Let me tell you how I figured out this whole team thing, comparing the wolf style to other stuff.
It started when the big bosses said we needed “more teeth” in our projects. Right? Everyone suddenly talking about “wolf teams” like it was the magic sauce. Started seeing articles everywhere, whole LinkedIn feed felt like a nature documentary about pack hunters. Got curious, obviously.
So I decided to try it out myself on this new initiative I was pitching. We called it Project Timber. Went full wolf-mode.
Gathered a small group, just five of us. Told them: “Fast decisions, intense focus, eat the competition for lunch!” Kicked things off with a bang – late nights, shouting ideas across the table, everyone pushing hard. Felt exciting at first, like we were charging forward. Cut meetings, ignored other teams, tunnel vision on the target. Assumed everyone naturally knew their role in the pack.
Lasted about two weeks. Boom. Cracks started showing.
- One “wolf” got burned out needing space to actually think.
- Another felt lost without clearer direction (turns out, wolves need the alpha thing more than humans like to admit).
- We stepped on other teams’ toes so hard they basically declared war on Project Timber.
- Quality slipped ’cause “fast” became “sloppy”.
Got a talking-to from HR about the “shouting”. Project Timber stalled, hard. Felt like crap. Thought I was building a pack, felt more like I’d stuck us all in a blender.
Needed to clean up the mess. Had to actually look at the other ways teams work, like properly. Found the usual suspects:
- The “Family” Crew: Super supportive, meetings feel warm, lots of checking in. But damn, decisions take forever. Need agreement from everyone? Good luck launching anything fast. Progress felt like crawling through molasses.
- The “Swiss Watch” Group: Super organized, clear roles, super reliable. Got stuff done steadily. Problem? Felt rigid. Changed direction? Forget it. Needed flexibility? Tough luck. Like trying to bend a steel beam.
- The “Chaos Monkeys”: Wild ideas flying, energetic as hell. Could be fun! But absolute nightmare for getting anything finished or organized. Like herding cats hopped up on espresso. Felt exhausting just being near them.
After Project Timber crashed and burned, joined a different group tackling something else. Wasn’t wolves, wasn’t family, wasn’t rigid – kinda just… normal? People talked without shouting. Had roles but adapted. Made solid progress without burning down the building.
Here’s the thing I learned: Money talks. The bosses pushing the wolf stuff? They saw results somewhere and wanted the hype. They didn’t care if it fit our people or our project. They just wanted the bite. But throwing random animals into a room doesn’t get work done.
I almost quit coffee over it all. Seriously considered becoming a hermit. That first failure with Project Timber stung. Made me doubt everything. Found myself looking at freelance gigs at 3 AM. The “wolves” hype nearly chewed me up.
Why do I know this now? Cause I bled for it. Got yelled at by HR, pissed off half the company, almost ended Project Timber before it launched, and questioned my entire leadership style in the coffee machine reflection. It wasn’t theory – I lived the messy experiment.
You want the “wolf” team? Okay. But look at your people first. Look at the actual problem you need to solve. Maybe you need the family glue. Maybe you need the steady gears. Maybe the chaos monkeys spark genius. Maybe you just need adults who can talk without a dominance display. The label doesn’t matter one bit. Choose whatever fits you best. Or you’ll be cleaning up the mess I made.
