The 8 Qualities of Drama Free Teams

Business Book Review

This was a complete waste of time.  There is a service out there, Blinkist, that creates the business version of cliff notes.  Blinkist would have nothing to do with this book because it is already cliff notes.  The book is nominally about creating teams that exist without the drama.  However, when reading the book you get the sense that Mcintee didn’t do any research. I’m sure that he is a great consultant, the references he makes in the book all talk about the folks he has helped, but when I pick up a business book, I’m looking for real insight into the topic of the book.  This was 53 pages of sloganeering.  If Fox News were to write a business book, it would look a lot like this.  Every three paragraphs or so, one of the tidbits of wisdom that our author puts forth is put in a nice little blue box, so everyone knows, this is important.  Writing mechanism like this are lazy, insulting and are typically used to cover up a complete lack of depth in the subject matter.

There was also a slight religious undertone throughout the book that I find completely out of place and distracting.  Let’s keep the business books about business please.

All that being said, there are a couple of true tidbits of wisdom within these pages.  None of these are groundbreaking or original but they do bear repeating.  When he talks about teams, he goes into the power of empowerment, “Drama can occur in your team if they feel like they have no choice.  When you feel disempowerment it’s very easy to become a victim and blame others.  For many, victim behavior is their modus operandi.  They feel like they have no choice so they play the victim.  Empowering your team with choices helps take out the drama.”  This is very true when working with teams.  It goes back to that old maxim of, we like to hire smart people, so treat them like they are smart and give them enough autonomy to do what they choose will best help the company and the team.  Mcintee then goes into how ownership plays a role in this as well, “Ownership is the most powerful motivator in business.  It’s the organizations that create a culture of ownership that become the most successful.”

He covers leadership in his minimalist fashion as well.  One little tidbit that I really did like was his comment on building a team that is like the leader, “Some leaders work to build a team of people that are exactly like them.  Many times this produces a dysfunctional team.  Building a team this way is like marrying your cousin.  After a while, all your kids end up idiots.”  It’s not often that you get to see incest references in a business book, well done sir.  He makes one other comment about leadership that is worth mentioning, “One mistake that I see leaders continually make is to only give answers to their team, never asking them questions.  If all you ever have are answers for your people, they will always come to you with questions.”  I agree with this comment wholeheartedly.  Typically, your employees are the ones in the trenches that understand the details of what is actually going on.  Conversations with these employees should be mostly a leader asking questions of their staff.

Skip it, not worth your time or your money.