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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

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal, read by Paul Michael.

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

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 decentralised decision-making authority. Faster, flatter and more flexible, the task force beat back al-Qaeda.

In this powerful audiobook, 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 organisations large and small.

©2016 General Stanley McChrystal. David Silverman. Tantum Collins. Chris Fussell. (P)2016 Penguin Audio Business Communication Career Success Leadership Management & Leadership Business Military Career

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Critic reviews

"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 organisational change." (Walter Isaacson, author of Steve Jobs)
All stars
Most relevant  
great stories, very engaging, I wish it delved further into the actions taken to build teams of teams and details of how the teams were managed in a way to promote communication and other desirable outcomes.

Good book

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At the heart of why so many organisations fail to meet their potential are management practices from a bygone era. This book lays out the problem of using reductionist methods to address complex issues, the history of how we got here and how to go about addressing the problem.

The brilliance of the book lies in how the messages are delivered through stories - the main narrative being how Gen. McChrystal's force had to adapt in Iraq - but interspersed with many others from the success of the Apollo programme to the failures of GM Motors.

An absolute must for any leader today.

Required reading today's leaders

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Both the content and performance are stellar, with relevant anecdotes anchoring important points about how an organisation can go from old silo and pride-fueled teams to a more modern, agile, and people focused setup. Made to be read/listened to sequentially, and while it's a bit wordy it all flows together well.

Showing modern teamwork through modern stories

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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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very insightful and validated a lot of what I've seen with tech teams and how they work

A very good listen

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I really liked this book - very unexpected from military and good reminder of good leadership and what it means.

brilliant book - every leader should read.

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Initially I was wondering if I shouldn't have downloaded this title, but it had been recommended to me so I percavered and glad I did. Lots of stories how it can be achieved and lots of quotes I now use in my training, but little in the way of hands on how to advice. Still worth getting though.

A slow start, but got better

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it's an interesting read and confirmed what I have practically experienced in IT in complex environments

confirmed what I have learned over years

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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 audio book.
well read.
Covers a lot of standard collaborative management theory but in a setting that keep you reading/listening long after other books have gone in the drawer.

Collaborative mgt in an compelling setting

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