Extreme Teams

February 1, 2017

Consultant Shaw (Trust in the Balance) focuses on extreme teams in businesses today. Companies are seen as a collection of teams, and those recruited are people who are "highly talented but also a unique fit with their unique cultures." Shaw examines the commonalities across successful teams. Leaders of new teams need to set the higher-level purpose of the group, set up the right priorities and metrics to define a group's success, foster productive working relationships, and ensure that goals are met. Examples include Whole Foods, where team members can vote out new members and team leaders compare their team's performance with other teams; Netflix's expectations of extraordinary performance from every employee where results matter--those who work hard but don't achieve results will leave Netflix; and the intense recruitment and hiring process at Zappos, with a screening process that starts with potential employees joining the online community Zappos Insiders. Further research on the topic is facilitated by an extensive list of chapter notes which lists bibliographical references. VERDICT Highly informative and recommended for practitioners, faculty, and students of business, this book should be part of assigned readings for undergraduate and graduate students of management.--Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Queens, NY

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