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Team of Teams

New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

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Team of Teams

By: General Stanley McChrystal, David Silverman, Tantum Collins, Chris Fussell
Narrated by: Paul Michael
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About this listen

What if you could combine the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization?

When General Stanley McChrystal took command of the Joint Special Operations Task Force in Iraq in 2003, he quickly realized that conventional military tactics were failing. The allied forces had a huge advantage in numbers, equipment and training - but none of the enemy's speed and flexibility.

McChrystal and his colleagues discarded a century of conventional wisdom to create a 'team of teams' that combined extremely transparent communication with decentralized decision-making authority.

Faster, flatter and more flexible, the task force beat back al-Qaeda.

In this powerful book, McChrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to any leader. Through compelling examples, the authors demonstrate that the 'team of teams' strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA and has the potential to transform organizations large and small.

'A bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts' Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

'An indispensable guide to organizational change' Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs

Business Communication Business Development & Entrepreneurship Career Success Leadership Management Management & Leadership Business Military Career Middle East

Critic reviews

In addition to being a fascinating and colourful read, this book is an indispensable guide to organizational change
This is a bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts
Team of Teams is erudite, elegant, and insightful. An unexpected and surprising wealth of information and wonder, it provides a blueprint for how to cope with increasing complexity in the world. A must read for anyone who cares about the future - and that means all of us
All stars
Most relevant
The planets may have a predictable, clockwork-like motion - but life does not.

People around the world, who are trying to leave their part in a better state than they found it, get humbled pretty quickly. Reality is complex, nature is complex, humans are complex.

These realities of solving problems in complex, 21st century systems are brought to light vividly and brilliantly in Team of Teams.

Retired General McChrystal and his co-authors do an excellent job. The story of their journey is full of surprises, and important lessons. Case studies are used to great effect. Tying them to the common thread of his experiences commanding JSOC and ISAF works well.

Team of Teams reinforces the belief that the challenges of the 21st century can be overcome. That by working independently, yet collectively: adaptively, yet systemically, we can work with the interconnected world in which we now live, and help everybody come out on top.

From chess masters to expert gardeners: profound insights into 21st century leadership

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has given me many insights into running a team. helpful and interesting examples which help to make the easy to understand. thank you

very well written and a great listen

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A great story and testemony on a difficult situation which results in new or theory and practice

Relevant Useful

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Good read for both new and experienced leaders. Even though the context is mostly military centric, it draws from a diverse set of sources to paint a modern picture. This makes the learning from the book relevant in most endeavours (technology, finance, aviation etc). What I also like about the book is that you indirectly learn about new topics and world events.

Leadership through teams

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I rarely write reviews for any book, but I feel that justice has not been done to this book. I’m quite surprised that this book has not been granted the attention it deserves. If there was only one book which I could recommend to any leader, manager, team, organisation or company, it would be this and only this. I’ve read and listened to many books on leadership and team building, but this is by far the most comprehensive, thorough and engaging book. It touch bases on many concepts which are not talked about often, but are really the key ingredients of having an effective team. Few examples are ‘reductionist management’ vs ‘decentralised decision-making’, ‘need-to-know-basis’ vs ‘knowledge and information sharing’, ‘teams in silos’ vs ‘team of teams’, ‘command and control’ vs ‘empowerment’, ‘manipulation’ vs ‘inspiration’ and ‘gardener’ vs ‘chess player’.

The holy grail of leadership and team building

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