{"product_id":"the-advantage-isbn-9780470941522","title":"The Advantage","description":"There is a competitive advantage out there, arguably more powerful than any other. Is it superior strategy? Faster innovation? Smarter employees? No, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author, Patrick Lencioni, argues that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre ones has little to do with what they know and how smart they are and more to do with how healthy they are. In this book, Lencioni brings together his vast experience and many of the themes cultivated in his other best-selling books and delivers a first: a cohesive and comprehensive exploration of the unique advantage organizational health provides.  \u003cp\u003eSimply put, an organization is healthy when it is whole, consistent and complete, when its management, operations and culture are unified.  Healthy organizations outperform their counterparts, are free of politics and confusion and provide an environment where star performers never want to leave. Lencioni’s first non-fiction book provides leaders with a groundbreaking, approachable model for achieving organizational health—complete with stories, tips and anecdotes from his experiences consulting to some of the nation’s leading organizations. In this age of informational ubiquity and nano-second change, it is no longer enough to build a competitive advantage based on intelligence alone. The Advantage provides a foundational construct for conducting business in a new way—one that maximizes human potential and aligns the organization around a common set of principles.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntroduction xv\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe case for organizational health 1\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe four Disciplines model 15\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscipline 1: Build a Cohesive Leadership Team 19\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscipline 2: Create Clarity 73\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscipline 3: Overcommunicate Clarity 141\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDiscipline 4: Reinforce Clarity 153\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Centrality of Great Meetings 173\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eSeizing the Advantage 189\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChecklist for Organizational Health 195\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMore Resources 199\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes 201\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAcknowledgments 203\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAbout the Author 205\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIndex 207\u003c\/p\u003e Consulting executive Lencioni (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team) has an answer for floundering businesses—aim for organizational health. In other words, businesses that are whole, consistent, and complete, with complementary management, operations, strategy, and culture. Today, the vast majority of organizations have more than enough intelligence, experience, and knowledge to be successful. Organizational health is neither sexy nor quantifiable, which is why more people don't take advantage. However, improved health will not only create a competitive advantage and better bottom line, it will boost morale. Lencioni covers four steps to health: build a cohesive leadership team, create clarity, overcommunicate clarity, and reinforce clarity. Through examples of his own experiences and others', he addresses the behaviors of a cohesive team, peer-to-peer accountability, office politics and bureaucracy and strategy, and how all organizations should strive to make people's lives better. This smart, pithy, and practical guide is a must-read for executives and other businesspeople who need to get their proverbial ducks back in a row. (Apr.) (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, 1\/16\/12) \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatrick M. Lencioni\u003c\/b\u003e is founder and president of The Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational health and executive team development. As a consultant and keynote speaker, he has worked with thousands of senior executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 and mid-size companies to start-ups and nonprofits. Lencioni is the author of 11 best-selling books including \u003ci\u003eThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Ideal Team Player.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo learn more about Patrick, and the products and services offered by his firm, The Table Group, please visit www.tablegroup.com.  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Organizational health will\u003cbr\u003e one day surpass all other\u003cbr\u003e disciplines in business as\u003cbr\u003e the greatest opportunity\u003cbr\u003e for improvement and\u003cbr\u003e competitive advantage.”\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the promise of \u003ci\u003eThe Advantage, \u003c\/i\u003ePatrick Lencioni’s bold manifesto about the most unexploited opportunity in modern business. In his immensely readable and accessible style, Lencioni makes the case that there is no better way to achieve profound improvement in an organization than by attacking the root causes of dysfunction, politics, and confusion. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile too many leaders are still limiting their search for advantage to conventional and largely exhausted areas like marketing, strategy, and technology, Lencioni demonstrates that there is an untapped gold mine sitting right beneath them. Instead of trying to become smarter, he asserts that leaders and organizations need to shift their focus to becoming healthier, allowing them to tap into the more-than-sufficient intelligence and expertise they already have. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author of numerous best-selling business fables including \u003ci\u003eThe Five Dysfunctions of a Team\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDeath by Meeting,\u003c\/i\u003e Lencioni here draws upon his twenty years of writing, field research, and executive consulting to some of the world’s leading organizations. He combines real-world stories and anecdotes with practical, actionable advice to create a work that is at once a great read and an invaluable, hands-on tool. The result is, without a doubt, Lencioni’s most comprehensive, significant, and essential work to date.    \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Advantage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e“The Advantage\u003c\/i\u003e has more common sense in its 200 pages than I have ever found in a business book. A must-read.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Colleen Barrett, \u003c\/b\u003epresident emeritus, Southwest Airlines Co.; coauthor,\u003ci\u003e Lead with LUV\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Here is the next business classic. Even the best leaders will read this and wonder, ‘Why aren’t we already doing this?’”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Enrique Salem,\u003c\/b\u003e president and CEO, Symantec \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“For more than a decade I’ve been using Lencioni’s approach to run the  departments I lead, and it has never failed me.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Rick Friedel,\u003c\/b\u003e vice president, AT\u0026amp;T Service Management \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Our teams and leaders have really embraced Lencioni’s methodology.  We’ve put these ideas into practice and we’re experiencing the results  that prove it works.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—David Gordon,\u003c\/b\u003e COO, The Cheesecake Factory \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eThe Advantage, \u003c\/i\u003eLencioni cuts through the corporate ‘bull’ that creates a  culture of stonewalling and feet-dragging, and shows leaders at every level how to build up a culture of productivity and communication.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Dave Ramsey,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e best-selling author and nationally  syndicated radio talk show host\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jossey-Bass","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47990153085157,"sku":"NP9780470941522","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780470941522.jpg?v=1761786704","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-advantage-isbn-9780470941522","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}