getAbstract Summary: Get the key points from this book in less than 10 minutes.

Team success – for a professional sports squad or for your sales force – ultimately hinges on the performance of high-level players. In winning six National Basketball Association championships, the Chicago Bulls relied on Michael Jordan to make most of the decisive shots. The corporate world also expects star performers to carry the load, with help from their supporting cast. While superstars are gifted, magnetic and fiercely competitive, they can also be egotistical, obnoxious and polarizing; it comes with the territory. But as Mark de Rond, an associate professor of strategy and organization, explains, stars are the difference between winning and losing in both athletics and business. He uses numerous illustrations from sports to demonstrate the indispensability of superstars – despite the negativity their personalities can often generate. The trick, de Rond emphasizes, is figuring out how to let them impose their wills without destroying the team dynamic in the process. Any group has to undertake this admittedly delicate balancing act to succeed. De Rond's assertion that everyone is not created equal may bother conventional thinkers, but managers will understand it right away. Once you weigh all the evidence, getAbstract believes that you'll truly understand this definition of star power and how to use it.

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Copyright 2012 Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

Summarized by permission of Harvard Business Review Press