The Ideal Team Player, by Patrick Lencioni
The Ideal Team Player, by Patrick Lencioni
Now that I’m using Reading Refresh to keep myself up to date on books I’ve read in the past, I thought I’d share some of them as they came back up. Today is Patrick Lencioni’s “The Ideal Team Player“. This book is also available as a free flashcard deck on Ripple Recall.
“The Ideal Team Player” is a fable about a man (Bob) who was looking for someone to take over his business, and it goes through the story of getting the business into better shape by improving the team.
The core of the book is on the three aspects of an ideal team player: they should be humble, hungry, and smart.
Humble
In the context of teamwork, humility is largely what it seems to be. Great team players lack excessive ego or concerns about status. They are quick to point out the contributions of others and slow to seek attention for their own. They share credit, emphasize team over self, and define success collectively rather than individually. It is no great surprise, then, that humility is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player.
Hungry
Hungry people are always looking for more. More things to do. More to learn. More responsibility to take on. Hungry people almost never have to be pushed by a manager to work harder because they are self-motivated and diligent. They are constantly thinking about the next step and the next opportunity. And they loathe the idea that they might be perceived as slackers.
Smart
In the context of a team, smart simply refers to a person’s common sense about people. It has everything to do with the ability to be interpersonally appropriate and aware. Smart people tend to know what is happening in a group situation and how to deal with others in the most effective way. They ask good questions, listen to what others are saying, and stay engaged in conversations intently.
Two out of three ain’t bad?
The book goes deep into explaining each of those aspects and how they work together. It also talks about people that have two out of those three, and what that might look like.
Humble and hungry, not smart (Inadvertent troublemaker): They’re hard workers but clueless about how their words and actions come across. Colleagues get tired of cleaning up the problems they create.
Humble and smart, not hungry (“Slacker”): These people get along well with others but they do only enough to get by.
Hungry and smart, not humble (“Politician”): These people are ambitious and may at first appear to be humble, but they work for their own interests. They use other people.
The core idea of the book is very straightforward, but Lencioni does a fantastic job of breaking down the nuances and it’s worth reading if you haven’t already. You can grab it on Amazon here, study the concepts of it on Ripple Recall, or watch this short 5-minute video to learn a bit more: