Rating: 
Summary: Teamwork Personified in Fable Fashion
Review: Lively writing of a corporation plagued with dysfunction bigtime. Enter Kathryn, team leader, who offsites them with five dysfunctions, then step by step leads them down path to success and team harmony.There are many gems in this, e.g. "As soon as the reality of business problems in reintroduced to a situation like this one, she thought, people revert back to the behaviors that put them in the difficult situation in the first place." "Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think." "Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team." Much here to digest, ponder, meditate on. Helpful are wrapup section along with constant application thought starters. Excellent resource for team leaders and players.
Rating:
Summary: A Project Management Professional
Review: One of the most difficult challenges when starting a new project is forming a team ready to row in the same direction to achieve project objectives. I have long searched for a tool to overcome this challenge and have found just what I need in Patrick Lencioni's new book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. His easy to read style of writing allows readers to grasp the material quickly. The story of a new CEO unfolds in the first five minutes and keeps unfolding until one is finished with the book at around ninety minutes. I found my answers in "The Model" which follows the fable. This book will be on my desk for easy reference every time a new project is started, for this book is an absolute must for project managers as well as CEO's.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Job
Review: Lencioni rocked my managing world. This fictional tale illustrates the reality behind team efforts. It opened my eyes to a new world on cooperating. I heartily reccommend that you read this.
Rating:
Summary: Give to your staff; I did.
Review: I love these easy to read fables that make valid points that are useful. His story is very real life and the problems were ones that I could relate to in my 20 years of management experience.
Rating:
Summary: Can I staple this to your head?
Review: This is a great read. If everyone in my office understood these concepts it would be a much better place to work. Now then...where is that stapler?
Rating:
Summary: Goodbye Machiavelli -- Hello Lencioni !!!!
Review: To the chagrin of Machiavelli & Sun Tzu warriors everywhere, the top-secret-code for achieving optimal productivity via "The Team" -- on a basis of TRUST instead of the ever-tiresome, industry-standard "CYA-protocol" -- has FINALLY been broken; and the code word is "LENCIONI"! Once again, the "Jossey-Bass Management Series" folx have delivered a superior-quality book. The "Lencioni Way" is more or less that of the 3 musketeers: "All for one & one for all". He prescribes repairing the problem of "low-trust" in organizations by eliminating silo's of accountability. Silo's of functionality are o.k. & normal -- but silo's of accountability will KILL a group. How to specifically do this is a SECRET -- you'll HAVE to read the book!! Though the book is 225 pages long, it can be read in a single sitting during a long afternoon because it uses the most effective teaching tool of all: the "Fable". However, for all you way-too-serious, no-fun-allowed, "old-school" management types that never even heard of blue-jeans, you'll be relieved to know that you can skip the Fable & go straight to Lencioni's "Team Model" in the last 40 pages of the book. FINAL WORD OF CAUTION: the CRITICAL success factor for applying Lencioni's method to eliminate Machiavelli from your organization is personified in Lencioni's fable by "CEO Kathryn". Her role follows Dr John Maxwell's "The Law Of the Lid" (21 Laws). If you're gonna attempt a Machiavelli-must-die Lencioni initiative, then be sure that the leader of this initiative can WALK THE WALK, be "real" (no 2-facedness allowed), & is strong enough to take lengthy, pointed-criticism from people in the organization that he/she may neither like nor respect. The "Lencioni Way" will require true courage. Now BUY THE BOOK here at Amazon.com -- hurry!!
Rating:
Summary: an excellent and illuminating read -- again !
Review: this is the third lencioni book i have read...and maybe the best. He has such a knack for real characters in real situations -- the grey area of leadership -- that its easy to be entertained and almost forget how applicable the examples and advice are. Unlike other fables (like the cheese and fish things) this is not a simplistic tool of employee oppression but a well written and versed story that actually provides some very useful insights. highly recommended !
Rating:
Summary: Another Great Lesson for CEOs from Patrick Lencioni
Review: I have enjoyed each of Patrick Lencioni's books and each one has been better than the last. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team provides more than just 5 fundamentals of team building. Using his exceptional story-telling skills, Patrick gives CEOs a roadmap to building high-performance executive teams. Many of our Alliance of Chief Executive members have already read the book and put it to practical use. I give Patrick 5 stars for another sure-fire best seller.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recmmended!
Review: Patrick Lencioni offers a satisfactory fable about an executive wrestling to take hold of a company and create a smoothly functioning executive team. The narrative moves right along as he addresses the problem of feckless teamwork with the fictitious Decision Tech company as a test case. The novel is interesting, and you can read through it easily, getting to know the characters and participating in their business decisions. However, if you just want to learn about better teamwork quickly and leave, skim to the final chapters. Here, the author outlines a detailed model for diagnosing the five dysfunctions of a team and provides exercises and techniques to ameliorate those dysfunctions. The advice is complete and concrete. We recommend the meat and potatoes diagnosis and solutions as well as the cake and ice cream story, but how much narrative you want to read may depend on what shape your team is in when you start, as well as on your taste for tales.
Rating: 
Summary: A leadership fable -- emphasis on the "fable"
Review: This book is making the rounds at the Silicon Valley company where I work. Last week I was asked to read it by one of our technical leaders. I have a couple of major issues with this book. First, as the title says, it's a "fable" -- the people are fictitious, and none of the situations in the book really happened. The author can make up anything he wants to. Second, the author states that the foundation of teamwork is trust. "Trust" is defined as being comfortable enough with your fellow team members to be vulnerable with them. The fictitious characters in the book begin to establish trust at an offsite when they reveal events from their childhoods. I guess this could work if we lived in a perfect world where people don't come from dysfunctional families and everyone you work with is trustworthy. That's just not reality. I'm giving this a 2-star rating because it's an entertaining read -- as fiction.
| 
