Over a career spanning nearly half a century, Harvard University psychology professor J. Richard Hackman garnered widespread esteem and accolades for pioneering the study of team dynamics. Following the events of 9/11, Hackman led a team designed to evaluate what makes intelligence units effective by surveying, interviewing, and observing hundreds of analysts across 64 different intelligence groups.

What they discovered was that the critical factor wasn’t having a tenured team with the right number of people. It wasn’t having a vision […]