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

The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues Reviews

• 
  Rod Hilton

  I'm not going to say much about the "fable" format - a lot of these reviews seem not to be familiar with this particular style of book, and a reacting negatively to that. Yes, 75% of this book is a work of fiction with characters and dialogue that serve as a way for the author to convey his ideas in the format of a story, and yes as with The Phoenix Project and other similar Business Novels, the quality of this fiction is fairly hit or miss and it's mostly lots of straw men that a perfect examples of the principles the book wants to get across. If this format sounds like it would bother you, you won't like this book.
  
  Now, as to the actual content - I think it's quite good. It's a deeper dive into the concepts of "The No Asshole Rule" which is basically to suggest that making "cultural fit" an important part of your hiring process is a good idea. Not just to implicitly avoid hiring assholes (this book is fond - very fond - of the word "jackass") but to make the fact that you're doing so very deliberate and well-known within your organization, as well as telling clients and partners so they should know to give you feedback if they wind up working with an asshole in your organization, and to tell prospective candidates as well so that they know that if they are an asshole, they'd be miserable in your organization and drop out. This is all really solid advice, and I think it's a good idea.
  
  One needs to be careful about hiring for "cultural fit" in general, it's an easy mechanism to hurt diversity and inclusion, often it becomes a shorthand for "hire people like me" which leads to uniformity in workforce. That's why I think it was great for the book to, more than similar books, spell out exactly what makes someone a "jackass" and how to look for them while hiring as well as look for them in your organization to either help them improve or remove them. So much comes down to spelling out expectations for your candidates and employees; simply making it clear that you actually expect people to interact with each other in a respectful and compassionate way rather than just hoping people do (and making it clear that, if you don't, you're gone) goes a long way.
  
  To get specific, Patrick Lencioni enumerates 3 primary positive traits to look for in candidates. He suggest they be:
  
  1. Humble
  2. Hungry
  3. Smart
  
  "Humble" can refer to more than thinking little of yourself - it means not thinking of yourself that much at all. Undervaluing your own contributions isn't humility, it's low self-confidence. The book spells this out a bit, and I think it's great advice, nothing to disagree with about looking for your employees to be Humble.
  
  "Smart" refers to being socially smart, and I think the book's use of simply "Smart" to have a one-word trait is lamentable. "Socially Smart" is much clearer, and more inline with what the book is going for - this is the primary "Jackass" quality that keeps being referenced. Basically just, be polite to people, disagree in a respectful way, don't be hard to work with. As someone in the software industry, I see far, far, far, far, far too many organizations that are tolerant of behavior that's not socially smart simply because the perpetrators are other kinds of smart. Delicate Geniuses who are too important to fire, and are then empowered to act like raging assholes in both subtle and overt ways with no repercussion. I find this to be one of my industry's greatest failings, and I want everyone to read this book simply to give them a chance to understand how important it is you weed out people who aren't socially smart as early as possible, and help your current employees lacking in this area become more socially smart (or fire them if they can't hack it).
  
  "Hungry" is my biggest sticking point with this book. As the author talked about looking for Hunger, I became worried this could be easily reduced to looking for people to work after hours or on weekends. Sadly, my concerns came to pass as working outside of 9-5 hours did indeed become a good way to figure out and evaluate who is and isn't hungry. In fact the author even argues that a candidate who asks a lot of questions about working hours in the interview is likely not a Hungry person, and may be avoided. I find this to be a completely terrible idea - I think work/life balance is extremely important to prevent burnout, and it's not hard to value passion in one's work while still balancing hobbies, family, and personal life. The fact that I say this, as far as I can tell, would exclude me from Lencioni's hiring processes. I do ask about work/life balance in interviews, I find many companies in my industry have a terrible attitude toward balance and I like to sniff them out when I interview somewhere. Lencioni even makes a point that someone who is passionate about their hobbies is likely to be less passionate about their work, and may not be an ideal team player. I just find all of this reasoning to be very dangerous, and while I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to find people who are passionate/hungry, the specific advice given in the book to find those people I think is pretty bad.
  
  Overall I liked the book enough to overlook its shortcomings. Even as I disagree with the author's suggestions for sussing out a full 1/3rd of the ideal team player traits, and even as I cringe at the out-of-place preaching for Jesus (yes it's in there), I still find the rest of the contents of the book super valuable and would recommend reading it.
• 
  Maureen

  I read this book for work (we have a work book club!) and I feel like I learned a lot. It definitely helped me see areas I can be better and how best to hire people which is awesome!
• 
  Ron

  This is the typical Lencioni book in that he tells a story about a mythical company and some problem that it is trying to solve. You work through the problem in the first half of the book. He then gives applies the story to his subject. The application part of the book:
  
  The Three Virtues of the Ideal Team Player
  - Humble: humility is the single greatest and most indispensible attribute of being a team player
  - Hungry: hungry people almost never have to be pushed by a manager to work harder because they are self-motivated and diligent
  - Smart: smart simply refers to a person's common sense about people
  
  Application #1: Hiring
  The Interview Process
  Don't be generic
  Debrief each interview as a team
  Consider group interviews
  Make interviews nontraditional
  Ask questions more than once
  Ask what others would say
  Ask candidates to do some real work
  Don't ignore hunches
  Scare people with sincerity
  Interview Questions
  Humble
  Tell me about the most important accomplishment of your career
  What was the most embarrassing moment in your career? or the biggest failure?
  How did you handle that embarrassment or failure?
  What is your greatest weakness?
  How do you handle apologies, either giving or accepting them?
  Tell me about someone who is better than you in an area that really matters to you.
  Hungry
  What is the hardest you've ever worked on something in your life?
  What do you like to do when you're not working?
  Did you work hard when you were a teenager?
  What kinds of hours do you generally work?
  Smart
  How would you describe your personality?
  What do you do that others in your personal life might find annoying?
  What kind of people annoy you the most and how do you deal with them?
  Would your former colleagues describe you as an empathetic person?
  Can you give me an example of how you've demonstrated empathy to a teammate?
  Application #2: Assessing Current Employees
  Humble
  Does he genuinely compliment or praise teammates without hesitation?
  Does she easily admit when she makes a mistake?
  Is he willing to take on lower-level work for the good of the team?
  Does she gladly share credit for team accomplishments?
  Does he readily acknowledge his weakness?
  Does she offer and receive apologies graciously?
  Hungry
  Does he do more than what is required in his own job?
  Does she have passing for the "mission" of the team?
  Does he feel a sense of personal responsibility for the overall success of the team?
  Is she willing to contribute to and think about work outside of office hours?
  Is he willing and eager to take on tedious and challenging task whenever necessary?
  Does she look for opportunities to contribute outside of her area of responsibility?
  Smart
  Does he seem to know what teammates are feeling during meetings and interactions?
  Does she show empathy to others on the team?
  Does he demonstrate interest in the lives of teammates?
  Is she an attentive listener?
  Is he aware of how his words and actions impact others on the team?
  Is she good at adjusting her behavior and style to fit the nature of a conversation or relationship?
  Application #3: Developing Employees who are Lacking in one or more of the Virtues
  Application #4: Embedding the model into an organization's culture
  
• 
  Rob Murphy

  I didn't like this for the reason so many other seemed to love it. The beginning of the book began with "The Fable," which was a long description of a fictional company coming to understand what makes an ideal team player. This acted much like a case study, except it was told in a narrative format and it is fiction. This was nearly 70% of the book. It was far, far too long. The point of this "fable" could have been conveyed much faster. The remainder of the book, which was the important part, gave examples and details on how organizations can interview for the ideal team player and how to coach current employees to be ideal team players. There was not much exceptionally new or innovative information in this section. This would have made a great article. It lacked the depth to fill a whole book.
• 
  Kristeen

  This should have been just an article or maybe a slide deck. I really love Lencioni's The Advantage, but get so bored and distracted by his fable structure used in his other books. The concept of hiring for hunger, humility and emotional smarts is an interesting one, but doesn't warrant an entire book.
• 
  Christina Hughes

  This entire book paraphrased: "Jackass jackass team player jackass! Team player! But jackass! Haha jackass humble team player. Ah, team player team work humble hungry smart team player. Jackass haha!"
• 
  Oceana

  I was super engaged from the beginning! The fable really did it for me. This hiring philosophy based around teamwork and being a team player is what my new workplace uses to foster a healthy team mentality and it really works.
• 
  Mahin Mirshams

  کتاب بازیکن تیمی ایده‌آل، از دو بخش تشکیل شده. بخش اول که بخش داستانی ماجراست، روند تغییر یک شرکت بزرگ رو به تصویر درمیاره و در حین روایت، تو رو با شخصیت‌ها و موقعیت‌هایی آشنا می‌کنه که قراره توی نیمه‌ی دوم کتاب بهشون ریفرنس بده. توی بخش دوم هم، فرضیه‌هایی که توی داستان مطرح میکنه رو یه جورایی اثبات میکنه و براشون راه حل میده.
  من از طرز نگاهش به مسئله خوشم اومد. هرچند به نظرم بخش داستانی میتونست کوتاه‌تر باشه و بخش بررسی هر کدوم از صفت‌هایی که ادعا میکرد عاملان کار تیمی هستند( فروتنی، ولع،هوشمندی)، پر و پیمون‌تر باشه. چیزی که توجه منو جلب کرد این بود که این کتاب عطش منو زیاد کرد. هر صفحه‌ای که ورق میزدم دنبال راه حل بودم‌. دنبال این بودم که: خب فهمیدم! این مشکل رو منم دارم! چیکار کنم بهتر بشم؟ هرچند کم‌کم داشتم ناامید می‌شدم از رسیدن به جواب ولی توی ۲۰ ص آخر کتاب میشه گفت یه پاسخی گرفتم‌. پرواضحه که مسائلی از این دست، تا زمانی که اجرایی و عملی نشه، قابل نقد نیست، ولی حداقل اینو میشه گفت که کتاب باعث شد به فکر عملی کردن فرضیه‌هاش باشم و در حین خوندن همون ۱۵ ۲۰ ص‌ی آخر، راه‌حل‌های زیادی به دهنم خطور کرد.
  در آخر هم یکی از جملات جذاب کتاب رو ضمیمه میکنم و خوندنش رو، اگر وارد بازار کار شدید، بشدت توصیه می‌کنم.
  " به نظر من کار تیمی فضیلت نیست، بلکه انتخاب است. این تصمیمی راهبردی و عامدانه‌است، به این معنی که با همه‌ی آدم‌ها سازگار نیست!"
• 
  Morgan Blackledge

  I’m new(ish) to bizlit.
  
  But lately I have been on a binge (so to speak).
  
  It feels like I’m reading management and leadership books as if my life depended on it.
  
  And in a sense, my life and a bunch of other peoples lives are (kind of) hanging in the balance.
  
  I’m a psychotherapist (and) I recently became the clinical director of a 50(+) employee company.
  
  We serve clients who are overcoming severe addiction and co-occurring mental health diagnoses.
  
  All of these souls have loved ones and many have dependents.
  
  So the stakes are high.
  
  Sure.
  
  Winston Churchill and FDR saved the free world.
  
  Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project gave birth to the destroyer of worlds.
  
  Closer to home.
  
  My grandfather fought in WWII, occupied former Nazi Germany after WWII, was a player in the Nuremberg trails, and later became the head of selective service for the state of Michigan during the Viet Nam war (a shitty job if ever there was one).
  
  My puny responsibilities clearly pale in comparison to any of these people.
  
  That being said.
  
  It’s still (for me) an awesome responsibility.
  
  I take it all very seriously.
  
  And I feel every little bit of it.
  
  Good and bad.
  
  The transition from therapist to management has been natural in some respects.
  
  Working with clients is not so different from managing therapists (read into that what you will).
  
  However, the transition from worker (doer) to manager (recruiter, gate keeper, team builder, system designer, delegator and yes, the guy who disciplines and fires people) is an animal of a different color.
  
  I’m currently in the process of hiring a lot of people and building a team.
  
  And after making some really bad (bad, bad, bad) rookie mistakes that lead to several legitimate HR nightmares. I’m am now WIDE AWAKE to the consequences of bad hiring practices and dysfunctional teams.
  
  This book has been particularly helpful in lifting the fog of war.
  
  The simple heuristic used to identify the ideal team player, in interviews and employee evaluations is:
  
  HUNGRY
  - hard working
  - driven by intrinsic motivations
  - energized by the mission
  
  HUMBLE
  - not purely or primarily self interested
  - focused on serving the clients and the team
  - willing to share the credit
  
  SMART
  - people smart
  - curious
  - bright
  
  I have been introducing this heuristic to my management team and it’s working.
  
  We’re making better decisions.
  
  This book is written in a nonfiction teaching ‘fable’ form.
  
  It’s a story about a management team at a construction firm that has to hire 60-100 people in a hurry or go out of business.
  
  The new CEO remains radically committed to only hiring A+ team players, who are hungry, humble and smart (all three or no deal) even though there is a staffing crisis and they are a smaller player in a highly competitive labor market.
  
  It’s a terrific amplification of an ordinary staffing and team building situation.
  
  And it’s a LOT like my current situation.
  
  Before reading the books in this series.
  
  I did not think I would like the nonfiction narrative teaching form.
  
  And in a sense I was both wrong and right.
  
  Because I LOVE IT.
  
  I’m completely inspired by the hybrid of fiction and nonfiction.
  
  It’s strangely effective.
  
  I literally can’t get enough of it.
  
  I’m jumping on to the next one right now!!!!
  
  Five stars ⭐️
• 
  Stephanie

  I had to read this book for work. It consisted of a laughably cheesy and idealistic "fable" followed by a practical application of why you should strive to work with people who are humble, hungry, and smart. The application section was only about a third of the book and didn't go into very much depth of what those qualities actually mean. Also, the author used the word "jackass" 46 times (yes, I counted), so do with that what you will.
• 
  Dustin Tramel

  "Too many leaders hire mostly for competency and technical skills." p.155. I love Lencioni's FABLE writing style. It personally helps me connect to the content and process it for my current situation. I have learned something from each of his books and I recommend this one as well. This book has some great insight into developing a healthy culture in your group or organization. I found it extremely helpful for me as a leader who desires to build a team that collaborates and shares a common vision. I walked away with some new ideas of how to help people of different personalities connect to the bigger vision of our team. I appreciate his emphasis on fit over competency. Too often we put people into positions based on skill but then find out they don't fit with our team's culture. "Most training and development comes down to how much a person wants to change." p.134. "The most unhappy people in a company are the ones who don't fit the culture and are allowed to stay." p.61. I wish the book had more help and advice for people who have someone on their team currently who doesn't fit the culture. The book addressed this but I was hoping for more. What does a group do with people already on the team who don't fit?
• 
  Oleksandr Golovatyi

  Після прочитання книги я ще раз впевнився в тому, що командний гравець повинен бути скромним, енергійним та розумним. На перший погляд все очевидно. Але найчастіше, коли йде набір людей в команду, про одну або декілька цих рис завжди забувають, замінюючи їх професійними вимогами. Звичайно людина повинна бути професіоналом своєї справи, але без цих трьох чеснот, вона не зможе в повній мірі допомогти команді досягти справді високих результатів.
  
  Також використаю декілька речень з самої книжки, що найбільше мені сподобались:
  "Скромність - єдиний найважливіший і найбільш незамінний атрибут командного гравця.
  Енергічні люди майже ніколи не потребують підштовхування з боку керівника, щоб працювати старанніше, бо вони і так самовмотивованні та сумлінні.
  Бути кмітливим просто означає спілкуватися з іншими, куруючись здоровим глуздом. Кмітилвим людям просто притамання розсудливість та інтуїція щодо тонкощів групових стосутнків та впливу їхніх слів та дій"
  
  Дуже гарна книжка, рекомендую всім керівникам та підлеглии, що прагнуть побудувати дійсно ефективні та успішні команди.
  
• 
  Sylwia

  Why You Might Bump This Up On Your TBR: I learned a lot from this model and it challenged me. From reading this, I can hone in on things I can do better and differently and things I can show more of at work. I think everyone who works for a team, as well as any supervisor who leads a team, should read this book. It's also helpful in teaching supervisors how to interview. It also encourages supervisors not to label their workers into self-fulfilling prophecies and not to be too hard on people that are imperfect, which I think is healthier than the alternative.
  
  Why You Might Bump This Down On Your TBR: I think this book supports the way employers take advantage of their employees. Also, the first few chapters have this very long skit of a fictional workplace. I read one chapter of that but then I skipped the rest and got straight to the nonfiction portion, which I recommend doing if you don't need examples when you learn. I also thought it was unhelpful not to know what the examples were about ahead of time.
• 
  Dana Probert

  There was a lot that I liked about this book but some of it concerned me. I think that it is too easy to assign more value to “people I’d like to hang out with” vs. people that really could fit into team culture if you gave them a shot. I also was not totally onboard with his extended definition of hunger where he highlights the willingness to work outside of work hours. I am all for making work your passion, and I also have no problem with burning the midnight oil when the team needs to get something important done. I do, however, believe that expectations of constant overtime are bad for all humans, but especially marginalizes parents, folks with health challenges and elder caregivers. You can be hungry, humble and smart and a terrifically effective employee without selling your soul to the job. Just seems like... the “no jackasses” idea could inadvertently eliminate a lot of people who aren’t actually” jackasses” but rather just not clones of the existing team members.
• 
  MohammadReza Jokar

  زبان اصلی کتاب رو خوندم که خیلی روون نوشته شده بود و خوندنش راحت بود. کتاب دو بخش داره، حدود 70 درصد اول درباره یک مدیر جدید هست و چالش هایی که در استخدام و متابع انسانی باهاشون مواجه میشه، در 30 درصد باقیمانده هم نویسنده مدل ایده آلی که برای یک فرد میشه متصور شد رو کامل
  توضیح میده و مشخصه هاش رو بیان میکنه. در ادامه هم خیلی کامل تاثیر نبود هر کدوم از مشخصه ها در فرد رو توضیح میده و براشون راه حل ارایه میکنه
  کتاب بیشتر جنبه "منابع انسانی" داره ولی خوندنش برای من که فیلد متفاوتی رو دنبال میکنم خالی از لطف نبود و پیشنهادش میکنم
  
  اردیبهشت 1399
• 
  Benyamin

  اگر قصد ساخت "تیم" دارید، اگر می خوا‌هید متوجه بشید که "تیم" یعنی چی و "کار تیمی" چطور ایجاد میشه و یک "هم‌تیمی خوب" چه ویژگی‌هایی باید داشته باشه، این کتاب رو بهتون پیشنهاد می‌کنم هر چه زودتر بخونید.
  
  کتاب ۲ بخش داره.
  بخش اول: داستانی هست درباره‌ی مدیر ارشد جدید شرکتی که قصد داره ۲ تا پروژه سنگین رو اجرا بکنه و فکر میکنه‌ که داشتن تیم‌خوب توی این مسیر سخت از هر چیزی مهم‌تر هست برای مدیریت کردن شرکتش.
  
  بخش دوم: خیلی فنی درباره‌ی پیاده‌سازی مدلی که توی بخش اول با هم‌فکری ۲ تا از مدیرای دیگه‌ی شرکت بهش رسیدن میپردازه و با جزئیاتی لذت بخش موضوع رو میشکافه.
  
  مدل چیه حالا؟
  اینکه هر فردی برای اینکه تبدیل به یک "هم‌تیمی ایده‌عال" بشه باید ۳ تا "فضیلت" رو داشته باشه.
  ۱) فروتن باشه
  ۲) پرولع باشه
  ۳) هوشمند باشه
  
  حالا اگر فردی هر کدوم ازین موارد رو نداشته باشه قطعا توی کار و زندگی تبدیل به یک انسانی میشه که آدم دوست ندارن باهاش در تعامل باشه. چرا؟ چون حال نمیده. چون احساس بد پیدا میکنن. چون باهاشون نمیشه بلند مدت ادامه داد.
  به قول نویسنده و ۳ مدیر ارشد شرکت یه جورایی میشه "بی‌شعور" صدا زد این جور آدمارو.
  
  پ‌ن ۱: این جز اون دست کتاب‌هایی هست که نیاز هست با "توجه" و "پیوستگی فشرده" خونده بشه.
  پ‌ن ۲: این نکته رو هم بگم که قطعا من و همه‌ی‌ما توی زندگیمون یه جورای در یک بازه‌های زمانیی بیشعور بودیم (شاید هنوز ��م پابرچاست) و با کلی بیشعور سروکار داشتیم (و در آینده قطعا بازم پیش میاد). دلیل واقعی که چرا اینقدر ازین کتاب لذت بردم این هست که کتاب به خوبی بینش و آگاهی داده و کلی تجربه‌ی خوب به اشتراک گذاشته.
  پ‌ن ۳: این هم آدرس سایت‌شون که کلی ابزار رایگان و محتوی‌خوب هست. بررسی کردنش خالی از لطف نیست.
  https://www.tablegroup.com/books/idea...
  
  امیدوارم کتاب رو بخونید و بکار بگیرید و لذت ببرید.
• 
  Ko Matsuo

  A lot of people recommended this book to me. I wasn't all that impressed.
  
  Most of the book is a fable about a company that has trouble with teamwork and the leadership team that develops the teamwork framework that Lencioni offers. The problem isn't that there is a fable. The problem is that the fable is much too long.
  
  I liked the framework. Basically it calls for a balance between Humility, Hunger, and Smarts. Humility is thinking of yourself less. Hunger is looking for more: more things to do, more to learn, more responsibility to take on. Smart is emotional intelligence, i.e, the ability to be inter-personally appropriate and aware. Together they help ensure that no jerks make it into companies.
  
  In summary, the fable was too long for my tastes, but the framework was useful.
• 
  Shahrzad Pakgohar

  این کتاب توسط رضا رایان راد با عنوان «بازیکن تیمی ایدئال» ترجمه شده و انتشارات آریانا قلم منتشر کرده . ترجمه بسیار خوب و روان هست و یکی از بهترین کتابهای مدیریتی بود که تا به حال خوندم، هم از لحاظ اهمیت موضوع کار تیمی و هم از لحاظ شیوه بیان و مدلسازی انجام شده.
  کتاب به نسبت کوتاه است و به سبک داستانی نوشته شده. پاتریک لنچیونی به خوبی مخاطب رو در یک سفر کشف ویژگی‌های بازیکن تیمی ایدئال همراه میکند. در این کتاب خبری از توصیه های بدون استدلال و یا استدلالهای انتزاعی نیست. با خوندن کتاب به تدریج برای مخاطب هم اثبات میشود یک بازیکن تیمی ایدئال باید ویژگی‌هایی که لنچیونی عنوان میکند رو داشته باشد:
  فروتن، هوشمند، پرولع
  
• 
  Pat

  Hm. This book could be summed up in one sentence: Hire people who are humble, hungry, and people smart. Do not hire jackasses. This is a short book and 80% of it is a made up fable to support this statement. There's no real analysis of what it means to be humble, hungry, and smart, or why these "virtues" are superior over others (and what those others may be) when it comes to being a great team player, or why being a "great" team player is what a company needs (as opposed to certain competence-based virtues), or how different companies may have different cultures, or any research or evidence whatsoever. This is a modern business book that you probably don't need to read.
• 
  علیرضا محبی

  به اعتقاد نویسنده:
  هر چقدر هم که رهبر خوبی باشی تا خودت و افراد تیمت در این سه ویژگی سرآمد نباشید تیم خوبی ندارید:
  ولع و فروتنی و هوشمندی.
  که البته در این کتاب هر کدام تعریف خودشان را دارند.
  بخش نخست (و عمده‌ی) کتاب، یک قصه را تعریف می‌کند. خیلی روان و ساده.
  بخش پایانی هم به صورت نکاتی کاربردی، همین مدل سه‌گانه را شرح داده که چگونه باید در فرآیندهای استخدام و بهبود سازمان و فرهنگ‌سازی و... استفاده شود.
• 
  Mark Fallon

  This may be my favorite Lencioni "fable" yet. The way to build a successful team is to build on the three virtues embraced by all members of the team - be humble, hungry and smart. Is it that simple? Yes. Is it easy to do? No. That's why you should read this book.
• 
  David

  I audiobooked this one while driving for a busy month for the nonprofit I direct. Solid book. Somewhat repetitive (with his other books) but only to emphasize a point. Everyone should get this book for a new team member joining their staff, church, nonprofit, or business.
• 
  ehsan karimkhani

  کتابی روان و شیرین
  برای کسانی که کار تیمی را یک استراتژی موثر و حیاتی در دنیای کسب و کار میفهمند
  نگرشی انسانی و عمیق به اینکه چرا ما به صورت تیمی کار میکنیم یا نمی کنیم
  ممنون از ترجمه روان رضا رایان راد
  و انتشارات آریانا قلم
• 
  V

  Christian swill. No evidence. Anti woman, ablelist garbage. Wouldn’t recommend it for toilet paper. Offended I had to read it.
• 
  Petar Ivanov

  Great book! I really recommend it to everyone who wants to become a better team player and hopefully the ideal one. Overall, I liked the initial story and mostly how the book was formed. It was easy for reading and most of all it was easy to comprehend the whole information.
• 
  Steven R. McEvoy

  Over the past few years, I have read a few books, and listened to some audio teaching by Patrick Lencioni, I have been impressed with all of his teaching I have encountered. My introduction was a group exercise working through The Five Dysfunctions of a Team done in conjunction with a DISC assessment for the seven of us. There is something so accessible about his style of writing a parable to teach the main lesson and then break it down. And this book does that on an even larger scale, I would say almost two-thirds of this book is an extended story. But both the story and the breakdown make it memorable and easily accessible.
  
  In the introduction Patrick Lencioni says "Of the three virtues, this one needs the most clarification because it is not what it might seem; it is not about intellectual capacity. In the context of a team, smart simply refers to a person's common sense about people." And it is more than just overcoming the 5 dysfunctions of a team. For most of those 5 can be taught, but the three essential virtues are harder to teach especially if someone is deficient in more than one.
  
  "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."
  
  I have been part of in house leadership programs at three different employers over the past 30 years. And yet this book in a simple story captures something that though very simple really and truly is essential to have healthy thriving teams, and through those teams healthy and thriving departments and companies. According to Lencioni the three essential virtues are humble, hungry and smart.
  
  
  
  Humble - Hungry - Smart
  
  "Of course, to recognize and cultivate humble, hungry, and smart team members, or to become one yourself, you first need to understand exactly what these deceptively simple words mean and how all three together make up the essential virtues of an ideal team player."
  
  Humble
  Patrick describes humble as - "Humility is the single greatest and most indispensible attribute of being a team player." And he hammers home his definition of it with a quote "C.S. Lewis addressed this misunderstanding about humility when he said "Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less." And to be honest this might be the hardest to measure.
  
  Hungry
  In writing about hungry people Lencioni declares: "Hungry people are always looking for more. More things to do. More to learn. More responsibility to take on. Hungry people almost never have to be pushed by a manager to work harder because they are self-motivated and diligent. They are constantly thinking about the next step and the next opportunity." They want to be the go to person. They love to serve and desire to be known as hard working and diligent.
  
  Smart
  This one is a little harder but Patrick states: "Of the three virtues, this one needs the most clarification because it is not what it might seem; it is not about intellectual capacity. In the context of a team, smart simply refers to a person's common sense about people."
  
  Having finished this book shortly after transitioning jobs, I realize how important it is to have these traits personally, but also to see them in coworkers and in the management teams. Patrick in the breakdown offers some excellent advice for how to hire for these three characteristics, how to assess current employees, how to develop employees who lack one or more of the virtues and how to embed these virtues in your organization.
  
  I have had a former director say on many occasions he wish he had more people like me. And though at times I struggle to live these three virtues I believe it is something I have done without knowing the framework, and now that I know the framework can work on my weaker areas. A few years ago I recommended a kid at work for an internal role change, when my director asked my why, I responded that 'you cannot teach work ethic' you can teach technology but character is much harder to change. I was correct and he flourished in his new role. Again it was an example of these three cardinal virtues.
  
  To be honest this is one of the best business books I have ever read and as such I can highly recommend it.
  
  Read the review on my blog
  
• 
  Marco Rogers

  The lessons in this book end up feeling pretty obvious, but they're not. It's one thing to identify traits you think are good for making an effective team. It's another to commit to having all of those traits in some measure. Even more so, to make them a requirement for hiring. I don't know if you'll get anything revelatory out of this book. But it's worth reading if you need to really internalize whey some people don't seem to be effective contributors to a team, despite having some good qualities. The book goes into detail on some of the ways people can underperform when they are missing certain qualities of the ideal team player.