The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni – Book Review

This article will provide my highlights of the fantastic book “The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive” by Patrick Lencioni.

The following topics are important for anyone who is trying to build a strong organisation and highly effective teams.

#1 Building and maintaining a cohesive leadership team

This should be a group of people who are passionate about their work where meetings are never boring. They are diverse in both personality types and expertise. This group should be willing to challenge one another but come together once a common outcome is reached.

Cohesive teams fight but then move on.

To achieve this, the team must build a deep level of trust and understand each other on a personal level.

#2 Creating Organisational Clarity: 

Ask these questions:

🌍 Why does the organisation exist and what differences does it make in the world?

🏅 What behavioural values are irreplaceable and fundamental?

📈 What business are we in?

🧭 How does our approach differ from that of our competition?

📆 What are our goals this month, this quarter, this year, next year, five years from now?

👩‍💻 Who has to do what for us to achieve our goals this month, this quarter, this year, next year, five years from now?

Every employee should be able to describe and define the mission.

#3 Overcommunicating Organisational Clarity: 

This is one of the hardest parts to achieve.

🔄 Every leader needs to feel like they are overcommunicating and repeating themselves over and over again. The words and communication methods can change but the message should be consistent.

📧 At the end of every exec meeting, there should be time set aside to clarify the message which will be cascaded to the teams

#4 Reinforcing organisational clarity through human systems

Maintaining organisational clarity requires it to be built into the fabric and culture of the business. Systems of working that focus on human behaviour are needed and they will help ensure that the business retains its focus and purpose even when faced with challenges.

I hope you all enjoy this book as much as I did.

Remember, extraordinary executives, focus on organisational health.

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