Author: Lawrence S. Levin

Publisher: iUniverse, 177 pages

Book Review by Nano Khilnani

These days, to stay competitive in business, top management must be not only anticipate what the next challenge could be, and be prepared to not only meet that challenge, but also be proactive to become No.1 in overcoming it and forging ahead to become the leader in an industry or a particular segment of an industry.

Lawrence S. Levin PhD, a psychologist and management consultant, has helped CEOs of many Fortune 500 companies for 25 years develop not just top-performing teams but “top teams,” or those that know and understand what he describes as “the Now, the New, and the Next.”

“Top teams” are those “that drive a company’s alignment, focus and strategy where they need to be and provide the best results,” he points out.

Levin explains that such teams are capable of taking on “today’s challenges of greater complexity, volatility, speed of change and demand for growth.”

The book contains case studies, challenging questions and practical advice to help top management develop such teams. He uses a pragmatic and results-driven approach I achieving goals for his clients.

The book is very useful because Dr. Levin has great insight into human behavior – having had professional training in psychology – and he uses his knowledge and experience in business strategy and execution to achieve the objectives that are set out.

Organized into ten chapters, Dr. Levin helps company leaders, at the outset itself in the first chapter, understand the importance of a “collective future” and decide to “stand for something.” They’re shown how to set their strategy as purpose, shown what to do when there is a collision between their vision and the reality, and get individual and collective commitment to goals.

Outlining and understanding company issues, working out a strategy to confront and overcome problems, streamlining the solutions and unifying the members, developing it into a strong team capable of working toward a common purpose – these are the themes that define the most of the rest of the chapters in this well-written, insightful book.

Dr. Levin shows you how to use relational intelligence, collective intelligence and social impact – terms you may have heard of but do not fully understand – to achieve team goals.

This is a must-read book for anyone who is in a company leadership role and is seeking business growth and competitive advantage.