Pat says though the vision of one person can change the world, no one can carry out a vision alone. Extreme dreams depend on teams, and lack of teamwork is often how big dreams go unrealized. Using examples and anecdotes from history and contemporary life, Pat shows how the greatest world-changing events came to be as the result of the passion of single individuals. In each case, a team was assembled with people equipped in the various areas needed to bring the vision to pass. Pat addresses team assembly, dynamics, and pitfalls to give readers guidance they can immediately apply to their own circumstances. Everyone is looking for ways to be more successful in life. Pat Williams serves up a book packed with practical help to get readers where they want to be.
"EXTREME DREAMS DEPEND ON TEAMS captures everything I taught and believed in during my career as a manager with the Reds and Tigers. This book will soon be a classic on team-building." (MLB Hall of Fame managerSparky Anderson )
"If you care about winning, dreaming big is essential. The themes in this book can make anyone successful." (chairman and CEO, FOX News ChannelRoger Ailes )
"Nobody captures the essence of team-building better than Pat Williams. . . . Whether you're a business leader, coach, player, or fan, you've gotta read this book!" (ESPN commentator and former NFL defensive linemanMike Golic )
"This is the best book on teamwork, leadership, and the human spirit that I have ever read!" (head coach, New Orleans SaintsSean Payton )
Pat Williams is the senior vice president of the NBA's Orlando Magic. As one of America's top motivational, inspirational, and humorous speakers, he has addressed thousands of executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies and national associations to universities and nonprofits. Clients include AllState, American Express, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Disney, Honeywell, IBM, ING, Lockheed Martin, Nike, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Tyson Foods to name a few. Pat is also the author of over 55 books, his most recent title being "Bear Bryant on Leadership."
Pat served for seven years in the United States Army, spent seven years in the Philadelphia Phillies organization--two as a minor league catcher and five in the front office--and has also spent three years in the Minnesota Twins organization. Since 1968, he has been in the NBA as general manager for teams in Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia--including the 1983 World Champion 76ers--and now the Orlando Magic, which he co-founded in 1987 and helped lead to the NBA finals in 1995. Twenty-three of his teams have gone to the NBA playoffs and five have made the NBA finals. In 1996, Pat was named as one of the 50 most influential people in NBA history by a national publication.
Pat has been an integral part of NBA history, including bringing the NBA to Orlando. He has traded Pete Maravich as well as traded for Julius Erving, Moses Malone, and Penny Hardaway, and he has won four NBA draft lotteries, including back-to-back winners in 1992 and 1993. He also drafted Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney and Darryl Dawkins. He signed Billy Cunningham, Chuck Daly, and Matt Guokas to their first professional coaching contracts. Nineteen of his former players have become NBA head coaches, nine have become college head coaches while seven have become assistant NBA coaches.
Pat and his wife, Ruth, are the parents of 19 children, including 14 adopted from four nations, ranging in age from 23 to 36. For one year, 16 of his children were all teenagers at the same time. Pat and his family have been featured in Sports Illustrated, Readers Digest, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, The Wall Street Journal, Focus on the Family, New Man Magazine, plus all of the major television networks, The Maury Povich Show and Dr. Robert Schuller's Hour of Power.
Pat teaches an adult Sunday school class at First Baptist Church of Orlando and hosts three weekly radio shows. In the last 13 years, he has completed 53 marathons--including the Boston Marathon 12 times--and also climbed Mt. Rainier. He is a weightlifter, Civil War buff and serious baseball fan. Every winter he plays in Major League Fantasy Camps and has caught Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry, Phil Niekro, Tom Seaver and Goose Gossage.
Pat was raised in Wilmington, Delaware, earned his bachelors degree at Wake Forest University, and his master's degree at Indiana University. He is a member of the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame after catching for the Deacon baseball team, including the 1962 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship team. He is also a member of the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame.
This review is from: Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams (Hardcover)
This book was at the same time inspirational, motivational and just plain fun to read. As an NBA fan I loved reading all Mr. Williams stories about basketball as they fit into his theme of team building - there isn't a sports fan around who wouldn't love this book simply from that aspect.
But I also loved reading this book because it's inspirational. It can be applied to everyday life. Mr. Williams message of dreaming extreme and then putting together the team to do that can be used in almost any situation. Whether it's starting a new business, developing a winning sports team, or building a beatiful house, Mr. Williams advice carries through.
Dream big and then lay the groundwork and gather the people around you to make that dream come true.
Personally, I'm at a point in my life where I'm making some big decisions, and I've started applying some of the ideas from Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams. I'm starting by gathering the people who I need to help me achieve that goal. I'm taking the time and doing the planning and then it will happen.
I'd recommend this book to everyone even if just for the sports stories, because I can almost guarantee that anyone who reads this will walk away a bit more inspired and motivated.
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This review is from: Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams (Hardcover)
This is a great book on the importance of developing an excellent team in order to achieve success in all areas of life. There are plenty of examples and advice on team buiding here to give the reader many ideas. I especially liked the use of the African concept of ubuntu - "I am because we are". I'd never heard of that before.
There are many examples in this book from professional sports, so I feel that it will have the most impact on sports lovers, but I enjoyed it all the same.
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This review is from: Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams (Hardcover)
Michelangelo did not paint the Sistine Chapel! Not alone anyway. When he was commissioned by Pope Julius II to execute an Extreme Dream -- painting the Sistine Chapel - he became a master delegator. And so goes one of the many illustrative anecdotes in Extreme Dreams Depends on Teams by Pat Williams. To accomplish the mission Michelangelo led a team of thirteen artists and two hundred crewmen! According to Williams, "Michelangelo sought out the best artists and craftsmen . . . paid them well . . . praised excellent work . . . demanded that everything be done his way - yet encouraged his assistants to add their own artistic flourishes to his creation. Some sections are clearly the work of Michelangelo's hand. Others . . . are believed to be almost entirely the work of assistants . . . ." In short, what Michelangelo possessed, in addition to artistic genius, were excellent leadership skills and a dream team.
Like the former coach that he is, Williams coaches us (the readers) on the key to achieving big dreams: skillful leadership of a synergistic team. After years of study, Williams has determined the "seven sides of leadership:" Vision; Communication Skills; People Skills; Character; Competence; Boldness; and Servanthood.
A great leader, however, is only as good as the team he leads. And what makes a great team? According to Williams a great team is a committed team: to each other and to a singular goal. A committed team respects and trusts each other and works together to lift up individual members so that collectively they achieve what no one individual can. How does one acquire this dream team? By recruiting talented people and empowering them (to succeed and to make mistakes!). Empowerment, Williams explains, is achieved by: 1) expressing belief in people; 2) listening to them; 3) building others up; 4) not demeaning them; 5) being truthful; 6) saying thank you; 7) giving meaningful praise; and 8) providing occasional encouragement.
Extreme Dreams is an entertaining and enlightening book for both leaders and their teams!
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