Summary Of Patrick Lencioni's Advantage

Patrick Lencioni’s book Advantage is entirely different from many of his other books, which read like fables; therefore, his would be my only complaint against Advantage. However, as Lencioni alludes, this is the book he wished he had written first. And rightly so, Advantage includes many of the principles taught in at least five of his other books and his big idea comes in this opening statement: “The single greatest advantage any company can achieve is organizational health.” The entire book is built around creating organizational health as opposed to most leadership books that attempt to teach new tricks to help an organization grow. Lencioni is convinced; and does an excellent job convincing his readers, that organizational health, not …show more content…
He says, “There’s just no way around it. If an organization is led by a team that is not behaviorally unified, there is no chance that it will become healthy.” This is absolutely true. If a leadership team is not able to trust one another, the entire organization will suffer. For example, Andy Stanley says, “Harboring suspicion and mistrust will eventually poison the culture of your organization.” Furthermore, Lencioni’s point with trust is that it is the very foundation of a leadership team and really what it comes down to is venerability and willingness to own …show more content…
He points out that most organizations attempt to avoid all conflict; and therefore, leaders never communicate what they really think which breads mistrust and employee angst. Therefore, in an attempt to teach readers how to master conflict, Lencioni displays The Conflict Continuum which show the difference between destructive and constructive conflict. His point is that a cohesive leadership team needs to remain right in the middle not attempting to alleviate the tension, but rather use that tension to unearth the best ideas and solutions. Finally, focusing on results brings a cohesive leadership together like nothing else. The most profound idea that Lencioni creates is the “One Team, One Score.” The idea is that a cohesive leadership team is less focused on their individual goals, but rather the entire organizations goals. He says, in order to get there, “all members place a higher priority on the team they’re a member of than the team they lead in their departments.” The reason this is so important is because it ensures that everyone will support one another rather than going silo. Perhaps this is the true test of unity in a