April 2002
Intermediate to advanced
240 pages
3h 20m
English
Content preview from The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership FableBecome an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
Start your free trial
Chapter 8. FIRST TEST
It looked like just another of the many standard e-mail messages that Kathryn was receiving on a regular basis now that she had been on the job for awhile. The subject header—"Customer Opportunity Next Week"—seemed innocuous enough, even positive, especially considering that it came from her acerbic chief engineer, Martin. And the note itself was short. The most damaging ones usually are.
That it was not addressed to anyone in particular, but was sent to the entire executive staff, only belied its incendiary potential:
Just received a call from ASA Manufacturing. They're interested in reviewing our product to consider a purchase next quarter. JR and I will be going down to meet with them next week. Could be a big opportunity. ...