The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary ExecutiveAfter reading The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, I think the author presents an excellent, if rather idealistic, plan for organizing and maintenance of an extraordinary executive level management team. The four “obsessions” or disciplines as they are defined in the text, cover the entire spectrum of the ideal team. The early stages of teambuilding are covered and the high level of trust and responsibility required is explained, also comparing it to the closeness of a royal family. Then he discusses the clarity of the team, touching on aspects such as values, objectives and, my favorite, competition. He highlights the immense importance of over-communicating this clarity until you feel you have “beaten a dead horse.” Finally, it discusses strengthening this clarity throughout every part of the HR system. This includes the interview process when hiring workers, periodic evaluations, and even the termination phase. In this article, I would like to focus on the discipline that I believe is most commonly overlooked, reinforcement through human relationships. Almost every successful company can and does the first two disciplines listed in the book. It is a necessity for a company to build a close-knit team and understand what the team's goals and missions will be. Some teams, although often unintentionally, over-communicate these goals and objectives through posters and regular team meetings. Only the best and most successful companies make it to the fourth and most vital final stage. I feel like it's essential because no matter how well you know and communicate your mission, if you don't put it into practice, then it's just talk. For example, if I had the cure for cancer, but only talked about the cure and how amazing it was, and couldn't actually use it to save people, then I might as well never tell anyone about it. The same is true in a business environment, if you know the business plan and don't put it into practice, then it is absolutely useless. As I mentioned, outside of a family business or a partnership of long-time friends, the concepts in the book are a bit idealistic, however, I think that is a positive aspect of the book because it allows readers to have something to always strive towards and try to achieve.