Book SummaryThe Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni, is a business parable that discusses the importance of organizational health. Organizational health refers to the strength and wellness of company culture. A healthy organization is free from office politics—it has high morale, low turnover, and unrivaled productivity.

Lencioni is the founder of a successful consulting firm, a motivational speaker, and the author of many books on leadership, including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Ideal Team Player, and Death by Meeting. In this book, Lencioni offers four steps executives must follow in order to maintain organizational health. The four steps are: establishing a healthy leadership team, clearly defining organizational values, circulating values through repetition, and building...

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive Summary The Parable: A Brief Summary

To illustrate the four steps, Lencioni offers a parable about two rival CEOs, Rich O’Connor and Vince Green. While both men are the founders of successful companies, Rich’s Company, Telegraph, consistently outperforms Vince’s company, Greenwich, because of Rich’s focus on the four steps. Throughout the parable, Rich struggles to maintain Telegraph’s health after hiring HR executive Jamie Bender, whose inability to adapt to Telegraph's culture causes considerable damage to the company’s leadership team. At the same time, Vince struggles to understand the secret to Rich’s success, despite at one point even gaining access to the four steps thanks to a...

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive Summary The First Step: Establish a Healthy Leadership Team

In this section, we’ll discuss the first of the four steps—establishing a healthy leadership team. We’ll then move on to discuss concrete strategies for measuring and increasing the health of your team.

Lencioni recommends establishing a healthy team because doing so cuts down on office politics, which can lead to burnout and drive away talented employees. As Lencioni argues, healthy leadership teams depend on a high level of trust between all team members.

(Shortform note: While most authors agree on the importance of establishing a healthy leadership team, each author has a different image of what a healthy team looks like. For instance, while Lencioni’s vision focuses on a lack of office politics and high levels of trust, other experts note that successful teams are focused on a greater purpose that their roles serve. These criteria aren’t mutually exclusive—it may be worth aiming for a lack of politics and a greater purpose when building your team.)

Strategies for Assessing and Increasing Leadership Team Health

Lencioni’s first strategy for assessing...

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive Summary The Second Step: Defining Organizational Values

Moving forward, your next objective is to clearly define the core values of your organization. Lencioni argues that by defining these values, you create a powerful toolkit that can be used to make decisions across your organization.

For example, in Lencioni’s parable, Telegraph faced a key decision about whether to move their headquarters into an upscale complex or a modest but conveniently located building. To make this decision, Rich and his team reflected on Telegraph’s identity as a down-to-earth company that puts clients first. With their values in mind, the decision was a no-brainer.

Don’t Choose Values for Marketing Reasons

Values can help you make important decisions, but only if you choose them for the right reasons. For instance, some observers argue that values fail when they’re too focused on image, noting that many companies choose values they think will attract customers. Suppose that in the parable, in an effort to entice clients, Rich had chosen progressiveness as one of Telegraph’s core values. The team likely would have moved into the fancier, more modern...

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive Summary The Third Step: Circulate Values Through Repetition

Once your organization's values have been identified, your next objective is to take the values established in the second step and circulate them throughout your entire organization. Circulating values is the ongoing process of getting your employees to embrace your values. Successful circulation of values improves performance by allowing each employee to connect their role to the big picture. Additionally, Lencioni believes individual employees who have internalized core values are more motivated and more likely to stick with an organization through hard times.

(Shortform note: Experts agree that circulating values throughout your organization helps increase productivity and morale. Additionally, they specify that it’s best to circulate your values early in the organization’s history, while the team is still relatively small. While circulating values is an ongoing process, starting that process as soon as possible ensures that your values influence your organization’s growth.)

The first technique Lencioni offers for circulating values is repetition. While it may seem counterintuitive, **repeating values...

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive Summary The Fourth Step: Building Values Into Systems

The fourth and final step is to build your core values into the systems that shape your organization’s daily life. When your organization is able to successfully incorporate its values into its systems, it will hire the right people, promote the right people, and fire the right people when necessary. According to Lencioni, this results in high morale and a competitive advantage in terms of acquiring and keeping talent. Moving forward, we’ll discuss how to incorporate your values into your hiring process, your performance management, and your firing process.

(Shortform note: Data supports Lencioni’s assertion that values should play a major role in personnel decisions. According to a 2021 survey, 44% of millennials and 49% of Gen Z participants reported making career decisions based on values. Incorporating values into your human systems allows you to speak to the massive segment of the workforce who prioritize values. Without strong values, many of these individuals will leave your organization, and some will be discouraged from applying in the first...

Shortform Exercise: Build Team Communication

Build stronger relationships with the other members of your team.

Open debate is a necessary part of productive meetings. Think back to your team’s most recent meeting. Did you disagree with your team members on any key points? How did you handle it?

Shortform Exercise: Identify Your Values

Identify the values your organization most deeply represents.

Chances are your organization has some stated values. These could be reflected in a company slogan or a mission statement. List these values here, as they are stated in official company materials. Reflect on how these values are stated. Are they clear and concise, or is there a long list of confusing terms?