Foreword: Adversity Introduces Us to Ourselves vii Introduction xi 1 Stage I – Leading Past Losing 1 2 Stage II – Committing to Growth 29 3 Stage III – Changing Behaviors 59 4 Stage IV – Embracing Adversity 85 5 Stage V – Achieving Success 107 6 Stage VI – Nurturing a Culture of Excellence 135 7 The Team Turnaround Workbook 165 Notes 217 Acknowledgments 227 About the Authors 229 Index 231

In today's uncertain economic environment, teams are constantly asked to do more with less. Yet with resources stretched thin, turning around a struggling team has never been harder. Managers must work to identify and maximize whatever potential strengths a team already has. As sports fans already know, behind every great underdog story is a leader who roots out the competitive advantage that propels the team to victory. In Team Turnarounds, Joe Frontiera and Dan Leidl share how this fine art of the turnaround really works, from how to inspire the team to the actual tools for change. Through interviews with team managers and turnaround masters in the NFL, MLB, and the NCAA, as well as managers at top global firms who have successfully reversed their fortunes, they show the six steps every team takes to make a 180 in performance: Leading Past LosingCommitting to GrowthChanging BehaviorsEmbracing AdversityAchieving SuccessNurturing a Culture of Excellence From the legendary worst-to-first story of Bill Polian and the Indianapolis Colts to Jeffrey Lurie's efforts to transform the Philadelphia Eagles, Team Turnarounds features first-hand accounts of how the best team managers brought about their teams' comebacks. In the business realm, Team Turnarounds offers candid, behind-the-scenes stories of successful turnaround executives and the obstacles they faced at major organizations like Domino's Pizza, Juniper Networks, iContact, and even the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. And since every team's turnaround is unique, the book features the tools needed to start an organizational 180—from leaders' action plans to thought-provoking group exercises—to help leaders and their teams create their own turnaround stories. No matter how bad the circumstances, how awful the performance, or how far shares have plummeted, Team Turnarounds shows how any organization can make the climb back up to the top.

“A great book to read... it drilled down into those subtle aspects of any organization's success [and] gave me a toolkit that I can use to engage and enroll all the teams that I'm a part of. …I'd recommend Team Turnarounds as a business book that you read for yourself and share with your associates and team members.” —BusinessInsider.com “Pick up a copy of Team Turnarounds to discover the six stages that almost all underperforming teams go through. From state governments to sports teams and corporations, all teams have experienced defeat or, at the very least, lackluster performance. In Team Turnarounds, Frontiera and Leidl detail memorable transformation stories and give readers a personal guide for revamping our own teams.” —Marshall Goldsmith, author, New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There “As a member of the New England Patriots and an alumnus of Tufts University's lacrosse program, I've been in the trenches with organizations fighting to get ahead and striving for the winner's circle. Team Turnarounds advances a developmental process that not only captures how to be a winner, but also uses everyday stories to guide people with big goals forward and motivate any leader to strive to be greater.” —Dan Kraft, New England Patriots “Team Turnarounds provides a compelling look at how great teams stick together and persevere through the toughest times and emerge victorious, whether it’s in sports or the competitive world of business.” —Dave Brandon, director of athletics, The University of Michigan, and chairman of the board, Domino’s Pizza, Inc. “Team Turnarounds is a great tool for all managers who find themselves faced with intractable problems. The advice and insight provided in the book are tremendously helpful and inspiring for executives with underperforming components. Read it and win!” —Oliver Luck, athletic director, West Virginia University, and former president and CEO, NFL Europe “Recovering quickly from adversity is what separates the best from everyone else. Team Turnarounds has the formula and the tools to execute a team’s recovery. Read this book, and then do the outstanding worksheets at the back, to own your own team’s turnaround.” —Molly Fletcher, sports agent, and author, The Business of Being the Best “Team Turnarounds is thought-provoking, insightful, practical, and readable. It will give you all of the tools necessary to lead a team, especially during a crisis. It should be a must-read for all CEOs and leaders, and I am going to make it required reading for our management and leadership teams at NetCom Learning.” —Russell Sarder, author, and CEO, NetCom Learning “An elegantly simple and powerful model for lifting team performance.  Having led and helped to engineer turnarounds in both the corporate world and the non-profit world, I can say that Team Turnarounds captures well what leaders need to do. Well done!” —Douglas R. Conant, former president and CEO, Campbell Soup Company, and author, TouchPoints “Many who have participated on teams understand the stark difference between winning and losing, but few understand the dynamics required to alter a team’s performance and affect the outcome. Team Turnarounds is an excellent resource for anyone looking to better understand team dynamics and how to improve their team’s performance.” —Joseph J. Beneducci, chairman, president & CEO, ProSight Specialty Insurance