Patrick Lencioni's book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team illustrates the process of team building in the workplace. The majority of the book tells the story of a CEO working to turn a dysfunctional executive team into a strong team, and the principles of team leadership are explored through this narrative. The book's final short chapter reiterates and expands upon the principles explored in the fictional narrative.Lencioni explores five key dysfunctions in his book, and indicates ways in which they can be overcome. In the last chapter, he describes the dysfunctions in the following way:
1. The first dysfunction is an absence of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust.
2. This failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction: fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.
3. A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team: lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.
4. Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop an avoidance of accountability, the fourth dysfunction. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.
5. Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs of their divisions above the collective goals of the team. (epub edition, 205-06).
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
In honour of the upcoming movie release, I read The Hobbit (for the first time) this month. The selection below speaks of journeying- the unwilling part of travel when being at home seems much easier than the harder path of completing the quest. 
"No man knows how much he is an optimist, even when he calls himself a pessimist, because he has not really measured the depths of his debt to whatever created him and enabled him to call himself anything. At the back of our brains, so to speak, there was a forgotten blaze or burst of astonishment at our own existence. The object of the artistic and spiritual life was to dig for this submerged sunrise of wonder; so that a man sitting in a chair might suddenly understand that he was actually alive, and be happy."
Rom Brafman's book, Succeeding When You're Supposed to Fail explores the personality traits and character qualities that help people to succeed, even if they have faced significant adversity. He refers to these successful individuals as "tunnelers", and among other things, notes that those who live accomplished lives in spite of obstacles share a common set of characteristics. Among other characteristics, Brafman notes that "tunnelers" are those who take responsibility for their current situation, who search out meaning in life, that maintain a calm approach to difficulty and who use humour well. While most of the book is focused on an individual's personal characteristics and approach to life, the last section of the book highlights the importance of mentors, who Brafman calls satellites. He also outlines ways in which mentors can help others succeed. In this context, he notes,
Larry Osborne's book Accidental Pharisees warns against falling into the errors or Pharisaism in a quest for obedient discipleship. His book provides a warning against the sin of pride. He also warns against turning our gifts into rules for others to follow, and inadvertently twisting obedient discipleship into extra-biblical burdens. 
Amy Carmichael's book Things as They Are: Mission Work in Southern India is collection of stories published in 1903. She often emphasizes that she would prefer to tell the difficult reality of life as she experiences than to gloss over difficulties in favour of glowing reports. 
At the supermarket, you can’t tell if the cashier knows arithmetic or not. Your groceries are scanned electronically and the prices tallied automatically. Yet the cashier probably still performs his work capably. Arithmetic is an outdated life skill, like swordplay or horse riding. Four hundred years ago, those were vital life skills; today they are relics of a bygone world and primarily enjoyed as sports. (Kindle location 70)
Smile: The Astonishing Powers of a Simple Act is a short book published by the TED foundation. Ron Gutman combines experiences from his cross-cultural experiences with scientific research about the benefits of smiling. He highlights the individual and social benefits of smiling. The book is easy to read, presenting a variety of research in an entertaining way, interspersed with numerous anecdotes. Summarizing the main points of the book, Gutman writes: 
What is financial success anyway? Financial success...is this: being content with what you have. That being true, financial success is not a constant for all. It has more to do with the head and the heart and less with the wallet and the balance sheet. (epub edition, 73)
In Made for Happiness: Discovering the Meaning of Life with Aristotle Jean Vanier synthesizes major concepts in Aristolte's philosophy. He focuses on extracting wisdom from Aristotle's writings that can be applied to everyday life. The discussion is concise and focused, considering what is necessary to live a full, rich human life. 
In contrast to the very I-centric leaders of the comparison leaders, we were struck by how the good-to-great leaders didn’t talk about themselves.… When pressed to talk about themselves, they’d say things like, “I hope I’m not sounding like a big shot.” … Those who worked or wrote about the good-to-great leaders continually used words like quiet, humble, modest, reserved, shy, gracious, mild-mannered, self-effacing, understated, did not believe his own clippings; and so forth.… The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly normal people quietly producing extraordinary results. (27-28)
I'm not interested in doing a good job. I am interested in an ecclesial vision for community. We are brothers and sisters, and Jesus is calling us from the pyramid to become a body.