Dream Teams

Award-winning entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow reveals the counterintuitive reasons why so many partnerships and groups break down--and why some break through. The best teams are more than the sum of their parts, but why does collaboration so often fail to fulfill this promise? In Dream Teams, Snow takes us on an adventure through history, neuroscience, psychology, and business, exploring what separates groups that simply get by together from those that get better together. You'll learn: * How ragtag teams--from soccer clubs to startups to gangs of pirates--beat the odds throughout history. * Why DaimlerChrysler flopped while the Wu-Tang Clan succeeded, and the surprising factor behind most failed mergers, marriages, and partnerships. * What the Wright Brothers' daily arguments can teach us about group problem solving. * Pioneering women in law enforcement, unlikely civil rights collaborators, and underdog armies that did the incredible together. * The team players behind great social movements in history, and the science of becoming open-minded. Provocative and entertaining, Dream Teams is a landmark work that will change the way we think about people, progress, and collaboration.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum delivers the untold story of the greatest team ever assembled: the 1992 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team. As a writer for Sports Illustrated, McCallum enjoyed a courtside seat for the most exciting basketball spectacle on earth, covering the Dream Team from its inception to the gold medal ceremony in Barcelona. Drawing on fresh interviews with the players, McCallum provides the definitive account of the Dream Team phenomenon. He offers a behind-the-scenes look at the controversial selection process. He takes us inside the team’s Olympic suites for late-night card games and bull sessions where superstars like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird debated the finer points of basketball. And he narrates a riveting account of the legendary intrasquad scrimmage that pitted the Dream Teamers against one another in what may have been the greatest pickup game in history. In the twenty years since the Dream Team first captivated the world, its mystique has only grown. Dream Team vividly re-creates the moment when a once-in-a-millennium group of athletes came together and changed the future of sports—one perfectly executed fast break at a time. With a new Afterword by the author “The absolute definitive work on the subject, a perfectly wonderful once-you-pick-it-up-you-won’t-be-able-to-put-it-down book.”—The Boston Globe “An Olympic hoops dream.”—Newsday “What makes this volume a must-read for nostalgic hoopsters are the robust portraits of the outsize personalities of the participants, all of whom were remarkably open with McCallum, both then and now.”—Booklist (starred review)

Want to achieve spectacular success in your personal and business life? Looking for ways to mold and capture superior teamwork, cohesion, and bone-deep dedication? Put Real Dream Teams on your list of must reads. From the headlines used to describe groups such as the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball team, to Hollywood production moguls, to attorneys clashing in major criminal cases, we have all heard the phrase "dream teams" used and misused. Real Dream Teams is a book that focuses on extraordinary efforts by conditioned winners who have achieved outstanding results through what the authors call "synergistic group dynamics." Let Real Dream Teams point you in the direction of becoming a more effective team leader and team member. Read of team efforts and extraordinary practices and results as demonstrated by recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Medal of Honor, national championships, and best-in-industry awards. Take tips from those who have achieved their membership in Real Dream Teams:

Award-winning entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow reveals the counterintuitive reasons why so many partnerships and groups break down--and why some break through. The best teams are more than the sum of their parts, but why does collaboration so often fail to fulfill this promise? In Dream Teams, Snow takes us on an adventure through history, neuroscience, psychology, and business, exploring what separates groups that simply get by together from those that get better together. You'll learn: * How ragtag teams--from soccer clubs to startups to gangs of pirates--beat the odds throughout history. * Why DaimlerChrysler flopped while the Wu-Tang Clan succeeded, and the surprising factor behind most failed mergers, marriages, and partnerships. * What the Wright Brothers' daily arguments can teach us about group problem solving. * Pioneering women in law enforcement, unlikely civil rights collaborators, and underdog armies that did the incredible together. * The team players behind great social movements in history, and the science of becoming open-minded. Provocative and entertaining, Dream Teams is a landmark work that will change the way we think about people, progress, and collaboration.

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER From the CEO of The Predictive Index, the leader in talent optimization, comes Moneyball for HR and people management How do you find the perfect person for the job in a stack of hundreds of resumes? Why do some teams succeed while others—made up of equally talented people—stumble? If the quality of your workforce is your company’s most important asset, then why are your managers still basing these critical decisions primarily on interviews and their gut instincts? In The Science of Dream Teams, Mike Zani details a data-driven approach to talent optimization that makes hiring, motivating, and managing people more efficient and effective than ever. It employs sophisticated assessments, tools, and software that enable leaders to: measure the traits and characteristics that predict success in a role or fit on a team build finely tuned project teams and well-balanced leadership teams boost employee productivity, engagement, retention—and happiness unlock the hidden potential of individual workers and your organization as a whole Whatever the business or industry, this game-changing approach has the power to unlock an unbeatable competitive advantage. The Science of Dream Teams will show you how.

Pat says though the vision of one person can change the world, no one can carry out a vision alone. Extreme dreams depend on teams, and lack of teamwork is often how big dreams go unrealized. Using examples and anecdotes from history and contemporary life, Pat shows how the greatest world-changing events came to be as the result of the passion of single individuals. In each case, a team was assembled with people equipped in the various areas needed to bring the vision to pass. Pat addresses team assembly, dynamics, and pitfalls to give readers guidance they can immediately apply to their own circumstances. Everyone is looking for ways to be more successful in life. Pat Williams serves up a book packed with practical help to get readers where they want to be.

The world needs great individual educational changemakers capable of identifying problems and creating bold, scalable solutions. But the world also needs Dream Teams —groups of talented administrators, teachers, staff, students, and community members who are passionate about making things better for kids, believe that school-based change is the means to this end, and are willing to roll up their sleeves and work together to achieve it. This book is for Dream Teams in the making. In it, rising global education leaders Aaron Tait and Dave Faulkner share the models and methods of 10 brilliant leadership teams at urban, suburban, and rural schools in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Informed by these successes, the authors provide specific, sometimes audacious advice for navigating what they call the Change Leader Journey: how to move from Dream Team assembly and problem analysis all the way through to solution generation, piloting, promotion, and evaluation. Innovative educators come in all forms, and they require lots of options. Here, you'll find a collection of practical ideas and tools designed to fuel transformational leadership without sacrificing instructional excellence or anyone's sanity. Whether your team is a group of fearless rebels, more cautious types, or somewhere in between, Tait and Faulkner's flexible approach can help you figure out where you want your school to go, build a more collaborative and creative culture, and generate the solutions that best serve your students.

Introduces the NFL's best current teams, including the Indianapolis Colts, the New England Patriots, the New Orleans Saints, and the Pittsburgh Steelers.