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Introduction

I want to start by reminding you of five words, which nearly 50 years ago, cast the world simultaneously into fear and hope, and which are still a symbol of the unexpected that calls for urgent action. For three men and their families, these five words meant a one‐week life‐or‐death struggle. These words are: ‘Houston, we have a problem.’

Think back to 1970, which incidentally was the year of my birth. It's 11 April and the clock in Houston shows precisely 13:30. It's at this moment that the American space agency NASA shoots the spaceship Apollo 13 into orbit, with the aim of landing on the moon in four days' time.

On 13 April, there is a loud crash and the three astronauts look out to see a plume of white as their oxygen flows out into space. The two oxygen tanks in the service module have just exploded. The initial reaction back in Houston is one of panic – no one has planned for such a disaster. The families of the three astronauts are horrified. If you've seen the film Apollo 13 you might remember that at this point in the mission, the spaceship is getting close to the moon. If they continue to fly according to their original plan, they won't have enough energy to reach the gravity of Earth and therefore return to the Earth's surface.

It's now clear that the mission to land on the moon has failed and all of their planned lunar research has been blown away. The focus now is on the lives of the three astronauts. This is a matter of life and death.

Back in Houston, it's 37‐year‐old Gene Kranz who is in charge at Mission Control when the fateful call from the astronauts comes in. Kranz quickly realises that to save the astronauts' lives, he has to win one fight: the fight for energy.

In space, energy is everything. You need it to move the spaceship, to navigate, to communicate with Mission Control and, of course, to sustain life. At this point, every single unit of energy now means the difference between life and death. They need a miracle.

What does Kranz do in this historic moment? He gathers his whole Houston team into one room. The tension and nervousness is palpable. He lays out the challenge. Brains go into overdrive. Ideas rush around. Everyone's hearts are full with care, fear and hope. Kranz listens carefully to each and every idea being put forward.

Eventually he calls for silence. Then he pulls everyone together – and not just the team in the room with him. He has the three astronauts and hundreds of scientists and engineers from across NASA listening as he calmly says:

‘We haven't lost a man in space until now and as long as I'm responsible, we won't. Failure is not an option.’

The seven days of the Apollo 13 mission were filled with incredible strength of character, flashes of genius, feats of engineering and, above all, an extraterrestrial triumph of leadership.

As we all know, Kranz and his team succeeded in safely bringing the Apollo 13 astronauts home. But what Kranz also did was succeed in pulling together all these people spread around space, through the magical gravity force of one of the strongest virtual teams the world has ever seen; one whose goal was aligned to one purpose only, to save the lives of the three astronauts on the spaceship.

On 17 April, Apollo 13 landed, or rather splashed, back to Earth with the command unit carrying the three astronauts landing safely in the Pacific Ocean. The rescue was hailed as a miracle. This is a virtual power team at work.

You might be thinking that the Apollo 13 was an exceptional case and not one that has applications in general business. But how many of you have worked on a project which has experienced an unexpected change? How often is the budget reduced but you still have to deliver? How often is the go‐live date brought forward? How often do team members spread across different locations lose motivation, resulting in a deterioration in the team's performance?

Personally, I've heard the statement, ‘Houston, we have a problem’ more than once in my career, although thankfully never in relation to a life‐or‐death situation. But for the projects I was working on, it was critical.

How I Learned to Develop Virtual Power Teams

In the last 25 years, I've had the opportunity to live and work all over Europe. I began my career as a data analyst and have worked across many areas of technology, leading a number of large, multinational virtual teams. Most recently, I was the head of IT services for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where I built and led a large team spread across various countries, time zones and from very different cultures.

Through this experience, and if I'm honest mostly from my mistakes, I've developed a highly effective method for creating and leading virtual power teams. But in recent years I started questioning my mission and exploring how I could use my talents to change the world for the better. This was when I decided to leave the worlds of IT and mathematics behind and pursue my dream of becoming an inspirational speaker and coach, focusing on uniting people despite distance. It's this passion that has resulted in this book, where I'm sharing my passion for and knowledge of building virtual power teams.

I like to think of virtual power teams as atoms. You have the nucleus in the centre and then the various particles orbiting that nucleus. In a virtual team, you're building an atom. Your individual team members are the particles and you need to keep them around the nucleus, despite the physical distance between individuals.

I'll let you into a secret now. The nucleus of this power team isn't the manager or the boss, it isn't any member of the team. It is the purpose and goal of the team that acts as the nucleus, constantly pulling everyone back together.

In this book, I'll explain how to set this goal in such a way that it's aligned with the individual goals and strengths of your team members, while aligning with the overarching purpose and vision of the team. I'll also give you effective tools to put this vital nucleus in place.

2020: The Tipping Point for Global Change?

Globalisation and digital transformation have introduced new challenges in leadership and communication. Teams and projects are often decentralised, crossing international borders, time zones and cultural boundaries. Leading such virtual teams requires very specific organisational knowledge, including how to select qualified experts, knowing which virtual platforms to use and how to structure, support and lead your team. These are among the topics I'll cover in the following pages.

But the coronavirus pandemic has challenged us further. More people than ever before have been working from home in 2020, and we rose to the challenge. This extended period of remote working means we have to take more team decisions remotely, resolve conflicts from a distance and find new ways to lead and manage effectively.

What I want to share with you is that virtual teams can achieve much more. I want to open your eyes to the possibilities available not just to organisations but to society, if we can ignite global talent to address the monumental challenges of our time: Climate change. Hunger. Pandemic response. We have the power to overcome these challenges, all while bringing opportunities to young professionals in every corner of the globe.