Drucker Mondays

Week 53: Final Edition and Links to All 52 Chapters

Week 53: Final Edition! Welcome (and farewell) to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday in 2015, we've featured a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Today is the 53rd and final edition and features a master list and links to all 52 color commentaries.



Don’t miss our no-host Awards Dinner on January 19, 2016, Tuesday 4 p.m., at the San Clemente Pier for the famous $4.00 dinner and spectacular sunset at The Fisherman’s Restaurant. Awards will be given to guest writers in 10 categories, including longest column, shortest column, best photo, earliest submission, and other stuff we haven’t thought up yet.

Week 53: The Final Edition & 5 Ideas for Recycling Drucker Mondays in 2016

Idea #1: Email Drucker Mondays to Your Team Every Monday. Recruit a team member to click on Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc. below—and send the link to your team every Monday in 2016.

Idea #2: Drucker Quote-of-the-Week. Recruit a team member to reference the week’s topic and post a quote-of-the-week on your office bulletin board or fridge.

Idea #3: Drucker & Donuts. Pass your book, A Year With Peter Drucker, around the office each week and invite team members to join you for a 10-minute “Drucker & Donuts” discussion on the week’s topic.

Idea #4: Drucker Mondays Marathon. Leverage your Drucker book like a baton and each Monday, a team member passes it along to the person who will do something creative with the following Monday’s topic. Repeat for 51 more weeks!

Idea #5: Ask your Hoopla! Maven (you do have a coordinator of hoopla!, right?) to help you keep Drucker on the front burner throughout 2016.

LINKS TO GUEST WRITERS AND ALL 52 CHAPTERS:
Thanks to our fantastic guest writers!

EFFECTIVE LEADERS
#1. Developing Leaders, Not Functionaries: Effective Leaders Get the Right Things Done and You Can Trust Them (John Pearson)
#2. Questions to Ask Before Committing a Portion of Your Life to the Service of an Organization (Mike Pate)

MANAGEMENT IS A HUMAN ACTIVITY
#3. Three Fundamental Questions for a Functioning Society of Organizations (Dale Torry)
#4. Education and Management: Keys to Economic Development (David Schmidt)
#5. Management Rooted in the Nature of Reality 

SETTING YOUR SIGHTS ON THE IMPORTANT, NOT THE URGENT
#6. Make the Important Rather Than the Urgent Your Priority in Life (David Curry)
#7. Manage in Two Time Dimensions (Jason Pearson)

THE ROAD MAP TO PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
#8. Concentration (Mark Thrash)
#9. Organize Work for Effectiveness (Jim Canning)
#10. Information Literacy for Effective Executives (Steve Bury)
#11. Principles of Professional Leadership and Management (David Schmidt)

MANAGEMENT IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY OF ORGANIZATIONS
#12. Management: "The Governing Organ of All Institutions of Modern Society” (Earl Taylor)
#13. The First Job in Any Organization Is to Make Top Management Effective (Elliott Snuggs)
#14. Control by Mission and Strategy, Not by Hierarchy (Kevin East)
#15. Sustaining the Spirit of an Organization (Dan Busby)

NAVIGATING A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION
#16. Our Problems in the United States Are Social Problems (John Ashmen)
#17. Rough Period of Transition Ahead for America (Mike Pate)
#18. A Major Period of Transition for Society and Individuals (Tim Muret)
#19. Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened: Social and Demographic Changes Emerging in the U.S. (Rebekah Basinger)
#20. Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened: Turmoil in Education (Dave Estridge)

MAINTAINING YOUR ORGANIZATION THROUGH CHANGE
#21. Continuity and Change (Connie Salios)
#22. Systematic Abandonment and Innovation (Mark Matlock)
#23. Using the Mission Statement to Create Unity in the Organization (Tami Heim)
#24. A Primer on Market Research of Noncustomers (David Schmidt)
#25. Phase Changes as Organizations Grow and Change (Shannon Barnes)

STRUCTURING YOUR ORGANIZATION
#26. Centralization, Confederation, and Decentralization (John Walling)
#27. The Networked Organization: A Model for the 21st Century (Bob Andringa)

MANAGING YOUR MEMBERS
#28. Managing the Superstar (Mark P. Fisher)
#29. A Second Chance for Failures (Terry Stokesbary)
#30. What Kind of Organization Does America Need to Strengthen Society? (Scott Brown)

THE SUCCESSION DECISION
#31. The Succession Decision: Maintaining the Spirit of the Organization (Jim West)
#32. Planning for Succession in Organizations (Cameron Doolittle)

LESSONS FROM THE SOCIAL SECTOR ON THE POWER OF PURPOSE
#33. Mission (Jim Canning)
#34. Accommodating Various Constituencies in a Mission (David Beroth)
#35. The Salvation Army (Joanne Pearson)
#36. Diffusion of Innovation—Public Schools (Rick Bee)
#37. Application of Peter Drucker's Methodology of Social Ecology (Dale Torry)

DEVELOPING ONESELF FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE
#38. Pursuing Significance After Success (Don Schoendorfer)
#39. Work in an Area of Your Unique Contribution (Suzy West)
#40. Individuals May Need a Process to Help Them Move from Success to Significance (David Schmidt)
#41. Where Do I Really Belong? (Glen Melin)
#42. Halftime Is an Entrepreneurial Enterprise (Gordon Flinn)
#43. A Catalyst to Help People Manage Themselves and Move to the Second Half of Their Lives (Mark Bargaehr)

CHARACTER AND LEGACY
#44. Our Society in the United States Has Lost Its Sweetness (Gary Bishop)
#45. The Power of Purpose: Rick Warren on Peter Drucker (Steve Brown)
#46. The Stewardship of Affluence and the Stewardship of Influence (Rick Bee)
#47. Making Ourselves Useful to Others and to Ourselves (Carolyn McOwen)
#48. What Do Leaders Stand For? (Jackie Tsujimoto)
#49. You Become a Person by Knowing Your Values (David Schmidt)
#50. What Do You Want to Be Remembered For? (Tashawna Gordon)
#51. "We Mentor…Because We Can Envision What a Person Can Become” (Michael Wong)
#52. Peter Drucker's Ten Principles for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: As Reported by Bob Buford (John Pearson) 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• ASK: What are your life-long learning goals for 2016?
• COACH: How will you leverage A Year With Peter Drucker in 2016 to coach or mentor one or more team members?

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published last fall with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

JOIN US!
Join us at the no-host Awards Dinner on January 19, 2016, Tuesday 4 p.m., at the San Clemente Pier for the famous $4.00 dinner and spectacular sunset at The Fisherman’s Restaurant, San Clemente, Calif.

Awards Announced

Sunset on Drucker Mondays!

San Clemente, CA – News Flash! The Drucker Mondays Awards Dinner honored 20 people on Jan. 19, 2016, at the San Clemente Pier’s Fisherman’s Restaurant. Ten awards were announced by John Pearson, editor and publisher of the Drucker Mondays eNews.

The Awards:

• Highest Email Open Rate (70.4%) – Dale Torry (Three Fundamental Questions for a Functioning Society of Organizations)

• Best Picture (Iowa) – Earl Taylor, The Great Hunter! (Management: "The Governing Organ of All Institutions of Modern Society”)

• Best Picture (California) – Rick Bee, Something Fishy! (Diffusion of Innovation—Public Schools)

• Best Integration of Scripture With Content (Isaiah 43:19) – Rebekah Basinger (Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened: Social and Demographic Changes Emerging in the U.S.)

• Best & Freshest Insights—Even Though He Was Guest Writer 4 Times! – David Schmidt (A Primer on Market Research of Noncustomers)

• Best Short & Sweet Slot: Biggest Insight With Least Word Count – Bob Andringa (The Networked Organization: A Model for the 21st Century)

• Most Reluctant Guest Writer With Something Significant to Say – Joanne Pearson (The Salvation Army)

• The Ernie Banks “Let’s Play Two!” Award – Rick Bee, Jim Canning, Mike Pate, Dale Torry—each contributed two guest writer columns, including this one from Canning, who was also a close second for Best Picture (Mission)

• Drucker Mondays Persons-of-the-Year Award (2016) for Help in Making Drucker Mondays More Diverse Than the Oscars – Rebekah Basinger, Tami Heim, Joanne Pearson, Suzy West, Carolyn McOwen, Jackie Tsujimoto, Tashawna Gordon, and Michael Wong.

• Best Actual Picture With Peter Drucker! – Elliott Snuggs (The First Job in Any Organization Is to Make Top Management Effective)



Other Award Categories That Were NOT Announced in Public:

• Highest Email Open Rate (But Least Read Column)
• Most Delinquent Guest Writer Column Submitted After the Deadline
• Longest (Oh, my!) Column
• Column With the Most Typos
• Guest Writer Color Commentary We’re Still Trying to Discern What He Meant to Say!

Drucker Mondays featured a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday in 2015, we’ve featured a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Archives are posted here. Click here for the 53rd and final edition which featured a master list and links to all 52 color commentaries.

Week 52: Peter Drucker’s Ten Principles for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life

Week 52 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday in 2015, we've featured a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Today is the 52nd and almost final edition, written by John Pearson. Watch for the final edition next Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, featuring a master list, highlights, and your invitation to the Awards Luncheon!

Week 52: Peter Drucker's 10 Principles for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life (As Reported by Bob Buford)

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Author Joseph Maciariello calls on Bob Buford to summarize Drucker’s 10 principles for finding significance in life. If you like lists, you’ll love Week 52!

JOHN PEARSON'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 52, pages 393-400:
• Maciariello: “Staying in a position when you are out of sync with its values will either corrupt you or make you cynical.”
• Drucker: “Whenever people are on the road to success, they tend to think of repositioning as something they do if they’re a failure. But I would say that you ought to reposition when you’re a success, because that’s when you can afford it.”
• Drucker: “Know the difference between harvesting and planting.”

JOHN PEARSON'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
This 52nd week of wisdom from Peter Drucker highlights Bob Buford’s “Ten Principles for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life from Peter Drucker.” Click here to download the 10 principles.

Buford, the author of Halftime: Moving From Success to Significance, Drucker & Me: What a Texas Entrepreneur Learned from the Father of Modern Management, and other books, writes, “Listen for the spirituality in Drucker’s 10 life principles and expect to discover your own success and more importantly your own significance.”

I especially appreciate these three Drucker Principles summarized by Bob Buford:
#1. “Find out who you are.”
#5. “Planning doesn’t work. ‘Opportunity comes in over the transom,’ Drucker insisted, and that means one has to be flexible, ready to seize the right opportunities when they come. ‘Too much planning can make you deaf to opportunity,’ Drucker said. ‘Opportunity knocks, but it knocks only once. You have to be ready for the accident.’”
#10. “Recognize the downside to ‘no longer learning, no longer growing.’” Here, Drucker identified three groups:
   • Group 1: People who retire—and don’t live very long.
   • Group 2: People who don’t retire, but lose their enthusiasm.
   • Group 3: People who “keep doing what they’ve been doing, but they’re looking for ways to make a contribution.”

Buford quotes Drucker on the third group: “’They feel they’ve been given a lot and they’re looking for a chance to give back. They’re not satisfied with just writing checks; they want to be involved, to help other people in a more positive way.’ And they’re the ones, Drucker said, who finish well.”

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JOHN PEARSON:


John Pearson, editor and publisher of Drucker Mondays, is a board governance and management consultant, and grandfather to five, including soon-to-be 13-year-old triplets.

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Download the 10 principles and pick three that arrest your attention—and discuss with a friend.
• Discuss the difference between planting (output) and harvesting (results).

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this fall with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Jan. 4, 2016, watch for the final summary of this 52-week journey and your invitation to the Awards Luncheon, honoring our 52 guest writers!

Week 51: "We Mentor…Because We Can Envision What a Person Can Become"

Week 51 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Michael Wong is our guest writer today.

Week 51: "We Mentor ... Because We Can Envision What a Person Can Become"

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Successful leaders know how to say no.

For over 20 years, Peter Drucker mentored Rick Warren of Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose Driven Church (1995) and The Purpose Driven Life (2002). This chapter shares a talk honoring Peter Drucker delivered by Warren at the 2004 Drucker Alumni Day in Claremont, Calif.

MICHAEL WONG'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 51, pages 388-392:
• Rick Warren states two essential Drucker truths:
   1) “Leaders don’t ask, ‘What do I want?’ Leaders ask, ‘What needs to be done?’”
   2) “The mission comes first.”
• Drucker: “They (leaders) know how to say no. The pressures on leaders to do 984 different things is unbearable, so the effective ones know how to say no and stick with it. They don’t suffocate themselves as a result. Too many leaders try to do a little bit of 25 things and get nothing done. They are very popular because they always say yes. But they get nothing done.”
• Drucker: They (successful leaders) ask, “’Of those things that would make a difference, which are right for me?’ They don’t tackle things they aren’t good at. They make sure other necessities get done, but not by them. Successful leaders make sure that they succeed! They are not afraid of strengths in others.”

MICHAEL WONG'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
I find it intriguing that Peter Drucker, with all this wisdom, would teach Rick Warren the simple art of saying “no.” As a father of two young boys, I hear that beautiful two-letter word about a hundred times a day. If we learn the word at such a young age, why is it so difficult to say “no” when we grow up? Fear, control, pride, and a desire to impress others all factor into why we say “yes.”

I have a CFO mentor who once suggested that I set aside an hour each day during work hours to think. When I first heard this, I thought he was absolutely insane.

How can you get anything done if you are just thinking? What I’ve seen over the years is that we can become so consumed by the commitments we make that we lose sight of whether that commitment or activity makes any impact. When I make the effort to build in thinking/reflection time, I find that I am able to make better decisions and develop strategies and activities that directly impact and further the organization’s mission and goals. As a leader, I can think of no better activity to build into each day.

So, how can we build in time for thinking? We need to say no. We need to stop doing something. Peter Drucker advised Rick Warren in this way: “Don’t tell me what you’re doing, Rick. Tell me what you stopped doing.”

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MICHAEL WONG:


Michael Wong, CPA, is the chief financial officer at Open Doors USA in Santa Ana, Calif. Open Doors strives to raise awareness of global persecution, mobilizing prayer, support and action among Christians around the world. Click here to learn more about their World Watch List and how Open Doors ranks countries where Christians are persecuted.

TO-DO TODAY: 
• What will you stop doing so that you can build in time to think and reflect?  As Drucker notes, consider stopping things that either don’t make a difference or do not suit your skillset.  If you have been doing something consistently for years (a Monday report, for example), determine if it is absolutely necessary. Then help your teams ask those same questions of their daily routine.  

• Visit the Delegation Bucket webpage and download the "Don't-Do List" worksheet.

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this fall with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Dec. 28, 2015, watch for the wrap-up color commentary for Week 52 by John Pearson on "Peter Drucker's Ten Principles for Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life (As Reported by Bob Buford)," the last chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 50: What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?

Week 50 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Tashawna Gordon is our guest writer today.

Week 50: What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In a culture that strives for fame in various ways, for legacies, for remembrance, this week asks perhaps the most fundamental question that every generation has asked before: what do you want to be remembered for? A Year With Peter Drucker author Joseph Maciariello focuses on this idea with Drucker suggesting, “It is a question that induces you to renew yourself, because it pushes you to see a different person—the person you can become.” 

TASHAWNA GORDON'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 50, pages 381-387:
• “People were important to Peter Drucker. The artifacts from his twenty-plus years of mentoring leaders of various organizations confirm what is well developed in his writings: Drucker was fervent in his belief that organizations should develop people and that the most durable ones do!” (p. 383)
• “I learned three things from that conversation. First, one has to ask oneself what one wants to be remembered for. Second, that should change as one gets older. It should change both with one’s own maturity and with the changes in the world. Finally, one thing worth being remembered for is the difference one makes in the lives of people [italics mine].” (p. 386)
• “It is important to ask yourself the question, ‘What do I want to be remembered for?’ from time to time in your life because it motivates you to work toward the person you can become. It is a question that if asked seriously can lead to personal revitalization in your life.” (p. 386) 

TASHAWNA GORDON'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
As a 22-year-old recent graduate, I am often asked the question, “What do you want to do with your life?” In very real ways, that question bothers me more than I’d like to admit but I suppose I get it.

I get why people feel a compulsion to ask the newly graduated kid where I’d like to see my life go—but in all honesty, I just don’t know. I don’t know where I’ll be 10, 15, 20 years from now and I think I’m OK with that.

I’m OK with that because the difference between the questions of, “What do you want to do with your life?” and “What do you want to be remembered for?” is the breathing room the latter gives for seasons of growth; encouraging the pursuit of something more.

One of my professors asked us one day, seemingly out of the blue, what we wanted our tombstones to read. As a class filled with twenty-somethings, death almost seemed like a far off rumor that hadn’t made its way to our reality yet.

Confused and a bit uncomfortable, I remember sitting at my desk racking my brain for things that could be written in memory of me. Things like status, or profession, or my own versions of fame didn’t seem to make any sense: why would I want to put that on my tombstone?

Finally, our professor, sensing our inability to think of something, prompted us again,
“What do you want to have been known for?”
I then scribbled on my tombstone: 
Walked Slowly.
Breathed Deeply.
Loved Well.

In the grand scheme of things, I don’t know what I want to do with my life. But I do know that at the end of it all, I want to know that I walked slowly, I breathed deeply, and I loved well. If I have done this, it will be a life well lived. (Editor's Note: To create your own tombstone, click on this app.)

These realizations didn’t just come to me on my own. They were prompted by people who have invested in me, guided me, and mentored me in ways that Peter Drucker did for others like me. The opportunity to empower and enable others is at the core of what it means to lead and to lead well.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY TASHAWNA GORDON:

Tashawna Gordon is the pastor of youth and families at North Valley Friends Church, Newberg, Oregon. She served as a 2015 summer intern at M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust in Vancouver, Washington and is a graduate of George Fox University. One of her many passions is serving as chaplain of the GFU women’s basketball team. (Enjoy this short video!)

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Pause. In the midst of the busyness of the week, pause for a moment and ask yourself this question: What do you want to be remembered for?
• Reflect. What are you doing now that is leading towards what you want to be remembered for?
• Seek. As Drucker invested into the lives of others, mentoring and guiding, I invite you to do the same. Ask them this question and other questions like it that challenge them and stretch them—but also journey with them in their seasons of growth as they journey through what it means to live a life well lived. 

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this fall with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Dec. 21, 2015, watch for the color commentary by Michael Wong on "We Mentor...Because We Can Envision What a Person Can Become" (Week 51), the next to last chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 49: You Become a Person by Knowing Your Values

Week 49 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Schmidt is our guest writer today.

Week 49: You Become a Person by Knowing Your Values

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: If you surrender your values you end up losing your self-esteem.  This “progressive discomfort,” as Joseph Maciariello states in the book, can haunt us every day and erode our values, not just in our workplaces, but in our lives as well.

DAVID SCHMIDT'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 49, pages 375-380:
• “You become a person by knowing what your values are, what you contribute, and it is outside yourself.”
• “There is sometimes a conflict between a person’s values and the same person’s strengths. What one does well—even very well—and successfully may not fit one’s value system.”

DAVID SCHMIDT'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
We don’t do in life what we believe, we do what we value.

We all believe many things about our faith, our role as leaders, a healthy diet and exercise, being a spouse, a dad, a friend.

Big deal.

Check your calendar, checkbook, recent conversations and thought life for the real truth. One writer in the Bible, James, pointed out that even the demons “believed” in one God—but they certainly didn’t live that way. To Drucker’s point, we become who we are designed to be by knowing and living out our values. Our lives are a record of what we value.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID SCHMIDT:

David Schmidt is president of J. David Schmidt & Associates. He notes, “We help our clients explore and develop strategies ‘off the map’ so they can better achieve a different kind and level of results. Email him at [email protected] or visit his website.

TO-DO TODAY: 
Tomorrow morning as you get ready to start the day, stand in front of your mirror and stare for at least a minute.  This is the face your mom looked into the day you were born, the face others around you see every day.  Now ask yourself, “What am I feeling about the person I know behind that face?  Am I satisfied with the way that person is living out their values?”  That is the test question for us all.  

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Dec. 14, 2015, watch for the color commentary by Tashawna Gordon (a 2015 summer intern at Murdock Trust) on "What Do You Want to Be Remembered For?” (Week 50), the seventh chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 48: What Do Leaders Stand For?

Week 48 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jackie Tsujimoto is our guest writer today.

Week 48: What Do Leaders Stand For?

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: According to Peter Drucker, “Integrity in leadership inspires trust and commits leaders to viewing the world as it is and not as they wish it to be.”

Strong, effective leaders go to work on the priorities of the organization, instilling a culture of continuous learning and surrounding themselves with experts in areas necessary to solve present and emerging problems. These are framed together by an established set of values that “give life.” 

“It is not the business whose values are pure opportunism, pure greed, pure selfishness and self-aggrandizement that does best, not even in the very short run. It is the business that has a set of values that enables it and the people who work for it to respect themselves, to have pride, to grow, that is the winner in the marketplace.”

JACKIE TSUJIMOTO'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 48, pages 369-375:
• “It is in times of adversity, in times that try a man’s soul, that values are a necessity.” (p. 372)
• “Values, like nutrients that sustain an organism, also sustain an organization.” (p. 372)
• “In every organization—and not only in a business—the true and real values of its leaders are judged by who gets promoted, who gets fired, who gets rewarded and who gets punished. People decisions are highly visible. . .” (p. 373) 

JACKIE TSUJIMOTO'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Free Wheelchair Mission believes that “no one should be forced to crawl on the ground,” enduring the hopelessness and often devastating effects of disability in the developing world. In this heartbreak affecting an estimated 100 million people who lack mobility, or cannot afford a wheelchair, there is hope. 

We value each life as precious in God’s sight, loved by God. We value mobility as an essential element to an empowered life. Free Wheelchair Mission exists for this reason, to provide the transforming gift of mobility to people with disabilities in developing nations, as motivated by Jesus Christ. 

Personally, it has been a humbling experience and great privilege to serve with colleagues who share these values and work with all earnestness and dedication to give this gift of mobility to as many lives as possible. 

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JACKIE TSUJIMOTO:

Jackie Tsujimoto is the Development Officer for Church Relations with Free Wheelchair Mission. She joined their team in July, bringing over 20 years of experience in Christian non-profit work, including 12 years with World Vision. 

Jackie is passionate about helping the “least of these,” the disabled poor, and inviting local churches and groups to be involved in restoring dignity and hope—transforming lives through the love of Christ and the gift of mobility—Wheelchairs!

TO-DO TODAY: 
Consider the following questions in evaluating your values: 
• What are the espoused values in your organization? 
• How do they match up with values in action? 
• Are they life-sustaining or life-giving? 
• Are they strong enough to weather adversity? 
• Do they inspire confidence? If not, what can you and others do to change them?

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Dec. 7, 2015, watch for David Schmidt's color commentary on Week 49’s topic, “You Become a Person by Knowing Your Values,” the sixth chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 47: Making Ourselves Useful to Others and to Ourselves

Week 47 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Carolyn McOwen is our guest writer today.

Week 47: Making Ourselves Useful to Others and to Ourselves

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In a “selfie” culture, we tend to live for our own personal gain, rather than serving others. But Peter Drucker says we are to focus both inward and outward. This is what brings meaning to life, fulfillment and hope for the future.

CAROLYN McOWEN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 47, pages 364-368:
• Drucker’s definition of "existential" was “a universal need for inspiration, effectiveness, and hope.” It is important for us to “transition from success to significance. Fulfilling these needs is a way to face the reality of our own mortality.”
• Lee Iacocca put it this way, “Fame and Fortune is for the birds.”
• Kierkegaard believed that the “special disease of the modern West [was] the falling apart of human existence, the denial of the simultaneity of life in the spirit and life in the flesh, the denial of the meaningfulness of each for the other.”
• And I love the question at the end of this week 47, “'Faith is the belief that in God the impossible is possible, that in Him time and eternity are one, that both life and death are meaningful.' Can this provide you with hope for the present and for the future?”

CAROLYN McOWEN'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
In God’s economy, this concept of “Making ourselves useful to others and to ourselves,” is what I call a '‘win-win.”  From my personal experiences, the most meaningful, joyful experiences in my life have been when I am being used by God, even in the simplest ways, knowing that it really is beneficial to another person.  

I served six years as an associate pastor in a church in the middle of a retirement community. From that experience, I sat with people, listened and learned.  I found that this time spent with people, listening to their life stories at the end of their lives, was not only healing for them, but such an amazing blessing to me.   

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY CAROLYN McOWEN:

Carolyn McOwen is a retired physical education teacher, retired associate pastor, but not retired housewife, mother, and grandmother.

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Daily I pray and ask God to use me wherever He may, to grow His kingdom, and to be His light of hope into the darkening world.  

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Nov. 30, 2015, watch for Jackie Tsujimoto's color commentary on Week 48’s topic, “What Do Leaders Stand For?” the fifth chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 46: The Stewardship of Affluence and the Stewardship of Influence

Week 46 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Rick Bee is our guest writer today.

Week 46: The Stewardship of Affluence and the Stewardship of Influence

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: With the writing and success of his book, The Purpose Driven Life, pastor and author Rick Warren, and his wife, Kay, were confronted with a question, “How should we deal with this unexpected affluence and influence?”

RICK BEE'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 46, pages 357-363: 
• “I think the balance between maintaining internal dynamics and institutionalization is a very delicate one. And eventually, one always institutionalizes or one dissipates…”
• “Neither studies nor market research nor computer modeling are a substitute for the test of reality. Everything improved or new needs, therefore, first to be tested on a small scale, that is, it needs to be piloted.”
• “There are a few common mistakes in doing anything new. One is to go from idea into full-scale operation. Don’t omit testing the idea. Don’t omit the pilot stage. If you do, and skip from concept to full scale, even tiny and correctable flaws will destroy the innovation. . . . Another common mistake is to patch-up the old rather than to go all out for the new. . . . It is one of the critical tasks of the executive to know when to say, ‘Enough is enough. Let’s stop Improving. There are too many patches on those pants.’”

RICK BEE'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Few healthy businesses have the luxury of just doing business as usual. In fact innovation and change remain a top priority for leadership in most organizations that seek to retain their market share! Whether the product is smart phones or a college education, nothing can make an organization as competitive and sought after in the marketplace as innovation and a better delivery system.

However, Drucker gives some great advice in this week’s reading as he counsels to be sure and “test the idea!” How many organizations have we observed are first to market with an untested product—only to discover that no one cares! Or…we find some small flaw in the programming that puts the very survival of the organization at risk.

Equally as important is Drucker’s second great advice from this text. And that is to not just patch up the old, but rather to go all out for the new. His challenge to business leaders is a strong call to know when to say, “Enough!”

Sounds to me like a great call to creatively crafted and tested innovation in our companies.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY RICK BEE:

Dr. Rick Bee is the Senior Director of Alumni and Parents at Biola University. Rick and his wife, Julie, live in Yorba Linda, Calif., where they are active and involved in the Yorba Linda Friends Church. Rick and Julie love international travel and have toured more than 25 countries visiting the alumni and friends of Biola University. (Rick also was the guest writer for Week 36 on “Diffusion of Innovation—Public Schools.”)

TO-DO TODAY: 
• So where can you bring innovation to your company? 
• Where and what is the next big thing for your business and how can you get there in a tested and strategic way? 
• The model of Rick and Kay Warren’s success provides not only great insight into creating a vision and impact greater than oneself, but of doing it in a way that is guaranteed to succeed. How can you implement such a plan today?

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Nov. 23, 2015, watch for Carolyn McOwen's color commentary on Week 47’s topic, “Making Ourselves Useful to Others and to Ourselves” the fourth chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 45: The Power of Purpose--Rick Warren on Peter Drucker

Week 45 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Steve Brown is our guest writer today.

Week 45: The Power of Purpose--Rick Warren on Peter Drucker

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: At the heart of Drucker’s entire management system is every organization’s need for a “theory of business” (THOB) that specifies the mission or what Rick Warren reframes for non-profits as purpose. “Purpose-driven missions can provide vision, lead to higher morale, promote concentration, and provide the basis for a system of evaluation.” (p. 352) 

STEVE BROWN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 45, pages 350-356: 
• “If the organization has assembled the right competencies to fulfill its mission, it then needs to align members up and down the organization, using effective communications.” (p. 351)
• “One thing Peter taught is that charisma is extremely dangerous…So you don’t want a personality-driven organization; you want a purpose driven organization.” (p. 351)
• “’Concentrate on the smallest number of activities that will focus on the greatest productivity.’ If you want your life to count, if you want your organization to count, the secret is to focus. Do a few things well.” (p. 352)
• “…the theory (purpose or mission) of a business is a discipline.” (p. 354)

STEVE BROWN'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
One year ago [at Arrow Leadership] we began a three-year organizational strategic planning process. We were soon lost in the “trees” of tactical planning and needed to step back to look at the “forest”—our purpose. 

One key discovery was that we were blurring our purpose and our core program together. In response, we affirmed that our core program is a primary means to our purpose but not the end purpose in itself. This was clarifying and freeing for our strategic planning process. Though testing our purpose against reality and asking hard new questions has required the very discipline Drucker writes about, the effort has sharpened our purpose and strategic plan.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY STEVE BROWN:

Dr. Steve A. Brown serves as president of Arrow Leadership which seeks to develop Christian leaders who are "led more by Jesus, lead more like Jesus and lead more to Jesus". Steve is also the author of Leading Me: Eight Key Practices for a Christian Leader's Most Important Assignment, Great Questions for Leading Well, and a regular e-resource, Sharpening Leaders. Follow Steve on Twitter: @LeadwithSteve 

TO-DO TODAY: 
Take some balcony time to answer Peter Drucker’s key question, “What is my mission? What is my business?” When we stop asking and testing this fundamental question, we can quickly get into trouble.

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Nov. 16, 2015, watch for Rick Bee's color commentary on Week 46’s topic, “The Stewardship of Affluence and the Stewardship of Influence” the third chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 44: Our Society in the U.S. Has Lost Its Sweetness

IN MEMORY OF GARY BISHOP (1946-2015)
Week 44 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Gary Bishop is our guest writer today.

Week 44: Our Society in the U.S. Has Lost Its Sweetness

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: The sweetness in our society, with which Drucker was so moved by on his arrival in the U.S. in 1937, is gone.  Drucker said it is not an attribute which can be restored by government or business—it must be tackled by the human care resident in the compassion deployed by well-run nonprofit organizations. 

GARY BISHOP'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 44, pages 343-349: 
• In 1937, “We were here in the midst of a totally depressed economy. But the society was strong, and it was a country with almost no envy or very little, and was basically decent, with a great deal of sweetness in it.” (Drucker)
• “Some of our major cities have large segments that resemble war zones.” (Maciariello)
• “The individual needs the return of spiritual values, for he can survive in the present human situation only by reaffirming that man is not just biological and physiological being but also spiritual being, this is creature, and existing for the purposes of his Creator and subject to Him.” (Drucker)

GARY BISHOP'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Who isn’t feeling, as Drucker noted, the loss of sweetness in our society? The pressing agenda to have government solve our sour society is misguided, according to Drucker.

Only the social sector can restore the dignity of the individual and community values that are needed to reenergize the productivity of workers and the common bond of a healthy society. Only when sweetness returns will we have the capacity to care for and encourage one another for the noble purposes intended by our Creator.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY GARY BISHOP:

From the Editor, John Pearson: 

With great sadness, we pay tribute to a close friend and extraordinary marketplace and ministry leader, Gary Bishop, who died last Monday morning, Oct. 26. He wrote this guest writer column the day before he entered heaven—and how fitting—that Week 44 is the first chapter in the section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Today, I’m privileged to share in the memorial service with his family and friends in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Gary’s career spanned service in the U.S. military, as a Dallas police officer, a private and commercial flight instructor, a Technical Occupational Dean at Dallas County Community College District, a Division Manager at Southwestern Bell/AT&T, the Executive Vice President of Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics, and the Director of Pittsburgh International Airport. 

These experiences, coupled with the knowledge and life experience of being a devoted husband to Donna, father and grandfather, prepared Gary for a life of service as President and CEO of Mission Aviation Fellowship, President of World Bible Translation Center, and President and CEO of Far Corners Missions. (View this video of Gary’s passion for the far corners of the earth, “Why We Go.”) 

Gary, a board member at Christian Community Credit Union since 2001, will be greatly missed by his fellow board members and the staff. He was 68. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial gifts be sent to Far Corners Missions. 

TO-DO TODAY: 
Gary Bishop’s recommendation: “Volunteer in support of a well-run ministry or community-based charitable organization.” 

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Nov. 9, 2015, watch for Steve Brown's color commentary on Week 45’s topic, “The Power of Purpose: Rick Warren on Peter Drucker,” the second chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 43: A Catalyst to Help People Manage Themselves and Move to the Second Half of Their Lives

Week 43 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Mark Bargaehr is our guest writer today.

Week 43: A Catalyst to Help People Manage Themselves and Move to the Second Half of Their Lives

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Managing oneself is one of the key ingredients if men and women are to effectively move from the first half of life (success) to the second half of life (significance).  

MARK BARGAEHR'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 43, pages 336-340: 
• Because most knowledge workers have working lives of 50 years or more (Drucker’s career spanned close to 70 years!), many will make a career shift as they enter “Halftime.” 
• This shift will require that they “repot” themselves!
• “What’s commonly called ‘burnout,’ the most common affliction of the 40-something knowledge worker, is very rarely the result of stress. Its common, all too common, cause is boredom on the job. Managing oneself therefore requires that you prepare for the second half of your life.”
• “Boredom leads to an underutilization of our talents. It can also lead to destructive behaviors such as drug or alcohol addiction. So, while it may be risky to attempt a move from success to significance, it may be more risky not to—especially for people who are experiencing boredom on the job.”

MARK BARGAEHR'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
After accumulating way too many frequent flier miles crisscrossing the U.S. every week in the first half of my life, my wife, Vikki, and I made a big fork-in-the-road decision about our second half. We decided to change our game plan from success to significance, from being about my business to being about Kingdom business. 

So for the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of serving in my second half for significance as a nonprofit CEO, a pastor, a ministry consultant, an adjunct professor, and multiple stints as a transitional pastor for churches. 

I resonate with what Drucker and Maciariello say about “Halftime” (a time to plan the second half of life) and how to prepare for it: 

1st: “Managing oneself requires that we understand what we are good at—that is, our strengths.” I agree that this is where to begin. This may require asking people who know you well to help you narrow this from idealistic thinking to reality. Grab some good friends and ask for the unvarnished truth! 

2nd: “Managing oneself requires that we understand our values.” I spent considerable money to find this out from a well-known consultant. His three questions to help me plan for the second half I now give to you for much less than the $10,000 I spent. Answer these three and see if they help you clarify your values and your second half:
   • What do you want to be?
   • What do you want to have?
   • What do you want to do? 

3rd: “We should understand how we work best—alone or with others as a team.” Great advice as we are NOT all team players. Some of us work better alone, so find this out. 

4th: “Are we good at taking on unstructured tasks, or do we do better when we understand the structure at the outset?” 

This insight will be especially helpful to you if you’re making the transition from marketplace to ministry: “Once we understand our strengths, our values, how we work, and areas in which we are likely to make a contribution, we are ready to manage ourselves in the second half of our lives. These of course are the same specifications for managing our first half but the answers probably will be different.” 

I’d encourage you to go deep in discovering your purpose and plan in your second half. Perhaps you’ll find, as I did, it has something to do with God’s plan and purpose for you all along!

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MARK BARGAEHR:

Next week, Mark Bargaehr will begin serving Wilshire Avenue Community Church, Fullerton, Calif., as their transitional pastor (while the search begins for the next senior pastor). In addition to teaching on the adjunct faculty at Azusa Pacific University, Mark’s second half also includes chairing the supervisory committee at Christian Community Credit Union. Along with his church and ministry consulting work, he frequently greets the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean with his surfboard and wetsuit! 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• “Begin thinking of a parallel or second career you might find fulfilling. List areas of work that interest you, including work as a volunteer in a nonprofit organization.”
• What goals could you set now to prepare for your second half?
• Ask the above three questions and see where they lead.

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Nov. 2, 2015, watch for Gary Bishop's color commentary on Week 44’s topic, ““Our Society in the U.S. Has Lost Its Sweetness,” the first chapter in the book’s final section, “Character and Legacy.” 

Week 42: Halftime Is an Entrepreneurial Enterprise

Week 42 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Gordon Flinn is our guest writer today.

Week 42: Halftime Is an Entrepreneurial Enterprise

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Drucker’s lifework focused on the process of developing people with an overarching objective of social innovation. He observed that “Many of the pursuits of ‘Halftimers’ do result in social innovations that improve the lives of others in society.”

GORDON FLINN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHT from Week 42, pages 330-335: 
“Halftime is more like an entrepreneurial start-up company. One person sees a white space opportunity, raises angel capital, and builds a small team to complement the single entrepreneur.”

 “The sequence is something like this:
(1) Aha! An idea.
(2) Launch a test market based on a hypothesis about customer value added.
(3) Prove the hypothesis—that there is a customer.
(4) Scale up—extend and expand with debt and risk capital.” 

“Knowing one’s strengths, weakness, and values helps to narrow one’s set of opportunities for second-half entrepreneurial projects.”

GORDON FLINN'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
There is something inspiring and invigorating about shifting gears, the sounds of increasing RPMs, tackling an open road, discovering and navigating new landscapes. Halftime is that way, shifting from pursuing success and discovering the deeper drive and meaning of significance, and one’s purpose and/or legacy.

Drucker’s ability to recognize what most people don’t see and distill complex issues into memorable gems is remarkable and continues to be relevant today--decades later! I especially appreciated his insights on proactive systematic innovation. He noted, “Successful entrepreneurs do not wait until ‘the Muse kisses them’ and gives them a bright idea; they go to work.” 

Drucker says systematic innovation includes leveraging seven sources for innovative opportunity:
(1) The unexpected success or unexpected failure
(2) The incongruity (“between reality as it actually is and reality as it is assumed to be…”)
(3) Innovation based on process need
(4) Changes in industry structure or market structure
Plus three changes outside the enterprise or industry:
(5) Demographics
(6) Changes in perception, mood, and meaning
(7) New knowledge (both scientific and nonscientific) 

Amazing! Back in 1985, Peter Drucker observed the multiplying impact of knowledge, experience, leadership and management as keys to success. Perhaps more importantly, he saw their significance as drivers to make “the American economy into an entrepreneurial economy.”

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY GORDON FLINN:

Gordon Flinn’s “first half” included management and leadership experience at UPS, a small financial services company (LifeHelp) and in Christian higher education (Simpson University). Now as the founder and President/CEO at GoForth Consulting, his focus is providing value-driven growth working with individuals, companies and non-profit organizations to develop their mission capacity and effectiveness.

Areas of service include: organizational leadership/development, executive coaching, non-profit board leadership, strategy/planning, resource development/fundraising, marketing, succession planning, and project management. Email him at [email protected].

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
“Think about possibilities for social entrepreneurship that fit your strengths and values.” Involve a family member or trusted colleague to quiz you on your strengths and core values—and what that might reveal about future opportunities. 

Read Bob Buford's Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), with a foreword by Jim Collins (published this month with more than 750,000 previously sold). 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Oct. 26, 2015, watch for the color commentary on Week 43’s topic, “A Catalyst to Help People Manage Themselves and Move to the Second Half of Their Lives,” one of six chapters on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.” 

Week 41: Where Do I Really Belong?

Week 41 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Glen Melin is our guest writer today.

Week 41: Where Do I Really Belong?

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “Often it is our duty to do what we are good at even though we would rather do something else. There may come a time when we are mostly free of our obligations and can do what we truly love . . .  What will it take in your career to allow you to seriously explore opportunities to move from success to significance?” 

GLEN MELIN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHT from Week 41, pages 324-329: 
• “It is not uncommon in life to remain in a position that doesn’t fulfill your greatest desires even though you are successful in that position.” (Joseph Maciariello)

• “Take a little control over your career . . . What do I have to learn, what are my strengths, how can I build on them, where do I belong, do I really belong in this company? One must take the responsibility of asking oneself these questions from time to time, and acting on the answers.” (Peter Drucker)

• “Develop a genuine, true, major outside interest. Not a hobby, a genuine interest, which permits you to live in a different world, with different peers whose opinions are meaningful to you.” (Peter Drucker)

• “With proper planning it may be possible to retire or to leave your position and continue to fulfill your responsibilities at home . . . The danger is that during the first half of life you lose the vision of what would make you truly happy.” (Joseph Maciariello)

GLEN MELIN'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Our culture places tremendous pressure on each of us to “succeed,” which is often assumed to mean “get a job that pays well and pursue a never-ending string of promotions.” Peter Drucker points to Bob Buford as an example of the opportunity we each have to look beyond a successful career to something far more profound and meaningful: significance. 

Sometimes that involves making a change when your personal values don’t align with the values of your organization. I believe a more common lack-of-significance scenario is when we persevere in a role that is perfectly satisfactory, but that doesn’t tap into the God-given passion hidden in our hearts. 

I’ve enjoyed a 25-year career in senior care, a field that I greatly value and in which I certainly find significance. But about a year ago God opened the door for me to spend a season loaning my leadership skills to an international relief and development agency. I discovered that the same passion that led me to spend two years in the Peace Corps after college was still alive and well in my heart, and I’ve been invigorated, inspired and challenged as I’ve engaged with new colleagues from across the globe. 

It’s been one of the best years of my life! 

Stay alert for the opportunities God may place before you, for as we know from Psalm 37:4, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY GLEN MELIN:

 
Glen Melin is the Director of Finance at CRISTA Senior Living in Seattle, Washington. His recent foray into international relief and development was with World Concern, another ministry of CRISTA, which works to create lasting, sustainable change in the lives of those living in extreme poverty in some of the most remote corners of the planet. Glen is a frequent teacher in his church’s Awana ministry, an occasional cellist, and a recovering marathon runner.

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
Is it time to quit your job? Heed Drucker’s counsel:

“The right decision is to quit if you are in the wrong place, if it is basically corrupt, or if your performance is not being recognized. Promotion itself is not the important thing. What is important is to be eligible, to be equally considered. If you are not in such a situation, you will all too soon begin to accept a second-rate opinion of yourself.”

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Oct. 19, 2015, watch for the color commentary on Week 42’s topic, “Halftime Is an Entrepreneurial Enterprise,” one of six chapters on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.” 

Week 40: Individuals May Need a Process to Help Them Move from Success to Significance

Week 40 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Schmidt was our guest writer on October 5, 2015.

Week 40: Individuals May Need a Process to Help Them Move From Success to Significance

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Often people, who have had some success in the first part of their lives, come into the second half with a unique question:  How do I make a shift toward significance? Church and nonprofit leaders have a key role to play in helping them in this pivotal moment.

DAVID SCHMIDT'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHT from Week 40, pages 318-323: 
• “There is one requirement for managing the second half of one’s life: to begin creating it long before one enters it.”
• “Executives of organizations who use volunteers should avoid their strong instinct to employ these people (people in their second half) in areas that executives believe are important to them without first determining an individual’s strengths and values.”

DAVID SCHMIDT'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 

These were the elated words of a woman (recorded in the Bible in John 4:29) who felt known and seen by Jesus—after just one conversation. We can learn from His example as we serve individuals shifting into the second half of life. 

Seek first to understand their unique gifting and calling—rather than carelessly force them into a slot or system that is more about you than them. Give them a set of steps that help them move from inner discovery to a role where they find joy and satisfaction.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID SCHMIDT:

 
David Schmidt is president of J. David Schmidt & Associates. He notes, “The strategy maps non-profit leaders and organizations follow, can become obsolete.  We help leaders explore ‘off the map’ in pursuit of greater impact and results.” Email David at: [email protected] or visit his website.

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Identify one person under your leadership who needs support to shift from success to significance.  Ask them how you can serve them in the transition.  Do that.  Walk with them until they find a place of significant service that uniquely reflects them.

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Oct. 12, 2015, watch for Glen Melin's color commentary on Week 41’s topic, “Where Do I Really Belong?” one of six chapters on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.” 

Week 38: Pursuing Significance After Success

Week 38 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Don Schoendorfer is our guest writer today. 

Week 38: Pursuing Significance After Success

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Are you focusing more on doing the things that give you achievement and satisfaction and growth or more on the things that have impact outside of yourself? 

DON SCHOENDORFER'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHT from Week 38, pages 307-311: 
• ““The decision is going to come up.”  

DON SCHOENDORFER'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
For me, the decision I had to make was whether I had achieved enough in my career. 

My plan was to become extraordinarily rich, not for the wealth itself, but I felt once there, I could use the wealth to do “good things” without having to ask others. Being the introverted engineer, I was not about asking others for their support. 

Twenty-three years went by, and I succeeded in sharpening my career skills, inventing and developing new medical products for companies that employed me. In that respect, I was indeed “successful.” But after those 23 years, I realized extraordinary wealth was not in my future. 

It was then that God showed up. 

His words changed my perspectives and then, my plans. Relative to the rest of the world, I was extraordinarily rich. By just having an education and living in America, I was extraordinarily rich. 

With God’s help, the decision “came up.” I will trust in Him to chart the course. My job became overcoming my introverted self. I found a discontinuity in society that Drucker mentions—that 100 million of our brothers and sisters crawl on the ground; and that a simple, inexpensive, durable and functional wheelchair will bring them a better life. 

One of my most favorite quotes comes from Pastor Kenton Beshore of Mariners Church. “God loves you too much to let you win the lottery.” 

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DON SCHOENDORFER:

   

Don Schoendorfer, the founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, is a testament to what is possible with a background in biomedical engineering and a calling for change. Don has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and holds more than 60 U.S. Patents in the field of medical technology. 

While vacationing in Morocco, Don and his wife witnessed the plight of a woman with disabilities, struggling to drag herself across a dirt road. Ignored by the surrounding crowd and barely evading traffic, the woman’s hardship was a scene that Don and Laurie would never forget upon their return to life in southern California. 

Following that transformative experience, Don turned his God-given talents to solving the problem of immobility in developing nations. His hands-on, inventive approach guided him in designing a low-cost, high-durability and functional wheelchair. Visit Free Wheelchair Mission for more information. 

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Your response? Both Drucker and Don remind you that “the decision is going to come up.” 
• If you have not yet read Bob Buford’s bestselling book, Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance, read this review and order it today.

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Oct. 5, 2015, watch for David Schmidt's color commentary on Week 40’s topic, “Individuals May Need a Process to Help Them Move From Success to Significance,” one of six chapters on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.” (Editor’s Note: We intentionally flipped Week 38 and 39.)

Week 39: Work in an Area of Your Unique Contribution

Week 39 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Suzy West is our guest writer today. 

Week 39: Work in an Area of Your Unique Contribution

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Our unique contributions will be found at the point where our strengths and our values meet, although it may take a while before we identify our area of uniqueness and make it a reality.

SUZY WEST'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 39, pages 312-317: 
• “Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” (G. Bernard Shaw)
• “Success and significance offer many of the same benefits but one brings a better night’s sleep and a true level of contentment.” (Bob Buford)
• “What one does well—even very well and successfully—may not be worth devoting one’s life to (or even a substantial portion thereof).” (Peter Drucker)

SUZY WEST'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I went through a change in attitude towards my work in my mid-40s. I had spent my working life using the training I had obtained to be a paralegal. But the time came when I chose to search out an opportunity to use my strengths, and especially my values, working where the results would be for Kingdom significance.

There can be many reasons to hesitate in making a move like this—uncertainty, financial security, and the idea that there will be plenty of time “later.” But as stated in this week’s topic, “The clock is running! What do you want to be remembered for?”

Today is the day to take that first step.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY SUZY WEST:

Suzy West is vice president of operations and finance at Christian Leadership Alliance. She received her black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu in July, a week before her 60th birthday!

  

TO-DO TODAY: 
1. Make a list of your strengths and talents as they relate to your vocation.
2. Consider how and where those same strengths and talents could be used for Kingdom significance. (Take the StrengthsFinder assessment from Gallup.)
3. Set a goal to spend some quality time—soon!—to consider how God would have you use your unique gifts and talents in the second half of your journey.

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Sept. 28, 2015, watch for Don Schoendorfer’s color commentary on Week 38’s topic, “Pursuing Significance After Success,” one of six chapters on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.” (Editor’s Note: We intentionally flipped Week 38 and 39.)

Week 37: Application of Peter Drucker’s Methodology of Social Ecology

Week 37 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Dale Torry is our guest writer today. 

Week 37: Application of Peter Drucker's Methodology of Social Ecology

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “Social Ecology” seeks to identify the significant game changers in our society, organize the information into understandable formats and then disseminate this information into the world to multiply the change and impact.  Those who identify the game changers or the proverbial “bend in road” are rare, but extremely vital to society in fostering positive change. Look around today and identify those who are impacting our culture, societies and business for the positive. 

DALE TORRY'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 37, pages 294-303: 
• Joseph Maciariello writes, “I once asked Drucker how he identified this emerging trend. His answer revealed his methodology: ‘Because the knowledge society is creating a new and different constituency… all I had to do was to take a look.’”
• In a world of news bites we often don’t stop to take a look. Drucker’s simple approach is profound and accurate—all we have to do today is stop and take a look around us.
• “The starting point has to be what customers consider valuable.”
• Placing importance on disseminating the knowledge gained through innovation will often attract innovators to you and increase the impact and speed of innovation.

DALE TORRY'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Up to this point I have managed to not use the words “Willow Creek Association” (mentioned frequently in Week 37), but not because I don’t appreciate WCA. In fact, I love WCA and I have benefitted greatly from the Global Leadership Summit and have seen many other developing leaders walk away changed as leaders by the Summit. 

I have avoided mentioning WCA because the core of Drucker’s message on Social Ecology is that the world needs game changers who can identify the needed change and deliver it to the masses in a consumable way. WCA, specifically Bill Hybels, is a model example of a Social Ecologist. 

The great question for the next decade is how fast will these movements occur as technology changes the speed in which the innovation can be diffused? To elaborate, our knowledge as a world is increasing exponentially each day. This is made possible by the use of technology and the ease in which we as a world can transmit and share information. I believe the next generation of Social Ecologists will see connection between micro trends and movements which link up to larger macro movements. The Ecologists will harness proven and emerging technology to disseminate the information. 

I’d like to share a story of a Social Ecologist I know. Arthur Karuletwa survived the horrific Rwandan genocide and vowed to play a part in the fragile country’s recovery. His work in traceability, which is the ability to trace the coffee bean from the farmer and his coffee bush to the roaster and eventually a cup of coffee, has transformed lives in Rwanda. 

Drinking coffee with Arthur at a Seattle Starbucks in the summer of 2014, I was moved by what I heard. Arthur had come to realize that by placing a face on the raw coffee bean, farmers were no longer marginalized, they were now producers in a global economy. Arthur realized many farmers didn’t have modern conveniences of the Western world, but many had smart phones and Arthur has harnessed technology to trace this global commodity back to individuals. Starbucks saw the potential and empowered Arthur to complete this project. 

Arthur is an innovator who is piloting a proven social/technological innovation which has the ability to impact far more than coffee growers. The equation might be expressed like this “micro trend of smaller coffee farmers + macro trend of coffee consumption + proven technology = Social Ecologist changing a country.” 

Can this be translated into the recovery of Syria, Libya, and those who are impacted by the atrocities of ISIS? For a quick snippet on Arthur Karuletwa, click on this link for a more in-depth look at his work, or Google his name for other insightful articles on Arthur’s early work. 

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DALE TORRY:

Dale Torry, Organizational Growth and Leadership Consultant, notes: “My life mission is to empower leaders and organizations to realize their full potential and maximize their impact in the world.” Do you have a life mission statement?  If not, start working on it today… life will be a lot clearer. Contact Dale at [email protected]

  

TO-DO TODAY: 
1) What is impacting me today in my work and world which is different than five years ago?
2) Has that which is impacting me been organized? If so, is it effective? If not, can I organize it?

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Sept. 21, 2015, watch for the color commentary on Week 38’s topic, “Pursuing Significance After Success,” the first of six weeks on “Developing Oneself from Success to Significance.”

Starbucks mug photo credit: Ti Santi / Shutterstock.com

Week 36: Diffusion of Innovation — Public Schools

Week 36 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Rick Bee is our guest writer today. 

Week 36: Diffusion of Innovation - Public Schools

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: For much of education today, technology is being used to teach skills and enrich the educational experience through additional resources not previously available.  What may be missing from some classroom strategies is the use of technology to allow more time to identify the strengths and deficiencies of students, and the use of that time for each student to develop their own strengths and shore up disabling weakness.

RICK BEE'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 36, pages 286-293: 
• Tom Luce, attorney and founder of Just for Kids on why he did it: “So I began this concept of Just for Kids, an effort that, to me, raises the essence of the problem; too often no one is focused on the needs of the kids. People are focused more on the needs of the education establishment…”
• Drucker on the problem of large schools: “I believe that in elementary schools with more than three or four hundred pupils, the principal doesn’t know the kids anymore, she doesn’t know the parents anymore, and she doesn’t know the teachers anymore.”
• Drucker on the lessons learned from previous technological revolutions: “…embracing the new technology of learning and teaching is a prerequisite for national and cultural success and equally for economic competitiveness.”
• Drucker on educational transformation: “Technology…will not be the most important feature of the transformation in education. Most important will be re-thinking the role and function of schooling—its focus and purpose, its values.”

RICK BEE'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I come from a long line of educators. Both my parents were in education, I have siblings who taught at the high school level, I teach at the college level and my daughter now teaches in the public school system. 

This week’s insights from Drucker, Luce and Bob Buford (Leadership Network) reflect on how the best practices in education begin with the relationship of the teacher and student, not the technology.

Don’t get me wrong. As Drucker identifies, embracing technology is not only important, it is critical to national and cultural success. And, technology is certainly changing how educators educate, students learn and how knowledge is passed along from one person or generation to the next.

Today, within seconds, anyone can use technology to see how long a honey bee lives, find out if brown bears live in the foothills of Southern California, and discover where we might find the cheapest gas. We have amazing knowledge and technology available—in our pockets!

The key, as these writers have so eloquently stated, is the important concept of using this wonderful tool to accomplish the ultimate goal of education in preparing students with the knowledge and tools necessary to succeed and thrive. And to do that the teacher must know the student.

As alumni director for Biola University I am so pleased to see so many of our wonderful School of Education graduates receive the “Teacher of the Year” award designations. And time after time in the report of why they were chosen, I hear “because they love their students!”

While technology continues to change….some things never do!

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY RICK BEE:

Rick Bee is the senior director of alumni and parents at Biola University and has served for more than 35 years in Christian higher education and attended to the needs of the 65,000 alumni of the university. Rick holds a Ph.D. in Education and teaches college students on the topic of “Faith and Money” and has recently co-authored his second book, A Good and Faithful Steward. Rick and his wife, Julie, live in Yorba Linda, Calif.

  

TO-DO TODAY: 
So what can we do to encourage the educational process and the appropriate use of technology in our schools?  We need to support our students, understand their needs, provide the resources necessary to stay competitive, encourage the teachers and administrators of our schools to know our students, and use these technologies to help students learn and expand their skills and knowledge. These are no small tasks but critical to the success of the next generation of world and culture leaders.  

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Sept. 14, 2015, Dale Torry will share his color commentary on Week 37’s topic, “Application of Peter Drucker's Methodology of Social Ecology,” the fifth of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”  

Week 35: The Salvation Army

Week 35 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Joanne Pearson is our guest writer today. 

Week 35: The Salvation Army

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: According to Peter Drucker, The Salvation Army is “by far the most effective organization in the U.S. No one even comes close to it in respect to clarity of mission, ability to innovate, measurable results, dedication and putting money to maximum use…”

JOANNE PEARSON'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 35, pages 278-285: 
• “The Salvation Army knows “how to work with the poorest of the poor and the meanest of the mean.”
• Peter Drucker was famous for asking excellent questions such as: “How do you allocate your resources?” and “How do you make sure that ‘today’ doesn’t’ swallow up all the resources you have?”
• On fundraising, “I have long ago learned that if you have results, you get the support.”
• “Put resources where the results are.”

JOANNE PEARSON'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
At John’s persistent urging, and with great reluctance, I agreed to be a guest writer. This topic on The Salvation Army was a natural choice—because right out of college, I was a case worker in Chicago’s inner city for Cook County’s department of public aid.

Perhaps way too idealistic about making a difference, I wanted to put feet to my heart for the poor. It was an uphill battle with very few results or success stories. Everything I’d been told about government bureaucracy was true. 

The good news: when I couldn’t help a desperate single mom, I would refer her to The Salvation Army nearby. With unusual consistency and compassion, the caring officers and employees at The Salvation Army would meet needs—and deliver results. It was amazing. 

When John reviewed Commissioner Robert A. Watson’s book, I was enthusiastic. The Most Effective Organization in the U.S.: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army is humble and insightful. (Read John’s review here.) 

I agree with Joseph Maciariello’s note, “The American public responds favorably to the demonstrated ability of a nonprofit to achieve measurable results.” I know John preaches "Results! Results! Results!” with his clients every week. There’s still work to be done!

 THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JOANNE PEARSON:

Joanne Pearson is the chief operating officer at John Pearson Associates, Inc., and especially enjoys reviewing client surveys and discerning insights and next steps for nonprofit ministries. Her social work career began during the Martin Luther King riots in Chicago, and she has also served in a senior living ministry. Later in life, she received a degree in interior design and enjoys a wide range of activities and interests, including travel to more than 50 countries. She loves being a grammy to five grandchildren who live nearby.

  

TO-DO TODAY: 
•  “Convert your organization’s mission statement and the mission for your position to a definition of results for your organization and for each major programmatic activity you are undertaking.”
• “What programs, products, or services have you abandoned recently?”

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On Sept. 7, 2015, Rick Bee, senior director of alumni and friends development at Biola University, will share his color commentary on Week 36’s topic, “Diffusion of Innovation--Public Schools,” the fourth of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”  

Week 34: Accommodating Various Constituencies in a Mission

Week 34 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Beroth is our guest writer today. 

Week 34: Accommodating Various Constituencies in a Mission

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Leaders need to manage simultaneously for the present and the future. In order to accomplish this, great leaders listen, evaluate, and respond to their constituent’s needs and ideas within the framework of the organization’s core mission. 

DAVID BEROTH'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 34, pages 271-277: 
• “Executives of all institutions must reconcile the interests of each of their constituents as they manage the short-term and long-term interests of the organization.”
• “Management has to live in both present and future. It must keep the enterprise performing in the present—or else there will be no enterprise capable of performing in the future. And it has to make the enterprise capable of performance, growth and change in the future.”
• What key lesson did Peter Drucker learn about nonprofits? “I soon learned that they start out by defining the fundamental change that the nonprofit institution wants to make in society and in human beings; then they project that goal onto the concerns of each of the institution's constituencies.”

DAVID BEROTH'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Peter Drucker expressed both the challenge and the opportunity for this type of leadership. It can be summarized in four key steps: 

1. Educate. Tell constituents of your organization that you want to hear their ideas and that you’ll evaluate those ideas in light of the core mission, both for short-term and long-term strategies.
2. Integrate. Gather and assimilate the ideas. Seek key themes, patterns or opportunities to best accomplish your mission.
3. Concentrate. Once you have obtained those insights, determine your organization’s priorities and then start focusing your time, energy, and resources to accomplish those goals.
4. Communicate. You have listened to your constituents. Now tell them what you have heard from them, how you have connected the dots, in what ways the Lord is directing, and what the vision and strategies will be for your organization. 

We have sought to pursue these steps at Seed Company (an affiliate of Wycliffe Bible Translators) in the realm of Bible translation. Over the past several years we have observed what God is doing in the missiological and philanthropic world. We have listened carefully to our many partners. We have integrated these ideas and pursued a complementary focus in our ministry (known in the business world as a “2nd Line of Business” or “Jumping the S-Curve”).

The Lord has directed us to broaden the impact of Bible translation with partnering organizations through concentrating on what has come to be called the “Common Framework.” We already see this fulfilling what it was designed to do: accelerate ministry impact, expand local ownership, enhance financial stewardship, and augment significant relationships. With these outcomes, we have had many opportunities to communicate with others and to rejoice with them over what God has done.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID BEROTH:

David Beroth is the CFO at Seed Company, Arlington, Texas. Prior to 2011, he was a shareholder in a public accounting firm that had a niche in nonprofit accounting, auditing and taxation. David is a certified public accountant with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and a major in accounting.

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
•  Take time today to think through the long-term aspects of your organization’s mission and direction. Ask yourself if you have adequately evaluated the four steps above. If not, set aside time to prayerfully consider how to address these matters to lead your team or organization well. 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On August 31, 2015, Joanne Pearson will reminisce about her social work days in Chicago and provide the color commentary on Week 35’s topic, “The Salvation Army,” the third of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”  

Week 33: Lessons from the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose--Mission

Week 33 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jim Canning is our guest writer today. 

Week 33: Lessons from the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose--Mission

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: A well-thought-out and developed mission statement is one of the most important factors in helping an organization focus its efforts and resources effectively. Good mission statements are clear, memorable and concise.

JIM CANNING'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 33, pages 265-270: 
Peter Drucker believed that the nonprofit organizations in our country are the most important institutions in America. As a result, he devoted much time and effort in helping nonprofit organizations focus on their mission. Today, this goal is still being carried out through the Drucker Institute. (Check out the Drucker Institute website for more information and resources).

“The best nonprofits devote a great deal of thought to defining their organization’s mission. They avoid general sweeping statements full of good intentions and focus, instead, on objectives that have clear-cut implications for the work [they] perform…”

“A good (organizational) mission statement is short and focuses the attention of each member of the organization on how his or her activities fit into the overall mission of the organization.”

JIM CANNING'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Good mission statements are crucial to helping focus an organization’s efforts. Generally, they should be a one-sentence statement describing the primary reason an organization or program exists, and used to help guide decisions regarding priorities, actions and responsibilities. They should inspire donors and others to want to help and support the organization’s mission as well. 

A problem with many organizations’ mission statements is that they are so broad they do not really provide a clear focus for either the reader or the organization. 

Given that the world is constantly changing, organizations should periodically review their mission statement to see if any changes or revisions are needed.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JIM CANNING:

Jim Canning, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in Executive Management from the Peter Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. While there, he was a student of both Peter Drucker and Joseph Maciariello, the author of A Year With Peter Drucker. For many years Jim served as V.P./Chief Financial Officer of World Vision International. He lives in Spokane, Wash., where, during winter, he shovels a lot of snow! (Jim also was guest writer for Week 9.) 

TO-DO TODAY: 
•  To help evaluate your own organization’s mission statement, look at the mission statement of several similar organizations and see how they compare with yours. In doing so, be alert for any ways in which your mission statement might be improved.
• For more on mission statements, order the new-and-improved edition (just released) of Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders. (Question 1: What is our mission?”) 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On August 24, 2015, David Beroth, CFO at Seed Company, will share his color commentary on Week 34’s topic, “Accommodating Various Constituencies in a Mission,” the second of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”  

Week 32: Planning for Succession in Organizations

Week 32 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Cameron Doolittle is our guest writer today. 

Week 32: Planning for Succession in Organizations

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “As organizations face succession, they must ask, “What important issues are likely to face the organization in the future?” and “Who is best prepared by experience and education to deal with these issues?”

CAMERON DOOLITTLE'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 32, pages 249-261: 
• “On the Predecessor’s Role. Rick Warren notes that Drucker said, “You should never choose your successor [because]…you’ll choose a person like yourself, and what the organization usually needs is the exact opposite….” 
• On Preparing for Succession After a Charismatic Leader (in the context of advising Chuck Smith at Calvary Chapel on succession): “Nobody can succeed to a charismatic role…. One way to go is to institutionalize…. Institutionalization makes possible—not certain, but possible—survival and continuation beyond charisma. The main benefit of institutionalization is that it allows an organization…to survive mediocre leadership, and mediocre leadership happens to be the rule, not the exception.” 
• Make People Decisions Slowly. Alfred Sloan, former CEO of General Motors: “[You] think I should be a good judge of people…. There’s no such person. There are only people who make people decisions right, and that means slowly, and people who make people decisions wrong and then repent at leisure.”

CAMERON DOOLITTLE'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Finding My Successor. Our Search Committee had lived this chapter over the past several months, while we searched for my successor as CEO of Jill’s House. What a timely encouragement! The biggest issues that we face in the future are the need for a stronger funding base, and for deep connection to the needs of the families and our team. 

Choosing the “Exact Opposite.” On the morning that I was writing this Drucker Mondays column, we received a “Yes” from the leader that our board has chosen to succeed me. I’ve had five joyous years at the helm of Jill’s House. Our board was encouraged by a devotional thought in 1 Samuel 16 that “the Lord looks at the heart.” 

So...rather than finding a “Cameron Doolittle clone,” God brought us someone very different. In Joel Dillon, we have shifted toward someone with a lifelong track record of passionately caring for people with special needs; a rich background in fundraising; and zeal for shepherding the team. 

As the founding CEO, I had “founder” strengths. Now Joel brings new—and different—strengths! Praise God for bringing us someone to fill in some of these gaps! And thanks to Peter Drucker, via John Pearson’s eNews, for these words of wisdom.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY CAMERON DOOLITTLE:

Cameron Doolittle, former president and CEO at Jill’s House, now serves as senior program director at the Maclellan Foundation. Based in Falls Church, Va., Cameron also consults with companies and nonprofits. He is a co-presenter on the August 25 webinar, “Results from the ECFA 1st Annual Church Financial Management Survey.”

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Ram Charan recommends that “Boards should ask new CEOs to draft a succession plan immediately (and the annual self-assessment should measure progress).” 
• Read more: Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way, by Ram Charan, Dennis Carey and Michael Useem. 

 

NEXT MONDAY: 
On August 17, 2015, Jim Canning (at the plate for a second column—read Week 9 here) will share his color commentary on Week 33’s topic, “Mission,” the first of five weeks on “Lessons From the Social Sector on the Power of Purpose.”  

Week 31: The Succession Decision

Week 31 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jim West is our guest writer today. 

Week 31: The Succession Decision--Maintaining the Spirit of an Organization

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “The succession decision should focus on the maintenance of the spirit that keeps the institution alive. Solutions have to fit the specific organization and maintain its spirit of performance.”  

JIM WEST'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 31, pages 241-248:
• “No one should ever be appointed to a senior position unless top management is willing to have his or her character serve as the model for subordinates.” 
• “Succession is one of the key responsibilities of leadership.” (Max De Pree)
• “Whoever tries to pick a man or staff an organization to avoid weakness will end up at best with mediocrity.”
• “Strong people always have strong weaknesses too. When there are peaks there are valleys.”

JIM WEST'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I am currently beginning the search for a successor of a founder of a ministry. I find it easy to get “down in the weeds” and focus on a long list of skills, talents and passions of the individual I think would succeed. I need to step back and focus on “maintaining the spirit that will keep the ministry alive and thriving.”

“The succession decision is a gamble,” says Drucker. Our focus needs to be on a candidate that can not only maintain, but enhance the current vision while using their strengths to change the things that can be improved while embracing new opportunities and challenges.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JIM WEST:

Jim West, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, The Barnabas Group, and Executive Director, The Pocket Testament League, is an eight-time World Jiu Jitsu Champion, holds a 5th degree black belt in judo, and a black belt in jiu jitsu. In his spare time, Jim has traveled to over 100 countries, climbed to Everest Base Camp, and completed the 630-mile South West Coast Path across England.

TO-DO TODAY: 
Focus our search on finding the person who will maintain the spirit of the organization. 

 

NEXT MONDAY:
On August 10, 2015, Cameron Doolittle will share his color commentary on Week 32’s topic, “Planning for Succession in Organizations,” the second of two weeks on "The Succession Decision."  

Week 30: What Kind of Organizations Does America Need to Strengthen Society?

Week 30 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) W. Scott Brown is our guest writer today. 

Week 30: What Kind of Organizations Does America Need to Strengthen Society?

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: What kind of organizations does America need to strengthen society? A Year with Peter Drucker author Joseph Maciariello says Peter Drucker “emphasized that leaders should be more concerned with serving the mission of their organization, serving its customers, and developing its people than with the ‘glitz’ of rank or power.” He went on to say: “leaders discharge their debt by acting as servants to the mission of the organization they serve, and to its people. Service provides the basis for the legitimacy of power and authority.”

SCOTT BROWN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 30, pages 231-237:
• “Management always lives, works, and practices in and for an institution, which is a human community held together by the bond that, next to the tie of family, is the most powerful human bond: the work bond.”
• “Society is only meaningful if its purpose, its aims, its ideas and ideals make sense in terms of the individual’s purposes, aims, ideas and ideals.”
• “No society can function unless it gives the individual member social status and function, and unless the decisive social power is legitimate power.”
• “I have learned more theology as a practicing management consultant than I did when I taught religion.”

SCOTT BROWN'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 

People matter. Here at Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) one of our most popular and important lifelong learning tracks is called “People Management and Care.” Stewarding well the people who God has entrusted to our organizations is at the heart of organizational excellence.

Peter Drucker understood this. He recognized the vital importance of the individuals who comprise our organizations, and how understanding and capitalizing on the “aims, ideas and ideals” of those individuals is one of management’s most important functions. You can have fantastic strategic plans, a zeal for changing society, and a vision for how you’ll get there, but if you aren’t hiring and investing into the right people, you’ll fall short of your potential every time.

I’m currently reading a book called Excellence in Leadership (InterVarsity, 1986) by John White. In it he examines the life of Nehemiah as a leader. Nehemiah has always been my favorite Old Testament leader, and his excellence as a manager in leading reconstruction of the fallen walls of Jerusalem is replete with wisdom we can apply today.

White points out that Nehemiah identified with those he was seeking to lead: “There is no, ‘If you people decide to build, we will help you.’ Rather it is, ‘Come let us rebuild.’ He is a leader who leads, not one who pushes from behind. He not only identifies with people, he leads by example.”

Nehemiah exemplified what Drucker was talking about. He was totally committed to the mission, and he prioritized strengthening and developing those who served alongside him. He led by example.

We must know and pursue our organizational missions without wavering. But in the midst of that kingdom quest, let us never forget to invest in developing the very people God brought into our organizations to help achieve that mission. Let’s help our staff members to know and embrace their strengths. Let’s lead by example, with humility and from a servant’s heart. We must steward well the incredible talents of those we lead. As leaders or managers we don’t have all the answers. We need to empower others. We must listen to the God-given wisdom of those on our teams, and to humbly apply their insights in pursuing the organization’s goals.

I like the question that Joseph Maciariello asks: “Does your organization provide dignity, freedom, and equal opportunity to each of its members...?” We must empower those with whom we serve to flourish in becoming all God designed them to be. Doing so will strengthen them as individuals, it will strengthen your organization, and it will ultimately strengthen our society, as a whole.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY SCOTT BROWN:

W. Scott Brown, CCNL, Vice President, Leadership Experiences and Resources, Christian Leadership Alliance, manages CLA’s leadership experiences and resources, including the development of CLA’s educational content. He also serves as editor-in-chief of CLA’s national magazine, Outcomes. He’s an avid reader and learner and is passionate for excellence in Christian nonprofit leadership.

TO-DO TODAY: 
1. Pause to consider whether you’re investing deeply into the development of your team members. What could you do differently?
2. Pursue additional training in doing “people management and care” well—offered by organizations such as Christian Leadership Alliance.
3. Benchmark your performance in developing your people area through evaluations provided by organizations such as Best Christian Workplaces Institute.
4. Commit to helping your staff members understand their God-given design, and utilize their strengths in advancing the organization’s mission.

 

NEXT MONDAY:
On August 3, 2015, Jim West will share his color commentary on Week 31’s topic, “The Succession Decision: Maintaining the Spirit of the Organization,” a two-week discussion on succession. Jim splits his time as managing partner and co-founder of The Barnabas Group and also serves as executive director of The Pocket Testament League.

Week 29: A Second Chance for Failures

Week 29 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Terry Stokesbary is our guest writer today. 

Week 29: A Second Chance for Failures

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: First—this is required reading for every leader and manager! Second—Peter Drucker reminds us that not everyone succeeds, but if at all possible, you must give team members a second chance in another role. Many organizations, like The Salvation Army, report a 60 percent success rate when people are given a second chance. 

TERRY STOKESBARY'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 29, pages 225-230:
• Drucker lists five steps for successfully placing people. “These procedures should help reduce failed placements. Nevertheless, failures still occur, and the executive who made the promotion decision is responsible for making things right for both the organization and the individual who has failed.”
• “Your casualty rate is going to be high if your demands are high. If your demands are not high, you damage your organization. Mediocre results can destroy the spirit of an organization.”
• “The Peter Principle (an observation by Laurence J. Peter) asserts that a person who keeps getting promoted eventually reaches his or her level of incompetence. The Peter Principle is invalid.”

TERRY STOKEBARY'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
From my unique vantage point at the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, I see a wide range of placement practices in nonprofit organizations—both successes and failures. We are big fans of those who have success, but we’re also realistic—failures will happen. That’s okay.

I appreciate Drucker’s insights on giving people a second chance, in a different role, and we’ve seen that happen. I was struck with Drucker’s comments that “Of the people who get a second chance in a job that fits their strengths—the job they should have been put into in the first place—a very high percentage perform well.”

But note his final remark: “Few managers believe that.”

This is a valuable, important chapter with incredible wisdom in just six pages!

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY TERRY STOKESBARY:

Terry Stokesbary is Senior Program Director at M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Vancouver, Wash. He served previously with Young Life for nearly 25 years. With a special interest in organizational growth and leadership development, Terry has helped to enhance and expand the enrichment programs that the Trust offers to its constituency. Terry and his wife, Becky, live in Vancouver and have two grown children, a daughter-in-law, and their first grandson!

           

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Analyze: “What is the casualty rate of people in the first assignment in your organization? Are these people given a second chance? If not, why not?”

• Inspire: As part of new employee orientation, ask each person to read—with his or her supervisor—the helpful book, The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter (read John Pearson’s review here).

             

NEXT MONDAY:
On July 27, 2015, W. Scott Brown, Vice President, Leadership Experiences and Resources, Christian Leadership Alliance, will share his color commentary on Week 30’s topic, “What Kind of Organization Does America Need to Strengthen Society?” the third of three weeks on “Managing Your Members.”

Week 28: Managing the Superstar

Week 28 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Mark P. Fisher is our guest writer today. 

Week 28: Managing the Superstar

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “General Ulysses S. Grant was caught by surprise at Shiloh in Western Tennessee on April 6, 1862, by [Confederate] generals Johnston and Beauregard. The Battle of Shiloh lasted two days. Total casualties were approximately 23,000 men: 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate. After receiving reinforcements, Grant prevailed on April 7, but the sloppy assessment of the threat and the cost in lives brought demands on President Lincoln calling for Grant’s removal. 

“Lincoln went to Grant’s defense, stating, ‘I can’t spare this man—he fights.’ Thus we see Lincoln correctly identifying what Grant could do, despite his limitations. 

“Lincoln proved correct in his assessment of Grant’s strengths, which were needed to win the war, even at an awful cost in lives. 

“For Lincoln, Grant’s deficiencies became subordinate to his strengths.”

MARK P. FISHER'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 28, pages 219-224:
• AWARENESS: “Where there are peaks, there are valleys.” Star performers must be managed carefully lest they damage the spirit of the organization by their behavior and demands. 

• RECOGNITION: “Nothing makes as much impact on a sales force as to have a successful salesman stand up before his peers and tell them, ‘This is what has worked for me.’ And it does even more for the star performer. There is no sweeter recognition. . . ” 

• VALUE: “Stars are expensive. I always have to remind managers that the Bible says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain [Deuteronomy 25:4].’” 

• STRENGTHS: “One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. And yet most people try to concentrate on making incompetent performers into mediocre ones. The time, energy, and resources should instead go into making a competent person into a star performer.”

MARK P. FISHER'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Superstars can be found in many areas of an organization. Sales is but one.

What is one of the most important decisions a VP of Sales and Marketing can make? Hire a superstar salesperson. Then, get out of the way. 

Here is an example from my experience as VP of Sales and Marketing for a non-profit hospitality organization in Southern California. A competitive conference center announced it was going to be sold. Before long, I was talking with their young, superstar salesperson about joining our organization. We both knew incredible opportunity was on the horizon. (And that proved to be the case with a 92.7% increase over eight years.) 

There was only one catch for each of us.
• The superstar needed a boss who understood him.
• The boss needed someone who could sell—within the culture. 

How it worked: “Have fun, but get it done.”
• Set goals together. (3 Levels: Easy, Hard and Stretch Goals)
• Set bonuses together. (Fear not if the superstar earns more than the boss.)
    --Think NFL Coach Bill Belichick: $7.5 million
    --NFL Quarterback Tom Brady: $14 million
• Celebrate successes together. (Each time he rang the camp bell after selling $100,000 in a week, we met at the foosball table for a game.)
• Deal with problems—but not necessarily together.
    --When our culture didn’t like something, I stood in the gap.
    --When we “over-promised and under-delivered,” I stood in the gap.
    --When customers had “issues,” I stood in the gap.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MARK P. FISHER:

Mark P. Fisher describes himself as a social entrepreneur, executive mentor, marketing strategist, story-teller, and amateur travel writer with PaineFisher Marketing Group LLC and eHome Counseling LLC. 

Mark and his beautiful, redheaded Texas-born wife, Lori, introduced their five children to the world of travel early in their 27-year marriage. With Rick Steves’ books in hand, the Fishers have explored Italian architecture, food and coastlines; German culture and castles; Austrian mountains and Sound of Music lore. 

Together they have served the poor in Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica; vacationed on various Caribbean Islands like Aruba and Puerto Rico; and walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. They have also lived bi-coastally from sunny Southern California, eclectic Santa Fe, N.M., to the quaint Maryland shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Professionally, Mark coaches, promotes and builds leaders, stories and organizations.

          

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Write a note of thanks to your superstar(s). Be specific about what you appreciate and how they help grow the organization.
• Reevaluate your superstar’s performance, goals and rewards—together. Set stretch goals with amazing rewards.
• Search for a superstar if you don’t have one, or if you need more than one.

BONUS: Here are two great articles I stumbled upon while researching this assignment:
• Article: “10 Things Really Amazing Bosses Do,” by Kevin Daum
• Article: “How to Spot a Potential Star Salesperson: Six Qualities of Superstar Salespeople,” by Dave Kahle

            

NEXT MONDAY:
On July 20, 2015, watch for the fascinating color commentary on Week 29’s topic, “A Second Chance for Failures,” the second of three weeks on “Managing Your Members.”

 

Week 27: The Networked Organization—A Model for the 21st Century

Week 27 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Bob Andringa is our guest writer today. 

Week 27: The Networked Organization--A Model for the 21st Century

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Autonomous, controlled organizations are the past.  Networked people and organizations are the future.  Independent organizations need to become interdependent. That requires trust, clear values and objectives, and constant good communications among all involved in collaboration.  

BOB ANDRINGA'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 27, pages 209-215:
• Denominations are obsolete; local churches from many denominations pursuing shared goals reflect the networked society (example: Rick Warren’s purpose-driven church network). 
• “Developed countries are moving fast toward a network society.”

BOB ANDRINGA'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
So you think you can do this alone?  No missional organization can accomplish its vision without being worthy of and joining with others to achieve common goals.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY BOB ANDRINGA:

Bob Andringa, a consultant/coach to CEOs and boards with The Andringa Group, loves what he calls re-firement, a term he learned from one of his mentors, Ted Engstrom, meaning the years after full-time employment. Bob agrees they are the best years of life for learning, serving and loving God and your neighbor—even starting a new nonprofit to give back some of what life has taught (Network Life, LLC). Two of the books he’s authored include The Nonprofit Board Answer Book and Good Governance for Nonprofits.

          

TO-DO TODAY: 
1. What does your ministry have that other ministries would value in a partnership?
2. Which organizations or individuals outside of your ministry should you seek out to be in your network?
3. What do you need to change to lead by influence rather than control?

            

NEXT MONDAY:
On July 13, 2015, Mark P. Fischer, social entrepreneur and executive mentor, will share his color commentary on Week 28’s topic, “Managing the Superstar,” the first of three weeks on “Managing Your Members.”

Week 26: Centralization, Confederation, and Decentralization

Week 26 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) John Walling is our guest writer today. 

Week 26: Centralization, Confederation, and Decentralization

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Peter Drucker, a keen student of history, encouraged organizations and companies to organize their work around the right structure. In this chapter, Joseph Maciariello notes three options: centralized (the King of England’s authority over the American colonies), confederation (Continental Congress giving maximum autonomy to the colonies), and federal decentralization (U.S. Constitution granting significant powers to the states).

The examples are insightful: Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church (the Cinemax movie theater model), General Motors (federal decentralization), and Toyota (confederation). 

JOHN WALLING'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 26, pages 203-208:
• Peter Drucker: “I just know that the more control there is, the less growth there is. The great lesson of the twentieth century is that central planning doesn’t work.”
• Rick Warren: “I have a staff pastor that I send out to visit other purpose-driven churches in the field and report to me. I’m always thinking about who we’re not reaching.”

JOHN WALLING'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Because Christian Community Credit Union partners with churches and ministries with loans for new church construction and expansion, I appreciated the dialogue in this chapter between Peter Drucker and Rick Warren on organizational structure and vision.

Warren noted, “Our model is the movie theater Cineplex—that offers different venues, styles, and times on the same campus. I don’t like the arena/stadium-size church buildings for several reasons. First, the larger the service, the more the attendees become passive spectators.

“Second, history shows that the next generation never fills the giant temples built by the previous generation. Spurgeon’s Tabernacle in London is now one fourth the size it was in its heyday.

“Third, it’s wasteful stewardship to build a 7,000-seat building that can only be filed once a week and sits empty the rest of the week.”

As we look for opportunities to partner with churches and ministries, we’re helping pastors and board members think both short-term and long-term. Will this investment in property and building reach more people—and will it be sustainable? And, as Drucker pointed out, what’s the best organizational structure for each unique organization?

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JOHN WALLING:

John Walling is the president and CEO of Christian Community Credit Union where he has served since 1972. He has grown this leading financial institution from assets of $7 million and 5,700 members to more than $600 million in assets and nearly 30,000 members in over 100 countries.

         

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Maciariello asks, what’s the best structure for your unique mission? “Is your organization held together by information or by power?”
• “Is there any one person in your organization who is responsible for maintaining spontaneity and growth? If not, should there be?”

           

NEXT MONDAY:
On July 6, 2015, Bob Andringa, consultant/coach to CEOs and Boards, will share his color commentary on Week 27’s topic, “The Networked Organization: A Model for the 21st Century,” the second in this two-week series, “Structuring Your Organization.” 

Week 25: Phase Changes as Organizations Grow and Change

Week 25 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Shannon Barnes is our guest writer today. 

Week 25: Phase Changes as Organizations Grow and Change

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In both our personal lives and the “lives” of our organizations, change is a constant. We likely expect (or better said, allow) change to come from outside the organization (environment, circumstances, etc.).

But one of the often unforeseen and unwelcomed “fruits” of any level of organizational growth/success is the internal changes it demands. These “phase changes,” as Drucker describes them, require a correlating change in the leadership’s skill set and focus.

Leaders must resist holding onto outdated or inadequate organizational forms/norms and recognize that the leadership role (or the executive him/herself) must change. If they won’t or don’t, they risk significantly undermining the organization’s effectiveness or destroying it entirely.

SHANNON BARNES' FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 25, pages 191-199:
• “It is not uncommon to see organizations lose their vitality as they grow and age; this loss can be fatal, especially during periods of rapid changes in the environment and in the behavior of their customers.” (page 196)
• “At some point there is a need for a ‘phase change’ in management: the founder either has to become an executive or bring in someone else to run the organization.” (page 192)
• “In my experience with both profit and nonprofit organizations, there are really two problems. One is that the founder refuses to accept the fact that the organization is different. And the other one is that [founders] reject, almost fear, any capable successor.” (page 194)

SHANNON BARNES' COLOR COMMENTARY:
Most of my professional life has been spent in the messy midst of various organizational “phase changes”—planting and establishing a church after college, joining the launch team of a “dot com” in the first booming round of that industry, jumping back into ministry to help a modest church release its gifts and grow (in every way) into its Godly potential, and leading the restructuring of a disorganized manufacturing company.

I have experienced firsthand how radically the leadership needs change as the scale, scope, and maturity of the organization changes.

Now, as a coach and consultant to church/nonprofit leaders engaged in significant mission-driven pursuits, I regularly witness both the leadership challenges faced by executives and boards. Far too many leadership teams fail to develop themselves for “what’s ahead”—choosing instead to remain adequate for “what is” even as the environment changes and, slowly but surely, their effectiveness wanes.

Impacting and effective leaders recognize the need to always be developing their leadership capacities, adjusting their focus, and redefining their roles to meet the future-leaning needs of the organization. And self-aware executives (and pastors, too!) also know when those needs depart from their strengths and abilities, and take action to either strengthen their teams/boards or identify another leader with the skills necessary for the organization’s successful future.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY SHANNON BARNES:

Shannon D. Barnes is the managing principal of The EDGE Group. He enjoys a long hike, a long dinner, a good book, a great friend, any activity with his five beautiful kids, and every opportunity to help leaders/boards successfully navigate significant periods of mission-driven growth. Follow him on Twitter @ShannonDBarnes. 

        

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Look at your organization’s trends and real outcomes. Is the organization achieving what it should be achieving? Have its work, efficacy, and mission-defined outcomes slowed, flat-lined, or diminished? Does your vision of the future compel changes today?
• Self-assess your leadership capacity and fit. Are you offering the organization the leadership it needs at this time? Are your strengths fully employed? Are you ready to embrace change and willing to offer the leadership the organization needs in the season ahead?
• Find the right tools. Determine action steps. What do you need to read? Who do you need to talk to? Do you need a coach/consultant to help you better focus your role or develop your leadership skill-set? Or do you believe it’s time to use your strengths and skills somewhere else and to allow another godly leader to lead the organization you serve now? If so, who do you need to discuss this with?

          

NEXT MONDAY:
On June 29, 2015, John Walling, president and CEO of Christian Community Credit Union, will share his color commentary on Week 26’s topic, “Centralization, Confederation, and Decentralization,” the first of two weeks on “Structuring Your Organization.” (Learn why Rick Warren is not a big fan of "arena-size" churches!)

Week 24: A Primer on Market Research of Noncustomers

Week 24 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Schmidt is our guest writer today. 

Week 24: A Primer on Market Research of Noncustomers

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Effective leaders don’t decide unilaterally for non-customers what they need. Instead they base their strategy on very extensive, in-depth market research of the people who should be customers—but aren’t.

DAVID SCHMIDT'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 24, pages 184-191:
• “What the people in the business think they know about customer and market is more likely wrong than right. There is only one person who really knows: the customer.”
• “It is a mistake to assume that a prospective customer is irrational if he or she is not enthusiastic about a producer’s logic. Rather, it is the producer’s duty to determine what the customer will find valuable.” 

DAVID SCHMIDT'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
One of the sad, even painful, behaviors I see in too many nonprofit leaders is an almost willful disregard for their audience—demonstrated by a lack of non-customer research Peter Drucker advocates here. 

Our agency had the privilege and responsibility of executing nearly all of the early congregational research used at Willow Creek Community Church to make more informed ministry decisions. Compassion was the driver—not numbers. Willow Creek was motivated to lower the artificial barriers people encountered in making an authentic connection to Jesus Christ. 

It’s my experience that the Christian non-profit leaders who love their constituents the most, demonstrate that in their research budgets. They care enough to get to know their non-customers and other key stakeholder groups and then act on the insights they get. 

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID SCHMIDT:

David Schmidt is the president of J. David Schmidt & Associates, Wheaton, Ill. He notes, “We are all about helping our clients explore ‘off the map’ they follow—so they can better achieve greater impact and results. Email him at [email protected] or visit his website.

        

TO-DO TODAY: 
Ask yourself:  Who are the next 1,000 attenders, students, ministry recipients, campers, listeners, viewers or buyers we seek to impact with our mission?  Now go look at your research budget that is designated to get to know your non-customers.  Then listen to what your heart says about what you see in that line item. That dollar amount speaks volumes.

         

NEXT MONDAY:
On June 22, 2015, Shannon Barnes,  managing principal of The EDGE Group, will share his color commentary on Week 25’s topic, “Phase Changes as Organizations Grow and Change,” the final chapter of five weeks on “Maintaining Your Organization Through Change.”

Week 23: Using the Mission Statement to Create Unity in the Organization

Week 23 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Tami Heim is our guest writer today. 

Week 23: Using the Mission Statement to Create Unity in the Organization

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: An organization’s mission statement can create strong unity and sense of purpose for all those who serve in the organization.  It’s most effective when it is fully vetted and universally agreed upon so that it becomes the guiding force for decisions, behaviors, and tangible outcomes. 

TAMI HEIM'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 23, pages 177-183:
• Developing a mission statement to actually guide the work of the organization is a high-stakes decision that deserves care and constructive conflict.
• The assumptions embedded in any mission statement must fit reality.
• You need three things for a good mission statement: opportunities, competence, and commitment. 

TAMI HEIM'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
There are many different frameworks for creating an effective mission statement. Getting them right has become so critical for organizations that consultants have successfully discovered how to make a profitable business out of simply assisting in their development.

For the past three decades, I have worked in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. In all of them I have been part of the hard work it takes to redefine the mission statement. It does require great intentionality and flourishes when every level of the organization has a way to contribute to it. Enrollment and alignment, in addition to identifying the call to something bigger than the organization itself, are keys to creating a mission statement that will ultimately influence behaviors, decision-making, and outcomes.

A leader’s passion for the mission must breathe life into it every day. An organization’s mission statement is most transformational when its stewards give it the center stage it deserves. The CEO and senior leadership teams must reinforce and model the mission’s significance, demonstrate how it guides decisions, and emphasize how it inspires whatever action is taken to achieve it. 

In a 2013 interview I conducted with Wess Stafford, former CEO of Compassion International, we talked about Compassion’s mission. Wess explained, “When you share your mission and it doesn’t move you to tears in the first 90 seconds, you need to get out of the way. You need to resign. Yes resign, so the organization can find a leader who has a passion worthy of the call.”

I have never heard the importance of mission so elegantly articulated as Wess did that day. It was a challenge I took to heart in my own personal commitment to the mission of the ministry I serve.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY TAMI HEIM:

Tami Heim is the president and CEO of Christian Leadership Alliance which exists to equip and unite leaders to transform the world for Christ.

       

TO-DO TODAY: 
1. Revisit your mission statement with fresh eyes. What is it about the mission that truly inspires you?
2. Assess your schedule and your activity for the day—and then identify exactly how what you have planned will advance your organization’s mission.
3. Integrate the mission statement into a conversation or written communication each day and evaluate if it moves or inspires action.

         

NEXT MONDAY:
On June 15, 2015, David Schmidt of Wise Planning in Wheaton, Ill., will share his color commentary on Week 24’s topic, “A Primer on Market Research of Noncustomers,” the fourth of five weeks on “Maintaining Your Organization Through Change.” 

Week 22: Systematic Abandonment and Innovation

Week 22 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Mark Matlock is our guest writer today. 

Week 22: Systematic Abandonment and Innovation

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Every organization needs to have a regular “rummage sale” to determine which products, services and programs are worth keeping and which ones must be abandoned.

MARK MATLOCK'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 22, pages 170-176:
• “The inability to abandon existing programs reduces resources available to fund new initiatives that are necessary if the U.S. is to remain competitive as a nation.”
• “Abandonment of the old is particularly important for the non-profit service organization because it believes, and must believe, in the righteousness of its cause. That makes innovation very difficult because the first key to innovation is the willingness to abandon the old so that you free yourself for the new.”
• “If we did not do this already, would we go into it now?” If the answer is no, “What do we do now?”
• “Beware of commitment to ego as an excuse for maintaining the status quo.”
• “Developing a process of systematic abandonment, and making it a regular part of the culture of an organization is one of the most effective ways to eliminate the old and make room for the new.”

MARK MATLOCK'S COLOR COMMENTARY:
It seems that every time I am with a group of non-profit executives (my field) everyone is talking about what new things they are adding, but rarely do you hear them discuss what they are letting go. Try sharing what you are subtracting sometime. If it’s true, you’ll get a great reaction because many leaders don’t know how to let things go. They’ll want to know how you did it.

Drucker’s comments about non-profits is spot on. We commit so deeply to what we do rather than “why” we do our programs, they can take on a sacredness regardless of whether they are effective or not. We can often raise funds to paste leaves onto dead limbs rather than pruning back and bearing more fruit. Many of our organizations would benefit from Holy Subtraction.

When Jesus said the harvest was ripe, but laborers were needed in the field, it made clear to me that we do not fundamentally have communication, program, or funding problems—our fundamental issue is one of capacity. I remember a rare moment, as a board member, when we came to the realization that the organization had more funds available than we could implement on the field. When does that ever happen? 

Capacity was our issue, and abandonment of old systems helped make way for innovation. Drucker’s thoughts around systematic abandonment help us manage capacity to make room for the difficult work of innovation.

Simon Sinek’s Ted Talk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” and other resources, like his book, Start With Why, include helpful concepts when coupled with Drucker’s insights—to help us figure out what needs to go.

But be careful of only practicing abandonment once. It’s Drucker’s focus on systematizing abandonment that rings true. Abandonment needs to be part of an organization’s culture, like spring cleaning. Every organization needs a rummage sale to reduce clutter and potentially make space for something new.

(Sometimes managing for capacity is difficult for boards and donors to understand. For more on capacity and non-profits, check out the Venture Philanthropy Partners report prepared by McKinsey & Company.)

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MARK MATLOCK:

Mark Matlock, President of Youth Specialties, is the author of several books for teens and parents. In addition to his work in youth ministry, Mark is a member of the Magic Castle in Beverly Hills and enjoys cooking elaborate meals for friends and family. Mark is also a Life Planner with The Paterson Center, and a master trainer in the MCORE motivational assessment. Mark has also served three terms as a board member of The Seed Company. Follow Mark on Twitter: @markmatlock

      

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Ask what products, programs and services are really moving the mission of the organization forward.
• Are there known “sacred cows” that cannot be touched?
• What would be the appropriate rhythm for systematic abandonment in your organization? Who are the key decision makers that need to be involved?
• What leaders do you know that have managed the abandonment of a product, program or service that you could gain wisdom from?

        

NEXT MONDAY:
On June 8, 2015, Tami Heim, President & CEO of Christian Leadership Alliance, will share her color commentary on Week 23’s topic, “Using the Mission Statement to Create Unity in the Organization,” the third of five weeks on “Maintaining Your Organization Through Change.” 

Week 21: Continuity and Change

Week 21 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Constantino (Connie) Salios is our guest writer today. 

Week 21: Continuity and Change

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: “The future will not just happen if one wishes hard enough. It requires decision—now. It imposes risk—now. It requires action—now. It demands allocation of resources, and above all, human resources—now.” (Peter Drucker)

CONNIE SALIOS’ FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 21, pages 163-169:
• Continuity is the foundation for innovation and change—the mission, core values, and its definition of performance and results must be clear. 
• “Precisely because change is a constant, the foundations have to be extra strong.”
• Continuity and change are not opposites—they are a continuum and need balance.
• “A constant stream of incremental improvements will lead to substantial change over time.”

CONNIE SALIOS’ COLOR COMMENTARY:
Drucker defines change as 1) creating new through innovation, and 2) creating new by moving resources from low to high productivity. I agree. Change is inevitable although direction may be difficult to predict. Our task then is not to predict the future but to go to work to create new products, processes, and services that will serve customers in the future.

 THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY CONSTANTINO (CONNIE) SALIOS:

Constantino (Connie) Salios is the Organizational Leadership Advisor at CLD Consulting. After 30 years in the marketplace, Connie now serves as a coach, mentor, and advisor to ministry, non-profit, academic, and for-profit organizations.

     

TO-DO TODAY: 
Greater change requires stronger values. Balancing change and continuity requires continuous work on information so begin to ask:
• “Are our values strong and clear?” 
• “Who needs to be informed of this in our organization today?”

        

NEXT MONDAY:
On June 1, 2015, Mark Matlock, Executive Director of Youth Specialties, will share his color commentary on Week 22’s topic, “Strategic Abandonment and Innovation,” the second of five weeks on “Maintaining Your Organization Through Change.” 

Week 20: Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened—Turmoil in Education

Week 20 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Dave Estridge is our guest writer today. 

Week 20: Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened—Turmoil in Education

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Author Joseph Maciariello notes that Drucker’s core idea of “focus on strength” (way ahead of the strengths movement) was foundational for any approach to lifelong learning, including education. “In the midst of Drucker’s gloom about our educational system in the U.S., I saw a glimmer of light, and this entry describes that light.” 

DAVE ESTRIDGE'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 20, pages 155-160:
• “In the knowledge society, people have to learn how to learn. Indeed, in the knowledge society subjects may matter less than the students’ capacity to continue learning and their motivation to do so. Knowledge society requires lifelong learning.”
• “Reading is of course the basic skill required in lifelong learning.”
• “In fact, for hundreds of years, if not thousands of years, we have been creating both the motivation for continuing to learn and the needed discipline.”
• “The good teachers of artists do it; the good coaches of athletes do it; so do the good ‘mentors’ in business organizations of which we hear so much these days in the literature of management development.”
• “They lead their students to achievements so great that it surprises the achiever and creates excitement and motivation—especially the motivation for rigorous, disciplined, persistent work and practice that continued learning requires.”

DAVE ESTRIDGE'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Drucker always challenged the conventional wisdom! He said, “Perhaps the time has come for an entrepreneur to start schools based on what we know about learning, rather than on the old wives’ tales about it that have been handed down through the ages.”

 He adds, “The achievement that motivates is doing exceptionally well what one is already good at. Achievement has to be based on the student’s strengths—as has been known for millennia. . . . In fact, finding the student’s strengths and focusing them on achievement is the best definition of the goal of teaching.”

At Christian Community Credit Union, our senior team seeks to leverage the unique God-given strengths of every team member. We use the StrengthsFinder assessment and work hard to delegate tasks based on strengths. We recognize that one learning style doesn’t fit all. As Drucker noted, some of us are readers, others are listeners. Others learn by doing.

THIS WEEK'S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVE ESTRIDGE:

David Estridge is the Executive Vice President at Christian Community Credit Union in San Dimas, Calif. Dave’s top-five strengths from the Gallup Organization’s StrengthsFinder assessment are: Harmony, Communication, Consistency, Analytical, and Responsibility.   

     

TO-DO TODAY: 
• List three ways you can inspire team members to be lifelong learners.
• Become a student of your boss (or board chair) and direct reports by knowing their top-five strengths, from StrengthsFinder, and knowing each person’s preferred learning style.

       

NEXT MONDAY:
On May 25, 2015, Constantino (Connie) Salios will share his color commentary on Week 21’s topic, “Continuity and Change,” the first of five weeks on “Maintaining Your Organization Through Change.”

 

Week 19: Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened—Social and Demographic Changes

Week 19 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Rebekah Basinger is our guest writer today. 

Week 19: Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened—Social and Demographic Changes Emerging in the U.S.

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: When embarking on a planning process, organizational leaders need look no further than the trends of the day for a glimpse into their ministries’ tomorrows. That’s the word from Peter Drucker for this week. In particular, he challenges CEOs and board members to keep an eye on demographics—the one thing we “can count on and one doesn’t have to have opinions on.” The best plans “capitalize on emerging trends and use them to create a new future for the organization.”

REBEKAH BASINGER'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 19, pages 147-154:
• “The important thing is to identify the ‘future that has already happened.’” 
• “The more important work of the executive is to . . . exploit the changes that have already occurred and to use them as opportunities.” 
• “Look for ‘the future that has already happened’ and turn it into an opportunity for innovation. If you do this, you can become a change leader and make competition irrelevant for you and for your organization.”

REBEKAH BASINGER'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Ministry leaders describe the organizational ground as shifting under them. But truth be told, change seldom surprises like an earthquake. Change is almost always a long time coming, with ample warning in the trends around us. Which is why wise CEOs and discerning boards regularly scan the environment for signs of what Drucker references as “the future that has already happened.”

If Drucker’s words have a familiar ring, think Isaiah 43:19. God-followers are admonished to see the new that God is doing, present tense. The future is not some far-off, mysterious maybe. It springs up, now. God is active in the trends, “making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” Our part is to perceive, believe, and act on what God is up to in the world.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY REBEKAH BASINGER:

Rebekah Basinger, Consultant on Fundraising and Board Education, Basinger Consulting, is a champion of fundraising and board governance as ministry. She’s also committed to the ministry of grandparenting, spending almost as much time these days being Nana to her five (soon to be six) grandkids as coaching clients. Rebekah is the co-author of Growing Givers' Hearts: Treating Fundraising as Ministry, and blogs on “Generous Matters.”

         

TO-DO TODAY: 
If you are a ministry CEO, encourage your board to regularly scan the external environment for opportunities that can be exploited and threats that must be avoided. The best boards take strong, decisive action in response to trend lines. In turn, the confident CEO welcomes the board’s participation in identifying and responding to the “future that has already happened.”

      

NEXT MONDAY:
On May 18, 2015, we will conclude this five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 20’s topic, “Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened: Turmoil in Education." 

Week 18: A Major Period of Transition for Society and Individuals

Week 18 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Tim Muret is our guest writer today. (Note: This issue was emailed to subscribers on May 4, 2015, but posted on May 11.)

Week 18: A Major Period of Transition for Society and Individuals

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Peter Drucker, in an address to the advisory board of the Peter F. Drucker Nonprofit Foundation in 1992, said society was facing “a very dangerous time because it is one in which demagogues flourish.” Yet he added, “And it’s a very exciting time because it is also a time which what individuals do, what small and large organizations do, what countries and government do, really matters. So I think this is a very dangerous, a very upsetting, and a very exciting period.” Has anything changed now in 2015? Read on.

 TIM MURET'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 18, pages 139-146:
• “Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs sharp transformation.” 
• “Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself—its worldview; its basic values; its social and political structure; its arts; its key institutions. Fifty years later, there is a new world.”

TIM MURET'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I appreciated Joseph Maciariello’s insightful connection, in this powerful eight-page chapter, between the dramatic changes in the world and need to “Take Responsibility for Your Career.” In a Harvard Business Review interview in May 1993, Drucker noted:

“The stepladder is gone, and there’s not even the implied structure of an industry’s rope ladder. It’s more like vines, and you bring your own machete. You don’t know what you’ll be doing next, or whether you’ll work in a private office or one big amphitheater or even out of your own home. You have to take responsibility for knowing yourself, so you can find the right jobs as you develop and as your family becomes a factor in your values and choices.”

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY TIM MURET:

Tim Muret is chief communications officers at Open Doors USA, an international ministry that has been supporting persecuted Christians for 60 years. Tim has over 20 years of experience in corporate America and is blessed and honored to be applying his skills to further God’s Kingdom.

        

TO-DO TODAY: 
1) If you’re over 40, you may be unaware of how quickly the decades fly by. For a refresher, visit the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2018—and see what this year’s college freshmen class know and don’t know. 
2) Example: “During their initial weeks of kindergarten, they were upset by endlessly repeated images of planes blasting into the World Trade Center.”

      

NEXT MONDAY:
On May 11, 2015, we will continue this five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 19’s topic, “Seeing the Future That Has Already Happened," with color commentary by Rebekah Basinger, Consultant on Fundraising and Board Education, Basinger Consulting.

Week 17: Rough Period of Transition Ahead for America

Week 17 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Mike Pate is our guest writer today.

Week 17: Rough Period of Transition Ahead for America

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: When life gives you lemons...well, you know the rest! 
The author begins this chapter stating that Drucker “turned pessimistic” toward the end of his life as he looked at the problems confronting the United States. In considering the incredible amount of transition that is occurring all around us at every level of life and society, we would do well to focus not on the problems, but on the opportunities that will naturally follow as we find solutions to the myriad challenges we will face as leaders and citizens. 

 MIKE PATE'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 17, pages 133-138:
• “The most effective way to manage change successfully is to create it.” 
• “A ‘change leader’ sees change as an opportunity.” 
• “To make the future is highly risky. It is less risky, however than not to try to make it.”

MIKE PATE'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
There is no doubt we are in an enormous season of societal transition (Drucker said in 2004 that he thought it would be a rough period of transition for the next 30 years or so.) It is crucial in times of transition that we don’t just respond to change but seek to leverage it and look for opportunities in the midst of it! We must be proactive by anticipating changes; keeping our organizations lean; abandoning unproductive items and programs; and developing and using our most talented people effectively. Though risks exist everywhere, it is far riskier to do nothing!

On a personal note, my hobby of trading stock options is a frequent reminder of how change and technology can lead to opportunity. I can sit on my deck (or nearly anywhere on the planet for that matter) with my laptop and make money by buying and selling interest in companies around the world. It is something that wasn’t even possible just a few years ago. What do you need to learn or do to take advantage of the many transitions around you?

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MIKE PATE:

Mike Pate, executive director, Transformation Ministries Camping, also serves as board vice chair of Christian Community Credit Union and chair of his local Municipal Advisory Council. Mike’s passion is to live an extraordinary life and influence people and organizations to be all that God created them to be! Click here to visit Mike's favorite spot on earth.

       

TO-DO TODAY: 
1. Make a list of the greatest challenges facing your organization. Can you brainstorm a few possible strategies that might turn these challenges into opportunities?
2. Buy and read The Attacker’s Advantage: Turning Uncertainty into Breakthrough Opportunities, by Ram Charan.

     

NEXT MONDAY:
On May 4, 2015, we will continue this five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 18’s topic, “A Major Period of Transition for Society and Individuals."

Week 16: Our Problems in the U.S. Are Social Problems

Week 16 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) John Ashmen is our guest writer today.

Week 16: Our Problems in the U.S. Are Social Problems

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Peter Drucker’s first major book, The End of Economic Man, argued that “economic man—a topic emphasized during the 1992 presidential campaign—was not a working philosophy of life that could sustain the country.” What could? “He viewed the resurgence of the pastoral mega-church as a positive force for the development of society, and the work of Bob Buford as instrumental in rebuilding American society.”

 JOHN ASHMEN'S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 16, pages 127-132:
• From a conversation Drucker had with Bob Buford in 1993: “I’m going to make myself very unpopular in two weeks in Aspen at the seminar where I am the keynote speaker; by saying we have no economic problems. We have only social problems. But we have those in spades. This morning when I woke up at three in the morning, you have no idea. I had to pray very hard to get over that despair, and I haven’t gotten over it yet. Yes, I know, the very fact that we are conscious of it is probably the only optimistic thing.” 
• Buford: “Why have you not written about this topic?”
• Drucker: “Because I am not called! You [Bob Buford] see the healthy energies in the individuals. It needs leadership. It needs example, it needs vision, and it needs direction. . . . You have that tremendous vision. Look, this is an eschatological vision; it’s not a rational one.”

JOHN ASHMEN'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
As Dan Busby said last week in this column, “Peter Drucker was ahead of his time.” Our work with some-300 member missions reminds me every day of this truth: “Our problems in the U.S. are social problems.”

AGRM-affiliated organizations annually provide upwards of 50 million meals and 30 million nights of lodging to the desperate and destitute across North America. They also graduate approximately 25,000 people a year from addiction recovery programs.

For the most part, I’m on the same page with Drucker, who said: “None of the U.S. programs of the last forty years in which we tried to tackle a social problem through government action has produced significant results. But independent non-profit agencies have had impressive results.” To be fair, the government does do a good job with short-term solutions; but for long-term solutions, the private sector has the advantage.

And by the way—did you know that Drucker’s book, The End of Economic Man, was reviewed in the London Times Literary Supplement on May 27, 1939, by none other than Winston Churchill, before he became prime minister of England in 1940? Churchill noted that Drucker "not only has a mind of his own, but has the gift of starting other minds along a stimulating line of thought."

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JOHN ASHMEN:

John Ashmen is president of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions, North America’s oldest and largest network of independent ministries providing radical hospitality for the poor and powerless. With more than 20 years of association leadership experience, he holds a B.S. in Bible, with a Social Work emphasis, and an M.A. in Organizational Management.

His writings have appeared in numerous books, journals, and websites, and he speaks and teaches around the world. He is a husband, father and grandfather. Ashmen and John Pearson will co-facilitate a CEO Dialogues day on May 1 in Colorado Springs.

 

      

TO-DO TODAY: 
• A Year With Peter Drucker author Joseph A. Maciariello asks, “What contribution can you make to help turn society in a more wholesome direction?”
• He adds, “Are you afraid of criticism? Or do you consider criticism a fair price to pay to do what you know must be done?”
• “How can you leverage your social and religious involvements to increase your involvement in civic life?”

 

    

NEXT MONDAY:
On April 27, 2015, we will continue this five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 17’s topic, “Rough Period of Transition Ahead for America.”

Week 15: Sustaining the Spirit of an Organization

Week 15 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Dan Busby is our guest writer today.

Week 15: Sustaining the Spirit of an Organization

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: How do we create organizations with a high spirit of performance, where common people perform at an uncommon level? We do it by introducing a disturbing element—a person who seeks to change the culture and practices to prevent bureaucratic behavior from setting in.

 DAN BUSBY’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 14, pages 118-123:
• To shake thing up in your organization requires “somebody who is free enough from the day-to-day managing to do this.”
• To create “organizations with a high spirit of performance” requires someone “who is the energy and the conscience” of the organization.
• “An organization with the spirit of performance is one led by executives who are committed to getting the right things done (effectiveness) and doing the right thing (efficiency).”
• “The disturbing element in an organization consists of one or more leaders who prod people to develop, improve, innovate, and sustain the spirit of the organization.”

DAN BUSBY'S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Peter Drucker was ahead of his time in understanding the importance of overcoming bureaucracy, deterioration, and decay—something that challenges nonprofit ministries today.

Quenching the entrepreneurial spirit is a key reason why we see few nonprofit ministries move from mid-range to large organizations. Plus, there seems to be a “glass ceiling” at $2 million in annual revenues for ministries, blocking organizational progress.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAN BUSBY:

Dan Busby is the president of ECFA, Winchester, Virginia. Dan’s heart is to see churches and ministries give the world the right impression of Jesus Christ. He is also the author of the just-released book, Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness, and other books.

      

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Is there someone on your team who serves as a disturbing element to sustain the spirit of the organization?
• Does that person have the time to continually shake things up in the organization?
• Do you and your staff have the one absolute requirement to lead—the one quality that you bring with you and cannot be expected to acquire later on? Integrity!

    

NEXT MONDAY:
On April 20, 2015, we will begin a five-week segment on “Navigating a Society in Transition” with Week 16’s topic, “Our Problems in the United States Are Social Problems.”

Week 14: Control by Mission and Strategy, Not Hierarchy

Week 14 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Kevin East is our guest writer today.

Week 14: Control by Mission and Strategy, Not Hierarchy

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: As the title of the chapter suggests, Drucker describes the effectiveness of corporations that are excelling in their specific industries by providing leadership that controls by mission and strategy, not by hierarchical authority.

KEVIN EAST’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 14, pages 111-117:
   • “We are increasingly moving towards multinational, transnational organizations that are held together by two factors: Control of mission and strategy [as opposed to hierarchical control], and enough people who know and trust each other.”
   • “The CEO of tomorrow will have to understand when to command and when to partner.”
   • “As the corporation moves towards a confederation or a syndicate, it will increasingly need a top management that is separate, powerful, and accountable.”

KEVIN EAST’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Confession time: I am a control freak. The problem is, now that I am the leader of a ministry, I have great people that provide just as much solid experience and ideas that I do. That’s a good problem to have.

So I—and possibly you—have a daily choice to make: we can either seek to control our people to do things exactly the way we would want them done, or we can lead by keeping people focused on the mission and strategy of the organization.

This is the issue Drucker describes in great detail of corporations that operate at a multinational level.

I don’t know about you, but I’d love to provide leadership that Drucker describes as being where “burdensome command and control features are mostly absent.”

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY KEVIN EAST:

Kevin East is the President of The Mentoring Alliance in Tyler, Texas. He has the best wife on the planet, five amazing kids—two of which came by adoption—and a dog he doesn’t much care for. Stop by his blog, Following to Lead, where he writes on issues pertaining to family, adoption and leadership.

     

TO-DO TODAY: 
• If you have subsidiaries, departments, units, or partners in other neighborhoods, cities, regions, or countries—take a page from this chapter and Skype about it.
• Ask your people: could we bless a “Coca-Cola Argentina” scenario (page 113)—or would it drive us nuts?

    

NEXT MONDAY:
On April 13, 2015, Dan Busby will continue this four-week segment on “Management in a Pluralistic Society of Organizations” with Week 15’s topic, “Sustaining the Spirit of an Organization."

Week 13: The First Job in Any Organization Is to Make Top Management Effective

Week 13 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Elliott Snuggs is our guest writer today.

Week 13: The First Job in Any Organization Is to Make Top Management Effective

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In this four-week segment on “Management in a Pluralistic Society of Organizations,” we learn about Drucker’s emphasis on top management. Maciariello summarizes it this way, “Without effective top management [Elliott’s emphasis] you cannot sustain a spirit of performance, and entropic processes will set in at an organization and eventually destroy it.” Thus, the first job in any organization is to make top management effective.

ELLIOTT SNUGG’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 13, pages 104-110:
   • “...yet [emerging leader’s] growth into effective executives within the organization will be stymied unless they are given executive responsibility for decision-making and are allowed to make and learn from their own mistakes.”
   • “Establishing an organization’s unique personality may be the most important task of top management… Establishing a new corporate persona calls for a change in the corporation’s values. And that may well be the most important task for top management.”
   • Top management is responsible for designing the organizational structure and for making key appointments at the level right below top management.
   • “The CEO in the new millennium has six specific tasks.” (Read them on page 108!)

ELLIOTT SNUGG’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Peter Drucker understood the information society long before Google came along. And he understood just how important managing that information was to success. For him top management was the central hub. Top management’s responsibilities then include direction, strategy, values and principles. It is the core out of which a ministry, movement or enterprise can flow.

Most importantly, top management establishes the “DNA” of the organization, its unique personality and core values. Further, the organization’s performance depends on an effective top management setting the example of performance. Finally, he gives the sagely advice that top management must rest on a spiritual foundation or it has “nothing.” Jesus put it this way, “apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

If you are a CEO, reflect on Drucker’s list of the six tasks of a CEO in the new millennium. It begins with defining the “meaningful outside of the organization.” Wow! And the next five are just as meaty.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY ELLIOTT SNUGGS:

R. Elliott Snuggs is the Executive Vice President of Asian Access, Cerritos, Calif. He studied under Peter Drucker at Claremont Graduate University from 1997–2000 in the Executive Management program. He currently enjoys applying Drucker’s thinking to strategic planning in nonprofit organizations.

    

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Drucker says that the key activities of an organization must be identified (maybe thinking “core competencies” will help) and each activity should be assigned to a specific member of the top management team. Work through that with your team.
• Evaluate if your top management team fosters a spirit of performance?
• Are there any structures in your organization that are inhibiting growth and performance? Try to bring change to these toxic structures.

   

NEXT MONDAY:
On April 6, 2015, Kevin East will continue this four-week segment on “Management in a Pluralistic Society of Organizations” with Week 14’s topic, “Control by Mission and Strategy: Not by Hierarchy."

Week 12: Management: "The Governing Organ of All Institutions of Modern Society"

Week 12 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Earl Taylor is our guest writer today.

Week 12--Management: "The Governing Organ of All Institutions of Modern Society"

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Drucker’s views on corporate responsibility were: “Leaders in every single institution and in every single sector . . . have two responsibilities. They are responsible and accountable for the performance of their institutions, and that requires them and their institutions to be concentrated, focused, limited. They are responsible also, however, for the community as a whole.”

EARL TAYLOR’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 12, pages 95-103: 
   • “If each institution in our pluralistic society of organizations looks out merely for its narrow interests, and for doing no harm, who will take care of the issues that ‘fall into the cracks?’ In other words, who will take care of the common good?”
   • “The new pluralism requires what might be called civic responsibility: giving to the community in the pursuit of one’s own interest or of one’s own task.”
   • Great “non-profit” management is no longer a bad word, instead it is seen today as necessary in order to fulfill the mission and purpose of the institution.

EARL TAYLOR’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
As a director of a non-profit, our only “business” is to change lives—period. It is the management of the organization that allows sustainability. This truth must drive every decision I make every day.
   • The success and longevity of any organization correlates directly to how outward-looking leadership is towards the community and the common good of all.
   • Ronald Reagan was a very wise governor. His common-sense approach to great governance is severely lacking in today’s politics. (Editor’s note: In his first term, Reagan recruited 200 “successful executives” in California to volunteer four to six months to help him assess state issues.)

 THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY EARL TAYLOR:

Earl Taylor is the Director of Design and Vision at Hidden Acres Christian Center, Dayton, Iowa. He is a designer and builder of buildings, a hunter of wild game, and the author of Be All You Could Be.

   

TO-DO TODAY: 
• You must manage the day-to-day business at hand effectively, but work to create “community” in the vacuum around your organization, by intentional engagement within the community-at-large that you exist in and live around. 
• Don’t be an island, become the instigator of influence.

   

NEXT MONDAY:
On March 30, 2015, Elliott Snuggs will continue this four-week segment on “Management in a Pluralistic Society of Organizations” with Week 13’s topic, “The First Job in Any Organization Is to Make Top Management Effective.”

Week 11: Principles of Professional Leadership and Management

Week 11 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Schmidt is our guest writer today.

Week 11: Principles of Professional Leadership and Management

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Leadership and management are NOT the same thing.  When we confuse these gifts or blend them into one, we rob EACH ONE of the critical value it contributes to our organizations.

DAVID SCHMIDT’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 11, pages 79-92: 
   • “Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.”
   • “Nothing better prepares the ground for such leadership than a spirit of management that confirms in the day-to-day practices of the organization strict principles of conduct and responsibility, high standards of performance, and respect for individuals and their work.”
   • “Charisma is ‘hot’ today. There is an enormous amount of talk about it, and an enormous number of books [are] written on the charismatic leader. But the desire for charisma is a political death wish.”

DAVID SCHMIDT’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
Without spiritualizing it, Peter Drucker gives credence to the rich, diverse talents and gifts God has given to us and the critical importance of honoring, empowering and releasing each gift for its own value. 

And as a way to steward these gifts, we do well to pay attention to our governing board health too, so that it truly functions as stewards of the people in the organization and the “long-term interests of the enterprise” without prejudice.

Interestingly, Drucker talks about charisma (and the dangers of chasing it) as the antithesis of real leadership and management. Huh. There is something to chew on there.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY DAVID SCHMIDT:

J David Schmidt is the president of J. David Schmidt & Associates, Wheaton, Ill. He notes, “I have a growing interest in maps (real ones and mental ones) and how they can both guide us and limit us if we let the edges define us.”

  

TO-DO TODAY: 
• Here’s what leaders do: The right people in the right lanes, doing the right things, for the right reasons, getting the right results. 
• When was the last time you “checked the fit” of each of these?

 

  

NEXT MONDAY:
On March 23, 2015, we’ll we’ll begin a four-week segment on “Management in a Pluralistic Society of Organizations.” Week 12’s topic is “Management: ‘The Governing Organ of All Institutions of Modern Society.’” (Did you know the word “management” was not coined until 1911?)

Week 10: Information Literacy for Executive Effectiveness

Week 10 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Steve Bury is our guest writer today.

Week 10: Information Literacy for Executive Effectiveness

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In this four-part segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness,” Week 10 reminds leaders that what Drucker calls “the knowledge organization” is “structured around information, not hierarchy.”  His examples: a hospital and a symphony orchestra.

STEVE BURY’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 10, pages 71-77: 
   • “Major changes always start outside an organization.”
   • “For strategy, we need organized information about the environment. Strategy has to be based upon information about markets, customers and noncustomers; about technology in one’s own industry and others; about worldwide finance; and about the changing world economy. For that is where results are.”
   • “Inside an organization there are only cost centers. The only profit center is a customer whose check has not bounced. . . .It is always with noncustomers that basic changes begin and become significant.”

STEVE BURY’S COLOR COMMENTARY: 
I appreciated the emphasis in this chapter on moving from “data literacy” to “information literacy” and why leaders must answer two questions:

First, what information does our organization need? Second, what information do I need?

Drucker stresses that in information technology we must put more emphasis on the “I” than on the “T.”

While our organization does a pretty good job of gathering and analyzing information, I especially appreciated the question, “Have we experienced any events we have not anticipated?” That’s a great question for our next staff meeting!

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY STEVE BURY:


Steve Bury is the Executive Director of Urban Impact, Seattle, Wash., a Christian Community Development Organization, with a mission to partner with families and communities to break the cycle of social, material, and spiritual poverty. Steve’s heart is the development of dynamic multi-ethnic community-focused ministries that create Godly, lifelong disciples and urban leaders.

 

 

TO-DO TODAY: 
• “Drucker says the role of executives today is to be “technologically literate about the role of each member of the team so that all members’ efforts can be coordinated.”
• Identify one team member you will ask this week: “Do you have the information you need to do your job well?”

  

NEXT MONDAY:
On March 16, 2015, we’ll complete this four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 11’s topic is “Principles of Professional Leadership and Management.” Stay tuned: “Defining mission is one of the most difficult things organizations have to do. The obvious answer is usually wrong.”

Week 9: Organize Work for Effectiveness

Week 9 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jim Canning is our guest writer today.

Week 9: Organize Work for Effectiveness

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: In this four-part segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness,” Week 9 addresses the importance of organizing our work to enhance effectiveness.

JIM CANNING’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 9, pages 65-70: 
   • Effective executives know that time is the “limiting factor” in effectiveness. Therefore, we should attempt to plan our time making sure that the most important things are done first. 
   • If we want to accept a new or unexpected opportunity, we will generally have to decide to abandon or delegate something else.

JIM CANNING’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
One of the most important things that everyone must decide each day is how best to use their time. The better you manage your time, the more effective you will be. Organizing our work helps us determine how best to use our time.

One helpful tool: Each evening prepare a list of what you need to do the next day—in order of importance—so when you wake up the next morning, you have a general plan and can get off to a good start. 

Remember the old saying, “Well begun is half done.”

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JIM CANNING:

Jim Canning, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in Executive Management from the Peter Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. While there, he was a student of both Peter Drucker and Joseph Maciariello, the author of A Year With Peter Drucker. For many years Jim served as V.P./Chief Financial Officer of World Vision International. He now lives in Spokane, Wash.

 

TO-DO TODAY: 

• “Andy Grove, who was a very effective CEO of a large public company, explained that he set his priorities by putting pressure on his time. As new opportunities arose that required his time, he identified other activities that he should either abandon or delegate to others."

• “Would ‘putting pressure on your time’ work for you?”

 

NEXT MONDAY:
On March 9, 2015, we’ll be we’ll be three-quarters of the way into this four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 10’s topic is “Information Literacy for Effective Executives.” Here’s an insight: “Major changes always start outside an organization.”

Week 8: Concentration

Week 8 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Mark Thrash is our guest writer today.

Week 8: Concentration

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: If you want your organization to have the greatest impact, the secret is focus.  You need to focus on the “right results” that will make a real difference.

MARK THRASH’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 8, pages 59-64: 
   • “I would submit that you should target yourself on the areas where a little success on your part will have the greatest impact.” (p. 59)
   • “Knowing your mission or purpose is essential in choosing from among all available opportunities—those that have the highest probability of producing the right results.” (p. 61) 
   • “If you want your life to count, if you want your organization to count, the secret is focus, focus with your life. Do a few things well.” (p. 62)
   • “One just cannot keep adding initiatives without removing some. You should ask yourself, ‘What am I (or what are we) going to give up?’ One should abandon programs where even great success is unlikely to make a real difference.” (p. 62)
   • “There is nothing as difficult and as expensive, but also nothing is as futile, as trying to keep a corpse from stinking… the first rule for the concentration of executive efforts is to slough off the past that has ceased to be productive.” (p. 62)
   • “Without systematic and purposeful abandonment, an organization will be overtaken by events. It will squander its best resources on things it should never have been doing or should no longer do. As a result, it will lack the resources, especially capable people, needed to exploit the opportunities that arise.” (p. 63)

MARK THRASH’S COLOR COMMENTARY:

The concept of “right results” to make a real difference really struck me. I’ve understood the value of measuring results and have believed in the concept of focus and abandoning programs that are not effective, but this chapter took these concepts to another level. Even if the programs are successful, are they achieving the “right results” that are actually making the real difference we want to make?

 These concepts reminded me of my good friend, Norris, who is a cherry farmer. He says, “You don’t get fruit by adding things, you get fruit by pruning.” He then goes on to explain that you have to cut off the “suckers” which are sucking the tree’s energy and resources away from the fruit. If you don’t cut them off, the fruit will not mature. (Watch this 13-minute video and learn how this cherry farmer eventually understood why pruning is so fundamental to growth.)

 THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY MARK THRASH:

Mark Thrash is the Director of Partner Development at CRM, Anaheim, Calif. CRM works to create movements of committed followers of Jesus.

TO-DO TODAY: 

• What are some examples of “right results” for you and your organization? Plan a half-day strategic advance with your leadership team to clarify what the “right results” are for your organization. 
• What is your “systematic and purposeful abandonment plan?” Add another half-day to the strategic advance above and develop a plan for evaluating and pruning programs of the past.
• Re-read pages 62-63.

NEXT MONDAY:
On March 2, 2015, we’ll be half-way into a four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 9’s topic is “Organize Work for Effectiveness.”  Watch for the color commentary by Jim Canning, who served many years as VP/Chief Financial Officer of World Vision International.

Week 7: Manage in Two Time Dimensions

Week 7 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) Jason Pearson is our guest writer today.

Week 7: Manage in Two Time Dimensions

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: You must be intentional about balancing your short-term mission with your long-term mission—and they must be compatible while at the same time they might be different. Both missions will have to sacrifice dimensions (time, resources, focus, etc.) to serve the other.

JASON PEARSON’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 7, pages 51-55:
   • “If the manager does not take care of the next hundred days, there will be no next hundred years.” (p. 53)
   • “You have to have short-term and long-term missions and the two have to be compatible. And yet they are often different.” (p. 53)
   • “Executives must fix the problems of the past but the real job of the executive is to commit the organization’s resources to opportunities in the future.” (p. 54)
   • “Are both short-range and longer-range objectives spelled out in your organization’s mission statement? What are they?” (p. 55)
   • “Does your organization focus most of its time and effort on problems related to past decisions?” (p. 55)
   • “How can you free up some of your time and resources to focus on opportunities that serve the future of your unit?” (p. 55)

JASON PEARSON’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Drucker understood the practical everyday dilemmas that leaders face—and he understood the currency of time. If you spend all your time fixing problems from the past and putting out fires, you won’t have any time to focus on future opportunities. While that sounds simplistic and obvious, we all know it is an easy trap to fall into. The leader or task force in the organization has the unique calling to discern God’s will for the future and take steps to plan for it.

Author Joseph Maciariello challenges us to “spell out our objectives” by writing two mission statements—one for the short-term and one for the long-term. If you asked your team what those two missions are today, could they articulate them? Are your team members on the same page—for both missions?

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY JASON PEARSON:

Jason Pearson, principal at CrossSection, San Clemente, Calif., specializes in media production and marketing to faith markets. His creative side also oozes out at Pearpod.

TO-DO TODAY: 

Complete these sentences:
   • Our short-term mission is…
   • Our longer-term mission is…
What will you do today to ensure that there is clarity tomorrow?


NEXT MONDAY:
On Feb. 23, 2015, we’ll begin a four-week segment on “The Road Map to Personal Effectiveness.” Week 8’s topic is “Concentration.” Watch for the color commentary by Mark Thrash, Director of Partner Development, Office of the President, at CRM in Anaheim, Calif.

Week 6: Make the Important Rather Than the Urgent Your Priority in Life

Week 6 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. (Subscribe on this page.) David Curry is our guest writer today.

Week 6: Make the Important Rather Than the Urgent Your Priority in Life

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Much of what we do every day is urgent, but not really of lasting importance. Focus instead on the things that will make a difference in the long run. Some tasks you can cut out—and never notice a loss of effectiveness.

DAVID CURRY’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 6, pages 45-50:
   • “You are responsible for allocating your life.”
   • “(Leaders) must learn, in the midst of multiple demands, to give priority, and the necessary time and focus, to the important rather than the urgent.”
   • If there is any one “secret” of effectiveness, it is concentration.

DAVID CURRY’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Drucker’s life in later years is instructive. Aging and not able to physically do many of the things he could do previously, he narrowed his focus and concentrated on eliminating tasks that were not essential—thus making the last third of his life perhaps his most impactful, despite a lack of energy and vigor of his earlier years.

Herein lies the challenge, to imagine (as Drucker suggests) that you have physical handicaps which limit your “super human” ability to do everything—then arrange your life in order to use your time to do those things which are only most important.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY:

David Curry is the CEO at Open Doors USA, Santa Ana, Calif. As part of their mission to serve persecuted Christians worldwide, they publish the annual World Watch List which identifies 50 countries where Christians are the most persecuted.

TO-DO TODAY:
Look at the tasks and obligations which were put upon you, or that you have taken upon yourself, which are not central to the purpose of your life and work. Begin to refine how you spend your time and energy. Where is your focus?

NEXT MONDAY:

Feb. 16, 2015 – Week 7: “Manage in Two Time Dimensions.” Watch for the color commentary by Jason Pearson, Principal, CrossSection, San Clemente, Calif.

 

Week 5: Management Rooted in the Nature of Reality

Week 5 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Click here to subscribe. 


Week 5: Management Rooted in the Nature of Reality

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: What we perceive is shaped by what we know and that can be aided by broadly educating ourselves.

FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 5 pages 34-41:
   • “The ability to quantify is very important in management, yet the unique event that can only be observed through human perception is often more important.”
   • “But management also deals with people, their values, their growth and development—and this makes it a humanity.”

COLOR COMMENTARY:
Too often management is linked only to measuring how individuals and organizations can achieve their desired plans. True management needs to be rooted in empathy and a deep desire to do what is right first—without any hidden goal of self-glorification.

Sadly, today we see self-promotion from leadership that spans from the White House to the local church. Self-absorbed leaders are often great communicators, thus convincing and intoxicating, but underneath the flash is usually an ill-equipped leader or manager. For sure—their behind-the-scene practices do not yield a management style rooted in humility or the nature of reality.

TO-DO TODAY: 
Observe those in management or leadership wherever you might be. Remind them that they are leaders that have the opportunity to make a difference in someone’s day—today—not tomorrow. Today is the chance to show love and respect to a stranger, and if allowed, give them productive insight that will elevate the person without bringing glory to yourself.

NEXT MONDAY:
Feb. 9, 2015 – Week 6: “Make the Important Rather Than the Urgent Your Priority in Life.” Watch for the color commentary by David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, Santa Ana, Calif.

Week 4: Education and Management: Keys to Economic Development

Week 4 of 52. Welcome to Drucker Mondays, a 52-week journey through the new book, A Year with Peter Drucker: 52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness, by Joseph A. Maciariello. Each Monday, we'll feature a Drucker fan and his or her favorite snippet from the week's topic. Click here to subscribe. David Schmidt is our guest writer this week.



Week 4: “Education and Management: Keys to Economic Development”

THE BIG IDEA FROM THE BOOK: Lifelong learning raises the educational and managerial competencies of people, including ourselves. Rising competencies create “wealth” of all kinds.

DAVID SCHMIDT’S FAVORITE DRUCKER INSIGHTS from Week 4, pages 25-33:
   • “It is more effective to allocate resources to educate leaders and would-be leaders in developing countries than it is to provide financial aid.”
   • With the exception of Indonesia, “Islam has been an economic development failure.” (Drucker made this comment in 2002—just eight years before the “Arab Spring” and widespread economic and political unrest began across the Arab world.)

DAVID SCHMIDT’S COLOR COMMENTARY:
Peter Drucker’s bracing quotes above challenge us to think differently about how we invest in ourselves, and people near and far. He saw the value of lifelong learning—“a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change.” Whether on a personal, local or global level, education and developing managerial competencies are worthy investments.

A current client, motivated by compassion and wanting to apply Drucker’s thinking here, recently introduced a monthly “lunch and learn” for support staff (not just leaders) using the Global Leadership Summit Team Edition videos. This isn’t rocket science. You have to care about developing the competencies of everyone on the team.

THIS WEEK’S QUOTES & COMMENTARY BY: 
J. David Schmidt is the president of J. David Schmidt & Associates, Wheaton, Ill. He notes, “I never met Peter Drucker, but I have met people who applied what they learned from him. And I am better for it.”

TO-DO TODAY: 

[  ] Stop: Focusing on your own learning, solely. And stop thinking that every time you do a Google search, read a Tweet or attend a Christian conference that you are “keeping abreast of change.” 
[  ] Start: Asking a couple of people who know you, to what extent they see you as a lifelong learner. Act on what you hear. Take a step away from being an information sponge to learning something that deepens you. Find new people from whom you can learn something new. Consider people younger than yourself as a learning resource.
[  ] Continue: To keep learning—if you are a lifelong learner. Ask co-workers to join you. Identify one person younger than yourself to join in the journey of lifelong learning.

NEXT MONDAY: 
Feb. 2, 2015 – Week 5: “Management Rooted in the Nature of Reality.” Watch for the color commentary and learn what book Drucker named “the best book on leadership.”