The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork: Embrace Them and Empower Your Team

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Summary: Basic Knowledge
Review: If you have read John's 21 Irrefutable Laws of a Leader, there is absoloutely no need to pick up this book. It is very fundamental stuff that correlates with the before mentioned book.

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Summary: Developing Effective Teams in a Church Staff Setting
Review: In a format that is similar to the "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership" Maxwell walks us through the essential elements of teamwork. He uses examples from business, ministry, sports and families to bring us principles for building and developing teams. In a style that is true "John Maxwell" he draws interesting and relevant stories from history and from current events to explain the "laws" that he has developed. Maxwell makes great points about how this fits many settings, including a church staff. Here's some examples; - From the "Law of Significance" chapter, "individuals play the game, but teams win championships." If a Sr. Pastor is not leading, each pastor just runs his own area of ministry. Very little communication, interaction, etc. So, it is very much like a professional team that has a lot of players, even great players, yet can't "win the championship" because they are not coached into being a cohesive team. - Under the "Law of the Big Picture" he says, "Members of a team must have mutually beneficial shared goals." Church staff members generally want to serve the Lord, but their understanding and implementation of the church's "mission statement" may NOT coordinated with each other, nor led by the Sr. Pastor. Maxwell goes on to say that the "goal" has to be more important than the "role," meaning the "power of the position." - "All players have a place where they add the most value" is the subtitle of the "Law of the Niche." This seems to be something that many pastors may not understand, but which DOES fit church settings quite well. We can have a great team with lots of potential, but "players" in the wrong "positions." As Maxwell pints out, we will not reach our potential this way. - The "Law of Mt. Everest" says that for each level (of difficulty) that a team reaches, a higher degree of teamwork is required. As a church is growing, they need to know that we don't just need more people, such as adding another pastor, but we need a stronger TEAM! -In the "Law of the Chain" he makes a side comment that "one of the differences between leaders and followers is action." An effective leader must take action. He can't hesitate and avoid "confrontation" SO MUCH that it freezes him. - The "Law of the Compass" says "Vision gives a team focus/direction and confidence." This is a truth that, but if it is not understood by the Sr. Pastor, can cause a staff to wander without the "compass." The leader also shouldn't surprise the team with a "new' (never before announced) direction. Maxwell says, "Great vision precedes great achievement.' - The "Law of Communication" says that teammates have to be constantly talking to each other. We "cannot be effective" if we don't talk regularly. "Interaction fuels action" is how Maxwell put it. True in any setting. - The "Law of the Edge" touched on several things that fit. The difference between failing or struggling teams and truly successful ones is often "the leadership." There are many great advantages to having effective leadership! Maxwell has said that "everything rises and falls on leadership." Finally, one of the things that Maxwell says is that "few people are successful unless a lot of other people want them to be." We can't be successful as loners or disconnected individuals, no matter how great our individual expertise or "potential" is.

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Summary: 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork book review
Review: In the 17 Indisputable Laws Of Teamwork, John Maxwell focuses on building a winning team using strategies based on interviews with some of the world's top CEO's. It is 265-page self-help type, in which he describes the 17 laws to be used as a guide by individuals in any setting, whether it is business or personal. Maxwell writes the book using simple language trying his best to connect with a large audience.
Maxwell breaks the book into 17 chapters in which each chapter represents a different law. In each, he includes the essentials for teamwork followed by suggestions and how to apply them. In each chapter Maxwell includes two main examples and then several smaller examples related to the topic.
Maxwell starts the book explaining the law of significance and writes that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. He works through every law although some of the 17 are quite obvious. Some are learned at an early age and some are just common sense not only for a "team player," but anyone, in any type of relationship. For example, law number 9 reads: The Law of Countablitly, teammates must be able to count on each other when it counts. This type of common sense information is spread evenly throughout Maxwell's book. Another example of Maxwell's not so unique language is written into law number 8: The Law of the Bad Apple. The subtitle then reads: Rotten attitudes ruin a team. This chapter's main point "Attitudes have the power to lift up or tear down a team," seem too obvious and make the chapter useless and boring.
Maxwell closes the book by explaining that good chemistry cannot occur until all 17 laws or strategies are applied. I feel this book was overall an easy to read guide with good examples and even better suggestions.

Rating:
Summary: 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork book review
Review: In the 17 Indisputable Laws Of Teamwork, John Maxwell focuses on building a winning team using strategies based on interviews with some of the world's top CEO's. It is 265-page self-help type, in which he describes the 17 laws to be used as a guide by individuals in any setting, whether it is business or personal. Maxwell writes the book using simple language trying his best to connect with a large audience.
Maxwell breaks the book into 17 chapters in which each chapter represents a different law. In each, he includes the essentials for teamwork followed by suggestions and how to apply them. In each chapter Maxwell includes two main examples and then several smaller examples related to the topic.
Maxwell starts the book explaining the law of significance and writes that one is too small a number to achieve greatness. He works through every law although some of the 17 are quite obvious. Some are learned at an early age and some are just common sense not only for a "team player," but anyone, in any type of relationship. For example, law number 9 reads: The Law of Countablitly, teammates must be able to count on each other when it counts. This type of common sense information is spread evenly throughout Maxwell's book. Another example of Maxwell's not so unique language is written into law number 8: The Law of the Bad Apple. The subtitle then reads: Rotten attitudes ruin a team. This chapter's main point "Attitudes have the power to lift up or tear down a team," seem too obvious and make the chapter useless and boring.
Maxwell closes the book by explaining that good chemistry cannot occur until all 17 laws or strategies are applied. I feel this book was overall an easy to read guide with good examples and even better suggestions.

Rating:
Summary: Simplisitic
Review: It's quite amazing that this book is a business best-seller. The book contains nothing new and, in fact, the 17 so-called "laws" are just overblown statements of the obvious. For example, in the Law of Significance, the author "explodes" the myth of the lone ranger by stating that "the belief that one person can do something great is a myth." Really? In the Law of the Big Picture he says, "people who build successful teams never forget that every person on the team has a role to play and every role plays its part in contributing to the big picture." Another insight? I could go on. However, equally important, the book does not contain any new research or even interviews with key team leaders. The conclusions, such as they are, come from secondary sources such as the popular press and the author's personal examples, none of which seem to be based on any real business experiences. I returned the book to Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: Simplisitic
Review: It's quite amazing that this book is a business best-seller. The book contains nothing new and, in fact, the 17 so-called "laws" are just overblown statements of the obvious. For example, in the Law of Significance, the author "explodes" the myth of the lone ranger by stating that "the belief that one person can do something great is a myth." Really? In the Law of the Big Picture he says, "people who build successful teams never forget that every person on the team has a role to play and every role plays its part in contributing to the big picture." Another insight? I could go on. However, equally important, the book does not contain any new research or even interviews with key team leaders. The conclusions, such as they are, come from secondary sources such as the popular press and the author's personal examples, none of which seem to be based on any real business experiences. I returned the book to Amazon.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: The best work read on teamwork. Excellent practical examples.

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Summary: Not Real Impressed
Review: The book was a waste of a good [money]. It relied to heavily on cut and paste stories from the headlines and from history. It lacked heart.

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Summary: Good Intentions, but Little Workplace Reality!
Review: This book is filled with well intentioned words and phrases, which may work just fine in an environment of like thinking, honest, considerate and mature-acting individuals. But life at work is not so rosy when faced with greed, selfishness and inflated egos. My experiences and observations may be a bit cynical, but I'll bet they are not unusual. True "Teamwork" and such motivation only work once the "employees" are valued, efforts are fairly compensated and the gap between management profit-taking is narrowed and management's numerous counterproductive behavior patterns are corrected. To really learn about what must be changed to have happy employees, I recommend the humorous satire, full of true-to-life realities, "MANAGEMENT BY VICE". The author, C.B. Don, is not a glib motivational "teamwork" speaker. The "vices" portrayed come from personal experience and are candid. In the witty-sharp humor are many life's lessons worth remembering and implementing for a successful workplace environment!

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Summary: A good and helpfull book for anyone.
Review: This is a another great book by John Maxwell. If your familiar with Dr.Maxwells other books, then you'll love this book. If your not, then I welcome to you to read this book. It's advice and principals if applied can help any person or team. Leadership is a hard subject to write about and Dr.Maxwell does it very well and it shows in this new book. Are the principals he writes about applicable? Yes they are. Practical? Yes. Anyone in a position with a team will only benefit from this book.