Dear BNET Reader,

Have a new product to get to prototype in six months? Need to crash through a systems rebuild? Whether it's R&D, accounting, or IT, managers must constantly assemble top-flight teams of people for complex and crucial tasks. Which is a crucial and often difficult chore itself: Building a great team means not just choosing the right combination of skill sets, but juggling the right mix of personalities.

Build and Manage Effective Teams
Set your team up for success by assembling the right combination of people to meet your goals. This Crash Course covers what key skills to look for (and which to avoid) and how to coax top performances from everyone starting on day one.

Key Personality Types
Much like characters in a role-playing game, everyone on a successful team plays a unique part. When certain challenges arise, you need to know whose strengths will best match the task. Here are a few key personality types to look for.

Four Great Teams in Business History
Great teams are more than just a gathering of smart people. In each of these four cases, something extra - a spark, a defining principle, or some business environment juju - helped push them to develop ideas and products that redefined their companies.

Characteristics of Successful Teams
A recent research study on collaboration conducted by BNET and Harris Interactive investigated what exactly makes some teams buzz and others fizzle out. The findings? Success comes down to the people, the technology, and the process.

Aussie Rules
Strategy. Getting the most out of your team. Sussing out the competition. Sure, these are important aspects of the Australian football code known as Aussie Rules, but they're also key to succeeding in business. This blog written by some of Australia's top business experts illustrates the rules of the game and shows how teams can sometimes play a bit differently Down Under.

Win Favor and Influence Staff
It's not as hard as you think. Here are five tips to become a more successful, persuasive, and motivating speaker.

Explain Yourself
What's the problem with calling yourself a "landscape designer" or an "environmental specialist concerned with horticultural planning and its impact on global sustainability"? Both are instant conversation stoppers.

Word of the day: white knight

JumpStart 2008 with Dell

Start the year right with unbelievable deals
on notebooks, desktops and accessories.
Get a Vostro 1400 notebook
with Intel Core(TM) 2 Duo,
2GB memory and 120GB hard drive for only $549

Click here for more information.

BNET Intercom
When and Where Will the Recession Hit the Advertising World?

As the chance for a recession in the US slowly wobbles from possible to likely, the advertising world holds its breath, knowing that when costs must be cut, companies traditionally shed marketing dollars first...

Business Hacks
Manage Your Boss in 9 Easy Steps

Here's something they don't teach in business school: how to manage your boss. It's one thing to do your work, follow the rules, etc., but quite another to establish a good and productive...

Back to B-School
Learning How to Lead

One of the two classes we're taking this session is Leadership. I have to admit, I've been skeptical from the start. Can you really learn how to be a leader in the classroom? It's not that I thought the class would be worthless...

More Daily Insights...

JumpStart 2008 with Dell. We make it easy to get the technology you need.