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chapter 26 The Myth of “The More, the Merrier” on Teams

Some people think that the larger the team, the better the team.

Wrong.

***

OK, we’ll elaborate a bit (although, a two-sentence chapter on knowing when to stop seems very Zen or something).

There is a tendency by some executives to think of their entire organization as a team. This is an interesting expression, but not a useful one. Teams by their very nature can’t be big. At some point before a team exceeds the number of fingers on two hands, they stop being teams and become mobs.

Team size is important. Smaller is much better than large. A team can be self-led, leader-led, formal or ad-hoc, but it can’t be humongous.

A strategic business unit is usually not a team. SBUs can range ...

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