Top Ten Quotes: The Ideal Team Player
I’ve long been a fan of Patrick Lencioni. I’ve read the lion’s share of his books, I regularly listen to both his At the Table and Working Genius podcasts, and I appreciate how he almost seamlessly blends his personal faith and his public work together.
I recently (finally) read his book The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues. And of course, I wasn’t disappointed. This is a must read for any leader, and because it’s written in Lencioni’s typical story-driven narrative style, it’s a very easy book to get through.
Here are my top ten favorite quotes:
- 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.
- You get more done with three people who fit together than with a fourth who doesn’t belong.
- Most training and development comes down to how much a person wants to change.
- If no one is leaving or being asked to leave, then we’re probably not truly living these values.
- For organizations seriously committed to making teamwork a cultural reality, I’m convinced that “the right people” are the ones who have the three virtues in common—humility, hunger, and people smarts.
- Insecurity makes some people project overconfidence, and others discount their own talents.
- It’s not difficult to understand why hungry people are great to have on a team, but it’s important to realize that some types of hunger are not good for a team and are even unhealthy.
- In the context of a team, smart simply refers to a person’s common sense about people. It has everything to do with the ability to be interpersonally appropriate and aware.
- Just because a teammate is relatively lower in one virtue than another does not mean she’s not an ideal team player. Ideal, in the context of this book, does not mean perfect.
- You know what kinds of organizations are explicit about building a strong culture? The successful ones. They’re more than willing to do things that are simple or that might elicit cynical or sarcastic responses from competitors. Just ask Southwest Airlines, Chick-fil-A, Ritz-Carlton, or REI.
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