Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams by Roger Schwarz

I finished this book in May 2026. I recommend this book 5/10.

Why you should read this book:

This book will teach you the importance of getting your team to focus on a mutual learning mindset instead of focusing on individual needs.

Get your copy here.

🚀 The book in three sentences

1. Importance of mutual learning vs. unilateral

2. Ask questions and focus on Joint Design

3. Make sure you understand the other person's interests

📝 My notes and thoughts

• P9. Changing your mindset as a leader and changing the mindsets of other members of your team means changing some basic assumptions and values you hold about what formal leaders do and how they interact with their teams, as well as your own role as the leader and your direct report's roles as members of your team. Broadly, you will need to do four things to make this happen:

  • Take on some fresh assumptions:

    • Leader work comes from every chair

    • Team members also need to change

    • Team members share accountability among themselves

    • The whole team works from the same guiding ideas

  • Align structures (systems, policies, and processes) to support those new assumptions

  • Take an approach you can openly share and spread to others on your team and throughout your organization

  • Build trust across relationships

• P50. Core Values and Assumptions of the Mutual Learning Mindset:

  • Values

    • Transparency

    • Curiosity

    • Informed choice

    • Accountability

    • Compassion

  • Assumptions

    • I have information, so do other people

    • Each of us sees things others don't

    • People may disagree with me and still have pure motives

    • Differences are opportunities for learning

    • I may be contributing to the problem

• P56. Research shows that in more effective teams, members move back and forth between being transparent and being curious, without getting stuck in just one of these modes. By being simultaneously transparent and curious, you learn what others are thinking, and they learn what you're thinking. This creates the common understanding you need to make decisions that generate commitment.

• P69. I may be contributing to the problem. In the mutual learning mindset, you recognize that you may be an active part of the very problems that you're complaining about. You see the working relationships with your team as a complex set of causal relationships rather than as a one-way street in which others act ineffectively, and you respond effectively. Just as other team members may be thinking and acting ineffectively, so too may you. You recognize others' ineffective mindset and behavior, and you realize your reactions to others' ineffective behaviors can either aid or impede mutual learning. In a unilateral control mindset, only others need to change. In a mutual learning mindset, you realize that each team member plays a role that prevents the team from achieving its goals. Even members who watch or withdraw as the team struggles contribute by virtue of their silence.

• P79 Diagram of Mindset->Behavior->Results

• P84. Diagram of Team Mindset->Design->Results

• P89. Unfortunately, if yours is like most leadership teams I've observed, you'll see that team members do a lot more of telling others what they think than of asking about others' views. And this troubling observation will hold even if you count false questions as questions. Watch more closely as your team tries to solve a problem, and you'll probably see something like this: One member starts by stating what he thinks is the problem. A second member makes a statement, either agreeing or stating that the problem is different. Then, other members make their comments. As you watch the discussion unfold, you think to yourself, "Team members aren't really building on each other's comments. Sometimes their comments don't seem related to each other. And some of the comments seem off track." By the end of the meeting, you may have a decision, but you probably also have a nagging feeling that the team didn't get all the information out on the table, and there is less than full commitment to implement it. You may leave the meeting wondering what some people really think. That's what happens when everyone states only their views and doesn't ask questions.

• P90. As a leader, you have strong views on issues, and people expect that. If you start watering down your views or holding back what you believe, your team will lose the benefit of your perspective, and you'll be frustrated with yourself. Instead, combine your own passionate statements with curiosity. You can express your own views as passionately as you want, as long as you're equally curious about others' views. If you combine your passion with equal curiosity, you will engage others and be engaged yourself. After you state your view, ask a question to learn what others think about what you've just said. Depending on what the team is trying to accomplish and what you need to understand, you might ask, "Does anyone have any different information?" or "Is anyone else facing the same problem?" or " What problems do you see with the solution I'm suggesting?" By asking a question after you state your view, you move the conversation forward and keep it focused. When you ask, "What problems does anyone see with this solution?" you immediately increase the chance that the next person who speaks responds to your question. If each person does the same thing, you move from a series of potentially unrelated comments to a problem-solving meeting. Asking genuine questions also increases the chance that you'll learn that people see things differently than you do. That's especially important when you're working with people who have less power than you and may be concerned about giving you bad news.

• P99. When you're not specific, you can create the very problems you are trying to avoid: unnecessary misunderstanding, conflict, and defensiveness. When you don't name who "some of you" are, team members have to guess who you're talking about. People who haven't met the deadlines may think you understand their excuses and aren't talking about them, and people who have met the deadlines may think you've mislaid their reports and get defensive.

• P106. Good journalists know not to "bury the lead"—the main point of a news story, which should be stated in the first sentence or two. A good lead helps the reader quickly understand what the story is about and where it's heading. This principle is also essential in working together as a team. Take a situation in which you're concerned that a direct report is not meeting deadlines, which is causing you additional work. A good lead would be, "Frank, I want to talk with you about deadlines that I think you've been missing during the last month, and how it is causing me additional work. Is this a good time to talk? Simple, right? But when I observe leaders in action, few of them naturally begin such conversations that way. Instead, they usually ease into it. Here are several examples of how they would start:

  • "Frank, how do you think your work is going?"

  • "Frank, there are some things I want us to go over, and maybe you and I could explore them a bit."

  • "Frank, do you have a few minutes? I need to talk to you about some of your behavior that is concerning me."

• P112. Here are four steps for building commitment by focusing on interests: Step 1: Identify interests. Ask team members to complete this sentence as many times as possible: "Regardless of the specifics of any solution we develop, it needs to be one that ..." In that way, build a single list of interests. As people keep identifying positions, ask them, "What is it about your solution that's important to you?" This helps identify their underlying interest. Step 2: Agree on interests to consider in the solution. In this step, the team clarifies what each interest means and reaches an agreement on which interests they'll consider in developing solutions. One way to ask this question is "Are there any interests that someone thinks we should not take into account when developing a solution?" "Take into account?" doesn't mean that everyone sees it as relevant. In the end, the team won't necessarily be able to craft a solution that meets all the relevant interests, though that would be the ideal outcome. At the end of this step, your team will have a single list of the interests that an ideal solution would address. Step 3: Craft solutions that meet the interests. Now your team is ready to generate solutions that meet as many of the interests as possible—ideally, all of them. At this step, you can say something like, "Let's come up with some possible solutions that meet all our interests. We're not committing to any of these solutions yet; we're just getting them on the table." The group begins to identify possible solutions. This is a time for members to play off and build on each other's ideas, seeking solutions that incorporate as many interests as possible. If you can't find a solution that meets the agreed-upon interests, consider whether all the proposed solutions have a common, unnecessary assumption embedded in them. For example, if every proposed solution assumes that the work has to be performed only by full-time employees, try relaxing that assumption and see if the team can generate other solutions that will meet all the interests. If this does not help, then the team can prioritize or weigh the different interests to find a solution that addresses the most important ones. Step 4: Select a solution and implement it. Using this approach doesn't guarantee that the team will reach a decision that meets everyone's interests. It does, however, increase the chance that you will find a solution that everyone can support.

• P115. Great chapter on testing and rethinking what you think.

• P140. Summary of rethinking:

  • Focus on interests, not position.

    • Four steps to building commitment

      • Identify interests

      • Agree on the interest to consider in the solution

      • Craft solutions that meet the interest

      • Select a solution and implement it

    • Listing pros and cons doesn't work

    • Be careful about saying, "Don't come with a problem unless you have a solution."

  • Test assumption and inference.

    • Stay aware of your ladder of inference

    • Test your own inferences.

    • Test inferences as a team.

  • Jointly design next steps.

    • Put purpose before process before content.

    • Keep the meeting on track.

    • Resolve disagreement over facts.

  • Discuss undiscussable issues.

    • Understand the cost of undiscussable issues.

    • Follow a process for preparing to discuss and then discussing these issues.

      • State the issue you want to talk about and your reasoning for discussing it.

      • If relevant, share your concerns about risk and try to reduce it.

      • If appropriate, ask if the others are willing to discuss it.

      • Jointly design how you will have the conversation.

      • Bring the conversation to the team if you didn't raise it there initially.

      • Repeat steps 1-4 with the team.

• P153. These are the elements of an effective team structure:

  • Clear mission and shared vision

  • Clear goals

  • Motivating task

  • Appropriate membership

  • Clearly defined roles, including leadership

  • Effective group culture

  • Group norms, including mutual learning behaviors

  • Reasonable workload.

• P165. Even if you lead the most senior leadership team in your organization, your team's effectiveness is influenced by the larger organization. The context in which your team works best includes:

  • A clear organizational mission and shared vision

  • A supportive culture

  • Rewards consistent with team objectives

  • Information including feedback

  • Material resources

  • Training and consultation

  • A physical environment that supports the work

• P178. Fortunately, there's an easier and more productive way to prepare for meetings. It involves asking yourself three basic questions to identify what you need to be transparent about:

  • What relevant information do I need to share? What information do you have that others need to know? It may be information about what your team has accomplished, problems you're encountering, financial information, or anything else.

  • What interests do I have? If you're trying to make a decision or solve a problem, identify the interests that any solution needs to meet. Complete this sentence as many times as necessary to get a clear about your interests: "No matter what solution we come up with, it needs to be one that ..." When you're done, you will have a list of interests that you can share in the conversation. This will be much more effective than coming into the meeting with your solution (a position) and trying to convince others to buy it.

  • What assumptions and inferences am I making that I need to test? Going into the meeting, you're probably making some assumptions and inferences about the problem, the solution, or the other people. You might be inferring that other members aren't as concerned about solving the problem quickly because it has taken a month for them to meet with you. You might be inferring that others have the expertise or authority to implement a solution.