Drawing from more than 150 interviews and deep research into neuroscience, evolutionary biology, the military and more, the class takes students into sports locker rooms and workplaces, onto playing fields and battle fields, to show how profoundly we humans influence one another physiologically and psychologically. We are tribal beings, our brains hard-wired over three million years to rely on one another to stir our emotions, boost our energy, sharpen our thinking. Incentives like money and sales goals are not enough over the long haul to sustain a person's drive. Enduring motivation comes from something much closer at hand: one another. This powerful, personal connection is the foundation of team chemistry and of consistent high performance. The military has always understood that who you are fighting alongside is, ultimately, more important to performance than what you’re fighting for.

We'll examine real-life examples from sports: why a journeyman outfielder named Jonny Gomes seemed to lift the performance of nearly every team he played on; what businesses can learn from the surprising revelation that San Francisco Giants' difficult superstar Barry Bonds was not the clubhouse cancer all of us (including me!) thought he was; how Warriors coach Steve Kerr's embrace of both analytics and team chemistry produced one of the most successful teams in NBA history.

Drawing from more than 150 interviews and deep research into neuroscience, evolutionary biology, the military and more, the class takes students into sports locker rooms and workplaces, onto playing fields and battle fields, to show how profoundly we humans influence one another physiologically and psychologically. We are tribal beings, our brains hard-wired over three million years to rely on one another to stir our emotions, boost our energy, sharpen our thinking. Incentives like money and sales goals are not enough over the long haul to sustain a person's drive. Enduring motivation comes from something much closer at hand: one another. This powerful, personal connection is the foundation of team chemistry and of consistent high performance. The military has always understood that who you are fighting alongside is, ultimately, more important to performance than what you’re fighting for.

We'll examine real-life examples from sports: why a journeyman outfielder named Jonny Gomes seemed to lift the performance of nearly every team he played on; what businesses can learn from the surprising revelation that San Francisco Giants' difficult superstar Barry Bonds was not the clubhouse cancer all of us (including me!) thought he was; how Warriors coach Steve Kerr's embrace of both analytics and team chemistry produced one of the most successful teams in NBA history.

Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry

Intangibles in Teamwork

I am a longtime sports journalist and the author of five books. I've spent more than two decades in clubhouses and locker rooms, covering every sport from baseball, football and basketball to championship boxing and the Olympic Games. I was one of the first female sports columnists in the country. My two most acclaimed books are "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes: The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skating'' (1995) and my newest book "Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry'' (2020). "Little Girls'' exposed the physical and psychological abuse in gymnastics more than two decades before the arrest of sexual predator Larry Nassar in 2018. Sports Illustrated named the book one of the top 100 Sports Books of All-Time. "Intangibles'' is being hailed by coaches, general managers and business executives as a game-changer in our understanding of what team chemistry actually is and how it elevates performance. I am a story-teller.

Intangibles in Teamwork

Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team Chemistry

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