One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams

by Chris Fussell, C.W. Goodyear, Stanley McChrystal (Foreword)

From the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Team of Teams, a practical guide for leaders looking to make their organizations more interconnected and unified in the midst of sudden change. Too often, companies end up with teams stuck in their own silos, pursuing goals and metrics in isolation. Their traditional autocratic structures create stability, scalability, and predictability -- but in a world that demands rapid adaptation to a new reality, this traditional model simply doesn’t work. In Team of Teams, retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal and former Navy SEAL Chris Fussell made the case for a new organizational model combining the agility, adaptability, and cohesion of a small team with the power and resources of a giant organization. Now, in One Mission, Fussell channels all his experiences, both military and corporate, into powerful strategies for unifying isolated and distrustful teams. This practical guide will help leaders in any field implement the Team of Teams approach to tear down their silos improve collaboration, and avoid turf wars. By committing to one higher mission, organizations develop an overall capability that far exceeds the sum of their parts. From Silicon Valley software giant Intuit to a government agency on the plains of Oklahoma, organizations have used Fussell’s methods to unite their people around a single compelling vision, resulting in superior performance. One Mission will help you follow their example to a more agile and resilient future.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Management, Business Leadership, Military Fiction, Audiobook

298 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 13, 2017

Reviews

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important challenge and written by someone who solved in it his space (how to actually build the team of teams that has fast speed and coordinates lots of departments). But it's written very academically--overly complex language, long phrases, little to no emotional content (which is a major factor of change projects). So I liked some parts, but found myself finished out of discipline rather than pleasure.

[Chad Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and insightful book that offers a fresh perspective on leadership and organizational dynamics. Fussell, a former Navy SEAL and co-author of "Team of Teams" with General Stanley McChrystal, brings his real-world experience and expertise to the forefront, making this book a valuable resource for leaders in any industry. The central premise of the book is the need to shift from a traditional hierarchical model of leadership to a more agile and collaborative approach. Fussell argues that in today's complex and rapidly changing world, organizations must adapt and operate as a "team of teams" in order to achieve success. Drawing from his experiences in the military and examples from various industries, the author provides a comprehensive framework for building and leading high-performing teams. What sets this book apart is its emphasis on the importance of trust, transparency, and shared consciousness within teams. Fussell convincingly argues that leaders must empower their teams with decentralized decision-making and open communication channels to foster a sense of ownership and collaboration. He also provides practical strategies for overcoming common challenges, such as dealing with information overload and managing inter-team dynamics. The book is well-researched and supported by numerous case studies and anecdotes that bring the concepts to life. Overall, "One Mission" is a must-read for leaders who are looking to transform their organizations and create a culture of agility and adaptability. Fussell's insights and practical advice make this book a valuable resource that will undoubtedly help leaders build effective teams and achieve their mission in today's complex and interconnected world.

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fussell's book is about how to improve communication and information flow across a company’s silos and functional groups. The core idea comes from his experience in leadership of the Navy Seals in the Iraq and Afghanistan. His last role before leaving the military was as the Aide-de-camp to General Stanley McChrystal. Fussell now works in a consultant role, with McChrystal, implementing many of their military ideas in business settings. This book is a follow-on book from a book Fussell co-wrote with McChrystal. The Team of Team explained the problem and the general solution, but did not give practical details about how to accomplish a team of team model. This book, One Mission, addresses the “how to” that was missing from the Team of Team book.
Like many organization, the seals had a high degree of cohesiveness, communication and loyalty within one’s own unit, but information flow between units was no so great. McChrystal decided that though unit cohesion was a positive, the lack of flow between units was retarding their overall mission.

The main process that broke down the silos was a daily, cross functional, conference call, that included hundreds of people. The key to this call was a high degree of support by the most senior leadership. These calls were a way of syncing units and functional groups once a day in an open sharing form where information flowed quickly. These forms resulted in many one-to-one communications during and after the call. The author says a daily call was needed due to the fast pace of change of their battle field, but in many organization a weekly or bi-weekly call would suffice.

A secondary process that help change the culture was a fundamental change in the role of liaison officers. For years the military had the concept of liaison officers where one force would send a person from their unit to another department or unit (example: person from an army command unit would be supplemented by person from the Marines). Fussell explains how traditionally these positions were staffed by junior people in the organization, who had limited power and no access to senior leadership in their parent organization. Then change McChrystal drove was to make the new role of a liaison officer one that was staffed by seasoned, field explained officers who had a direct line to most senior leadership in their parent organization.
The book includes examples of large organizations adopting the same operational meetings to improve information flow which are very helpful to see of a military example translated into the corporate world.

Two cautions if you decide to read this book:
1. MILITARY SPEAK -- Fussell, uses a lot of “military speak or academic” instead of plain English. The long complex sentence and phrases a bit tiring and I found them a distraction. Here are some examples from the book …

a. “Decision Space”
b. “Catalyze disruption”
c. “Empowered Execution”
d. “Risk reduced autonomy”

In each case I think multiple ways to say the same thing in much less a buzz-word sounding phrase.
2. LARGE ORGANIZATION – Based on where McChrystal and Fussell came from, not surprising, their largest problems where how to make their massive organizations more efficient. Though there are several takeaways for any size organization, clearly, their ideas are most applicable to large companies or organizations (with 1000’s of employees).

[Jason Watkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this book. I felt like it was a cross between the concepts contained in McChrystal’s Team of Teams (good) and a slightly moderated “ra-ra” format of Jocko Willick’s books (very bad).

On the good side, the academic concepts referenced well-regarded theories and best practices in I/O psychology and behavioral sciences. Fuller offers, for consumption in the corporate world, a set of best practices that might transfer over from military to civilian. These concepts are good, but they are not new and they are not his. He basically took the military status-quo military nuances, bends them to new academic research (like Amy Edmondson’s concept of psychological safety) and attempts to snake-oil-sell it to the corporate world as something new.

But on the bad side, if you’re a military reader, you’d find little ah-ha moments if you served in the last 3 decades. O&I meetings—got it; use liaisons—great (eye roll); etc, etc.

His one novel offering was that of a hybrid organizational model, (think somewhere between flat and hierarchical structure) but he so weakly describes it the reader is left wondering if the author himself even had a grasp of the concept he’s introducing.

2.4 stars, don’t recommend if you’re short on time. Read Team of Teams instead, and if you like cliche ex-military war-story reads that’s not grounded in anything academic, read Jocko’s crap.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following on Gen McChrystal's work Team of Teams, I was anxious to learn more about the specifics of how the model described in that book can be applied to another organization--particularly how leaders effectively empower teams at lower levels & get the right balance between responsibility/accountability & authority.

While there are bits of valuable insight in this book, I would have appreciated more specificity on the challenges the Task Force faced in it's transition to this model. I thought that the case studies were very helpful in this regard, but I thought there was too much hand waving, not enough detail on the challenges an organization will face.

All in all, I would still recommend this book for someone who is interested in learning more about the team of teams model & how it can be applied in other contexts.

[Jean M · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I embark on an exciting new challenge in my career, I was once again pleased to find the right book sitting on my shelf. Unlike my previous jobs, this one was expressly taken to deliver on one large new initiative. Which is why One Mission just fit.

I'm not a big armed forces reader. I'm also not a very strong historian of wars in general, but this book was recommended in the context of leadership, specifically how to lead high performing teams who have a singular focus.

The book was excellent, to the point and included many practical examples. It's very much based on an armed forces environment, one where bureaucracy reigns supreme. This of course works for my work environment too - therefore the parallels were easy. To try and adapt his learning to the private/public sector, he uses case studies to show how his approach to managing a team works.

I really appreciated the clear direction and detailed dive into Interconnection (I&O center), Operational Rhythm (speed of change), Decision Space (who can do what) and Liaisons (right people connected) - which are all the key Chapters of the book. I particularly found the chapters on Interconnection and Operational Rhythm spoke to me - even more so during Covid times with a virtual setting.

Much of what he offers is practical and useful and can begin to be implemented immediately. Because he's proposing a system, it's often dependent on leadership buy-in, but micro examples can be put in place to showcase the advantages, perhaps enticing others to follow or for senior leadership to take notice.

I encourage this book ahead of any new position/initiative that requires a rethink of how you go about accomplishing your goal.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book as I began my role as a Strategic Director. This is a useful outline on effective ways to reach out of silos and create a great move toward a unified narrative.

[Greg Holman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost felt like riding coattails of ToT's. The same stuff repackaged I suppose. Not that it was bad, just not really new info from other book.

[Benzilneurosurg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply not worth it. Needs editing as could cover everything in about 30 pages.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect it, but this book sets a powerful new standard for knowledge management in modern teams. Though in the initial chapters the book felt overly reliant on generalizations, the later case examples from Fussell's and corporate teams clarified the author's position that communication is the foundation of resilient growth in a complex world. According to Fussell, even in the digital age where we can communicate virtually with almost anyone on earth, communication happens most readily between those with personal relationships. And in a complex world where rapid adaptation to new conditions is increasingly important, you need more communicators and people empowered to act on that new information across your network.

None of this is rocket science, but that's the beauty of it; I was surprised to hear that the U.S. military - who has every form of technology at their disposal - enhanced its flexibility primarily by building personal, working relationships across teams and partners, not by using array of new gadgets. Fussell describes calibrating the right balance between top-down, facilitated strategy and information-sharing sessions - in McChrystal's command, these were happening daily - and windows of "empowered execution," where team members were trusted to act within their authority to execute on the team's shared objectives until the next sync-up. I've been in staff-wide video chats with management before that were an attempt at this, but this book gave tips on how to make these forums less about preaching corporate maxims and more a tool to build personal relationships around short-term objectives, setting guidelines for empowered execution and modeling the type of information-seeking behavior management wants decision-makers to adopt.

I also identified with the concept of mid-level management as "information pumps." These pumps' personal capacity and processes they may create are overtaxed by the volume, speed, and variety of information now available for decisions. There is a theoretical maximum to the amount and timeliness of information-sharing we can expect a single person to do, and without a broader practice of information-sharing outside the formal hierarchy, these people are ill equipped to respond to their environments or advise senior leaders. Although scheduling a whole new round of standing sync-up meetings doesn't sound like a good way to make things more efficient, Fussell's examples showed that to the extent these meetings can relieve line managers of the sole responsibility for communicating across teams and clarify group objectives, they free up managers from fighting fires for more strategic thinking.

So, I learned a lot from this book and was pleasantly surprised to find it focused on knowledge management, one my favorite professional topics. But still three stars from the pedantic opening chapters - no one needs to hear again about how strategic alignment is important - and for missing the opportunity to make a more explicit link to existing literature and practices (right or wrong) on knowledge management.

[Krzysztof · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a follow-up to Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. If you haven't read it, don't worry - everything you need to know is summarized here. While McChrystal USA (Ret.), Gen. Stanley A.'s book presented the Team of Teams model, this book is a kind of missing manual on how to implement it.

The content of this book is solid. The whole Team of Teams model might not be groundbreaking, especially for modern and agile companies, but the fact it's pretty simple doesn't mean that its implementation is easy. On contrary, it requires a deep cultural change and collective mindset shift for the whole organization. This book shows what it takes to flatten hierarchies, bridge silos, and deliver at speed and scale. It describes in detail real-life examples of transformations, highlighting possible challenges and solutions that were used to overcome them.

This subject is exciting, stories of organizations going through a work revolution are intriguing, the impact of the new way of thinking about work and organizational design could be huge! BUT somehow this book manages to make it dull and uninspiring. There is no passion, clear narrative, and flow, which makes reading this book a drag. The same ideas are repeated multiple times, without adding a new perspective or context to them, and described in a distanced and formal language that doesn't engage the reader at all.

As much as I was interested in this book's insights and find them valuable, its listening experience was terrible. I often caught myself drifting away with my thoughts and needed to force myself to focus on the audiobook. The frequent changes in the recording quality didn't make it easier either. Great content, but not-so-great delivery.

[Ruby Bibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

-Following the successful book, Team of Teams, where the author described the value of teamwork, this book was written detailing how to go ahead to build such an organization. Using both examples from the military, as well as case studies of corporations, the various steps are explained.
-The author begins with the problems that the military in Iraq was faced with. Because of modern day communications, the enemy was able to make use of information quickly. An attack against the American forces would quickly go viral, so that the enemy forces were able to show that they could hurt our army; conditions on the ground could change quickly, and by the time the leaders received that intel, the window of opportunity to use it would pass; it was also difficult to coordinate the different forces that were sent in by our government to do battle.
-Although this book doesn't show you what strategy would be good for your business, it is meant to set up the means to better determine what the strategy should be. It does this, by showing how you could empower all of your men to be information gatherers and disseminators, so they could act as one, and be stronger than their individual parts. Issues that would normally be hidden under the rug in most organizations, will be exposed in this system, so the chances of the group being blindsided is greatly minimized.
-The examples given are thorough and very well explained, with many jewels found throughout. Things like "Everyone likes to be empowered," I'll often tell groups of business leaders, "until they're actually empowered." I read through this book twice, so that I could take notes on what was written, as each chapter has so many things that a businessman can learn from.
-This is one of the top ten business books that should be on everyone's list, and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to improve both himself, and the organization that he/ she is part of.

[Ruby Bibi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best business books around

-Following the successful book, Team of Teams, where the author described the value of teamwork, this book was written detailing how to go ahead to build such an organization. Using both examples from the military, as well as case studies of corporations, the various steps are explained.
-The author begins with the problems that the military in Iraq was faced with. Because of modern day communications, the enemy was able to make use of information quickly. An attack against the American forces would quickly go viral, so that the enemy forces were able to show that they could hurt our army; conditions on the ground could change quickly, and by the time the leaders received that intel, the window of opportunity to use it would pass; it was also difficult to coordinate the different forces that were sent in by our government to do battle.
-Although this book doesn't show you what strategy would be good for your business, it is meant to set up the means to better determine what the strategy should be. It does this, by showing how you could empower all of your men to be information gatherers and disseminators, so they could act as one, and be stronger than their individual parts. Issues that would normally be hidden under the rug in most organizations, will be exposed in this system, so the chances of the group being blindsided is greatly minimized.
-The examples given are thorough and very well explained, with many jewels found throughout. Things like "Everyone likes to be empowered," I'll often tell groups of business leaders, "until they're actually empowered." I read through this book twice, so that I could take notes on what was written, as each chapter has so many things that a businessman can learn from.
-This is one of the top ten business books that should be on everyone's list, and is highly recommended for anyone who wants to improve both himself, and the organization that he/ she is part of.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insights, but getting through it was a drag. I listened to the audio book, and there was clearly a lot of re-editing; as a result, the sound of the voice changed tone and volume constantly, even within in the middle of sentences which was very distracting. Probably 4 stars for content and 3 for delivery.

As for the underlying content, the underlying ideas are all great and proven out in the author's experience. There is concrete advice and examples of implementing the team-of-teams framework.

Hierarchical bureaucracy results in overly slow communication but generally good alignment, while networks allow for fast adaptation and response time but can easily lose focus. Use a hybrid model for the best of both worlds. Have a clear aligning narrative, and an operating rhythm of team synchronizations ("shared consciousness", set social norms of sharing info and opinions with psychological safety in this meeting) and empowered execution, which is as fast or faster than the rate of change of the environment. Define the scope of teams' areas of responsibility and authority very clearly (the "decision space"). Invest effort in semi-formal cross-team communication, e.g. via liaisons. Leaders should focus on enabling teams rather than doing or making too many decisions (e.g. get them resources, but let teams make the calls within the scope of their decision space) and building/maintaining credibility (proven competence, integrity, and relationships).

[Michael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chris Fussell book One Mission ties lessons learned, further developed and implemented on the battlefields of both Iraq and Afganistan. While it's more of a management book on structure in both the corporate and military world and how this old fashion structures were changed to meet the threat seen in theater. The problem was in the structure and how the historical chain of command(s),military, DIA, CIA etc communications up and down the chain were slow but worse was the communications between agencies. This problem also put lives at risk. The battlefield combatants such as Al Qaida and ISIS developed ever shifting tactics, communications and sites. What Lt Gen McChrystal did was developed a management tool where the lowest level of the chain were given ways to communicate across agencies and up and down the chain. This was not an overnight success but what they found was as time went on each silo interacted and trusted each other with intel to seek out and destroy the enemy. Chris tied this to how and what destroys businesses. Through the book he gives a number of case studies that looked like typical chain of commend structures even in those companies with multiple divisions. For me a slower read but enlightening text.

[EMMANUEL · Rating 5 out of 5]

It gets really uncomfortable knowing that there are people who write books like this. As if their literary work. Is monumentally changing the system and the environment of our work force and economy.

The book provides so many accounts. Of about. Their self. In of intent to change the culture. So to say. Of the environment of their business. And. That. Their self. Is no longer in that unhealthy and solitude of an environment. Of an unquality business. When. To begin with. These people. Who write these books. Especially... these types of books. Would be those people. Who. Prefer and pride their self. In their solitude. Because. Of their embarrassment. But. Most importantly. Their fraud. The fraud that was used to accomplish associations of professional success. That no one cares about. Generally. But. Do care about. When society realizes what these books are intended for.

To further terrorize society with a inhumane and suffering future. Because. Of the fabrication of Life. to be lived and prospered in Lies. Prospered. Not in a good way. But. In these peoples good way - "Pain. Suffering. Torment. Terrorization. Torture. Trauma. Fear. Scared. Disparity."

[Jason Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a follow-up to Team of Teams. One Mission tries to bridge the gap between theory and practice by offering practical advice on implementing the strategies outlined in Team of Teams. One Mission references Fussell's experience as McChrystal's Aide-de-Camp in Iraq. It also offers several case studies based on Fussell's experiences with the McChrystal Group. I liked this book because it's one of the few books that offer practical advice on managing businesses in complex/nonlinear environments, whereas the vast majority of books on this topic deal only in theory. Yes, there is some discussion of the theoretical concepts explaining the difficulty of managing an organization within a nonlinear/complex environment, but it's a necessary discussion, especially for those unfamiliar with systems thinking.

[Abdulfattah Popoola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book.

I picked this up because I found it as an audio book in the Microsoft library after reading General McChrystal's book.

It really helped to explain ways to run multiple teams, the critical factors include openness, agility, an ability to rapidly execute and respond towards a shared goal. I do like how they send their best hands to become liaisons in a bid to achieve the overarching goal.

Coming at a time when I need to leverage the capabilities of multiple people to achieve team goals, I do hope the lessons learnt from this book help me in becoming a better technical lead when faced with vague customer requirements, a need for rapid deliveries and building upon complex software systems.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

So application for large CPGs

I loved this book. In a time where large corporations are acquiring smaller companies and brands, the complexity and rate of change of company "culture" is not to be ignored. So many organizations are blinded by their historic norms and not able to be agile. They rely on the Bains and McKinseys of the world to fix things when those groups are still trying to sell their trademarked models of success that may have been relevant in the 90s. Chris does a great job in describing the roles that people can have in an organization but these roles don't specifically have measurable KPIs but are so crucial for a business to succeed. We need to manage our business better by managing smaller.

[Darren Holland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highlighted the heck out of this thing

We’re in the early stages of applying many of these strategies in our large org (unifying narrative, internal comm platform, O&I’s at varying levels, liaisons) and this gives both the “why” and the “how” to keep pushing forward even when it’s difficult. It’s reassuring to hear some of the same obstacles or headwinds are not unique to our org. I like the “hesitants/deviants” framework - another way to understand our range of people/culture and their varying comforts with risk. (Summary: the more information and context people have the better positioned they are to either prudently hesitate or positively deviate from SOP)

[Zoë Routh · Rating 4 out of 5]

more of a focus on case studies than explicit ‘how to’

This book builds on its precursor Team of Teams with the addition of corporate examples of application of principles.

Badged as a ‘how to’ book, I felt it was lacking in the step by step explanation I was hoping for. I scored it three and a half stars for this, but rounded up to four because the principles themselves are useful and needed in modern leadership context.

Ultimately a Team of Teams approach is more adaptable than the more prescriptive Holacracy approach to networked leadership. This book shows how it can be adapted in various contexts.

[Christoph Kappel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, it would have been better to read Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World prior to this one though, but it still is an interesting read. Somehow I think when military organisations are capable of using this approach corporate companies in general should also be able to.

Bonus points for the brief explanation of the delegate stuff of various groups, I never understood this in agent movies.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today's leader gets everything done with teams in an unprecedented context of complexity, diversity, globality, and interconnectivity. Ironic that best practice in leading teams comes from General Stanley McChrystal as applied to a business context. Although taken from mixed warfield achievements, the leadership best practices are thoroughly modern and applicable. I'd say these team management skills are essential for today's integrative impact leader working dimensions of people, planet, and profit simultaneously. A must-read for today's high powered leaders.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this follow-up to Team of Teams less than the original book. I found it interesting, but somewhat hard to grasp all the concepts, which I sometimes found difficult to understand. He used a lot of examples from his experience with General McChrystal in Iraq and other military examples, which I could relate to, especially his time as an aide-de-camp time with McChrystal and their use of Liaison officers. The author is definitely smart and astute with regards to how organizations work to accomplish things in an ever-changing environment.

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it has some good points. Definitely aimed at leadership. If you don't manage people, you can't really apply any lessons from this book. The message I got from it was:

1. Strict hierarchical organizations are outdated and slow.
2. To move faster, companies need to promote bottom up networks and information sharing between the people that do stuff directly.
3. But to actually do this, you need top-down promotion and enforcement of the new culture norms (direct collaboration, empowered execution, broad information sharing).

[Jay Hennessey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic read. I especially appreciated the discussion on the Hybrid approach to organization and communication.

I think Chris does a great job of explaining a concept and showing historical vignettes to drive the point home and then a current business approach to the same.

Lots of great book recommendations within as well -- I picked up Starfish and the Spider based on the recommendation. More than halfway and really like how complimentary both books are.

[Emily Bassett · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite lesson learned from this book was the line about "Credibility equals competence plus integrity plus relationship." (or something like that. .. I listened to this book on Audible). I think Chris Fussell did a great job de-bunking some myths that the Team of Teams mindset can only apply to extremely charismatic innovative leaders, and that, in fact, we all have something to learn from his experiences.

[Clayton Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who is working at a medium or large-sized company, this should be required reading.
It touches heavily on two of the biggest challenges with companies that are large or have grown to be large recently - breaking down silos and making decisions. I will be using the lessons in this book to better empower my own colleagues, as well to identify "positive deviants".

Could have been a bit shorter, but the extra detail didn't take away from the book at all.

[Ismail Elshareef · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read on the power of communication, especially the aligning narrative, in breaking down silos in any organization. Social capital and focus on relationships are at the heart of effectively creating a singular mission for teams to adopt and act as one. The writing is engaging and fluid. An important read for all leaders of teams.

[Mike Costanzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook review. Great read and the right length. A good companion the Team of Teams. If you can get over the militaristic narrative then there are interesting and simple concepts to apply at any organization, especially large ones, in order to break down silos and execute in a controlled agile manner.