Patrick Lencioni is founder and president of The Table Group, Inc., a
specialized management-consulting firm focused on organizational health. He has
been described by The One-Minute Manager's Ken Blanchard as "fast defining the
next generation of leadership thinkers."
Pat's passion for organizations and teams is reflected in his writing,
speaking, and consulting. Lencioni is the author of six best-selling books with
over 2.5 million copies sold. After several years in print, his book The Five
Dysfunctions of a Team continues to be a fixture on national best-seller lists.
His latest work, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job (2007), became an instant
best-seller in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and BusinessWeek.
Pat's work has been featured in numerous publications such as Fast Company, INC
Magazine, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Drucker Foundation's Leader to Leader and
Harvard Business Review.
As a consultant and keynote speaker, he has worked with thousands of senior
executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500s and high-tech start-ups
to universities and nonprofits. Clients who have engaged his services include
Southwest Airlines, Sam's Club, Microsoft, New York Life, Cox Communications,
Allstate, Visa, FedEx and the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, to name a few.
Prior to founding The Table Group, Pat worked at Bain & Company, Oracle
Corporation, and Sybase, where he was vice president of organizational
development. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation of America from 2000-2003.
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
In his latest talk, Pat addresses perhaps the most timeless and elusive topic
related to work: job misery.
Based on his much-anticipated book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job,
Lencioni delivers a message that is as revolutionary as it is shockingly
simple. Using a mix of humor and poignancy, he dismantles the root causes of
frustration and anguish at work: anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurability.
In doing so, he provides managers at all levels, as well as employees, with
actionable wisdom and advice about how they can bring fulfillment and meaning
to any job in any industry.
Whether you're an executive looking to establish a sustainable competitive
advantage around culture, a manager trying to engage and retain your people, or
an employee who has almost given up on finding meaning and fulfillment in your
work, this talk will prove immediately invaluable.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
According to Pat Lencioni, teamwork remains the ultimate competitive advantage,
both because it is so powerful and so rare. He makes the point that if you
could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you
could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any
time. Based on his runaway best-seller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
(2002). Pat uncovers the natural human tendencies that derail teams and lead
to politics and confusion in so many organizations. Audience members will
walk away with specific advice and practical tools for overcoming the
dysfunctions and making their teams more functional and cohesive.
Silos, Politics and Turf Wars
In this popular talk, Pat Lencioni tackles a prominent symptom of corporate
frustration: silos, the invisible barriers that separate work teams,
departments and divisions, causing people who are supposed to be on the same
team to work against one another. According to Lencioni, silos - and the turf
wars they enable - devastate organizations by wasting resources, killing
productivity and collaboration and jeopardizing the achievement of results.
Drawing from his book, Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars (2006), Lencioni provides
audience members with powerful advice on how to eliminate the structural
obstacles that derail organizations and foster mediocrity. Urging leaders to
provide a compelling context for their employees to work together, Lencioni's
model gives leaders a simple tool for enabling clarity, alignment and
prioritization in their organizations.
Confronting the Absurdity of Meetings
Based on his book, Death by Meeting (2004), Pat Lencioni reveals some
surprising truths about why we hate meetings, why we shouldn?t, and how to make
them productive - even enjoyable. He debunks the myth that meetings are
inherently bad and makes the case that they are, in fact, one of the most
critical activities at the heart of an organization. Using pointed and
humorous examples from his work, Pat paints the picture of prototypically bad
meetings, and presents a new, radical approach to meetings, one that transforms
them from drudgery to focused, relevant and compelling business activities.
The Four Disciplines of a Healthy Organization
Pat Lencioni claims that most companies have enough organizational
intelligence, intellectual property and human capital to succeed, but
ultimately fail to leverage those assets because they lack something he calls
'organizational health.' He defines a healthy organization as one where
internal confusion and politics are minimized and an atmosphere of clarity and
employee productivity can flourish. Built upon his model in The Four Obsessions
of an Extraordinary Executive (2000), Pat helps leaders understand the
disarming simplicity and power of organizational health and reveals the four
actionable steps that allow them to achieve it.
