The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable (Patrick M. Lencioni)

I'm not too much of a fan of the books that attempt to package a training message or technique into a story or fable. At least the read time on this was not too long - around 3 hours. Anyway it was the first title in a book club started where I work so I will be interested to hear what the rest of the group thought.
The four key lessons were:
Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team
Create organisational clarity (Identity, Purpose, Values, Goals, Roles, Responsibilities)
Overcommunicate (repeat, repeat, repeat the identity and direction)
Reinforce through human systems

Locn. 1055-56 DISCIPLINE ONE: BUILD AND MAINTAIN A COHESIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM. 
Locn. 1063 DISCIPLINE TWO: CREATE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY.
Locn. 1151 The third discipline is ‘Over-communicate the identity and direction.’”
Locn. 1154-55 in order to communicate something adequately, it has to be communicated so many times that the people doing the communication think they’re beating a dead horse.”
 Locn. 1277-78 DISCIPLINE FOUR: REINFORCE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY THROUGH HUMAN SYSTEMS.
 Locn. 1280-83 BE COHESIVE.   BE CLEAR.   OVER-COMMUNICATE.   REINFORCE.
 Locn. 1335-37 Great idea for a simplified appraisal review: “The questions were, ‘What did you accomplish?’ ‘What will you accomplish next?’ ‘How can you improve?’”   “That’s it?”   “Not quite. The question on the back was, ‘Are you embracing the values?’”
Locn. 1474-75 Finally, cohesive teams fight. But they fight about issues, not personalities. Most important, when they are done fighting, they have an amazing capacity to move on to the next issue, with no residual feelings.
 Locn. 1476-78 In those instances when a fight gets out of hand and drifts over the line into personal territory—and this inevitably happens—the entire team works to make things right. No one walks away from a meeting harboring unspoken resentment.
 Locn. 1500-1503 Personal histories. Although it might sound like a “touchyfeely” exercise, I have found that it is remarkably helpful for members of a leadership team to spend time talking about their backgrounds. People who understand one another’s personal philosophies, family histories, educational experiences, hobbies, and interests are far more likely to work well together than those who do not.
Ideas for ways to clarify the identity:
 Locn. 1579-85 • Why does the organization exist, and what difference does it make in the world? • What behavioral values are irreplaceable and fundamental? • What business are we in, and against whom do we compete? • How does our approach differ from that of our competition? • What are our goals this month, this quarter, this year, next year, five years from now? • Who has to do what for us to achieve our goals this month, this quarter, this year, next year, five years from now?
 Locn. 1618-20 think about the two or three employees whom they believe best embody what is good about the firm. These would be people whom they would gladly clone again and again, regardless of their responsibility or level of experience. Then I ask them to write down one or two adjectives that describe the employees they selected.
 Locn. 1621-24 identify the one or two employees who have left the firm, or should leave the firm, because of their behavior or performance. Coming up with these names never seems to take long. Again, I ask them to write down one or two adjectives that describe the people they chose. Almost without fail, the same adjectives appear on most team members’ lists, and these often embody the antithesis of the company’s fundamental values.
 Locn. 1734-35 effective communication requires repetition in order to take hold in an organization. Some experts say that only after hearing a message six times does a person begin to believe and internalize it.
 Locn. 1773-74 take five minutes at the end of staff meetings and ask the question, “What do we need to communicate to our people?”
 Locn. 1827-30 Decisions about bonuses and other compensation are based on the same criteria used in hiring and managing performance. This helps employees understand that the best way to maximize their personal rewards is to act in a way that contributes to the company’s success, as defined by organizational clarity.
 Locn. 1861-63 there is no substitute for discipline. No amount of intellectual prowess or personal charisma can make up for an inability to identify a few simple things and stick to them over time.