Narrator: Imagine being told your company’s entire digital infrastructure has just three weeks to live. That was the reality for Maynard Webb when he joined eBay as its technology president. The site was crashing constantly under the weight of its own success, and the team was overwhelmed. Instead of panicking, Webb did something remarkably simple. He gathered his team and forced them to answer one question: what are the absolute most important things we must do to survive? They boiled it down to just four priorities, a clear and focused list that saved the company from collapse. This kind of high-stakes, high-clarity leadership is rare, but according to the book Power Score by Geoff Smart, Randy Street, and Alan Foster, it doesn't have to be. Based on a massive 20-year study of over 15,000 leaders, the authors reveal a simple formula that any leader can use to diagnose their team’s effectiveness and unlock its full potential.

Narrator: The first element of the Power Score formula is Priorities, or 'P'. The authors argue that most leaders fail not because their goals are wrong, but because they lack true priorities. A priority isn't just a goal; it’s a clear understanding of "what needs to be done, and why that matters." It connects the daily work to a larger, motivating mission. Having too many priorities is the same as having none at all, as it diffuses energy and leads to mediocrity.

A powerful example of this principle in action is the story of Josh Silverman's turnaround of Skype. When he became CEO, the company was struggling, morale was low, and the focus was on hitting arbitrary financial targets. Silverman decided to connect the team back to its purpose. He invited customers to share their stories, and a powerful theme emerged: people used Skype to connect with loved ones across the world. He realized that video, then a minor feature, was the emotional core of the product.

Silverman made a bold decision. He shifted the company's mission from "free phone calls" to "bringing people together when they couldn't be in the same room." Video became the centerpiece. This new, clear priority, deeply connected to a human 'why', re-energized the entire organization. The result was transformative. Skype became the global leader in video conferencing, and its value grew from $2.6 billion to $8.5 billion in just three years.

Narrator: The second, and arguably most critical, element of the formula is 'W' for Who. The authors state unequivocally that having the right people on the team is the most important aspect of business success. Yet, their research shows it's where most leaders fail, with fewer than 14% excelling at hiring and developing talent. Effective leaders focus on 'who' before 'what' or 'how'.

The story of Verne Harnish, founder of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, perfectly illustrates this mindset. In the early 1980s, before the internet, Harnish wanted to create a list of the top 100 young entrepreneurs in America—a seemingly impossible task. Instead of asking "how can we do this?", his team asked a different question: "Who has already been down this road?" This led them to John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends, who had the expertise to help them build the list. Later, when they needed media attention, they again asked "who is the best at marketing?", which led them to Regis McKenna, the genius who helped launch Apple and Intel.

By consistently asking "who" instead of "how," Harnish was able to leverage the expertise of others to achieve his goals. This principle holds that a leader's job is not to have all the answers, but to build a team of A-Players who do.

Narrator: The final element of the formula is 'R' for Relationships. This isn't about being well-liked or creating a conflict-free environment. It's about building functional relationships that achieve results. The authors identify three core attributes of a team with a high 'R' score: they are Coordinated, Committed, and Challenged.

Coordination means the right people are talking about the right things at the right time. Commitment means the team is bought into the mission, the leader, and each other. And being Challenged means the leader pushes the team to achieve things they didn't think were possible.

Kent Thiry’s leadership at DaVita, a dialysis company, is a masterclass in building commitment. When Thiry took over, the company was nearly bankrupt and morale was in the gutter. He didn't just present a turnaround plan; he shared a dream of building "the greatest dialysis company the world had ever seen" and creating a special place to work. He began referring to the company as a village and its employees as citizens, fostering a powerful sense of community and shared purpose. To make the vision tangible, he even built a physical bridge at company meetings, having people walk across it to symbolize their commitment to the new DaVita. This focus on building a committed community transformed the company. DaVita’s stock became the top performer on the S&P 500 for over a decade, a direct result of unleashing the power of its people through strong, purpose-driven relationships.

Narrator: Understanding the components of the Power Score is one thing; implementing them is another. The book provides a simple, powerful tool to put the theory into practice: the PWR Conversation. This is a structured, 55-minute meeting where a leader asks their team to anonymously rate the team's Priorities, Who, and Relationships on a scale of 1 to 10. The scores are then multiplied to get a total Power Score, with a score of 729 (9x9x9) or higher indicating a team running at full power.

The story of Reggie Bicha, who ran human services for the state of Colorado, shows how effective this can be. His 5,000-person organization was responsible for the state's most vulnerable citizens. Feeling his team could do better, he held a PWR Conversation. The scores were revealing, ranging from 180 to 448—far from full power. The magic happened in the discussion that followed. Team members pinpointed the exact issues holding them back. They realized their priorities weren't clear to frontline staff and that their process for hiring and managing supervisors—the 'Who'—was a major weakness.

In less than an hour, the team had a clear diagnosis and a concrete action plan. Bicha later remarked that the single conversation was more productive than a typical two-day strategic off-site. It provided the clarity and alignment needed to start making real improvements, demonstrating that the Power Score is not just a theoretical model but a practical tool for immediate change.

Narrator: The single most important takeaway from Power Score is that leadership is not an innate, mystical quality but a solvable problem. By breaking down leadership into its three essential outcomes—getting Priorities right, putting the right Who in place, and building functional Relationships—the authors provide a universal framework for improving team performance. The P-x-W-x-R formula acts as a simple diagnostic tool, allowing any leader to quickly identify their greatest weaknesses and focus their energy where it will have the most impact.

The book's final challenge extends beyond the boardroom. It suggests that when leaders and their teams run at full power, the effects ripple outward, creating more valuable companies, more fulfilling jobs, and more effective institutions. It leaves us with a critical question: What is your team's Power Score, and what is the one conversation you could have that might change everything?