Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors

by Patrick Lencioni

Practical and hands-on strategies for breaking down silos and minimizing workplace politics In yet another page-turner, New York Times best-selling author and acclaimed management expert Patrick Lencioni addresses the costly and maddening issue of silos: the barriers that create organizational politics. Silos devastate organizations, kill productivity, push good people out the door, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals. As with his other books, Lencioni writes Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars as a fictional―but eerily familiar―story. The story is about Jude Cousins, an eager young management consultant struggling to launch his practice by solving one of the more universal and frustrating problems faced by his clients. Through trial and error, he develops a simple yet ground-breaking approach for helping them transform confusion and infighting into clarity and alignment. In the book, you’ll find: Perfect for executives, managers, and other business leaders, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars will also earn a place in the libraries of consultants and other professionals who serve organizations of all sizes.

Genres: Business, Leadership, Nonfiction, Management, Professional Development, Audiobook, Buisness

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 17, 2006

About the author

Patrick Lencioni is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker, consultant and founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to helping organizations become healthy. Lencioni’s ideas around leadership, teamwork and employee engagement have impacted organizations around the globe. His books have sold nearly three million copies worldwide.

When Lencioni is not writing, he consults to CEOs and their executive teams, helping them to become more cohesive within the context of their business strategy. The widespread appeal of Lencioni’s leadership models have yielded a diverse base of clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, universities and churches. In addition, Lencioni speaks to thousands of leaders each year at world class organizations and national conferences. He was recently cited in the Wall Street Journal as one of the most sought-after business speakers in the nation.

Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lencioni is a good writer. Highlights:
1. Silos occur because executives fail to give their employees a compelling context for working together
a. Without this, everyone moves in different directions, often at cross purposes
b. Every assumes their own activities are in the best interest of the company and don't understand why others aren't doing the same
c. They begin to resent each other
2. Dissolve Silos by creating a thematic goal: A Rallying Cry.
a. A Thematic Goal - a single, qualitative focus that is shared by the entire leadership team and ultimately, by the entire organization and that applies for only a specified time period.
i. For example - rebuild our credibility,
b. A Set of Defining Objectives
i. Shared by all members of the leadership team
ii. Like customer satisfaction, establish a unified marketing message, eliminiate redundant and underperforming products, merge back office systems and processes, market share, quality, establish a strategy,
c. Time Frame - # months (it's not permanent)
d. A set of ongoing standard operating objectives
i. Revenue
ii. Market share by product
iii. Employee turnover
iv. Etc..
e. Metrics

[Daniel Silvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lencioni knows a good formula when he finds it: Pick a thorny subject like Silos, Meetings, Team Dysfunction, spin a story that illustrates the ins and outs of the issue in the real world, then boil it down to a quickie model that readers can immediately use – whether they’ve actual read the preceding fable or not.

While not at the level of his best selling work, ”The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” this is a valuable addition to the subject and quandary of organizational silos. The story revolves around a young consultant struggling to get his practice off the ground while riding the rough waves of unhappy clients. Eventually, our hero comes up with a model that ties departments together towards a common cause: The Thematic Goal.

A Thematic Goal is the “single, qualitative, time framed, rallying cry adopted by the entire management team.” If for example, your company has just made an acquisition, a thematic goal that every department could collaborate upon would be: Integrating the acquisition into the company. Each functional area would draw up “Defining Objectives” that represent their contribution to achieving the goal. With everyone pulling in the same direction, great ideas are more likely to cross pollinate and groups that normally barely talk to one another actually work together towards the Thematic Goal’s success.

While this model is far from a complete solution to the issue of silos in the workplace, it is well thought out place to start. Highly recommended.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

After another frustrating encounter at the office a coworker recommended this book. I’m glad they did.
Not only does Lenccioni weave a story to provide a fictional story the reader can relate to, he closes with the non-fictional practical theory of how to break down silos.
The blending of fiction with what would otherwise be dry theory provides the views needed for readers to start with an actionable plan for their teams to work with one goal in mind.

[Jaclyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The message is simple, and makes a lot of sense: companies need a common theme to work towards, and all leaders and employees should tailor their work towards that theme. Basically, imagine the company is in a crisis -- what's actually essential to focus on?

I do feel the book minimizes the human element (i.e. staff members) somewhat -- a moment where the head nurse, who'd started off advocating strongly for what her nurses need to do their jobs, suddenly changes her mind after the leadership team decides on an overarching theme left a bad taste for me. She basically said, "now I see this, I can no longer justify fighting for the stuff my nurses want." And I'm all for finding a shared purpose, but I've seen too often people who aren't on the leadership level work themselves into the ground just for this grand purpose, and while their efforts benefit the company, they themselves receive little of the benefit. Lencioni takes a very executive-centric view, which is totally fair, and probably what executives should be focusing on. And like I said, I fully agree with the need for companies to find a shared purpose, and shared priorities. I would just prefer a much more compassionate approach to leadership, that takes into account the company's people along with the (not necessarily financial) bottom line.

I think part of the frustration for me is that the book suggests that the company decides its main purpose and central goals, but all the operational stuff still needs to continue going on. And again it makes sense -- obviously, you can't stop doing sales and accounting and legal stuff while you focus on the big goal. But I feel that Lencioni missed the mark in not asking leaders to reflect on how these operational goals tie into their big goals. Perhaps it's implied, but the way the fable is framed, it almost seemed like it's all just extra work to pile on to the staff, so they need to keep the trains running on time, so to speak, while still helping the company move to the big goal. Why not take some time to reflect on those operational bits and pieces, and help employees understand how each of those bits actually contributes towards the shared goal?

Still, I like the idea that leaders should all agree on the main goal, and I agree that silos often occur when leaders are engaged in their own turf war, while their staff really just wants to get along and do the work. So there's also a lot within this book that I agree with. Overall, I'm not super sure where I land on the ideas and suggestions Lencioni writes, but the book's making me think on stuff about leadership and company culture.

[Ashik Uzzaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished "Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying the Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors" by Patrick Lencioni yesterday. In Pat's true style like "Five Dysfunctions of Team", this is another business fable where he tackles a big problem in organizations - Silos.

He not only gives us ways to identify silos, departmental politics but also tells us how to solve it. The model for combating silos consists of four components -

1) A Thematic Goal - A single qualitative focus that is shared by the entire leadership team–and ultimately, by the entire organization–and that applies for only a specified time period. It must be,
* Single. There can only be one. Something has to be the most important.
* Qualitative. This is not a number. It is a general statement of the desired accomplishment requiring a verb because it rallies people to do something (e.g. Improve, Reduce, Increase, Grow, Change, Establish, Eliminate, Accelerate, etc.)
* Time-Bound. The thematic goal does not live beyond a fixed time period, because that would suggest that it is an ongoing objective.
* Shared. The thematic goal applies to everyone on the leadership team regardless of their area of expertise or interest.

2) A Set of Defining Objectives - Components or building blocks that serve to clarify exactly what is meant by the thematic goal. Like the thematic goal, these objectives are also qualitative, time-bound, and shared.

3) A Set of Ongoing Standard Operating Objectives - The ongoing objectives that don’t go away from period to period. The danger is in mistaking one of these critical objectives for a rallying cry (thematic goal).

4) Metrics - Measurement. Metrics could be numbers or dates (time frames).

Source: http://www.dragon-bishop.com/2020/08/...

[Samuel Kassing · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you aren’t familiar with Lencioni’s work he writes fables that embed simple business truths into a story.

This book is no different. I usually approach his work looking for basic sociological insights into leadership.

My big take away here is that a clearly defined share goal with actionable steps is critical for a team to not settle into their respective “turf”. If a team member is going to own the whole he has to know how he is a part of the whole or how he should subordinate his role to the success of the whole.

[Joe Van Huysen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful and organized protocol to follow for organizations and their executive teams. The case studies and real life examples across industries are perfect to relate to. Main takeaways: Assess the current status of your organization, decide as a team what needs to be improved upon the most (the “Thematic Goal”), and get all departments on board. Set a realistic time to accomplish with specific steps. Once it has been accomplished, decide upon a new Thematic Goal. Always have one in motion.

[Meaghan Johns · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This is a business fable that might have been more effective as a white paper. Lencioni shares the good advice of rallying an entire organization behind a clear and time-sensitive cause in order to eliminate politics and silos, but that's where the story ends. He shares what a leader should do to start eradicating silos and what happens after silos are eradicated, but misses the challenges and the journey that happens in the middle. I appreciated the message, but felt that the story was incomplete - or perhaps written from the wrong character's point of view.

[Chloe Flanagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly Insightful!

Lencioni’s use of the fable to explain the Silo problem and its solution really helped clarify the issues and made it easy to recognize how they play out in real life.

This is a useful read for those interested in cohesion within an organization and figuring out how to make all the moving parts come together toward common goals.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great concepts and practical leadership advice but far too much time on the “fable” and too little time on the theory. The theory portion is only 30 pages and I would have like it to be fleshed out a bit more.

[Nick Sopchak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always think Lencioni books are going to be silly - ‘a leadership fable’ 🙄 but by the end I have a profound sense of clarity and understanding about the topic w/ clear ideas to apply to my organization.

This one is p good

[Jenel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I would hope all high level organizational leaders read and think deeply about. I don’t fit into that category, but it was still good content to think through.

[Jeff Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, easy to read. Perhaps a bit more difficult to implement.

[Joost Nixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, Lencioni's "fable" method of communicating ideas is pretty easy on the brain. Then he follows up with theory. Helpful. Pretty simple.

[Jenn "JR" · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll be honest: I’m not usually a fan of the “business fable” format, and this one has all the classic early‑2000s fable tropes. The personal‑life padding, the pregnancy storyline, the protagonist’s wife designing his logo — none of that adds anything. It feels dated and unnecessary, like the book is trying to make the protagonist “relatable” in a very specific, very last‑century way. But in 2006, people often needed these ideas wrapped in a story to actually absorb them. The fable structure made the message feel safe enough for leaders who would have tuned out a more direct approach.

And despite the saccharine framing, the book has a can‑do energy that, for a moment, made me wonder whether going freelance as a consultant was a viable option. It’s written to make you feel like you can walk into a messy organization, diagnose the dysfunction, and rally people around a shared purpose. That tone is part of why the book works, even if the personal‑life filler is something we could all do without.

The moment that actually matters: listening
The strongest part of the book isn’t the crisis or the characters or the manufactured drama. It’s the moment the protagonist realizes he actually has to listen to people. Not the performative “I hear you” version, but the real “tell me what you think the problem is” version. That’s the turning point. He stops trying to impose a solution and starts trying to understand the motivations, fears, and incentives of the people involved. Once he does that, he can help them find a common cause that isn’t just “stop being political” or “work better together.” People don’t align because someone tells them to. They align when they see themselves in the problem and the solution.

Workshops that actually work
Another part of the book that lands well is the use of workshops. Breaking people into groups, giving them space to talk, and letting them surface the real issues is simple but powerful. It reminded me immediately of how a group director organized our team at a large software company that was transitioning from traditional off‑the‑shelf products to cloud‑based SaaS. He didn’t lecture at us or hand down a vision from a podium. He put us into groups, gave us real problems to solve, and let us figure out the patterns ourselves. It worked. We saw real, recognized success because people were engaged, aligned, and actually talking to each other.

And then the team was split up because the organization insisted on grouping people by role. Program managers with program managers, designers with designers. The exact opposite of what had been working. The book captures that dynamic perfectly. Cross‑functional collaboration works, but organizations keep reorganizing themselves away from it.

The environments that suffer most are the ones where people are just mean
One thing Lencioni does well is highlight how much damage people do when they rely on stereotypes, reductionist labels, or just plain meanness. The environments that suffer the most in the book aren’t the ones with the biggest strategic problems. They’re the ones where people stop seeing each other as human beings and start treating each other like caricatures. That part felt very real.

You can have the best strategy in the world, but if people are dismissive, snide, territorial, or operating from assumptions about “those people over in that department,” nothing moves. The fictional drama exaggerates it, but the underlying pattern is familiar to anyone who has worked in a large organization.

And this is where Sense and Respond quietly overlaps. Even though it’s a very different kind of book, the author stresses the importance of people getting along socially and actually connecting. Not in a forced team‑building way, but in the sense that teams who like and respect each other simply work better. They share information. They surface problems earlier. They don’t default to defensiveness. Both books, in their own ways, point to the same thing: the social fabric of an organization matters more than the process diagrams.

The part the book doesn’t say out loud: communication skills are the real issue
Here’s where I diverge from the book. The story resolves because the protagonist listens, empathizes, and helps people articulate their needs. But the book never names the actual skill set behind that shift. This is where Nonviolent Communication comes in.

If more people in corporate environments understood how to express their needs clearly, hear other people’s needs without defensiveness, separate observations from interpretations, and navigate conflict without escalation, a lot of the so‑called silos and politics would evaporate. Not all of it, because incentives and structures still matter, but the day‑to‑day friction would drop dramatically.

Most organizational gridlock isn’t caused by strategy. It’s caused by miscommunication, assumptions, and emotional reactivity that no one has the tools to name or address. The book hints at this through the story, but it never says it directly. The real lesson isn’t “create a rallying cry.” It’s “learn how to communicate like an adult.”

Why the book still works
Even with the storytelling format (which I still think is unnecessary), the book works because it taps into something real. People want to fix broken systems. They want to feel connected to a purpose bigger than their department. They want to contribute without getting caught in territorial nonsense. The book isn’t a manual for organizational design and it’s not a deep dive into incentives or systems thinking, but it is a reminder that people want to work in environments where they feel heard and aligned.

Sometimes a story is enough to get someone to see that.

Where to go next
If someone finishes this book and wants to go deeper into the part that actually matters -- the human part -- I’d point them toward Nonviolent Communication. Not the corporate‑sanitized version found in many books, but the real thing. It’s the best framework I’ve seen that gives people a usable way to express needs, hear other people’s needs without spiraling, and navigate conflict without turning it into a referendum on someone’s character.

Both Silos and Sense and Respond hint at this. They show the symptoms. NVC gives you the underlying mechanics. It’s the difference between “we need to break down silos” and “here’s how to talk to each other in a way that doesn’t create them in the first place.”

If more people in corporate environments had even a basic grounding in NVC, a lot of the friction, misinterpretation, and territorial behavior that slows organizations down would disappear. Not all of it — incentives and structures still matter — but enough that the work would move faster and the culture would feel less like a minefield.

It’s not a magic fix. It’s just the part we keep skipping.

I also kept thinking about how many people insist on keeping their “work life” and “personal life” completely separate, as if those two selves don’t influence each other. If someone is rigidly compartmentalized in their own life, they will bring that same separation into the workplace. And I don’t need to know the details of someone’s cancer treatment or their partner’s high‑risk pregnancy to understand that people need space and time to handle the realities of their lives. The point isn’t the specifics. The point is recognizing that people are whole humans, and organizations function better when they acknowledge that instead of pretending everyone is a blank, interchangeable worker during business hours.

ORIGINAL URL: http://www.livegreenwearblack.com/202...

[Barrett Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a brilliant use of a fable to convey core principles around the dangers of internal organizational conflict.

As companies expand, they become more prone to developing silos of leaders and teams with narrow (typically department-centric) visions for the future. This narrowness often is a result of progressive role specialization, that, while many times necessary, creates significant leanings and biases based off the needs that are most relevant to “your team.”

Lencioni’s simple concepts of having a broad, Thematic Goal (a qualitative mission involving all teams) to help everyone take off their functional hats and share a general/executive hat, along with a Rallying Cry and Defining Objectives to synchronize the efforts of each individual team, have proven helpful on several occasions.

This book shines a light on the intent of each team, and asks “do we still share a common, driving purpose with everyone else?” and “in what ways have I contributed to cultural fragmentation?”

Lastly, a point that was emphasized in multiple instances: if we have a department for ‘it’, it’s either vital to the whole or must go immediately. Turf wars commence abruptly when teams begin developing departmental hierarchy on the mere basis of being “most important” to company success, and such superiority complexes are toxic.

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think of Lencioni's little books as the romance section of the business genre. They're quick to read, easily digestible, and actually have some salient points, I just don't know how readily you can apply those points to your own business situation.

Silos, Politics and Turf Wars deals with the way people try to protect "their" areas when they feel threatened. I'm sure everyone works with someone who is territorial and defensive when they're asked probing questions or to explain something more completely.

The gem I'm taking from this book is how to identify these behaviors. I work in a very small shop and try to be as open and honest as I can in order to avoid turf wars, but they do crop up now and again. If this book helps me head those off in the future, the purchase price and time spent reading it were worth it.

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another engaging and useful read from Patric Lencioni, best know for The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Lencioni’s books are presented as ‘fables’ i.e. fictional pedagogical short stories intended to illustrate and teach his ideas on organizational management.

It sounded cringe worthy to me before I started reading them.

Now I’m HOOKED.

They are so damn effective.

As the title suggests.

This one is pertinent to toxic intraorganizational competition and infighting.

More importantly.

It gives practical advice on how to reduce (or better yet) eliminate that shit altogether.

I won’t bother with the details.

It’s a Saturday and I am feeling too chill for all that.

Suffice it to say.

This is a good one.

But start with The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

If you like that one, you’ll like this one.

[Thadeus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Patrick Lencioni ‘leadership fable book’ I’ve read and it did not disappoint. If you are part of an organization that is looking for ways to breakdown silos and work toward building a cohesive team, this is the book for you.

I was very impressed with how well the fable relayed the key principles, and I also appreciated the laying out of the model components after the fable. I hope to see the implementation of this approach make a positive difference in my organization.

Highly recommended!

[Abhishek Shekhar · Rating 3 out of 5]

HR Theory sugar coated with a fable. I would have liked it more if the theory was just put in plain without trying to create fiction over it. The last section summarizes all the way to have a thematic goal with few case studies. This sections sums it all that author puts forward and can be used by organizations or consultants to improve silos problem.

One Takeway: To destroy barriers (silos) you need to create a crisis.

[DeeDee Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the principals of the book, but the fable was too long and the actual content too short. As a result, we get a great high level perspective on how to address silos, but the practical application barely scratched the surface.

[Peter Krol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful on bringing people together around a common goal. Geared for a business context.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best out of this author's leadership books so far. a must read.

[Holly Curby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember getting passed over for the job promotion. My previous boss had told the hiring manager that despite receiving my degree in the field and completing my training within the company for that very position, that I wasn’t ready. Worse? Their successor shared with me that my previous boss had left notes of the position and one included not to invest in me. Fast forward and I not only was given the opportunity to be promoted into that position for a competitor, but I excelled in it - reaching and surpassing goals my first year in the position and going on to even receive recognitions and awards for my positive impact in such field.

So often we can view our colleagues as competition and build walls and barriers we aren’t even aware of constructing that prevent us from best working as a team, in collaboration with one another, building each other up - not tearing each other down.

In Silos, Politics and Turf Wars, the author proposes a theory for an alignment that can be applied to any organization - both large and small. He evaluates opportunities for teams to recognize the infighting within an organization and instead look at developing what he refers to as the rally cry. Once developing your organization’s rally cry in efforts to create company alignment, Lencioni directs you to establish the building blocks with include a thematic goal, defining objectives, developing the standard operating objectives, and conclude with implementing metrics. All of which is the author’s goal of “building a cohesive leadership team.”

After reading this book and then reflecting on my own experience of barriers that seemed to appear during that transition from one boss to another, it’s sad to reflect that such silos were created with the intent to “cause people who are supposed to be on the same team to work against one another.” The author warns us that such division can often cause confusion which turns to disappointment, which leads to resentment and often can cause colleges to work against each other. I chose a different route. Although I never called upon that leader for advice while serving in such position, I did choose to reflect positively on our time together and the things I did learn from them. I still smile when I think of them and I chose to see their error as just that - a one-time bad judgment, no matter the reason. We all have been there. We get jealous, envious, intimidated, or just insecure. It doesn’t have to define us, and we can learn from our mistakes. We can also learn from the mistakes of others. From that day on I vowed to always invest in others with a goal that if and when they excel me, to be the first in line to cheer them on. After all, I’d rather have relationships and my time with them not wasted, vs. the alternative of silos, politics and turf wars.

www.hollycurby.com/resources-list

[Nicholas O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Topic: Organizational Culture, Communication, Leadership

Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
goodreads Rating: 4.1/5
Nick’s Rating: 4.0/5

Who should (or when to) read this: people that are struggling with silos and people hoarding “information”.

Nick’s Major takeaway(s): Find common goals, a common rallying cry, something that has meaning for everyone. Matrix organizations are especially susceptible to siloing.

Notable Quotes: “Silos—and the turf wars they enable—devastate organizations. They waste resources, kill productivity, and jeopardize the achievement of goals.” – Patrick Lencioni
“well-intentioned but ill-advised series of actions—training programs, memos, posters—designed to inspire people to work better together. But these initiatives only provoke cynicism among employees—who would love nothing more than to eliminate the turf wars”
"Why matrix organizational structures became so popular I’m not really sure. There is certainly an element of flexibility and collaboration suggested by them, but in reality they are forums for confusion and conflict. They have certainly not contributed to the breakdown of silos; they’ve merely added an element of schizophrenia and cognitive dissonance for employees who are unlucky enough to report into two different silos."
“There is perhaps no greater cause of professional anxiety and exasperation—not to mention turnover—than employees having to fight with people in their own organization. Understandably and inevitably, this bleeds over into their personal lives, affecting family and friends in profound ways.”

If you are interested in more suggestions about personal development, growth and leadership; follow me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/growthshe... to see content on “level up literature” #lul

[Siying · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’m officially hitting "Lencioni fatigue." This is the third book I’ve read by him, and it feels like the magic is wearing off. I loved The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (5 stars) and liked Death by Meeting (4 stars), but this one just didn't land for me.

Where was the drama?

Honestly, the title promised me The Art of War, but the story gave me a "quiet day at the office." I was expecting a high-stakes corporate thriller filled with the gritty reality of office politics—the juicy stuff like backstabbing, credit-stealing, and "all-out" power struggles.

Instead, the scope felt far too narrow. It followed a freelance consultant’s career and family life, which was hard for me to really get invested in. I was looking for a sweeping "business war," but the hook was too minimal to keep me hooked. I think I’ve just figured out Lencioni’s pattern, and the "fable" formula is starting to feel a bit predictable.

The Theory: A New Spin on OKRs?

The theory section is definitely better than the story, and the case studies are solid. However, at its core, this feels like OKR-lite. It’s essentially the OKR framework with a fresh coat of paint, breaking the "Objective" into three specific buckets:

* The Thematic Goal (the big "Rallying Cry")
* Defining Objectives
* Standard Operating Objectives

The Reality Check

I still have a big lingering question: Does this actually solve politics? I’m skeptical. To me, silos and turf wars are rooted in human nature. You can give everyone a "shared goal" on paper, but that doesn't stop people from fighting over headcount, budgets, or who gets the credit. Even with a "rallying cry," human ego and the competition for resources are hard to fix with a simple framework.

[Daniel Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. It started off promisingly, suggesting that it could help to break down silos within organizations. The book is written in story format where we follow a guy named Jude as he starts a consulting business and discovers the solution to silos. There author have an interview at the end of the audiobook where he said that he felt that the story format makes the message of the book more relatable. I'm not sure I agree. I felt that the story format just adds clutter around the book's real purpose: to inform me how to combat silos in my organization. Instead, I got a lot of information about Jude's family life, including how he and his wife scheduled visiting their premature twin daughters in the hospital. If you want a good family drama about dealing with the pressures of having children and starting a new business, I recommend looking to other books.

The main argument this book has is that silos can be beaten by unifying an organization around a rallying cry. The author also talks about this rallying cry as a fabricated crisis which will unify an organization. This seems to oversimplify the problem a little bit. I think it's trust the author a little more if he quoted a free studies or gave examples from real organizations, but unfortunately he doesn't.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patrick Lencioni delivers another brilliant leadership book.

In an era of OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), over 10 years ago Patrick was describing in this fable the importance of knocking down walls that divide through thematic goals, objectives and measures.

The most important aspect of this fable (told through a series of fictional companies) is how the executive team are a single team with one common objective, being the successful delivery to their purpose.

Patrick explores that silos, politics and turf wars are driven from the top, in how the executive team engage each other and work together. To do this, the book covers,

- How to recognize the signs of the devastating power of silos.
- Why it is necessary to take steps to start knocking down the walls that divide departments.
- How to create a rallying cry or an over-arching thematic goal.
- How to determine an organization’s defining objectives and standard operating objectives.
- Why it is important to measure and monitor your organization’s performance against these goals.
- How employees can survive the confusion that is often found in matrix organizations.

This is the 3rd book by Patrick Lencioni I have read and each has been brilliant.

[Jordan Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favorite Lencioni book, but one worth reading. Although the "consultant figuring it out along the way" is a relatable story, and I think the overall themes are pretty good, but it didn't have any major AHA type moments in the book like some of the others have.

The concepts are on point. Silos and turf wars ruin organizations and start even at small sizes, and so understanding that and working actively to prevent it is a good thing. I think the major thing to take away from the book is that if you sit on a leadership team, you need to leave your title at the door and just come into all meetings with the idea that your job - regardless of your role - is to make the company better. This concept resonates with me but is in conflict with the box concept EOS drives. I don't think they intentionally mean for people to not help other boxes, but I do think the overall concept sets the foundation for Silos to be built.

[Rakesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for everyone who wants to learn leadership
lessons on the crisis. I just read at one go and enjoyed
a lot while reading. There are so many things rightly mentioned
by author with real life scenario's and that are happening
still in the corporate day to day life. If someone wants to start
consulting business then this is the book to read.

The Silos theory and basic roots are well explained with the example.
The corporate should implement these timeless principles and framework to improve
the boding with the team and it helps company culture.

I like this line from the book about Silos definition.

"Silos are nothing more than the barriers that exist between
departments within an organization, causing people
who are supposed to be on the same team to work against
one another. And whether we call this phenomenon departmental
politics, divisional rivalry, or turf warfare, it is one of
the most frustrating aspects of life in any sizable organization"