Team of Teams

New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

By: General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, Chris Fussell

Narrated by: Paul Michael

Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The retired four-star general and and best-selling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model.

Former General Stanley McChrystal held a key position for much of the War on Terror, as head of the Joint Special Operations Command. In Iraq, he found that despite the vastly superior resources, manpower, and training of the US Military, Al Qaeda had an advantage because of its structure as a loose network of small, independent cells. Those cells wreaked havoc by always staying one step ahead, sharing knowledge with each other via high-tech communications. To defeat such an agile enemy, JSOC had to change its focus from efficiency to adaptability. McChrystal led the transformation of his forces into a network that combined robust centralized communication (“shared consciousness”) with decentralized managerial authority (“empowered execution”). Now he shows not only how the military made that transition, but also how similar shifts are possible in all kinds of organizations, from large companies to startups to charities to government agencies. In a world of rapid change, the best organizations think and act like a team of teams, embracing small groups that combine the freedom to experiment with a relentless drive to share what they’ve learned. McChrystal and his colleagues explain their process for helping organizations embrace this model. They also share fascinating research and examples from settings as diverse as emergency rooms and NASA’s mission control center.

Read by Paul Michael. Introduction and recaps read by General Stanley McChrystal.

©2015 Penguin Audio (P)2015 General Stanley McChrystal, Chris Fussell, Tantum Collins, David Silverman

Critic reviews

"In addition to being a fascinating and colorful read, this book is an indispensable guide to organizational change." (Walter Isaacson, from the foreword)

"This is a bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts." (Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit)

"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." (Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind)

21st century team leadership

Great insights that apply to leading Agile Development teams of all scales. Leaders can truly lead an adaptive organization if they can let go of their "heroic leader" tendencies.

Team of Teams is a Must Read

Any leader in an organization should “read” (listen) to this book this weekend. The bigger the organization you are in, the more imperative this book is!

Incredible.

One of the best books I've ever read. Great insight on leading and producing results.

Must-Listen Leadership

I've listened to this book three times end-to-end, and still find it a valuable tool to understand the distinctions of certain types of silos in legacy organizations. While not a complete "how-to manual" in itself, it deals with very specific types of issues that plague bureaucratic organizations around the world. Highly recommended.

Bit length and repetitive, but worth it

Don't get put off by too much repetition in initial chapters. This book needs another round of editing and trimming . But overall the concept is well explained.

Fair observation of the modern world structure

The point of the book is well explained and and colourfully illustrated! On my opinion, a bit too overstretched in highlighting the same point over and over again, but it's not to the point of annoyance! Probably the most usefull information was the comparison between complex and complexity while deconstructing the reductionists system. Most powerful quote does not belong to the general himself but never the less he brought it to my attention: "People focus on doing things right instead of doing the right thing" I'll put this book in my "recommend" folder! Not exactly a must, but nevertheless​ a very good book!

Great book!

A must read for all leaders! It really captures the essence of what it takes to lead a large organization.

Understanding today’s realities & opportunities

This is the most engaging book I have read to date on understanding why our organizations are the way they are and do what they do — and why we have been finding increasing successes is our transparency and information sharing along with our distribution of decision authority and initiative. Now I have words to describe why we are finding success in our movement to this form of organizational leadership. I could not recommend this book any higher!

Must Read for Leaders (esp DoD Contractors)

Fantastic book that will cause you to rethink management of your business and your problem solving strategies. Peppered with great illustrations and practical advice. Easily one of the top biz books in last ten years.

rethinking organization

this book provides a rethinking of organizational management. moving beyond the Industrial Revolution management style into the management style for the information age.