Sell Like a Team: The Blueprint for Building Teams that Win Big at High-Stakes Meetings

INTRODUCTION

Two stories from the Olympics, two unexpectedly different outcomes . . .

In 1980 the USA men’s hockey team won gold at the Olympic Games in Lake Placid, NY. All amateurs, they were known as Team USA. In the semifinals, they overcame a heavily favored Soviet Union team, which had won all but one of the prior seven Olympic competitions and boasted a roster of several world-class players. The USA team took the lead in the final period and held it to win this legendary contest. Team USA then defeated Finland in the finals to secure the gold medal. The US squad included 20 players—9 had played together at the University of Minnesota for their Olympic coach, Herb Brooks, and 4 were teammates at Boston University. (Coffey, 2005)

In contrast, ...