The Titans of Saturn: Leadership and Performance Lessons from the Cassini-Huygens Mission

This story behind the brilliant success of the Cassini-Huygens mission to the planet Saturn and its moon Titan details a monumental achievement that took scientists, engineers and government agencies from eighteen countries over 25 years to accomplish. The book tells it like it was and offers profound meaning not only for those interested in planetary exploration, but in general for all global leaders and professionals in business and government. The authors present this extraordinary feat of cross-cultural teamwork through the lens of paradoxical logic, demonstrating how a group of highly diverse people can excel globally if inspired by a unifying super ordinate goal and by discovering how success can be attained though the unity of diversity (be it disciplinary or cultural). Titans of Saturn is full of paradoxes: we travel to the far end of the solar system to discover new truths about ourselves. By reaching for the stars, cross-disciplinary and global teams can transform themselves and shape their own culture. The authors draw several important lessons of importance to dealing with the complexity of any large international or multi-disciplinary undertaking.