Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.

Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust.

Teamwork remains a sustainable competitive advantage that has been largely untapped because it is hard to measure (teamwork impacts the outcome of an organization in such comprehensive and invasive ways that it's virtually impossible to isolate it as a single variable) and because it is extremely hard to achieve (it requires levels of courage and discipline that few executives possess) - ironically, building a strong team is very simple (it doesn't require masterful insights or tactics).

I've become absolutely convinced that the seminal difference between successful companies and mediocre or unsuccessful ones has little, if anything, to do with what they know or how smart they are; it has everything to do with how healthy they are.

Remember teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.

Really great people rarely leave a healthy organization.

Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.