Team of Teams Quotes

“The temptation to lead as a chess master, controlling each move of the organization, must give way to an approach as a gardener, enabling rather than directing. A gardening approach to leadership is anything but passive. The leader acts as an “Eyes-On, Hands-Off” enabler who creates and maintains an ecosystem in which the organization operates.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Purpose affirms trust, trust affirms purpose, and together they forge individuals into a working team.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“There’s likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that’s your mission.”
― General Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“I would tell my staff about the “dinosaur’s tail”: As a leader grows more senior, his bulk and tail become huge, but like the brontosaurus, his brain remains modestly small. When plans are changed and the huge beast turns, its tail often thoughtlessly knocks over people and things. That the destruction was unintentional doesn’t make it any better.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“The crew’s attachment to procedure instead of purpose offers a clear example of the dangers of prizing efficiency over adaptability.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“A leader’s words matter, but actions ultimately do more to reinforce or undermine the implementation of a team of teams. Instead of exploiting technology to monitor employee performance at levels that would have warmed Frederick Taylor’s heart, the leader must allow team members to monitor him. More than directing, leaders must exhibit personal transparency. This is the new ideal.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right thing.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Harvard Business School teams expert Amy Edmondson explains, “Great teams consist of individuals who have learned to trust each other. Over time, they have discovered each other’s strengths and weaknesses, enabling them to play as a coordinated whole.”
― General S McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Efficiency remains important, but the ability to adapt to complexity and continual change has become an imperative.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“describe resilience as “the capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and still retain its basic function and structure.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Education is resilient, training is robust.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“we nurtured holistic awareness and tried to give everyone a stake in the fight. When we stopped holding them back—when we gave them the order simply to place their ship alongside that of the enemy—they thrived.”
― General S McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Eventually a rule of thumb emerged: “If something supports our effort, as long as it is not immoral or illegal,” you could do it. Soon, I found that the question I most often asked my force was “What do you need?” We decentralized until it made us uncomfortable, and it was right there—on the brink of instability—that we found our sweet spot.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“There’s a temptation for all of us to blame failures on factors outside our control: “the enemy was ten feet tall,” “we weren’t treated fairly,” or “it was an impossible task to begin with.” There is also comfort in “doubling down” on proven processes, regardless of their efficacy. Few of us are criticized if we faithfully do what has worked many times before. But feeling comfortable or dodging criticism should not be our measure of success. There’s likely a place in paradise for people who tried hard, but what really matters is succeeding. If that requires you to change, that’s your mission.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“We dubbed this goal—this state of emergent, adaptive organizational intelligence—shared consciousness, and it became the cornerstone of our transformation.”
― General S McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Organizations must be networked, not siloed, in order to succeed.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Setting oneself on a predetermined course in unknown waters is the perfect way to sail straight into an iceberg.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Today’s rapidly changing world, marked by increased speed and dense interdependencies, means that organizations everywhere are now facing dizzying challenges, from global terrorism to health epidemics to supply chain disruption to game-changing technologies. These issues can be solved only by creating sustained organizational adaptability through the establishment of a team of teams.”
― General Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“the rules and limitations that once prevented accidents now prevented creativity.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“In popular culture, the term “butterfly effect” is almost always misused. It has become synonymous with “leverage”—the idea of a small thing that has a big impact, with the implication that, like a lever, it can be manipulated to a desired end. This misses the point of Lorenz’s insight. The reality is that small things in a complex system may have no effect or a massive one, and it is virtually impossible to know which will turn out to be the case.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“fuse generalized awareness with specialized expertise.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“The two major determinants of idea flow, Pentland has found, are “engagement” within a small group like a team, a department, or a neighborhood, and “exploration”—frequent contact with other units. In other words: a team of teams.”
― General S McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“an organization’s fitness—like that of an organism—cannot be assessed in a vacuum; it is a product of compatibility with the surrounding environment.”
― General S McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Today, a staggering 93 percent of those who work in cubicles say that they would prefer a different workspace.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“sharing information would help build relationships and the two together would kindle a new, coherent, adaptive entity that could win the fight.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“We must be bold . . . as we set sail we ask God’s blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Building holistic awareness and forcing interaction will align purpose and create a more cohesive force, but will not unleash the full potential of the organization. Maintain this system for too long without decentralizing authority, and whatever morale gains were made will be reversed as people become frustrated with their inability to act on their new insights. Just as empowerment without sharing fails, so does sharing without empowerment.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“It Takes a Network to Defeat a Network.” With that, we took the first step toward an entirely new conversation.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

“Although we intuitively know the world has changed, most leaders reflect a model and leader development process that are sorely out of date. We often demand unrealistic levels of knowledge in leaders and force them into ineffective attempts to micromanage.”
― Stanley McChrystal, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World