THE ALCHEMY OF TALENT

Management consultant Pendakur offers a guide to corporate team building.

The author opens his latest leadership book by warning team and organizational leaders against the complacency of a “business as usual” mindset. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and other social disruptions, the employee experience has been radically unsettled, he contends, and “the leadership norms of the previous decades fall short of what employees now need to unlock their peak potential.” In response to such circumstances, managers too often fall back on simply setting timelines and moving around materials without building teamwork connections that can handle broader issues; they focus on tactics, he says, instead of strategy. This picture is complicated by the hybrid nature of many modern workplaces, which can impede what Pendakur refers to as the “productive friction” of a diverse team: “Many organizations have left ‘the office’ behind,” he writes, “without replacing the rituals that were tied to everyone working together in the same physical space.” In a series of fast-paced, illustrated chapters, complete with reflection prompts (such as “Think of a time when you’ve witnessed a competent leader show up with vulnerability. How did you feel at this moment?”), he discusses some of the social psychology that operates in the workplace. Because he’s drawing on his own experience consulting with various companies, his voice is clear and confident throughout. For example, he elaborates on his core concept that diverse teams perform extremely well if they share “psychological safety,” with the economical prose of somebody who’s taught such key ideas as “vulnerability isn’t at war with competence” many times. Team leaders in a range of settings will find challenging ideas in these pages.

A vigorous, accessible look at team leadership in a modern business environment.