Patrick Lencioni

Whether we're talking about leadership, teamwork, or client service, there is no more powerful attribute than the ability to be genuinely honest about one's weaknesses, mistakes, and needs for help.

What's amazing is that so many leaders who value teamwork will tolerate people who aren't humble. They reluctantly hire self-centred people and then justify it because those people have desired skills.

If you could get all the people in the organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.

When leaders throughout an organization take an active, genuine interest in the people they manage, when they invest real time to understand employees at a fundamental level, they create a climate for greater morale, loyalty, and, yes, growth.

Anybody, and any company, can have a big run of success once, but if you're going to repeat that over time, you need to be aware that you need to keep learning.

The truth is that intelligence, knowledge, and domain expertise are vastly overrated as the driving forces behind competitive advantage and sustainable success.

I have yet to meet members of a leadership team who I thought lacked the intelligence or the domain expertise required to be successful. I've met many, however, who failed to foster organizational health. Their companies were riddled with politics, various forms of dysfunction, and general confusion about their direction and mission.

There is almost nothing more painful for a leader than seeing good people leave a growing organization, whether it's a priest watching a Sunday school teacher walk out the door or a CEO saying goodbye to a co-founder.

The kind of people that all teams need are people who are humble, hungry, and smart: humble being little ego, focusing more on their teammates than on themselves. Hungry, meaning they have a strong work ethic, are determined to get things done, and contribute any way they can. Smart, meaning not intellectually smart but inner personally smart.

Teamwork requires some sacrifice up front people who work as a team have to put the collective needs of the group ahead of their individual interests.

Team synergy has an extraordinary impact on business results.

Commitment is a function of two things: clarity and buy-in

People who don__ like conflict have an amazing ability to avoid it, even when they know it__ theoretically necessary

The lack of conflict is precisely the cause of one of the biggest problems that meetings have: they are boring

I don__ think anyone ever gets completely used to conflict. If it__ not a little uncomfortable, then it__ not real. The key is to keep doing it anyway

conflict is productive

Ego is the ultimate killer on a team