Welcome to the companion web site for
The Synergist
How To Lead Your Team To Predictable Success.
Welcome to 'The Synergist'
Why do so many teams fail to perform - achieving compromise at best and gridlock at worst? And what does it take to end this gridlock? Wall Street Journal bestselling author and speaker Les McKeown shows how to take any team from gridlock to world class success.
In this book, Les argues that every successful team includes a critical player, the Synergist, who can take the three existing types - The bold dreamers (Visionaries), the pragmatic realists (Operators), and the systems designers (Processors) - and knit them together into a dynamic, well-rounded team. Most importantly, the Synergist is a role that anyone can learn.
While most attempts at teamwork improvement deal only with the symptoms of group dysfunction such as distrust, poor communication, and fear of change, McKeown addresses the root cause: the innately unstable Visionary-Operator-Processor triangle. Because each of the three styles' motivations, views, and goals are incompatible, without a Synergist every team will eventually implode, stall, or underperform. Only the Synergist can put aside their own agenda and interpret the language of difficult personalities, capture the best from each person, and put the good of the enterprise ahead of their own ego.
McKeown- who has used techniques presented here in his consulting with Harvard University, American Express Financial Services, the US Army, Pella Corporation, Microsoft, United Technologies Corporation, and more- shows how any individual can fill this critical role, whether or not they're the formal leader of the group.
With thought-provoking self-assessments and an extensive Synergist Toolkit, he teaches how anyone can learn to be an effective Synergist by recognizing the vital signs of ineffective teamwork and making the right interventions at these pivotal moments.
The Synergist: Table of Contents
Foreward:
Introduction:
Why You Should Read This Book
What A Synergist Is and Why You Should Care
PART I: THE UNSTABLE TRIANGLE
Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Overview: The Failure Gene That's Baked into the DNA of Every Group and How to Escape It
The Visionary: Hold on Tight, We're Going to Mars
The Operator: Yay... Let's Build a Rocket Ship
The Processor: Not So Fast. Where's Your Requisition Slip?
Gridlock: The Hidden Death-Grip That Silently Paralyzes Every Group
PART II: THE SYNERGIST - TRANSFORMING THE GROUP BY TRANSCENDING PERSONAL AGENDAS
Chapter 6:
Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:
Chapter 9:
Limping to the End Line: How Visionaries, Operators, and Processors Hobble Group Success
From Triangle to Pyramid: Adding a New Dimension to the Group Dynamic
The Synergist's Toolkit: How the Synergist Releases Group Cohesion and Flow
Starting Fast, Finishing Strong: The Life Cycle of a Highly Successful Group
PART III: BECOMING A LEADER OF LEADERS
Chapter 10:
Chapter 11:
Chapter 12:
Epilogue:
Inside the Secret Garden: Discovering the Synergistic Team's Hidden Pattern of Success
Pulling the Trigger: Evaluation and Decision-Making
Making It Work: The Final Stage - Implementation
Exploring New Pathways: Andy, Brad, and Riya Meet Their Synergist
Meet Les McKeown
Les McKeown is the Founder and CEO of Predictable Success, and the author of 'The Synergist: How To Lead Your Team To Predictable Success'.
Les first began to recognize recurring growth patterns early in his career as a serial entrepreneur. In addition to being involved in the launch of more than 40 companies before he was 35, he was at the same time a founding elder in a fast-growing church, while serving on the board of a number of charities and not-for-profits.
Les used the experience he gained during that time to co-found one of the first business incubators in the world, which he and his then business partner developed over a decade into a multi-national consulting company that advised on the creation and growth of hundreds of organizations worldwide.
Struck by the similarity of issues faced by all growing organizations, Les began to codify his understanding of the repeating patterns of growth, publishing his Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller "Predictable Success: Getting Your Organization On the Growth Track - and Keeping It There" in 2010, followed in 2012 by "The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success", in 2014 "Do Lead: Share your vision. Inspire others. Achieve the impossible" and in 2019 "Do Scale: A road map to growing a remarkable company."
Les is a trusted advisor to fast-growth SMEs and thriving not-for-profits as well as Fortune 500 companies and a number of the largest government agencies in the world.
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