Business · Book club
The Advantage book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
The Advantage is Patrick Lencioni's argument that organizational health — not strategy, technology, or talent — is the single greatest advantage a company can have.
Patrick Lencioni · 2012 · 4h 0m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
Can every member of your leadership team answer all six clarity questions consistently? Test it — ask two colleagues separately. What do you find?
- 2.
Lencioni says organizational health is the greatest competitive advantage. What's the counterargument? Are there organizations that succeed despite significant dysfunction?
- 3.
Where in your organization is there real clarity — and where is there confusion or inconsistency that people have just learned to live with?
- 4.
The book says leadership teams that don't engage in genuine conflict aren't really cohesive — they're avoiding something. What do you know about your leadership team that it pretends not to know?
- 5.
Lencioni argues that over-communicating priorities is necessary, not excessive. How do you currently communicate what matters most? Is it enough?
- 6.
What's the gap between the values your organization posts on the wall and the values it actually enforces in performance management and promotion decisions?
- 7.
If you had to answer 'What is most important right now?' for your team in one sentence, what would you say? Does your team know that's your answer?
- 8.
Who in your organization makes decisions that contradict the stated strategy — not because they're bad actors but because they don't know the strategy well enough to apply it?
- 9.
Lencioni says organizational health work falls to the CEO. If you're not the CEO, whose job is it in your organization — and is anyone actually doing it?
- 10.
What would 'reinforcing clarity through human systems' look like concretely for your organization? What would change in your hiring, reviews, or recognition if you did this consistently?
- 11.
What's the biggest source of organizational dysfunction in your company? Trace it back to its source — where does it originate?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for The Advantage?
Here are 11 book club questions for The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on organizational health, leadership, team cohesion.
How long should a book club discussion of The Advantage last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in The Advantage?
Organizational health, Leadership, Team cohesion, Culture, Strategy. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like The Advantage or questions for other book club picks.
