Rogue Heroes: The 5 People You Meet on Every High-Performing Team

Ben Macintyre's book Rogue Heroes details the early days of the British Special Air Service in World War II. The BBC aired its new historical drama, SAS: Rogue Hero, and Ben immediately went through his bookcases for his original copy. He was fascinated by the book and the series because the characters are familiar to him. He has a keen interest in history and World Wars II history.

Psychologist Ron Friedman notes the three essential needs for any high-performing team: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. He found that the best teams didn't suffer from the pandemic and they accelerated through COVID even as other teams struggled. High-performance teams communicate more frequently, take a more strategic approach to meetings, build authentic and enduring connections, express positive feedback and appreciation and present themselves freely.

The SAS formed a high-performing team called L Detachment. The team's personalities are important to the performance of such teams. The Big Five is the connection between the team members. It is not easy to form such a team.

Dudley Clarke created the SAS in January 1941 to fool the Italians into fearing that the British might land airborne troops behind enemy lines.

David Sterling is a leader who is contemptuous of the military bureaucracy. He is the right person to take care of a high-risk, high stakes, and high performing team.

John "Jock" Lewes was self-disciplined and creative. He shared little in common with Sterling, but their dissimilarities would unite them.

Paddy Mayne was a highly successful rugby player before the war. He was the leader of L Detachment.

The L Detachment's Sergeants Jim Almonds and Pat Riley were the bedrock of the unit. Almond and Riley are older, married and more temperate than many of their contemporaries. They were hardened combat veterans who knew how to calculate the odds and retreat if required.