A few years back, August was coaching a CEO dealing with a group of C-Suite leaders who were, frankly, terrible at their jobs. 

The organization was underperforming. A few bad apples had poisoned their leadership team. And the CEO believed that seeking out new talent would get the company to where they wanted to be.

So, after six months of focused recruiting and tough conversations, the CEO assembled a new dream team. 

But the organization still wasn’t performing. 🤔

A confusing plot twist at first glance, right? (and second..and maybe third). The leader had hand-picked the best candidates to drive their company to success. People with deep industry knowledge and effective leadership skills. People who weren’t toxic. 

And yes, all of that is important. But it’s not the whole story.  

At the end of the day, talent alone isn’t enough. 

You can assemble an A-team of high achievers, but if they can’t work together effectively, their talent will go underleveraged, and your organization will stagnate.   

If you read last week’s newsletter, you learned about the Lies We Love and why it’s time to replace them with practices that actually work. If you didn’t, here’s the gist: 

We believe three big lies are holding companies back. The first was We Just Need a Better Strategy to Win. Without further ado, here’s Lie #2:

Superstar Talent Leads to Superstar Teamwork

Everyone wants super teams. But you can’t just hire superstars and assume they’ll also be super collaborators. 

The talent war is real, and no one’s denying that hiring the best people can give your company an edge. But here’s where things go sideways: Too many leaders assume that if they stack the deck with high performers, magic will happen. 

Sometimes, sure. But often? Not so much.

Because when you throw a bunch of hyper-talented individuals into a room, one of two things happens. One, they generate brilliant ideas...that inevitably get watered down while moving through org bureaucracy. Or two, they get stuck in endless debates, clash over priorities, and fail to make meaningful progress.

Superstars might know how to win on their own, but put them together without the right conditions and their collective output can be shockingly underwhelming.

Collaboration is a skill, not a happy accident. And no amount of raw talent can replace the structures, behaviors, and norms that make teamwork actually work. 

The good news? The superstar talent, when given the right teaming practices, truly can make magic. ✨

Practices that help teams make bold decisions, navigate ambiguity, generate ideas that dazzle, and clear a path through the complicated tangle of internal bureaucracy. 

That’s where Teams That Meet The Moment comes in. 

It’s not a quick fix. It’s not a magic wand. It’s a guidebook of routines and techniques that, if used well, will help you leverage the talent you’ve gathered and create a team capable of going the distance.

Karina Mangu-Ward

Partner, August Public