Patrick Lencioni

Patrick Lencioni grew up in Bakersfield, California. He worked as a consultant at Bain & Company and later held roles at Oracle and Sybase, where he ran organization development. In 1997 he founded The Table Group, a consulting firm that works with executive teams on teamwork and what he calls organizational health. He still leads the firm.

Most of his books are business fables: a short story about a fictional company, followed by a plain model. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002) is the best known. It argues that teams fail in a set order, starting with an absence of trust, then fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability and inattention to results. Each dysfunction makes the next one possible, so the work starts with trust.

Later books include Death by Meeting, The Advantage, The Ideal Team Player and The 6 Types of Working Genius. Lencioni lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and four sons.