Sublime

The missing link between an individual’s prosocial motivation and an organization with a truly inspiring purpose appears to be at the team level. It’s not about what flows from the top; it’s about what’s being discussed

This process is so fundamental to collaboration without hierarchy that many self-managing organizations train every new recruit in conflict resolution.

This team model will help you to judge your team. Begin by defining the skills, expertise and resources that you think are important for carrying out the project. Note the skills that are absolutely necessary for the job. Distinguish between soft skills (e.g., loyalty, motivation, reliability) and hard skills (e.g., computer, business and knowledge

But what’s little discussed (at least in academic circles, where it’s less apparent) is that once you are at work among a pool of colleagues who are about as smart as you are, your cognitive abilities alone do not make you outstanding—particularly as a leader. There’s a floor effect for IQ when everyone in the group is at the same high level.

“circle organization,” re-conceiving traditional top management roles in terms of three overlapping circles of activity: “create demand,” “produce product,” and “provide support.”

of the firm’s entire productive capacity, 40 or 50 percent is consumed with a higher-priced person performing a lower-value task.

If you give a good idea to a mediocre team, they will screw it up. If you give a mediocre idea to a brilliant team, they will either fix it or throw it away and come up with something better. The takeaway here is worth repeating: Getting the team right is the necessary precursor to getting the ideas right. It is easy to say you want talented

(1) power and status differences, and (2) cooperative or competitive interdependence.