More business books, but these are a little more instructional than the Elephant story. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable and The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni can’t really be separated in a review. Yes, they’re separate books, however they don’t actually behave separately. They’re based on the same principles (read the CEO one first, it segues better) and have permutations of the same lesson; the basic premise is that people are scared. Getting past the fear (whatever the root) is the key to success.
Since finding the root of a fear is never easy, Lencioni suggests approaching through the most common barrier to good business decisions: absence of trust. Of course, all of the suggestions he makes as to how to approach it require that someone in a position of power over the organization should attempt be in on the work; without that, any of the suggestions are useless. One of the key pieces is that ability to get rid of group members who are unwilling to get with the program and put aside some of their fears to make the organization better. Staff changes are never fun, but sometimes necessary and the ability to make that change is essential to the success of Lencioni’s suggestions.
Overall a very good book, I was able to identify with the characters and finished the fable in an afternoon. Putting theory to pactice? We’re still working on that one.