---
product_id: 27544457
title: "The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (J-B Lencioni Series)"
price: "4859 som"
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---

# The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (J-B Lencioni Series)

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## Description

In his classic book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team , Patrick Lencioni laid out a groundbreaking approach for tackling the perilous group behaviors that destroy teamwork. Here he turns his focus to the individual, revealing the three indispensable virtues of an ideal team player. In The Ideal Team Player , Lencioni tells the story of Jeff Shanley, a leader desperate to save his uncle’s company by restoring its cultural commitment to teamwork. Jeff must crack the code on the virtues that real team players possess, and then build a culture of hiring and development around those virtues. Beyond the fable, Lencioni presents a practical framework and actionable tools for identifying, hiring, and developing ideal team players. Whether you’re a leader trying to create a culture around teamwork, a staffing professional looking to hire real team players, or a team player wanting to improve yourself, this book will prove to be as useful as it is compelling.

Review: Great Read - Good Information - The Ideal Team Player starts as a fable and makes the beginning very real and insightful. After the fable, Lencioni dives into the details that make up the ideal team player - hungry, humble and smart. For any organization to have a successful culture, their important virtues need to be clearly defined and of upmost importance in the hiring process and in the refining process of their current employees. Lencioni argues that hungry, humble and smart are the three keys for building a successful team and that each member MUST possess these three traits. 1. Hungry - these are people who always look for more and rarely have to be pushed to work harder. Healthy hunger is a manageable and sustainable commitment to doing a job well and going above and beyond when it is truly required. These employees finish their tasks and look for ways to support the rest of the team or look for ways to grow. *Be aware - in an interview - candidates can project a false hunger 2. Humility - this is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player. Too many leaders, who value teamwork, tolerate arrogant employees - not understanding the effect it has on the rest of the team. There are Two types of People who Lack Humility: 1. Overtly arrogant - they boast and soak up attention - these are easy to spot 2. Those who lack self confidence - they are generous and positive with others but they discount their own talents and contributions. They are mistakenly seen as humble - their lack of understanding of their own worth is a violation of humility. They hurt teams by not advocating for their opinion or not calling out issues. *Insecurity is what both types have in common* C.S. Lewis "Humilty isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less" 3. Smart - NOT intelligence - this is common sense about people. They ask good questions, listen to others, stay engaged in conversations intently pg. 166-173 warns us of the different types of people. DO NOT hire or keep someone who lacks all of these characteristics or only has 1 of them. IF they have 2 of the 3, having humble and hungry is the least dangerous to a team as they can take feedback well and often want to improve *Be careful of what he calls the "skillful politician" who has hungry and smart - they can ruin a team and we have all worked with someone who speaks a good game but is only in it for themselves *Be careful how you label people as well. These traits don't have to be equally strong, but they all need to be relatively strong to be an ideal team player. If they are severely lacking in one area, that is of concern pg. 174-186 discusses how to apply this to the interview process and offers good questions to use to assess the humble, hungry, smart. *Key point - BEFORE making an offer to a candidate assure them how absolutely committed you are to these virtues and anyone who does not share them would be miserable working here but if they do share them, it will be a fantastic fit. As he says "many people will try to get a job even if they don't fit the company's stated values, but very few will do so if they know they're going to be held accountable, day in and day out, for behavior that violates the values". pg. 187-191 is assessing your current team to either make corrections or let people go. "Too often, leaders know that an employee really doesn't belong and would be better elsewhere, and they fail to act because they lack courage pg. 195-206 discusses how to develop these attributes. 1. Humility - A leader should always model humility, even if the manager struggles, admit it and continue to work on it. This will encourage the others to do the same. A lack of humility is always related to an insecurity and for most, is rooted in a childhood or family issue that took place well before their first day on the job. So, helping an employee IDENTIFY the root cause and then putting them through EXPOSURE by requiring them to "act" humble (complimenting others, admitting mistakes, etc...) can have a major impact 2. Hunger - this is often hard to change. First and most important step is finding a way to connect them to the importance of the work they are doing. Then set clear behavioral expectations for them and hold them accountable to it. MORE THAN THAT - tell them that you expect them to help their colleagues do what needs to be done once their work is completed, including taking on additional responsibilities, working more hours (if possible), or doing additional research until problems are solved 3. Smart - the key to developing people smarts is to make it clear, to everyone involved, that a deficiency in this area is not about intention. Then, if someone is rude or insensitive, QUICKLY and LOVINGLY correct and encourage them. Remember, their intentions are not bad they are often just unaware pg. 207-211 discusses how to embed these into a culture. 1. Be Explicit and Bold - if you believe it is important, come right out and say so 2. Catch and Revere - constantly be on the lookout for any displays of these virtues and when you see them, hold them up as examples for everyone to see. *"What we are failing to realize is that the point of praise is not only to reinforce the behavior in that employee, but also to reinforce it in everyone else" 3. Detect and Address - When you see a behavior that violates the values, take the time to let the violator know he is out of line, and not just in egregious behaviors Overall, this book offers an incredible and thorough explanation of the importance of having ideal team players and the ways to find, train and refine them. This is a great read for anyone who is hiring, has employees, is an employee, or just about anyone
Review: A Secular Business Book That Has Obvious Implications for Church Ministry Too - Effective organizations—whether they’re multinational corporations, professional sports franchises, or local churches—practice teamwork. When people work together on a common goal, they achieve more than they could do individually and experience a measure of personal satisfaction. When people work against one another, however, the result is organizational ineffectiveness and personal frustration. In his 2002 bestseller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni outlined five ways teamwork goes awry: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. While that book identified the interpersonal dynamics of effective teams, it did not identify the personal qualities of effective team members. Lencioni’s new book, The Ideal Team Member, picks up where Five Dysfunctions left off and outlines three essential “virtues”: An ideal team member is humble, hungry, and smart. Humility comes first because it is “the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player.” Humble team players are not “overtly arrogant,” of course, but they do not “lack self-confidence” either. Rather, quoting C. S. Lewis, Lencioni writes, “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Humility makes collective action possible. Without it, teams don’t work effectively, because each member is either out for themselves ( due to overt arrogance) or unable to propose solutions (because of lack of self-confidence). “Hungry people are always looking for more,” writes Lencioni. They are “self-motivated and diligent.” For a team to work effectively, each team member must proactively contribute to the overall effort. No slackers are allowed. Smart doesn’t pertain to “intellectual capacity,” though it’s similar to emotional intelligence. Lencioni defines it as “a person’s common sense about people…the ability to be interpersonally appropriate and aware.” Ideal team members are people-smart. After defining these three virtues, Lencioni outlines why and how they must work together. “If even one is missing in a team member, teamwork becomes significantly more difficult and sometimes not possible.” A team member who is only humble and hungry, for example, becomes an “accidental mess-maker” because they are constantly—albeit unintentionally—stepping on others’ toes. One who is only humble and smart is a “lovable slacker,” liked by all, but only willing to exert minimum necessary effort. Someone who is only hungry and smart is a “skillful politician,” which Lencioni describes as being “cleverly ambitious and willing to work extremely hard, but only in as much as it will benefit them personally.” Although Lencioni wrote The Ideal Team Member for the secular business world, my description of its contents should convince ministers that it has application to the work of local churches as well. (Indeed, Lencioni—a devout Catholic—notes that Jesus Christ is the “most compelling example of humility in the history of mankind.”) The humble-hungry-smart model gives senior pastors and ministers who lead volunteers valuable insights into who to hire, how to assess their performance, what can be done to develop them when they lack one or more of the virtues, and how to embed those virtues in a church’s organizational culture. Consequently, I highly recommend this book to ministers and ministry leaders. One final note: As with The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Ideal Team Player begins with what Lencioni calls “a leadership fable.” He tells the story of the CEO of a family-owned building company who discovers these three virtues in the course of taking over the reins of the company from his uncle. Only after telling the fable does Lencioni describe the humble-hungry-smart model in propositional terms. This narrative way of approaching the subject shows before it tells. This makes Lencioni’s points concrete and easy to understand. The show-then-tell approach is also, it seems to me, a great way to preach…though that is a subject for another time.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #2,811 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #4 in Human Resources & Personnel Management (Books) #15 in Business Management (Books) #25 in Leadership & Motivation |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 6,061 Reviews |

## Images

![The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (J-B Lencioni Series) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91BXTYwh8wL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Read - Good Information
*by G***N on September 21, 2017*

The Ideal Team Player starts as a fable and makes the beginning very real and insightful. After the fable, Lencioni dives into the details that make up the ideal team player - hungry, humble and smart. For any organization to have a successful culture, their important virtues need to be clearly defined and of upmost importance in the hiring process and in the refining process of their current employees. Lencioni argues that hungry, humble and smart are the three keys for building a successful team and that each member MUST possess these three traits. 1. Hungry - these are people who always look for more and rarely have to be pushed to work harder. Healthy hunger is a manageable and sustainable commitment to doing a job well and going above and beyond when it is truly required. These employees finish their tasks and look for ways to support the rest of the team or look for ways to grow. *Be aware - in an interview - candidates can project a false hunger 2. Humility - this is the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player. Too many leaders, who value teamwork, tolerate arrogant employees - not understanding the effect it has on the rest of the team. There are Two types of People who Lack Humility: 1. Overtly arrogant - they boast and soak up attention - these are easy to spot 2. Those who lack self confidence - they are generous and positive with others but they discount their own talents and contributions. They are mistakenly seen as humble - their lack of understanding of their own worth is a violation of humility. They hurt teams by not advocating for their opinion or not calling out issues. *Insecurity is what both types have in common* C.S. Lewis "Humilty isn't thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less" 3. Smart - NOT intelligence - this is common sense about people. They ask good questions, listen to others, stay engaged in conversations intently pg. 166-173 warns us of the different types of people. DO NOT hire or keep someone who lacks all of these characteristics or only has 1 of them. IF they have 2 of the 3, having humble and hungry is the least dangerous to a team as they can take feedback well and often want to improve *Be careful of what he calls the "skillful politician" who has hungry and smart - they can ruin a team and we have all worked with someone who speaks a good game but is only in it for themselves *Be careful how you label people as well. These traits don't have to be equally strong, but they all need to be relatively strong to be an ideal team player. If they are severely lacking in one area, that is of concern pg. 174-186 discusses how to apply this to the interview process and offers good questions to use to assess the humble, hungry, smart. *Key point - BEFORE making an offer to a candidate assure them how absolutely committed you are to these virtues and anyone who does not share them would be miserable working here but if they do share them, it will be a fantastic fit. As he says "many people will try to get a job even if they don't fit the company's stated values, but very few will do so if they know they're going to be held accountable, day in and day out, for behavior that violates the values". pg. 187-191 is assessing your current team to either make corrections or let people go. "Too often, leaders know that an employee really doesn't belong and would be better elsewhere, and they fail to act because they lack courage pg. 195-206 discusses how to develop these attributes. 1. Humility - A leader should always model humility, even if the manager struggles, admit it and continue to work on it. This will encourage the others to do the same. A lack of humility is always related to an insecurity and for most, is rooted in a childhood or family issue that took place well before their first day on the job. So, helping an employee IDENTIFY the root cause and then putting them through EXPOSURE by requiring them to "act" humble (complimenting others, admitting mistakes, etc...) can have a major impact 2. Hunger - this is often hard to change. First and most important step is finding a way to connect them to the importance of the work they are doing. Then set clear behavioral expectations for them and hold them accountable to it. MORE THAN THAT - tell them that you expect them to help their colleagues do what needs to be done once their work is completed, including taking on additional responsibilities, working more hours (if possible), or doing additional research until problems are solved 3. Smart - the key to developing people smarts is to make it clear, to everyone involved, that a deficiency in this area is not about intention. Then, if someone is rude or insensitive, QUICKLY and LOVINGLY correct and encourage them. Remember, their intentions are not bad they are often just unaware pg. 207-211 discusses how to embed these into a culture. 1. Be Explicit and Bold - if you believe it is important, come right out and say so 2. Catch and Revere - constantly be on the lookout for any displays of these virtues and when you see them, hold them up as examples for everyone to see. *"What we are failing to realize is that the point of praise is not only to reinforce the behavior in that employee, but also to reinforce it in everyone else" 3. Detect and Address - When you see a behavior that violates the values, take the time to let the violator know he is out of line, and not just in egregious behaviors Overall, this book offers an incredible and thorough explanation of the importance of having ideal team players and the ways to find, train and refine them. This is a great read for anyone who is hiring, has employees, is an employee, or just about anyone

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Secular Business Book That Has Obvious Implications for Church Ministry Too
*by G***D on May 5, 2016*

Effective organizations—whether they’re multinational corporations, professional sports franchises, or local churches—practice teamwork. When people work together on a common goal, they achieve more than they could do individually and experience a measure of personal satisfaction. When people work against one another, however, the result is organizational ineffectiveness and personal frustration. In his 2002 bestseller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni outlined five ways teamwork goes awry: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. While that book identified the interpersonal dynamics of effective teams, it did not identify the personal qualities of effective team members. Lencioni’s new book, The Ideal Team Member, picks up where Five Dysfunctions left off and outlines three essential “virtues”: An ideal team member is humble, hungry, and smart. Humility comes first because it is “the single greatest and most indispensable attribute of being a team player.” Humble team players are not “overtly arrogant,” of course, but they do not “lack self-confidence” either. Rather, quoting C. S. Lewis, Lencioni writes, “Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.” Humility makes collective action possible. Without it, teams don’t work effectively, because each member is either out for themselves ( due to overt arrogance) or unable to propose solutions (because of lack of self-confidence). “Hungry people are always looking for more,” writes Lencioni. They are “self-motivated and diligent.” For a team to work effectively, each team member must proactively contribute to the overall effort. No slackers are allowed. Smart doesn’t pertain to “intellectual capacity,” though it’s similar to emotional intelligence. Lencioni defines it as “a person’s common sense about people…the ability to be interpersonally appropriate and aware.” Ideal team members are people-smart. After defining these three virtues, Lencioni outlines why and how they must work together. “If even one is missing in a team member, teamwork becomes significantly more difficult and sometimes not possible.” A team member who is only humble and hungry, for example, becomes an “accidental mess-maker” because they are constantly—albeit unintentionally—stepping on others’ toes. One who is only humble and smart is a “lovable slacker,” liked by all, but only willing to exert minimum necessary effort. Someone who is only hungry and smart is a “skillful politician,” which Lencioni describes as being “cleverly ambitious and willing to work extremely hard, but only in as much as it will benefit them personally.” Although Lencioni wrote The Ideal Team Member for the secular business world, my description of its contents should convince ministers that it has application to the work of local churches as well. (Indeed, Lencioni—a devout Catholic—notes that Jesus Christ is the “most compelling example of humility in the history of mankind.”) The humble-hungry-smart model gives senior pastors and ministers who lead volunteers valuable insights into who to hire, how to assess their performance, what can be done to develop them when they lack one or more of the virtues, and how to embed those virtues in a church’s organizational culture. Consequently, I highly recommend this book to ministers and ministry leaders. One final note: As with The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The Ideal Team Player begins with what Lencioni calls “a leadership fable.” He tells the story of the CEO of a family-owned building company who discovers these three virtues in the course of taking over the reins of the company from his uncle. Only after telling the fable does Lencioni describe the humble-hungry-smart model in propositional terms. This narrative way of approaching the subject shows before it tells. This makes Lencioni’s points concrete and easy to understand. The show-then-tell approach is also, it seems to me, a great way to preach…though that is a subject for another time.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Strong Book from Patrick
*by M***E on September 6, 2016*

Lencioni struggles with matching "Five Dysfunctions of a Team." This book was so good, that every other book is a disappointment. Not that the books are bad, rather, they just do not match that great text on teams. This book attempts to continue that conversation about developing a strong team, and how to be part of a strong team. The book is a good read, always engaging, and practical and helpful. When you read one of the author's text, you are always left with some actionable thoughts and behaviors. He does not overwhelm you with information, but creates a framework so that you can understand easily. The major focus of the book is finding and being people who are hungry (passionate about the goal), smart (people who are good with people), and humble (willing to learn and open to feedback). What I like about this model is that it does work. When you look for people to work with, look for these qualities. Since it is a simple process, you are more likely to find success within it. Instead of some of the complex ways we look for talent, this process is so easy that you will get it right more often. It is a good leadership book, and perhaps one that leadership should study together.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Jossey-Bass The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The 3-Essential Virtues
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
- Matt Holt Books The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team

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*Last updated: 2026-05-25*