Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams

Williams, senior v-p and cofounder of the Orlando Magic and former general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls, offers a lackluster pep talk on the benefits of teamwork, reiterating that it can produce better results than individual efforts. He argues that the same principles that apply to team sports also apply to the corporate environment, government, the military, the religious world and families. Through dozens of anecdotes from his own life, he sings the praises of group effort, synergy and the African concept of ubuntu —“I am, because we are”—and describes how those principles can bolster entrepreneurial, creative and even global security–related ambitions. Too broad accolades to the virtues of passion, empowerment and character break up the anecdotal monotony, but as the author admits gleefully in the introduction, his enthusiasm leads to rampant overwriting—in this instance, a magazine article stretched to book-length by endless stories about professional basketball. (July)