Team of Teams

FOREWORD BY WALTER ISAACSON

Whether in business or in war, the ability to react quickly and adapt is critical, and it s becoming even more so as technology and disruptive forces increase the pace of change. That requires new ways to communicate and work together. In today s world, creativity is a collaborative endeavor. Innovation is a team effort.

This book draws timely lessons for any organization seeking to triumph in this new environment. Based on very real and vividly described situations that General McChrystal encountered as a commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, it describes how organizations need to reinvent themselves. This involves breaking down silos, working across divisions, and mastering the flexible response that comes from true teamwork and collaboration.

I have observed this phenomenon in my own study of innovation in the digital age. The greatest innovations have not come from a lone inventor or from solving problems in a top-down, command-and-control style. Instead, the great successes the creation of the computer, transistor, microchip, Internet come from a team of teams working together in pursuit of a common goal.

I once asked Steve Jobs, often mistakenly considered a lone visionary and authoritarian leader, which of his creations made him most proud. I thought he might say the original Macintosh, or the iPhone. Instead he pointed out that these were all collaborative efforts. The creations he was most proud of, he said, were the teams he had produced, starting with the original Macintosh team working under a pirate flag in the early 1980s and the remarkable team he had assembled by the time he stepped down from Apple in 2011.

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

General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and Chris Fussell

In addition to being a fascinating and colorful read, this book is an indispensable guide to organizational change. Walter Isaacson, from the foreword
 
This is a bold argument that leaders can help teams become greater than the sum of their parts. Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit
 
Team of Teams is erudite, elegant, and insightful. An unexpected and surprising wealth of information and wonder, it provides a blueprint for how to cope with increasing complexity in the world. A must read for anyone who cares about the future and that means all of us. Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind
 
Team of Teams is a compelling, pragmatic argument for a more information-rich, decentral­ized approach to management from a leader who has successfully weathered storms with higher stakes than most business leaders will ever encounter. A must-read book for anyone serious about taking their leadership further, faster. John Venhuizen, president & CEO, Ace Hardware Corporation
 
General Stan McChrystal s Team of Teams is an instant classic. Best leadership book I have read in many a decade, by one of our nation s most gifted and iconic general officers. Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Supreme Allied Commander at NATO 2009 2013; dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
 
The lessons and concepts outlined in Team of Teams provide a valuable blueprint for leader­ship across any industry or domain. The principles of classical leadership struggle to deal with today s pace of change, free-flow of information, and the entrepreneurial spirit of the digital generation. Team of Teams harnesses these new realities as assets, providing a leader­ship framework to produce the inclusiveness and adaptability of a fast-moving start-up, at the scale of any size organization. Brad Smith, president and CEO, Intuit
 
In Team of Teams, General Stanley