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Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry
From baseball to biology, an award-winning journalist highlights the power of team chemistry in this "terrific" data-driven investigation of human relationships (Billie Jean King).
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is there scientific or mathematical proof? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement?
In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking book we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding yes. As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click," the ones that foster trust and respect, and push players to exceed their own potential when they work well together.
Team chemistry alone won't win a World Series, but talent alone won't win it, either. And by interviewing more than 100 players, coaches, managers, and statisticians, as well as over five years of extensive research in neuroscience, biology, physiology, and psychology, Ryan proves that the social and emotional state of a team does affect performance. Grit, passion, selflessness, and effort matter -- but never underestimate the power of chemistry.
Does team chemistry actually exist? Is there scientific or mathematical proof? Is team chemistry as real and relevant as on-base percentages and wins above replacement?
In Joan Ryan's groundbreaking book we discover that the answer to all of the above is a resounding yes. As Ryan puts it, team chemistry, or the combination of biological and social forces that boosts selfless effort among more players over more days of a season, is what drives sports teams toward a common goal, encouraging the players to be the best versions of themselves. These are the elements of teams that make them "click," the ones that foster trust and respect, and push players to exceed their own potential when they work well together.
Team chemistry alone won't win a World Series, but talent alone won't win it, either. And by interviewing more than 100 players, coaches, managers, and statisticians, as well as over five years of extensive research in neuroscience, biology, physiology, and psychology, Ryan proves that the social and emotional state of a team does affect performance. Grit, passion, selflessness, and effort matter -- but never underestimate the power of chemistry.
249 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 28, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
February 7, 2020
"Team chemistry" is a trait that doesn't have a true scientific definition, yet is accepted as a necessary element in a championship team, no matter which sport. Journalist Joan Ryan decided to look into this trait further to see if there was some scientific truth behind "team chemistry" as well as share stories from players who are credited with elevating this trait.
While Ryan writes about several teams in the book, including the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics, she dedicates most of the material to the San Francisco Giants, a team with who she has worked in the past eight years. For the scientific aspect, she interviews experts in areas such as neuroscience and psychology and their input lead credence to the thought that good team chemistry is necessary. However, like the players and managers interviewed, that is not a unanimous consensus and most likely never will be.
However, what makes this book fun to read are the stories by and about players who have been credited with affecting team chemistry whether positive or negative. Ryan has a label for most of these such as a "super-carrier" – Jonny Gomes, a utility player who found a way to help each of his teammates. There is the "super-disruptor" – Barry Bonds, and the story he shares with Ryan is worth the time to read no matter one's opinion on his behavior or legitimacy to the home run record. There is a chapter on Mike Krukow, a long time Giant player and broadcaster called "Humm-Baby". These are just a few examples of the extensive research Ryan put into the project and the finished product is a fun read.
At the end of the book, Ryan does answer two questions about measuring chemistry (can't be the same as sabermetrics) and what is the function. This review won't give that away, as it is recommended that all baseball fans pick up this book to find out the answers.
I wish to thank Little, Brown and company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
While Ryan writes about several teams in the book, including the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics, she dedicates most of the material to the San Francisco Giants, a team with who she has worked in the past eight years. For the scientific aspect, she interviews experts in areas such as neuroscience and psychology and their input lead credence to the thought that good team chemistry is necessary. However, like the players and managers interviewed, that is not a unanimous consensus and most likely never will be.
However, what makes this book fun to read are the stories by and about players who have been credited with affecting team chemistry whether positive or negative. Ryan has a label for most of these such as a "super-carrier" – Jonny Gomes, a utility player who found a way to help each of his teammates. There is the "super-disruptor" – Barry Bonds, and the story he shares with Ryan is worth the time to read no matter one's opinion on his behavior or legitimacy to the home run record. There is a chapter on Mike Krukow, a long time Giant player and broadcaster called "Humm-Baby". These are just a few examples of the extensive research Ryan put into the project and the finished product is a fun read.
At the end of the book, Ryan does answer two questions about measuring chemistry (can't be the same as sabermetrics) and what is the function. This review won't give that away, as it is recommended that all baseball fans pick up this book to find out the answers.
I wish to thank Little, Brown and company for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
August 3, 2020
Good book, learned a lot! By hour 6 however, I was getting rather tired of hearing about the Giants. I was also partly put off by the Barry Bonds chapter, since it ignored the steroids a lot and even went so far as to call him a "genius". Other than that, was a helpful book and made me rethink the significance of team chemistry.
July 4, 2020
What an enjoyable book! I don't play sports, I am a bit older, but I took the whole concept of teamwork to my many years in the restaurant industry when I was younger. If we had a good crew, we all worked together and the restaurant worked like a machine no matter how busy it was. My two sons live in the Philadelphia area and they were there for the " Underdogs" who won the Super Bowl, The Eagles. So yes, look what can happen when there is true teamwork. And guess what, it is hard to find.
P.S. I worked at Little Brown and Company when I lived in Boston for a year when I was about 20. I was an accounting clerk. So thank you for publishing this great book.
P.S. I worked at Little Brown and Company when I lived in Boston for a year when I was about 20. I was an accounting clerk. So thank you for publishing this great book.
June 15, 2023
I loved this book! It combined a few of my favorite things: baseball, sports, leadership, and social psychology. Joan Ryan's writing style is clear and easy to read.
October 9, 2020
Identifying the keys to creating a consistently successful team have always been hard to identify and replicate. But this book is filled with great ideas for team building and maintaining relationships and the science behind it!
August 4, 2020
I received this book via a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
Joan Ryan has taken a very fuzzy concept and tried to concretize it, identifying what it is, how it's formed and what it does. The tone of the book will be familiar to anyone who's read any of the popular social science books that has followed in Freakonomics' footsteps. She's grounded in her experience as a baseball writer, particularly in working for the San Francisco Giants, and so the 1989 and 2010 Giants make significant appearances here.
She does well to bring in some findings from neuroscience and evolutionary biology about the importance and purpose of human interaction, and clearly explaining how this applies to sports. Ultimately, while she makes some headway into understanding team chemistry, her conclusions tend to run along the lines of "well, x and y can contribute to team chemistry, but they might not, and it's impossible to know for sure, because team chemistry is a complicated process". Her definition of team chemistry, which she introduces in her conclusion, is that team chemistry reveals itself in improved performance. In other words, one can't identify team chemistry unless and until the team does well, which seems to diminish the value of an analysis of team chemistry.
This is an enjoyable read, but I don't think know that there are larger lessons to draw from this book.
Joan Ryan has taken a very fuzzy concept and tried to concretize it, identifying what it is, how it's formed and what it does. The tone of the book will be familiar to anyone who's read any of the popular social science books that has followed in Freakonomics' footsteps. She's grounded in her experience as a baseball writer, particularly in working for the San Francisco Giants, and so the 1989 and 2010 Giants make significant appearances here.
She does well to bring in some findings from neuroscience and evolutionary biology about the importance and purpose of human interaction, and clearly explaining how this applies to sports. Ultimately, while she makes some headway into understanding team chemistry, her conclusions tend to run along the lines of "well, x and y can contribute to team chemistry, but they might not, and it's impossible to know for sure, because team chemistry is a complicated process". Her definition of team chemistry, which she introduces in her conclusion, is that team chemistry reveals itself in improved performance. In other words, one can't identify team chemistry unless and until the team does well, which seems to diminish the value of an analysis of team chemistry.
This is an enjoyable read, but I don't think know that there are larger lessons to draw from this book.
July 17, 2022
A good read for those who appreciate team sports, especially SF Giants, and want to elevate their work teams. Each individual brings their own talents. Team chemistry is that sweet spot when each one challenges others to increase their own performance, and all are driven to achieve something not for themselves but something greater.
February 9, 2025
Passed on to me by my man Sammy.
Having been alerted to the excesses of one-neat-trick books by all of my If Books Could Kill listening, I went into this with a decent degree of suspicion--all the more because Ryan grew up as a sportswriter (she wrote the essential Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, which feels all the more necessary and forward-looking by the minute), and in general people going out-of-field can be especially susceptible to the disease of finding an article from some psych journal and stretching it to cover everything.
So the modesty of the analysis and claims here came as a reassuring and welcome surprise. Ryan talks to sociologists and social psychologists and neuroscientists and Stanley McChrystal, and noted glue guys like Jonny Gomes and Hunter Pence and, briefly, Aubrey Huff, famous anti-glue guys like Jeff Kent and even, eventually, Barry Bonds (who lived in...Larkspur? someplace where there are ferries in what sounds like Marin), after several years' persistence, and Michael Lewis and Theo Epstein, because of course, as well as baseball lifers like Jim Leyland and Tony La Russa, and she listens respectfully to all of them. End result? Chemistry is probably real (saddest/funniest note is the social psychologist who had her grad students spend WEEKS coding player interactions on video to determine how they might affect quality of play, only to conclude that there wasn't enough evidence and no points of comparison for all of this data), but not everything, since also being really good at your sport also matters kind of a lot. She cites a couple of studies proving that too many to-rank types can be counterproductive (wondering what Man City's recent fortunes say about this--or that Soccernomics stat that, as of the last version I read, which is maybe two editions ago, 92% of a European club's results are attributable to payroll, which maybe by implication suggests how much weight we might assign to...intangibles), which returns to the point that stats, by themselves, suggest most but not all of what a team can do.
Her central narrative hub is the '89 Giants, who for most of the season hit on the right balance of all of these things, from detente between the born-agains and carousers to figuring out how to make sure Kevin Mitchell felt appreciated, given his own insecurities--which clearly worked that year, as he won MVP. In that sense, maybe the meta-story here is about the rise in understanding of male subjectivity/sensitivity, the lesson that numbers can't and shouldn't be absolutely everything, and that men need to feel appreciated and loved and cared for to succeed, even if a lot of that comes out as taunts and teases and kangaroo courts.
Having been alerted to the excesses of one-neat-trick books by all of my If Books Could Kill listening, I went into this with a decent degree of suspicion--all the more because Ryan grew up as a sportswriter (she wrote the essential Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, which feels all the more necessary and forward-looking by the minute), and in general people going out-of-field can be especially susceptible to the disease of finding an article from some psych journal and stretching it to cover everything.
So the modesty of the analysis and claims here came as a reassuring and welcome surprise. Ryan talks to sociologists and social psychologists and neuroscientists and Stanley McChrystal, and noted glue guys like Jonny Gomes and Hunter Pence and, briefly, Aubrey Huff, famous anti-glue guys like Jeff Kent and even, eventually, Barry Bonds (who lived in...Larkspur? someplace where there are ferries in what sounds like Marin), after several years' persistence, and Michael Lewis and Theo Epstein, because of course, as well as baseball lifers like Jim Leyland and Tony La Russa, and she listens respectfully to all of them. End result? Chemistry is probably real (saddest/funniest note is the social psychologist who had her grad students spend WEEKS coding player interactions on video to determine how they might affect quality of play, only to conclude that there wasn't enough evidence and no points of comparison for all of this data), but not everything, since also being really good at your sport also matters kind of a lot. She cites a couple of studies proving that too many to-rank types can be counterproductive (wondering what Man City's recent fortunes say about this--or that Soccernomics stat that, as of the last version I read, which is maybe two editions ago, 92% of a European club's results are attributable to payroll, which maybe by implication suggests how much weight we might assign to...intangibles), which returns to the point that stats, by themselves, suggest most but not all of what a team can do.
Her central narrative hub is the '89 Giants, who for most of the season hit on the right balance of all of these things, from detente between the born-agains and carousers to figuring out how to make sure Kevin Mitchell felt appreciated, given his own insecurities--which clearly worked that year, as he won MVP. In that sense, maybe the meta-story here is about the rise in understanding of male subjectivity/sensitivity, the lesson that numbers can't and shouldn't be absolutely everything, and that men need to feel appreciated and loved and cared for to succeed, even if a lot of that comes out as taunts and teases and kangaroo courts.
March 29, 2020
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
Although it uses sports teams for most of its analyses since they are author Joan Ryan's work, this is clearly applicable to other areas such as businesses as well. Through careful research over decades, Ryan tries to define the elusive topic of 'chemisty' and why some teams play better than the sum of their parts while others do not.Through her research, she identifies key elements that make teams synergize better: players who add wisdom, guidance, defuse tough situations, motivate, or just hold the team together. This is balanced against the negative assets: players who malinger (don't show up on time, miss practices, etc.) or who are toxic to the culture (through complaining, whining, wheezing, etc.). She isn't afraid to name names on either and often uses the San Francisco Giants baseball team players as examples since she worked closely with the org over several decades.
The key takeaways from the book are a) identifying the soft skills that players bring beside talent and b) quantifying/proving/disproving the concept of team chemistry. Both are nicely defined and analyzed and bring quite a bit of food for thought for those who work with any kind of team.
One aspect that wasn't covered that I would have liked to see is a discussion about the emergence of online esports and teams that have to find chemistry despite often never having met each other in person (and therefore never having had the chance to fraternize which is noted in the book as being so important to develop chemistry).
Because of the breadth of the topic covered, this is an excellent read for coaches and managers. The writing is very approachable and conversational, creating a pleasant read. Examples run from Olympic teams (US Women's Basketball) to corporate team building but the focus is very much on sports, specifically baseball. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
July 23, 2021
As an avid reader of anything baseball-related, it is rare that I come across a book that examines the sport from a completely different and fresh angle. But that is exactly what transpires in "Intangibles", rocketing it up near the top of my "best baseball books ever" list.
For has long as team sports have been played, the concept of "team chemistry" (good or bad) has been discussed. Is the right (or wrong) mix of players important to the overall equation, or does sheer talent always win out in the end? Author Joan Ryan attacks all of those issues in "Intangibles", using qualitative social-science research from the realm of work groups and familial relationships. Over the course of the book, Ryan makes a compelling case that chemistry (though difficult to quantitatively measure or tangibly capture) is indeed an important force on any team.
Maybe the most important trail of evidence Ryan uses to support her theories is that human beings are "open loop" beings in which certain psychological/emotional processes can only be fulfilled by others. As such, the right combination of support and rapport with others can unlock the desire for improved performance (much like, say, soldiers protecting their brethren in the foxhole).
As a beat writer for the San Francisco Giants, Ryan studies the magical 1989 Giants squad (renowned for its odd mix of personalities) and also the '10, '12, & '14 teams that all won championships with a different type of chemistry. Ryan also has the cache to get almost unprecedented access to certain figures, including a one-on-one with Barry Bonds, of all people. Whether speaking to baseball lifers or behavioral experts, she explores the archetypes of good chemistry-creators, why seemingly negative personalities (like Bonds) don't always drag a clubhouse down, and of course the essential talent/chemistry divide.
All told, I finished this book in a matter of a few sittings as I was so utterly fascinated and engaged by the content. In the future, whenever someone tells me that "chemistry doesn't matter" in sports, I'm going to immediately steer that individual to this tome!
For has long as team sports have been played, the concept of "team chemistry" (good or bad) has been discussed. Is the right (or wrong) mix of players important to the overall equation, or does sheer talent always win out in the end? Author Joan Ryan attacks all of those issues in "Intangibles", using qualitative social-science research from the realm of work groups and familial relationships. Over the course of the book, Ryan makes a compelling case that chemistry (though difficult to quantitatively measure or tangibly capture) is indeed an important force on any team.
Maybe the most important trail of evidence Ryan uses to support her theories is that human beings are "open loop" beings in which certain psychological/emotional processes can only be fulfilled by others. As such, the right combination of support and rapport with others can unlock the desire for improved performance (much like, say, soldiers protecting their brethren in the foxhole).
As a beat writer for the San Francisco Giants, Ryan studies the magical 1989 Giants squad (renowned for its odd mix of personalities) and also the '10, '12, & '14 teams that all won championships with a different type of chemistry. Ryan also has the cache to get almost unprecedented access to certain figures, including a one-on-one with Barry Bonds, of all people. Whether speaking to baseball lifers or behavioral experts, she explores the archetypes of good chemistry-creators, why seemingly negative personalities (like Bonds) don't always drag a clubhouse down, and of course the essential talent/chemistry divide.
All told, I finished this book in a matter of a few sittings as I was so utterly fascinated and engaged by the content. In the future, whenever someone tells me that "chemistry doesn't matter" in sports, I'm going to immediately steer that individual to this tome!
October 16, 2021
This was an absolutely enjoyable read, especially as Major League Baseball's 2021 Division Series concluded and the Championship Series got underway. Joan Ryan pulls from her experience as a sportswriter in the Bay Area and then from her work as a Senior Media Advisor for the San Francisco Giants since 2008. While chemistry in the context of teams can be a challenging term to define, she pulls some good examples from interviews over her career such as Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa who states "the best way I heard it described - it's a pretty corny concept - but it's basically trust and caring among teammates." I really like her discussion of players with leadership roles within teams and how they can be an extension of their coach/manager on the field/court. With her Bay Area focus, Giants Buster Posey and former Manager Bruce Bochy as well as the Warriors Steph Curry and Coach Steve Kerr were great examples for her to draw on. It was great to be reminded of the 2012 "Play for each other" speech from Hunter Pence to the Giants which rallied his club down 2-0 to the Cincinnati Reds before Game 3, which San Francisco would win in extra innings and go on to win the NLDS 3-2. While talent plays a key role in the success of teams, there is no substitute for teammates that trust and truly understand one another.
October 19, 2021
📖「這種情感連繫的產生，是因為我們渴望群體，渴望比自我更宏大的東西。我們真實感受到自己是球隊的一分子，所以我們穿上跟球員一樣的球衣，背後繡的甚至不是我們自己的名字，而是他們的名字。」
關於團隊默契，相信大家都有聽過，但這一個無法量化且沒有數據佐證的＂默契＂是否真的存在並且能夠影響最終的結果？作者Joan花了近十年的時間完成這本著作，除了研究大量相關文章及書籍之外，大量的球員訪談構成了本書的主軸，身為一個運動迷，可以透過內容得知很多球員私底下真正的想法及經驗，真的非常非常推薦給大家。
在閱讀的過程中，幾乎每一頁都有句子想讓我畫線，可能身為一個運動迷，心裡也對運動團隊這個名詞有所渴望。開頭從人類的演變及大腦的運作講起，不談及運動，在生活中人際關係這件事對我們來說到底有多重要，我們沒辦法一個人獨自生活，有人說真正的自我其實並不存在，因為我們在每個人面前都是不同的個體，這就是為甚麼人際關係對我們的影響如此深刻。同理可說明，在團隊裡面，每個人都是扮演著不同的角色，而一些實力並不是最頂尖的球員為甚麼可以大大改善球隊的戰績，他在球隊裡面扮演的腳色是什麼？相反地，實力最頂尖的超級明星球員，當他們在球隊裡面不合群的時候，他的隊友是怎麼樣看待？會否影響到球隊的戰績？書中的種種說明有顛覆一些我原本的想法或是從來沒想過的可能性，作者長期擔任舊金山巨人隊的媒體顧問，從她的背景及訪談中，這些經驗都是非常真實且具意義的。
書裡面也談到團隊裡可以分成七種人格類型，分別是火花、聖賢、小孩、警察、夥伴、戰士及諧星，火花可以點燃隊友心中的使命感、無私與集體戰鬥力，聖賢就像是智者讓你感覺安心，小孩總是釋放活力並且讓你找回當初打球的夢想，警察分成兩種類型，激怒型及聖賢型，夥伴是大家的好朋友、可以讓你很放鬆相處起來很自在，戰士是球隊裡面的精英，例如Lebron James、Mike Trout、Sue Bird，為球隊帶來巨大的影響力，最後則是諧星，諧星典型逗人發笑的天賦，會把人凝聚在一起，球員會在球隊裡找到自己適合的位置，同時也開始塑造出不同的球隊氣氛。
單看本書的封面你完全不會想到這本書與運動有所關聯，我是聽⚾️棒球podcast"HITO大聯盟"主持人 @adam.wang.photography 的推薦才知道這本書，後來發現原文書的封面是一顆棒球(右滑到最後一頁)，感覺合理多了，不過也能理解如果中文書同樣是顆棒球可能受眾會更狹隘，總之很喜歡這本書同時也推薦給大家！
關於團隊之間的化學效應，沒有明確的數據能佐證，看似無形但卻真實存在。
🔖「幾年前，作家Roger Rosenblatt在《紐約時報》的文章中指出，對人類生活產生最深刻影響的東西，幾乎都是看不見的：「磁場、電流、重力都是肉眼看不見的作用，還有內在的思想主宰、偏好、熱愛、心理狀態、品味、心情、道德觀，當然也包括靈魂（如果你相信有靈魂的話）。肉眼看不見的世界掌管肉眼可見的世界，宛如一個隱形政府。」」
🔖「信任指的不是相信對方不會犯錯，而是就算對方犯了錯，你也依然相信他。」
— Ed Catmull，皮克斯與迪士尼動畫工作室前總裁
#打造冠軍隊伍除了數據你還有這些可以參考
閱讀分享: https://www.instagram.com/doo.book/
關於團隊默契，相信大家都有聽過，但這一個無法量化且沒有數據佐證的＂默契＂是否真的存在並且能夠影響最終的結果？作者Joan花了近十年的時間完成這本著作，除了研究大量相關文章及書籍之外，大量的球員訪談構成了本書的主軸，身為一個運動迷，可以透過內容得知很多球員私底下真正的想法及經驗，真的非常非常推薦給大家。
在閱讀的過程中，幾乎每一頁都有句子想讓我畫線，可能身為一個運動迷，心裡也對運動團隊這個名詞有所渴望。開頭從人類的演變及大腦的運作講起，不談及運動，在生活中人際關係這件事對我們來說到底有多重要，我們沒辦法一個人獨自生活，有人說真正的自我其實並不存在，因為我們在每個人面前都是不同的個體，這就是為甚麼人際關係對我們的影響如此深刻。同理可說明，在團隊裡面，每個人都是扮演著不同的角色，而一些實力並不是最頂尖的球員為甚麼可以大大改善球隊的戰績，他在球隊裡面扮演的腳色是什麼？相反地，實力最頂尖的超級明星球員，當他們在球隊裡面不合群的時候，他的隊友是怎麼樣看待？會否影響到球隊的戰績？書中的種種說明有顛覆一些我原本的想法或是從來沒想過的可能性，作者長期擔任舊金山巨人隊的媒體顧問，從她的背景及訪談中，這些經驗都是非常真實且具意義的。
書裡面也談到團隊裡可以分成七種人格類型，分別是火花、聖賢、小孩、警察、夥伴、戰士及諧星，火花可以點燃隊友心中的使命感、無私與集體戰鬥力，聖賢就像是智者讓你感覺安心，小孩總是釋放活力並且讓你找回當初打球的夢想，警察分成兩種類型，激怒型及聖賢型，夥伴是大家的好朋友、可以讓你很放鬆相處起來很自在，戰士是球隊裡面的精英，例如Lebron James、Mike Trout、Sue Bird，為球隊帶來巨大的影響力，最後則是諧星，諧星典型逗人發笑的天賦，會把人凝聚在一起，球員會在球隊裡找到自己適合的位置，同時也開始塑造出不同的球隊氣氛。
單看本書的封面你完全不會想到這本書與運動有所關聯，我是聽⚾️棒球podcast"HITO大聯盟"主持人 @adam.wang.photography 的推薦才知道這本書，後來發現原文書的封面是一顆棒球(右滑到最後一頁)，感覺合理多了，不過也能理解如果中文書同樣是顆棒球可能受眾會更狹隘，總之很喜歡這本書同時也推薦給大家！
關於團隊之間的化學效應，沒有明確的數據能佐證，看似無形但卻真實存在。
🔖「幾年前，作家Roger Rosenblatt在《紐約時報》的文章中指出，對人類生活產生最深刻影響的東西，幾乎都是看不見的：「磁場、電流、重力都是肉眼看不見的作用，還有內在的思想主宰、偏好、熱愛、心理狀態、品味、心情、道德觀，當然也包括靈魂（如果你相信有靈魂的話）。肉眼看不見的世界掌管肉眼可見的世界，宛如一個隱形政府。」」
🔖「信任指的不是相信對方不會犯錯，而是就算對方犯了錯，你也依然相信他。」
— Ed Catmull，皮克斯與迪士尼動畫工作室前總裁
#打造冠軍隊伍除了數據你還有這些可以參考
閱讀分享: https://www.instagram.com/doo.book/
December 20, 2021
7/10
A team is more than the sum of its parts (sometimes less), that's the basic point of Joan Ryan's Intangibles. She attempts to take the intangible quality of "team chemistry" and inject some data into it, even if the majority of the data is based off of the personal narratives of different players. Still, she builds a fairly convincing case, one which it turns out few would disagree with. "We’re not racecars, how we feel about our teammates effects how we will play for them.”“I can’t tell you I consciously preformed better for one player over another, but I can tell you I had more pride playing for some.”
The most convincing portion may be this: If the yips are real, how can the opposite not be true?
Task chemistry vs social chemistry: some teams with terrible interpersonal chemistry may still have excellent 'task chemistry' on the court, and still outperform expectations by 5-10% when this is not considered.
Ryan is a skilled writer, and despite getting a little too bogged down in narrative at points, still wrote a book that was quite good, even when you account for the fact that she is almost certainly preaching to the choir.
A team is more than the sum of its parts (sometimes less), that's the basic point of Joan Ryan's Intangibles. She attempts to take the intangible quality of "team chemistry" and inject some data into it, even if the majority of the data is based off of the personal narratives of different players. Still, she builds a fairly convincing case, one which it turns out few would disagree with. "We’re not racecars, how we feel about our teammates effects how we will play for them.”“I can’t tell you I consciously preformed better for one player over another, but I can tell you I had more pride playing for some.”
The most convincing portion may be this: If the yips are real, how can the opposite not be true?
Task chemistry vs social chemistry: some teams with terrible interpersonal chemistry may still have excellent 'task chemistry' on the court, and still outperform expectations by 5-10% when this is not considered.
Ryan is a skilled writer, and despite getting a little too bogged down in narrative at points, still wrote a book that was quite good, even when you account for the fact that she is almost certainly preaching to the choir.
January 9, 2021
Joan Ryan makes a convincing case that team chemistry (elevated performance in response to social factors) is real and that it matters to team performance.
The book is engaging. She weaves narrative with research, making the book an easy and interesting read. I especially think any SF Bay Area sports fans would find her inside view and narratives fascinating. The counterintuitive look at Jeff Kent & Barry Bonds through a team chemistry lens was my personal favorite.
The book was informative and entertaining, but not very actionable for anybody looking to actually improve team chemistry. For example, Joan Ryan lays out 7 archetypes of good chemistry players. This was really helpful framing for breaking down what is actually meant by “good locker room players”. But she then goes on to say you can’t just find these archetypes and bring them on your team... chemistry is too fickle for that.
I left convinced that team chemistry is real, but was left wondering how much it really matters (how many wins is “good chemistry worth??) and how to actually build it.
The book is engaging. She weaves narrative with research, making the book an easy and interesting read. I especially think any SF Bay Area sports fans would find her inside view and narratives fascinating. The counterintuitive look at Jeff Kent & Barry Bonds through a team chemistry lens was my personal favorite.
The book was informative and entertaining, but not very actionable for anybody looking to actually improve team chemistry. For example, Joan Ryan lays out 7 archetypes of good chemistry players. This was really helpful framing for breaking down what is actually meant by “good locker room players”. But she then goes on to say you can’t just find these archetypes and bring them on your team... chemistry is too fickle for that.
I left convinced that team chemistry is real, but was left wondering how much it really matters (how many wins is “good chemistry worth??) and how to actually build it.
August 18, 2021
This is a good gentle reminder that no matter what you are analyzing, whether it is the Navy SEALS, the San Francisco Giants or the 1996 Atlanta Olympics US women's basketball team, people are people and not cogs in a machine. There is something in some teams and organizations that makes them better. Organizations are more like living organisms than engines with complexities that affect outcomes. That is the lesson of this book. Like almost all of life, it is a grey area between gathering talented individuals and the team chemistry that develops naturally when that group is tested.
The author talks to everyone from baseball and soccer managers to respected academics and researchers about this problem. She includes many examples of female athletes as well as male, which is a welcome change. I am happy because she is a long time San Francisco Giants reporter and so the main story is the 1989 Giants, which is about when I went from a casual Giants fan to a more active one.
The author talks to everyone from baseball and soccer managers to respected academics and researchers about this problem. She includes many examples of female athletes as well as male, which is a welcome change. I am happy because she is a long time San Francisco Giants reporter and so the main story is the 1989 Giants, which is about when I went from a casual Giants fan to a more active one.
September 26, 2020
As a coach, I am a junkie for books like this. I was not disappointed when I read it. There are so many incites into what creates those bonds between teammates and how those bonds can be greater than talent. When I look back to those teams I was a part of that really were there for each other, I see how strong our relationships were. When I talk to old teammates, the concept of time disappears. It is as if we have suspended all awareness of anything that is not a part of our rekindling and remembering all of our times together. It truly takes special people to make special teams and it is life-altering how those teams can make each member a better person.
If you coach, if you play, and if you love teams sports, this book is phenomenal!
If you coach, if you play, and if you love teams sports, this book is phenomenal!
April 1, 2024
Loved it! Found this book after hearing about coach Tara VanDerveer’s most winningest coach title with Stanford’s women’s basketball team. Joan Ryan co-wrote Tara VanDerveer’s book (couldn’t get it), but got this one instead and LOVED IT!
A super read with a bunch of MLB baseball insights, but also snap shots into basketball (NCAA and NBA). Really enjoyed it.
“Chemistry amplifies talent; it doesn’t create it” page 228
Take away: talent increases performance to a certain point, especially in heavily interdependent sports like basketball and soccer. After that point, the talent benefit decreases and the dominant players jockey for status, destroying the effect. (page 238)
If you coach any sport - or even work in an office environment - this book will explain a lot.
A super read with a bunch of MLB baseball insights, but also snap shots into basketball (NCAA and NBA). Really enjoyed it.
“Chemistry amplifies talent; it doesn’t create it” page 228
Take away: talent increases performance to a certain point, especially in heavily interdependent sports like basketball and soccer. After that point, the talent benefit decreases and the dominant players jockey for status, destroying the effect. (page 238)
If you coach any sport - or even work in an office environment - this book will explain a lot.
May 21, 2026
Joan Ryan's book exploring the intangibles of team sports is an intriguing read. Predictably, it relates its lessons through stories about various teams, many of them with ties to San Francisco where she is based. Perhaps unpredictably, it's not really a sports book (despite my local library's classification). This book would fit just as well on the leadership and teams shelf at your friendly local bookstore. I think she successfully demonstrates that chemistry is a real, if nebulous, thing without getting trapped in any attempts to quantify its impact on winning. While one could skip to the conclusion to get the crux of her argument (and perhaps some time-crunched leaders will indeed do that), it's worth the read from cover to cover.
August 20, 2020
Maybe I’m not the target audience for this book since I’m not a baseball fan. But I picked up the book on a reco, read it and came away unsatisfied - there weren’t really any new lessons to apply in the context of teams in general and definitely for remote teams in specific. Sure, team chemistry produces elevated levels of performance and there were some relevant and discrete points of data to back it and lots of baseball stories. But, so what? It isn’t news and it doesn’t have deterministic and comprehensive data to back it, but it still is accepted common sense.
July 25, 2021
A pretty interesting book about teams and team chemistry that uses mainly baseball and basketball as examples of what works, and what doesn’t. Lots of interesting tidbits about the latest in neurological and psychological research that anyone can take away. My favorite: male athletes tend to have higher testosterone before home games compared to away games, likely due to some money brain instinct to defend one’s home territory
June 21, 2020
Great book!
Well researched, written and insightful. I’m impressed with Ryan’s ability to define and explain such a complex topic! Her depiction what happens on teams with good chemistry is spot on.
Well researched, written and insightful. I’m impressed with Ryan’s ability to define and explain such a complex topic! Her depiction what happens on teams with good chemistry is spot on.
August 4, 2020
If you enjoy baseball, or any other team sport, you’ll love this book. Science and psychology are skillfully interwoven with player stories and interviews. I felt like I was there and couldn’t put it down.
December 19, 2020
Enlightening book on team chemistry and different perspectives on its existence and what it is. Lots of sports anecdotes and interviews with sports figures (mostly baseball players) and scientific researchers. I enjoyed it.
December 23, 2020
Ryan's a fine writer, and this book is right up my alley. It combines psych and sports particularly Bay Area sports teams. I have followed sports in the Bay Area since the 70s and teach AP Psych in high school. So, your mileage may vary, but I give this four stars as a quick and engaging read.
December 18, 2023
Really quick read. The author really did put in a lot of research on this for something that has so little support from people in the game. Basically had to beg to get pros to talk about it, they are all leery of the media apparently.
April 2, 2020
Great book
May 19, 2020
such a fascinatig read... i really like how it doesnt come out with any kind of bias...
July 26, 2020
Really great info on teams. I really like her writing. The book is very heavy on examples of the San Francisco Giants.
November 8, 2020
I loved this book. a fascinating look into teamwork, camaraderie and magic.
November 12, 2020
If you have read Team of Teams and liked it, read this!
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