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The Science of Dream Teams: How Talent Optimization Can Drive Engagement, Productivity, and Happiness
WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
From the CEO of The Predictive Index, the leader in talent optimization, comes Moneyball for HR and people management
How do you find the perfect person for the job in a stack of hundreds of resumes? Why do some teams succeed while others―made up of equally talented people―stumble? If the quality of your workforce is your company’s most important asset, then why are your managers still basing these critical decisions primarily on interviews and their gut instincts?
In The Science of Dream Teams , Mike Zani details a data-driven approach to talent optimization that makes hiring, motivating, and managing people more efficient and effective than ever. It employs sophisticated assessments, tools, and software that enable leaders
Whatever the business or industry, this game-changing approach has the power to unlock an unbeatable competitive advantage. The Science of Dream Teams will show you how.
From the CEO of The Predictive Index, the leader in talent optimization, comes Moneyball for HR and people management
How do you find the perfect person for the job in a stack of hundreds of resumes? Why do some teams succeed while others―made up of equally talented people―stumble? If the quality of your workforce is your company’s most important asset, then why are your managers still basing these critical decisions primarily on interviews and their gut instincts?
In The Science of Dream Teams , Mike Zani details a data-driven approach to talent optimization that makes hiring, motivating, and managing people more efficient and effective than ever. It employs sophisticated assessments, tools, and software that enable leaders
Whatever the business or industry, this game-changing approach has the power to unlock an unbeatable competitive advantage. The Science of Dream Teams will show you how.
- GenresManagement
240 pages, Hardcover
Published July 6, 2021
15 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 16, 2021
This is a positive, succinct (less than 180 pages), primer on how to use science to build your team at work - aka optimize your talent. The dream team referenced in the title is almost certainly referring to the entire organization, rather than the particular team that say, a mid-level manager leads. More of my thoughts on who the audience of this book is embedded throughout the review below.
Some things that really impressed me. First, Mike Zani, author, consistently used ‘real-person’ language when describing psychometrics, selection and assessment for employees. He lays out a compelling "What's in it for me" in the intro - talent optimization will "lift morale, build your team, and turbocharge productivity.' I could actually see someone who isn’t an IO psychologist, or talent management person reading this book.* No doubt his experience as an entrepreneur and CEO have helped him hone this ability to explain, and I’m going to assume Stephen Baker, co-author, really pulled every trick in his repertoire as a journalist to keep this book engaging. I think it's probably difficult to overstate how hard it is to keep this topic from getting really weedy or academic, but it avoids most of that.
Throughout the book, he demystifies and explains how to build a talent process in a way that is so much “show’ and almost no “tell.” Again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this done before, and I was impressed. There aren’t any surprises in this book, it's straight-forward, descriptive, and even-keeled book. (Yes, he "sells" Predictive Index (PI) tools throughout. I figured that was a given, since he signals his affiliation on the front cover - no points removed for that).
Somehow, the book manages to walk the line between HR puff piece and overly theoretical. I find that to be a real challenge for most authors. Typically, advice on ‘how to’ build a company or team or team culture are anecdotes are overly specific to a particular person, or situation (tech folk, looking at you). my ‘spidey sense’ is activated thinking “sure, it worked for you… but will it work for anyone else?” At the same time, the author did use examples, and was careful to keep them descriptive and accessible, I could see it working in non-tech environments. It isn't completely uncritical of technology tools, and there were times I thought the enthusiasm was just slightly over the top.
The book does include some advice offering a short “Next Steps' section at the end of chapters 3 - 9. I think this is intended to be practical. I didn’t spend much time reading these short recommendation callouts (3 - 5 bullet points), and I do I wonder if others would find them practical. Glancing back, each of them are pretty high level ‘next steps.’ As a strategic HR/ talent management professional, I have a process and method for how to get started and what good looks like to for these type of recommendations. But I do wonder, how another person might interpret and action these steps - for example, “Customize questions in your 360 review process around your culture.” Never the less, I don't think the book is intended as a detailed instruction guide, so keeping these call-outs high level works well.
It’s a short, focused book. I do think the final chapter on Crisis could have been removed, but because it was published in 2021 (Pandemic!) perhaps it was justified in adding/keeping in the book. Even in the final chapter on ‘The Future’ because the chapter was so short, and kept the ‘roll call’ of new AI companies to a minimum, I felt it didn’t get too dull - and this is usually the type of material that feels like an author trying to show how ‘fresh’ they are, but is quickly outdated.
Other talent management professionals as well as IO psychologists will probably enjoy the appendix, a run down of assessment tests (think Hogan) and consumer grade psychometrics (think MBTI and DiSC), with a pros/cons list of each. I know I did. Tone was excellent. If anything, I wish it was available as a separate, downloadable part of the book. Who knows, maybe it is, it’s a nice resource.
* So.... who IS this book for? I’m going to guess it’s for HR people, entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners, investors (who want to ensure orgs are building a great talent process to sustain competitive edge), the IO psychologists. And obviously, on some level, it's a play for Mike Zani to sell his the core tools of his business - assessments. I didn't think he was hiding that, so it didn't bother me that it's part of the book. Really so, it's for people who are making enterprise wide decisions on selection and assessment for their company - whether the company is 20 or 20,000 people - and might be in the market for the PI. It's not for Amazon, and it's probably not for the local Father and Son landscaping business being run our of a home office. Still, I would recommend it to someone with ooking for an overview of how to do exactly what the title says - Use science to build a dream (organization) team. But, probably best for those who's team is a mid to large size organization or with plans to scale up and replicate this process over and over.
Some things that really impressed me. First, Mike Zani, author, consistently used ‘real-person’ language when describing psychometrics, selection and assessment for employees. He lays out a compelling "What's in it for me" in the intro - talent optimization will "lift morale, build your team, and turbocharge productivity.' I could actually see someone who isn’t an IO psychologist, or talent management person reading this book.* No doubt his experience as an entrepreneur and CEO have helped him hone this ability to explain, and I’m going to assume Stephen Baker, co-author, really pulled every trick in his repertoire as a journalist to keep this book engaging. I think it's probably difficult to overstate how hard it is to keep this topic from getting really weedy or academic, but it avoids most of that.
Throughout the book, he demystifies and explains how to build a talent process in a way that is so much “show’ and almost no “tell.” Again, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this done before, and I was impressed. There aren’t any surprises in this book, it's straight-forward, descriptive, and even-keeled book. (Yes, he "sells" Predictive Index (PI) tools throughout. I figured that was a given, since he signals his affiliation on the front cover - no points removed for that).
Somehow, the book manages to walk the line between HR puff piece and overly theoretical. I find that to be a real challenge for most authors. Typically, advice on ‘how to’ build a company or team or team culture are anecdotes are overly specific to a particular person, or situation (tech folk, looking at you). my ‘spidey sense’ is activated thinking “sure, it worked for you… but will it work for anyone else?” At the same time, the author did use examples, and was careful to keep them descriptive and accessible, I could see it working in non-tech environments. It isn't completely uncritical of technology tools, and there were times I thought the enthusiasm was just slightly over the top.
The book does include some advice offering a short “Next Steps' section at the end of chapters 3 - 9. I think this is intended to be practical. I didn’t spend much time reading these short recommendation callouts (3 - 5 bullet points), and I do I wonder if others would find them practical. Glancing back, each of them are pretty high level ‘next steps.’ As a strategic HR/ talent management professional, I have a process and method for how to get started and what good looks like to for these type of recommendations. But I do wonder, how another person might interpret and action these steps - for example, “Customize questions in your 360 review process around your culture.” Never the less, I don't think the book is intended as a detailed instruction guide, so keeping these call-outs high level works well.
It’s a short, focused book. I do think the final chapter on Crisis could have been removed, but because it was published in 2021 (Pandemic!) perhaps it was justified in adding/keeping in the book. Even in the final chapter on ‘The Future’ because the chapter was so short, and kept the ‘roll call’ of new AI companies to a minimum, I felt it didn’t get too dull - and this is usually the type of material that feels like an author trying to show how ‘fresh’ they are, but is quickly outdated.
Other talent management professionals as well as IO psychologists will probably enjoy the appendix, a run down of assessment tests (think Hogan) and consumer grade psychometrics (think MBTI and DiSC), with a pros/cons list of each. I know I did. Tone was excellent. If anything, I wish it was available as a separate, downloadable part of the book. Who knows, maybe it is, it’s a nice resource.
* So.... who IS this book for? I’m going to guess it’s for HR people, entrepreneurs, CEOs, business owners, investors (who want to ensure orgs are building a great talent process to sustain competitive edge), the IO psychologists. And obviously, on some level, it's a play for Mike Zani to sell his the core tools of his business - assessments. I didn't think he was hiding that, so it didn't bother me that it's part of the book. Really so, it's for people who are making enterprise wide decisions on selection and assessment for their company - whether the company is 20 or 20,000 people - and might be in the market for the PI. It's not for Amazon, and it's probably not for the local Father and Son landscaping business being run our of a home office. Still, I would recommend it to someone with ooking for an overview of how to do exactly what the title says - Use science to build a dream (organization) team. But, probably best for those who's team is a mid to large size organization or with plans to scale up and replicate this process over and over.
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August 12, 2025Just finished Marc Wolf’s Yeah But—and wow, it’s a powerful reality check.
Those two little words—“yeah, but…”—are sneaky. They sound harmless, yet they’re often the very thing holding us back from embracing change, taking risks, and thinking bigger.
Wolf’s message is clear: the “but” is where possibility dies. If we want to innovate, lead, and grow, we need to replace “yeah, but” with “yes, and.”
As someone who thrives on thinking creatively, challenging norms, and pushing past the obvious, this book was a reminder to keep my own “buts” in check—and to help others do the same.
Highly recommend for anyone ready to move past hesitation and into action.
Those two little words—“yeah, but…”—are sneaky. They sound harmless, yet they’re often the very thing holding us back from embracing change, taking risks, and thinking bigger.
Wolf’s message is clear: the “but” is where possibility dies. If we want to innovate, lead, and grow, we need to replace “yeah, but” with “yes, and.”
As someone who thrives on thinking creatively, challenging norms, and pushing past the obvious, this book was a reminder to keep my own “buts” in check—and to help others do the same.
Highly recommend for anyone ready to move past hesitation and into action.
April 4, 2022
Amazing
Mike Zani and The Predictive Index have produced a great roadmap to understand the data and science of people. This approach can be a game changer!
Mike Zani and The Predictive Index have produced a great roadmap to understand the data and science of people. This approach can be a game changer!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews