EPISODE · Mar 2, 2026 · 22 MIN
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni | with guest Alisa Cohn
from Business Book Club
Even smart, well-funded executive teams fail.Patrick Lencioni's masterpiece, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, exposes the silent killers of company growth and provides a practical framework to turn a group of capable individuals into a truly cohesive unit.Joining me to unpack this framework is Alisa Cohn, an award-winning executive coach who was named the #1 Startup Coach in the world and has worked with C-suites at Venmo, Etsy, Microsoft, and Google.Today, Alisa breaks down why your department is not your most important team, how to build vulnerability-based trust, and why self-awareness is the ultimate cheat code for leadership.Key Takeaways & Timestamps00:00 – Introducing The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team and the silent killers of company growth.02:00 – The 5 Dysfunctions Framework: Alisa breaks down the hierarchy of team success: Trust drives Conflict, Conflict drives Commitment, Commitment drives Accountability, and Accountability drives Results. You cannot skip a step.04:37 – Diagnosing Your Team: Why a lack of accountability is often just a symptom of a team that hasn't learned how to have productive conflict.07:11 – The "First Team" Concept: Why the CMO's most important team is not the marketing department. It is the executive team.09:20 – The Cost of Loyalty: How prioritizing your specific department over the executive team leads directly to toxic politics, silos, and blame.14:24 – Self-Awareness as a Cheat Code: Why managing your ego and acting in service of the company is the hardest—but most necessary—leadership skill.16:03 – The "Working With Me" Document: How creating a 1-to-2 page personal operating manual builds vulnerability-based trust.16:59 – The 360 Feedback Loop: How to gather actionable behavioral feedback from the people above you, below you, and beside you.Get the book here📚The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick LencioniMentioned in the episodeFrom Start-up to Grown-up: Alisa Cohn's book, featuring 14 specific scripts to help you navigate delicate and difficult conversations.The "Working With Me" Document: Atlassian's excellent free template and guide for creating a personal user manual.The 360 Feedback Model: A comprehensive breakdown of how to run these reviews from the Center for Creative Leadership.Alisa Cohn, Executive Coach & AuthorPodcast & Book: From Start-up to Grown-upFollow Sam on LinkedInWant to get in touch? Whether you want to suggest a guest, sponsor the show, leave some feedback or just get in touch to tell me what you're working on, here's the link for you: https://forms.gle/NHGL9ftFRhu4cKFLA
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The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni | with guest Alisa Cohn
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