The Table Group

A Patrick Lencioni Company

Simple Wisdom for Organizations

Author Pat Lencioni addresses the costly and maddening issue of silos, the barriers that create organizational politics. Silos devastate organizations, kill productivity, push good people out the door and jeopardize the achievement of corporate goals. As with his other books, Lencioni writes Silos, Politics and Turf Wars as a fictional—but eerily realistic—story.

The story is about Jude Cousins, an eager young management consultant struggling to launch his practice by solving one of the more universal and frustrating problems faced by his clients. Through trial and error, he develops a simple yet ground-breaking approach for helping them transform confusion and infighting into clarity and alignment.

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Reviews & Press

Publishers Weekly—Starred Review

Marketing won't speak to engineering. Sales thinks production hogs the budget. Front desk believes back room's lazy. These sorts of turf wars, which turn outwardly unified companies into groupings of uncommunicative "silos," are the stuff of management lore. According to bestselling author Lencioni (The Five Dysfunctions of a Team), "they waste resources, kill productivity and jeopardize the achievement of goals"—they also drive workers into tizzies of frustration. Like his previous books, Lencioni's latest addresses the management problem through a fictional story; this one revolves around a self-employed consultant named Jude, who has to dismantle silos at an upscale hotel, a technology company and a hospital. Split into two sections, Lencioni's book first shows Jude discovering a solution to silos, then summarizes Jude's lessons into a strategy that readers can apply to any business. Lencioni's proposal is so full of common sense—namely, end turf wars by getting departments to rally around a common goal—that managers will be eager to apply it themselves. Just as refreshing is Lencioni's use of character and plot, which is far above average for the business genre. As sympathetic as Jude is, he makes Lencioni's management lessons memorable.

Editorial Reviews & Press Highlights

Jack Covert Selects—800-CEO-READ

I think Patrick Lencioni has the record for the most Jack Covert Selects (including Death by Meeting, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive). Why? He writes books I enjoy reading. They are all novels/parables/fables. He takes challenging subjects from everyday business life puts them in story form; these page-turners feature believable characters in real-life situations. The subjects covered include meetings, teams and leadership. His latest book covers business turf wars, politics and silos.

It features the story of a consultant named Jude Cousins who is hired first by a hotel and later by a hospital; his objective is to get the staff to come together and work towards a common goal. At each location—the hotel and the hospital—Jude encounters various teams working in separate silos. In the world beyond parables, this problem occurs more often than not. It's easy to get caught into the pursuit of your own goals rather than the overall goal, hence Lencioni's book.

One of the best aspects of the book is the sense of discovery. It's as if you're traveling and consulting right along with Jude. Through Jude's story, Lencioni proves once again that fables can be both entertaining and informative. He even provides an end section on the theory of the book, giving theory-based readers access to his ideas in a more analytical manner. In this section you will find the applications of the fable, case studies and breakdowns of turf war problems. This is another Lencioni book that needs to be on all managers' shelves and will be on mine.