.