Team Genius summary

The Egyptian pyramids are one of the world’s great mysteries. Not only are they filled with strange traps and untold treasures, their construction is also hard to fathom. Our best guess is that they were built with sheer manpower: 10,000 workers built them over the course of ten years.

The pyramids demonstrate that humans are meant to work together. Teamwork is a common thread that runs through our evolutionary history. By connecting and cooperating with others, humans have made their own survival possible.

Even our pop culture is filled with stories of great teams. Think of Charmed, Friends or The Three Musketeers. Films and television shows that focus on the power of teamwork are often well loved for their portrayals of dissimilar individuals that come together and connect with each other. This is something companies can learn from, too!

The president of Nissan Design, Jerry Hirshberg, has taken this lesson to heart.

Lovers and couples embody the most natural partnership humans can form: pairs. Pairs are common in businesses, too – particularly in stories of success.

Although we all dream of making it big on our own, we often need a partner to overcome unforeseen challenges. Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz was determined to expand his business in the early ’90s. After opening a few hundred new stores across the United States, however, his company began to suffer.

Trios are a rare constellation. Why? Well, they tend to become pairs, by losing a member, or quartets, when another member joins. But when a trio is maintained, it can thrive like any other team. Trios often begin as pairs, but the way they gain their third member varies. This in turn can shape the nature of their teamwork.

The two plus one trio is particularly common. They often form after an original pair with similar skillsets joins an individual with different strengths to achieve a common goal. Take Walter Brattain and John Bardeen, for instance. Brilliant physicists at Bell Labs, Brattain and Bardeen made a good team. So when their boss, William Shockley, was tasked with designing a solid-state amplifier, he enlisted the help of the Brattain-Bardeen duo.

Here’s a question for you: How many digits can you memorize at once? Most humans can only manage somewhere between five and nine. And here’s another question: How many team members can you handle at once? The answer is the same.

Teams that range from five to nine members are the most effective, and the most common. Why? Well, teams this size are very functional. With five or more members, your team is large enough to elect an internal leader without their role causing tension or becoming redundant.

What do wedding receptions, baby showers and New Year’s Eve parties have in common? Well, they all celebrate new beginnings. It’s something we all love to do, so why not celebrate the beginning of a new team, too?

In a team’s life cycle, the first and most crucial step is always the team’s formation. The way a team begins will shape everything it does in the future, so it’s worth considering the three factors that matter most: diversity, communication and size.