Teams at the Top

It is common knowledge that CEOs declare their direct reports to be a "team at the top". Yet with a culture of individual accountability and self-reliance pervading executive suites, few management groups ever function as real teams. Too often, the same holds true for leadership groups below. if that sounds like what's happening in your company, this is the book your entire management group must read.

In a natural follow-up to his bestselling The Wisdom of Teams, Jon Katzenbach moves his focus farthet up the organizational ladder to offer practical guidelines for increasing leadership capacity at the highest executive levels. Teams at the Top shows how even the strongest and most successful CEO can improve the performance of various leadership groupings by enabling senior executives and next-level leaders to function as real teams as well as single-leader units — all without sacrificing each member's individual leadership capabilities and results.

According to Katzenbach, the best corporate leaders have been actively shifting in and out of team mode behind close doors, unbeknownst to others. This happens particularly in times of crisis and in response to unexpected events, when the group spontaneously begins to function as a true team with a common goal for which all members are mutually accountable.

Teams at the Top explains how to recognize when a team effort at the upper management level is preferable and when a work group under single leadership fits best. Then, the book demonstrates how to develop the capability to shift into whichever mode is appropriate to the task at hand, integrating the discipline required for real teams with the discipline needed for executive leadership without compromising one in favor of the other.

With stories and examples from well-known companies — including Evron, Ben & Jerry's, Champion, Citicorp, and Mobile — and lessons that are applicable for management groups throughout the organization, this book will help companies of all sizes and in all industries maximize the full potential of their leadership.

• Introduction: The Spirit of Haida Gwaii

1. A Tougher Game at the Top
2. Why "Nonteams" Prevail at the Top
3. How "Major Events" Spawn Teams
4. Two Disciplines That Conflict
5. Collective Action Opportunities
6. Making Key Tradeoffs Consciously
7. Multiple Roles for the CEO
8. For "Teams That Run Things" at Any Level
9. Discipline, Alignment, and Balance

• Appendix A: A Glossary of Team Terms
• Appendix B: Team Discipline Reprise
• Appendix C: Diagnostic Guide: Obtaining Team Performance When It Counts

A very good book, but he seems to be a bit surprised that top management teams doesn't work. Hmmm… let us see: to become a player at the top, you need to be career oriented and have a will to become a top-dog (including playing politics). I wonder why the team approach doesn't work at this level? If we disregard the naivite of a McKinsey director, it is absolutely one of the better books I've read.