Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal | Key Takeaways & Analysis

He encourages them to watch and communicate, but only intervene when absolutely necessary and allow workers to make decisions without having to get approval all the way up the chain of command.

war, information is power, and the natural inclination of leaders is to restrict access to that information as much as possible to prevent a leak

Open floor plans are a significant trend in startup culture and in any company looking to adapt quickly like a startup

Teams are often restricted in size to ensure maximum trust and strong relationships between members because the human brain is only capable of trusting a limited number of people.

flight crew must work as a team. Instead, this captain failed to listen to his fellow teammates, possibly believing that it was more important to dictate everyone else’s actions and make major decisions on his own.

This example shows that some robust systems cause more harm than good

. A doctor who treated every patient identically or a lawyer who treated every case identically would not be effective because what their jobs really entail is creativity and adaptive thinking.

A complicated system is predictable because it shows linear results. However, a complex system shows non-linear results.

reductionist management schemes, employees focus only on their role and need not communicate with other employees or ask questions of their managers about the bigger picture.