The problem with all-stars

Discussion Guide

1. Who are the “no-stats all-stars” in your workplace? How do they elevate the team—and how can you make sure their contributions are recognized and valued?

2. Where have you seen the costs of having too many “A players”? How can you hold stars accountable for doing tasks that they might see as beneath them?

3. Part of humility is a commitment to keep learning and improving. How can you strengthen that dimension of your culture?

4. How has emotional contagion affected your team, for better and worse?

5. The Butler Way is about putting team above self. Where have you seen that dynamic, and what convinces people to buy into it?

6. When Brad Stevens named all his players captains, he encouraged them to take on shared leadership of the team. What would happen if you designated multiple leaders in a team?

7. In your experience, what are the key differences between strategic humility and genuine humility?

8. When applicants express humility in job interviews, people sometimes see it as a sign of low confidence. Taking a page out of Michele Hansen’s playbook, how can you express confident humility?

9. Michael Lewis talks about maintaining humility by staying in touch with childhood friends. What other steps prevent success from going to someone’s head?

10. Why is humility such a seemingly rare virtue, and what can we do to change that?