Bethe, whom Oppenheimer chose over Teller to head the Theoretical Division of the lab, was equally effusive in Oppenheimer’s praise. “He understood immediately when he heard anything, and fitted it into the general scheme of things and drew the right conclusions,” Bethe told Rhodes. “There was just nobody else in that laboratory who came even close

The scientists could move from one project to another, which meant, member Chuck Thacker recalled, the best projects attracted the best people and “as a result, quality work flourished, less interesting work tended to wither.”

The payoff is not money, or even glory. Again and again, members of Great Groups say they would have done the work for nothing. The reward is the creative process itself. Problem solving douses the human brain with chemicals that make us feel good.

Americans don’t like people claiming credit for other people’s work. It violates their sense of fair play. And so Walt Disney was more or less forced to come up with a satisfactory explanation of exactly what he did at the company that bore his name. The Disney version of the truth, the one that the studio would turn to again and again, was the bee

Efficiency is, in fact, not a word much used by the groups in this book. Driven by a belief in their mission, unconcerned by working hours or working conditions, these groups aim to make a difference, not to make money. Could efficiency, productivity, and the desire for immediate pay-offs occasionally be road blocks on the way to greatness?

As Carville liked to say, quoting Disraeli, “A good leader knows himself and the times.”

Their clear, collective purpose makes everything they do seem meaningful and valuable. A powerful enough vision can transform what would otherwise be loss and drudgery into sacrifice.

Pragmatism was the gospel of Los Alamos. People often had to improvise, and not just in terms of equipment. People such as Teller, who reacted to every slight and were relentlessly confrontational, often accomplished less than those who found clever, oblique ways to get what they wanted.

Later, during the manufacturing phase of the project, there was a dramatic increase in foreign-object damage, or FOD. This happens when a worker accidentally leaves a screw or other object in an engine or when objects fall out of pockets and are left behind. One creative solution: workers were issued coveralls without pockets.