The Stargazer: Unleashing the Brilliance of Building Brighter Teams

by Katie P. Desiderio, Michael G. Frino

Wall Street Journal bestselling authors deliver a powerful and actionable story to build high-performing teams with concepts rooted in nature.

In The Unleashing the Brilliance of Building Brighter Teams, human capital experts and Wall Street Journal bestselling authors Drs. Katie P. Desiderio and Michael G. Frino deliver a thought-provoking leadership fable. The story explores the importance of growth partnership as a catalyst for building high-performing teams.

Readers will discover the inspiring journey of Jack, a retired teacher and current vintner from Yountville, California, as he transforms his struggling vineyard and his own life through a series of profound experiences deeply rooted in the natural world. Throughout the book, readers are invited to reflect on their leadership styles and team dynamics, with practical exercises and symbolic activities that inspire growth and brilliance.

Guided by the lessons from the stars and stones, Jack returns to his vineyard with a renewed vision. Join Jack on this unexpected journey illuminating the path to building brighter, more cohesive teams. You'll learn

The key features of the retreat including, Choose Your Be Mindsets, Open Eyes, Mind, Ears, and Heart, and Meaningful Work, each illustrated through metaphors from Jack's experiences. How to create your personal star system—a supportive network of individuals who help each other grow and shine brighter together. How to use the COMPASS framework to encourage team brilliance through principles of trust, growth, and interconnectedness. Jack's journey from lone wolf to collaborative leader in The Unleashing the Brilliance of Building Brighter Teams serves as a powerful inspiration for managers and business leaders seeking to build strong, interconnected teams.

208 pages, Hardcover

Published March 25, 2025

Reviews

[Coolmana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most vacuous "business book" I have ever encountered, and that's even taking into account the fairly low standards of the genre. I bought it because the jacket copy pitches it as being about team-building and leadership in the world of work, but it not only doesn't deliver but doesn't even attempt to do so. If you've ever read "The E-myth Revisited" and been somewhat annoyed by the clunky frame story about the made-up entrepreneur and her struggles with her "pie store," this is the same style of aggravating conceit, except that the whole book is "frame" and there is nothing inside the frame. The actionable content of the book is negligible, though the last 30 pages read sort of like an outline for a different book that might have tried to provide that content, and there are no real-world examples of how any of the amorphous blather about "stones" and "stars" and so on have ever been implemented by anyone. The entire text could have been drafted by Chat GPT in about 5 minutes just by supplying some prompts to crank out some "meaningful/spiritual" drivel that includes a handful of arbitrary metaphors, since nothing in this book required any research, any empirical evidence at all, or any connection to the actual world of professional teams.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than the first. The COMPASS theme helped pull things together a bit at the end. I really like the retreat walkthrough at the end which gave something really concrete to work with and refer back to.

[Christine Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring and invigorating to read.

[Mark Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, and some interesting concepts, but just a little “fictiony” for me. Maybe they “changed the names of things to protect the innocent”? Nonetheless, there are some things to be learned.