It's as simple as this. When people don't unload their opinions and feel like they've been listened to, they won't really get on board.

Building a cohesive leadership team is the first critical step that an organization must take if it is to have the best chance at success.

The team you belong to must come ahead of the team you lead: this is putting team results (e.g., organizational needs) ahead of individual agendas (e.g., the team or division you lead, your ego, your need for recognition, your career development, etc.) Confidentiality is respected downward more than it is respected upward. Organizational alignment is a direct result of this hierarchy (if it were the other way around, organizational alignment would be very difficult to achieve).

If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.

As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impression of you when you're not around.

Building a strong team is both possible and remarkably simple. But is painfully difficult.

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