Liftoff, 2nd Edition

Introduction: Defying Gravity

For ages, humans have watched birds soaring and have wanted to fly. We stayed earthbound until we learned about the effects of gravity and how to overcome them. Now we can defy gravity with a rocket launch, or liftoff. Rockets generate energy at the start of flight, giving humans the force to overcome gravitational pull and boost themselves skyward.

At the beginning of a team-based effort, often there’s a void, an inertia. Teams need an initial boost—a liftoff—to generate a force that overrides the inertia resulting from a lack of common purpose, unclear communication channels, undefined working relationships, and other areas of ambiguity.

To add to the confusion, every project has many parts: a visionary with a ...