The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
A Leadership Fable
Chapter One
BACKSTORY
DecisionTech was located in Half Moon Bay, a foggy, coastal
farming town just over the hills from the San Francisco Bay.
It was not technically part of the Silicon Valley, but the Valley
is not so much a geographical entity as a cultural one.
And DecisionTech certainly fit within that world.
It had the most experienced-and expensive-executive
team imaginable, a seemingly indestructible business plan,
and more top-tier investors than any young company could
hope for. Even the most cautious venture firms were lining
up to invest, and talented engineers were submitting their
resumes before the company had leased an office.
But that was almost two years earlier, which is a lifetime
for a technology start-up. After its first few euphoric
months of existence, the company began experiencing a
series of ongoing disappointments. Critical deadlines
started to slip. A few key employees below the executive
level unexpectedly left the company. Morale deteriorated
gradually. All of this in spite of the considerable advantages
that DecisionTech had amassed for itself.
On the two-year anniversar ... read full excerpt from: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable ebook