According to Pat, teamwork remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare. He makes the point that if you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time. Based on his runaway best-seller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Pat uncovers the natural human tendencies that derail teams and lead to politics and confusion in so many organizations. Audience members will walk away with specific advice and practical tools for overcoming the dysfunctions and making their teams more functional and cohesive.

Pat makes an overwhelming case that organizational health will surpass all other disciplines in business as the greatest opportunity for improvement and competitive advantage. Drawing on his extensive consulting experience and reaffirming many of the themes cultivated in his other best-selling books, Pat reveals the four actionable steps to achieving long-term, sustainable success. Pat claims there is an untapped gold mine sitting right beneath them. Instead of trying to become smarter, he asserts that leaders and organizations need to shift their focus to becoming healthier, allowing them to tap into the more-than-sufficient intelligence and expertise they already have. He defines a healthy organization as one with minimal politics and confusion, high degrees of morale and productivity, and low turnover among good people.

As a follow-up to The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Pat turns his attention to the individual team member, revealing the three indispensable virtues—humility, hunger, and people smarts—that make some people better team players than others. Pat explores the power this combination yields and illustrates how team members with these traits drastically accelerate the process of building high-performing teams. This approach has served as the basis for hiring and evaluation at his own firm for the past two decades, and now offers an effective method for leaders to identify and cultivate true team players in any organization. Whether you’re a leader striving to bring about a culture of collaboration, a human resources professional looking to recruit real team players, or an employee who simply wants to make yourself a more valuable team member, this talk will provide insights that can help you change your organization or your career.

According to Pat, teamwork remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare. He makes the point that if you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time. Based on his runaway best-seller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Pat uncovers the natural human tendencies that derail teams and lead to politics and confusion in so many organizations. Audience members will walk away with specific advice and practical tools for overcoming the dysfunctions and making their teams more functional and cohesive.