I first met Pat Lencioni in 1994 shortly after I’d joined the Tom Peters Company. He was, at the time, vice president of organizational development at Sybase, and he’d hired us to help facilitate a leadership development program that he and his team had put together for Sybase managers from around the world.
One day, after watching me do my thing in front of a group, Pat came up to me and said, “Someday, I want to do what you do.”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that over the years. A lot of people want to do what I do (it’s a freakin’ great job), and I’m sure that many have a helluva lot more talent than I–but few actually take the leap.
But Pat? Sheesh…talk about a leap. Right over my head and into the stratosphere.
He’s a bona fide guru now–a management rock star, even–and deservedly so. He’s authored a pile of brilliant bestsellers (If you haven’t read Five Dysfunctions of a Team, for example, you have some serious catching up to do), and has become a perennial favorite on the elite speaker circuit.
Not only is Pat Lencioni a brilliant thinker and creative genius, he is simply one of the nicest, most authentic people I’ve ever met, and his team at his consulting company, The Table Group, (many of whom came with him from the old Sybase days) are all cut from the same fine cloth.
Pat’s new book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job was just released, and he’s done it again.
In his own words:
“My passion around this topic is central to my firm’s mission, ‘to make people more fulfilled in their work.’ We hope that in some small way, this book can start a mini-revolution of managers who want to empower and encourage job satisfaction with their people. Given how many hours people spend at work and the reports that cite misery is on the rise, this unspoken national problem needs to be addressed. The solutions offered in The Three Signs of a Miserable Job are simple, effective and free to implement.” (Curious what the Three Signs are? He explains them in this short video).
Another great book, Pat! (Insert sound of freakish leaping here).
Go to Barnes and Noble (or wherever) and buy it, then send Pat an email, and he’ll put you in a drawing to win a copy of The Three Signs of a Miserable Job – A Video Presentation and Companion Guide($495 value), the Comprehensive Five Dysfunctions of a Team Kit ($1,200 value), or a ticket for HSM’s Lencioni two-day event called Building Winning Teams ($4,000 value).
And if you don’t win? Not to worry.
The book is prize enough.
Hi Steve! Hope all is well with you. I quite liked the “Five Dysfunctions” – I really did get the sense that Pat “got it”, and picked up that authenticity vibe right from the words on the page (kinda how I felt when I read your book, actually). Thanks for the tip on “Three Signs” – it’s going in my shopping cart right now! Gotta sign up for that give-away too.
If you are ever in the NYC area let me know – I’d love to buy you a Starbucks (or two).
Until then, all the best!
Steve, ditto on your comments about Pat and his work. I have had the honor of sharing the stage with Pat a couple of times. Each time I have walked away thinking that when I grow up I want to be just like Pat!