499. Ron Friedman Exposes What the Top 8% of Elite Teams Do that Others Don’t—from ER rooms, to NFL teams to Wall Street firms!

October 17, 2026 by thementorsradio Leave a comment

In today’s episode of THE MENTORS RADIO, Host Tom Loarie talks with Ron Friedman, PhD, award-winning social psychologist, keynote speaker, human motivation expert, and best-selling author, about what the Top 8% of elite teams do that others don’t, from ER rooms, to NFL teams to Wall Street firms. Every executive board in the country talks about culture, collaboration, and high performance. Yet the average knowledge worker spends nearly thirty (30) hours a week drowning in meetings and messages, leaving barely one day to do actual work. We’ve been told the answer is more connectivity, trendy perks, and constant togetherness. But what if almost everything corporate America preaches about teamwork is statistically dead wrong? Dr. Ron Friedman analyzed more than 100,000 data points across elite organizations—from emergency rooms and NFL locker rooms to Wall Street firms—to uncover what the top 8% of teams do that the other 92% miss. Ron Friedman earned a PhD and MA in Social and Personality Psychology from the University of Rochester. His academic and leadership roles including serving on the faculties of the University of Rochester, Nazareth College, and Hobart andWilliam Smith Colleges. He is the founder of Superteams, Inc. and ignite80, and a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company and Forbes. Dr. Ron Friedman is also the best-selling author of The Best Place to Work, and his landmark new book is Super Teams: The Science and Secrets of High-Performing Teams. Listen to THE MENTORS RADIO broadcast on Salem Radio in San Francisco, via live-streaming on iHeart Radio worldwide or anytime, on ANY podcast platform, including Apple Podcast, Spotify, iTunes, TuneIN, Stitcher, Google Play and all the others. Sign up for the podcast here.