TEAM INTELLIGENCE

A behavioral scientist distills modern research on leadership into a practical guide to designing teams that outperform individual talent.

Whether in the trenches, on the basketball court, or in the boardroom, the question is often posed: What makes a brilliant leader? Levy, best known for his series of “Influencers Dinners,” tackles this question by dismantling leadership’s most persistent myths, from the alpha fantasy, born of debunked wolf-pack studies, to the MBA doctrine that treats leadership as a credentialed science rather than a social one. The focus here isn’t on individual talent but on “team intelligence,” or “the skills, attitudes, and habits that help leaders and teams become smarter and more effective together” that leaders cultivate by focusing on how their teams think and collaborate. Looking at cases like evolutionary biologist William Muir’s “super chicken” experiment, the text demonstrates how letting so-called super-talents and star players run amok creates more anarchy than value. Effective leaders, per the author, design conditions in which teams made up of both all-stars and supporting players work intelligently together to raise collective performance. Central to this approach are the text’s three pillars of team intelligence: reasoning, attention, and resource management. Levy writes with a humor and self-awareness rarely found in leadership tomes, evincing a self-effacing quality that never undercuts his arguments. The goodwill this earns can’t be overstated, as the text takes aim at some fundamental assumptions about leadership and is bound to ruffle feathers. The pacing is brisk and the research is thorough, drawing from credible studies and referencing well documented successes. (Among these real-world examples are LEGO’s reinvention of its creative process, Google’s experiments with team structure, and Pixar’s collaborative story-room model.) Each chapter concludes with an “Ideas in Action” section that revisits core ideas and ties them to actual practices. Though the book is focused on corporate leadership, there’s much here to apply to any team-based setting. In a genre known for recycling inspiration, this business book actually breaks new ground.

A human and congenially radical handbook for leaders seeking to prioritize intelligence, not hierarchy.