Patrick Lencioni

Pat Lencioni is the founder and president of The Table Group, a firm dedicated to providing organizations with ideas, products and services that improve teamwork, clarity and employee engagement. The wide-spread appeal of Lencioni's leadership models have yielded a diverse base of speaking and consulting clients, including a mix of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports organizations, the military, non-profits, schools and churches.

Lencioni is the author of eight best-selling books with over 2.5 million copies sold. After six years in print, his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team continues to be a fixture on national best-seller lists.

Recently recognized in Fortune as 'A Top Ten Guru You Should Know,' Pat and his work have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY and Harvard Business Review. Pat has also been a featured guest on The Today Show, NBC, Fox News and ESPN.

Prior to founding his firm, he worked as a corporate executive for Sybase, Oracle and Bain & Company. He also served on the National Board of Directors for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.

• The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family

  Drawing on a few of his most influential and well-received business models, Pat Lencioni has turned his attention to the most important and overlooked organization in society –the Family. In his latest talk, The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family (2008), Pat prescribes some powerfully simple business principles that parents can quickly put into action to bring about more purpose and clarity to their home lives. Using case studies from real families who have successfully implemented Lencioni's model, Pat will demonstrate how addressing three important questions will help families yield context in which to make daily decisions, reduce distractions and, ultimately, restore sanity to any family.

• 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 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 humour 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 Temptations of a Leader

  Pat Lencioni believes that too many leaders overcomplicate their jobs. In reality, a leader's success hinges on a few simple behaviours – behaviours that require remarkable levels of discipline. Based on the model in his first best-selling book, The Five Temptations of a CEO (1998), Pat captures the natural human tendencies that plague all leaders and often prevent them from fulfilling their potential. He challenges leaders to engage in self-exploration, to assess their own temptations, and he offers actionable advice on how to overcome these all too common behavioural pitfalls that even the best leaders face.

• 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.

• 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 a competitive 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Pat understands the challenges which we, as venture capitalists, have in trying to find great management teams. He was able to put into perspective the issues we face at any given time.
  Chase Capital Partners
• I can quite honestly say that Pat was one of the most enjoyable speakers we've had the privilege of hearing at Avnet. He entertained us, he inspired us, and he gave us invaluable insight into ourselves and the way we approach our business.
  Avnet Inc.
• Pat is a tremendous teacher, leader and coach. I would unequivocally recommend him to any leader who wants to grow, develop and build a world class team.
  National Basketball Association
• What a huge home run! Pat Lencioni's presentation at our MIT Birthing of Giants program was simply outstanding – he received one of the highest ratings ever.
  Young Entrepreneurs' Organization
• Pat's presentation and interactive work with the delegates was a high point of the Symposium and a great close to what was rated the best AceTech event ever.
  Academy for Technology CEOs

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  January 2010

  Getting Naked: A Business Fable About Shedding the Three Fears that Sabotage Client Loyalty

  Written in the same dynamic style as his previous bestsellers including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni illustrates the principles of inspiring client loyalty through a fascinating business fable. He explains the theory of vulnerability in depth and presents concrete steps for putting it to work in any organization. The story follows a small consulting firm, Lighthouse Partners, which often beats out big-name competitors for top clients.

  
  
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  August 2008

  The Three Big Questions for a Frantic Family: A Leadership Fable about Restoring Sanity to the Most Important Organization in Your Life

  This fable explores the lives of a fictional family and describes how they are successful and unique.

  
  
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  August 2007

  The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)

  Bestselling author Patrick Lencioni tackles a topic that almost everyone can relate to: the causes of a miserable job. Millions of workers, even those who have carefully chosen careers, dread going to work, suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical, weary, and frustrated. Lencioni reveals the three elements that make work miserable -- irrelevance, immeasurability, and anonymity -- and gives managers and their employees the keys to make any job more fulfilling.

  
  
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  January 2006

  Silos, Politics and Turf Wars: A Leadership Fable About Destroying The Barriers That Turn Colleagues Into Competitors

  Silos, Politics and Turf Wars addresses the costly and maddening issue of silos, the barriers that create organizational politics. Silos devastate companies, push good people out the door, and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals. Lencioni wrote Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars as a fictional story about Jude Cousins, an eager young management consultant struggling to launch his practice. Through trial and error, Cousins develops a simple yet groundbreaking approach for helping his clients transform confusion and infighting into clarity and alignment.

  
  
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  February 2004

  Death By Meeting

  This business fable retells a fictional story to get across the point that meetings should be interactive and structured effectively.

  
  
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  March 2002

  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

  This entertaining read retells the story of a troubled Silicon Valley firm's unexpected choice for a CEO - a retired manufacturing manager - and through his eyes outlines the failures that made the team dysfunctional.

  
  
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  November -0001

  The Five Temptations of a CEO: A Leadership Fable

  In this book, CEO Andrew outlines the five management temptations he faces in management.

  
  
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  November -0001

  The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive is a leadership fable by Patrick Lencioni that explores a fictional tale of two technical consultants and compares their competing companies.