# The surprisingly simple reason teams fail

- Institution: TED
- Department: TEDxCatawba
- Speaker: Tessa West
- Year: 2025
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Business and management, Society and politics
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/tessa_west_the_surprisingly_simple_reason_teams_fail)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

In 1999, a NASA mission to Mars failed ... not from a technical glitch, but because people weren't talking to each other. Psychology professor Tessa West explores how assumptions, overlooked details and "hidden languages" can quietly sabotage even the smartest teams — and explores the small shifts in communication that can make a big difference in how information lands.

## Lectures

1. [The surprisingly simple reason teams fail](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/tessa_west_the_surprisingly_simple_reason_teams_fail/0e41aaf357ae), 16 min (TED's player)