The Ideal Team Player

Bulldozers possess hunger and are highly motivated employees. However, their lack of humility and interpersonal skills tends to create problems. Lencioni says, “These people will be determined to get things done, but with a focus on their own interests and with no understanding or concern for how their actions impact others. Bulldozers are quick destroyers of teams” (167). Generally, their personalities draw much attention, and, for this reason, managers will have a much easier time identifying them compared to pawns.

Charmers generally have great people skills and are highly likable. However, they lack humility and hunger, which means they tend to get nothing done. Lencioni says of charmers that “[t]heir social skills can sometimes help them survive longer than bulldozers or pawns, but because their contributions to the team are negligible, they often wear out their welcome quickly” (168-69). Charmers, therefore, eventually stand out for the wrong reasons, even if the opposite is initially true.

Lencioni defines pawns as “[p]eople who are only humble but not at all hungry or smart” (167). As he examines how inadequacy in one or multiple values manifests in a company, he says that those who possess only humility tend to be “pleasant, kind-hearted, unassuming people” (167), but they do not feel a great need to get things done and don’t have the ability to build effective relationships with colleagues.