The Ideal Team Player

The book switches to a narrative format as Lencioni introduces Jeff and his uncle Bob. Jeff, the protagonist of the book’s central “fable,” is a consultant at a small firm and has grown tired of the fast-paced lifestyle of Silicon Valley. While Jeff’s education prepares him for the moderately successful business career he has pursued, the story suggests that his most impactful education was a result of real-world experience. After his “fortunate” demotion from his position as CEO of a technology start-up, Jeff learns valuable lessons from his successor: “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” (5). While business school certainly prepared Jeff for his career, he learned more from his own failures and from Peterson, highlighting the value of experiential learning common in the business and self-help genres.

Like Jeff, Bob also learned from experience. While Bob did not attend college, let alone business school, he nonetheless operated a successful construction company, one that was “the most prominent and diversified building contractor in the Napa Valley for three decades” (7). Bob tends to lead by relying on his instincts and his experience. Lencioni points out that “Jeff had helped him on a few occasions in the past, and actually consulted to the executive team a year earlier on a substantial project around teamwork, which was one of the firm’s values” (7). Bob, therefore, has an innate sense of the value of teamwork and cohesion in the workplace.

One of the book’s themes, The Characteristics That Contribute to a Successful Team Dynamic, is briefly probed in the first part of the fable, specifically how employees should communicate with each other. As Jeff transitions from a consultant position to a CEO position, he shifts from a more abstract, theoretically grounded communication style to one that demands directness: “Gone were the days of theoretical debates and pie-in-the-sky planning. Jeff now found himself learning about concrete matters having to do with everything from air conditioning to lumber to, well, concrete” (9). Furthermore, Jeff finds this change in communication styles refreshing: “Straightforward conversations about tangible things may have been less sophisticated than high tech, but they were also more gratifying” (9). Jeff not only appreciates the direct, to-the-point communication style of the construction industry but also senses that his uncle’s straightforward manner likely contributes to his company’s success. Direct and unambiguous communication becomes a key feature in how Jeff helps establish an even stronger team dynamic in the company.