Remembering "The Wisdom of Teams"

I was in a used bookstore the other day and came across a copy of the Wisdom of Teams by Katzenbach and Smith. It brought back memories of an off-site sales meeting we had at the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA where I gave a presentation to the 150 sales reps on teams and in particular information based on the book. That year at Reed Business Information, then Cahners Publishing Company, we were trying to develop the team concept so various sales reps from different books could go in and sell a joint program to clients/customers. 


I was nervous because my mentor Dr. David Merrill was there to see me give the presentation because it was Katzenbach's and Smith's findings complemented by Merrill's findings that was the basis for the presentation. Needless to say I was really concerned at how it would come across given that this was their works interpreted by me and not them. 


I stayed up all night making sure I had the presentation down pat so I would not have to look at notes and stumble. Well, it turned out great, I was happy, no stumbles, losing place, ands and ums. Merrill was very happy and the sales team really enjoyed the presentation and said they thought it would help them as we entered the second half of the sales year. Each sales rep received a copy of "The Wisdom of Teams".


The upshot at year-end was sales were up 21% and joint book programs were up as well because the team concept really took hold. The book and concepts about teams is as important today as it was in the 90's.