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November 24, 2020

How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions

Issue No. 453 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a timely new book by Susan Eisenhower on her famous grandfather, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. My grandfather (less famous, but an Oregon delegate to the 1956 GOP convention), ensured that I proudly wore “I LIKE IKE” buttons during Ike’s campaigns. (My sixth birthday was just two days before Ike’s 1952 landslide victory.) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2016 review of The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity.

“Let’s not make our mistakes in a hurry.”

Attn: Grandparents! Could one of your grandchildren write a 387-page book about you? A fascinating book? A book about leadership?

Attn: Grandkids (and Parents)! Read Susan Eisenhower’s account of her famous grandfather, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the U.S. (1953-1961). (Then tell your Grammy that when she becomes U.S. President, you’ll write a book about her!)

How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions covers some tumultuous decades in the world, including World War II when “Ike” was a five-star general in the U.S. Army and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.

But, as Susan Eisenhower relates, the war hero turned politician wasn’t really a politician at all. (Sounds good! Tell me more!) Both Democrats and Republicans vied for his loyalty and Ike, reluctantly at first, agreed to run as a Republican. He championed the “Middle Way” and defeated Adlai Stevenson twice to serve his nation eight years as U.S. President.

And speaking of ballot counting, look at these stunning Electoral College numbers:
• 1952 Electoral Votes: Eisenhower (442) vs. Stevenson (89)
• 1956 Electoral Votes: Eisenhower (457) vs. Stevenson (73)

The author wastes no time in describing the principles that guided Ike’s leadership style. While his military background obviously influenced him, he didn’t surround himself with “Yes” men. She quotes Gen. Andrew Goodpaster (“Ike’s trusted White House staff secretary and defense liaison”), noting the President’s bias toward “the long haul.”

Gen. Goodpaster: “It is critical to determine which of all the areas of national affairs are the ‘long poles’ and which ones are the ‘short poles.’” She adds, “It should be noted that the long poles, if they are not kept sturdy through reinforcement and timely maintenance can bring down the whole tent.” (Memo to self: use this metaphor!)

Goodpaster, who worked with the author at the Eisenhower Institute, often recalled Ike’s maxims:
• “All generalizations are false including this one.”
• “Let’s not make our mistakes in a hurry.”
• “Take your job seriously, but never yourself.”
And the question most often asked by the President at cabinet meetings:
• “What’s best for America?—for the country as a whole?”

SOUL-WRACKING PROBLEMS. Ike gave a 1960 speech “in which he eloquently recalled the airborne and the weather decisions he had made on the eve of the Normandy invasion, only sixteen years earlier. He noted that ‘for years thereafter I felt that only once in a lifetime could a problem of this sort weigh so heavily upon a man’s mind and heart . . . but I know in this age the President encounters [such] soul-wracking problems many times in a single term of office.” (Memo to self: pray for our presidents.)

CHARACTER CLUES. “Corporate boards, consulting work, accepting speaking honorariums ‘I could decline out of hand,’ he wrote later. ‘I did not believe it fitting for me, a man who had been honored by his government with military responsibilities, to profit financially for no other reason than that my name was widely known.’” His granddaughter adds, “Aside from writing, this was a policy he adopted in the immediate aftermath of victory in Europe and retained for the rest of his life.”

COMRADES, NOT CRONIES. A cabinet official described Ike’s relationships with his team members, “We were comrades in arms, but not cronies.” And Ike leveraged the nuances of word choice. Susan Eisenhower writes, “The respect the president afforded his colleagues could be discerned in the way he would respond to an issue. Ike did not say at press conferences, ‘I have directed the Secretary,’ but rather, ‘I have approved the Secretary’s proposal.’” Ike once said, “It is better to have one person working with you than three working for you.” (Italics added by the author.)

DON’T BE CUTE. The author notes that Jim Hagerty, Ike’s press secretary, recalled that Ike had several fundamental rules for press conferences: “[One], if an error [is] made, admit it in detail and spell it out so that it [tells] the complete story of the error, and two, . . . show a plan for preventing the recurrence of any such error. Then stand your ground. Be dignified but tough. Say it was an error. Say it won’t happen again and don’t say anything else. [And three,] Don’t try to be cute or cover up. It you do, you will get so entangled you won’t know what you’re doing.”

DON’T CRITICIZE PUBLICLY. “As his presidency progressed, the president would also refuse to counter his critics, and would not criticize them publicly.” (Memo to self: practice this!)

A FEAST! This book (published in August 2020) is a feast of leadership principles. I wrote 35 notes—all important—that I wanted to share with you, but I’ve run out of room. For example, the family snippets from Susan Eisenhower are poignant and memorable:
• The letters between Ike and his younger brother, Milton (president of three universities including Penn State), are revealing. When Ike encouraged Milton to skip athletics and be the family’s intellectual, Milton later told Susan, “In effect, your grandfather gave me permission to be myself.”
• “…the Gettysburg vegetable garden at their personal farm, often yielded produce that Ike and Mamie [the First Lady] sent to the White House, at no cost to the taxpayer, for state dinners as well as family meals. Mamie clipped coupons for the White House shopper and could often be heard to say, ‘Don’t run it on the eagle’—which meant not to waste taxpayers’ money.”

• And don’t skip the “baby letter” account on pages 115-116. During the 1952 campaign, Ike personally signed as many letters as humanly possible—including hundreds to proud parents who wrote, “Our little Herman looks exactly like you!” At whistle-stop rallies, supporters would shout out, “General, we got your letter!” The “battered letters” had been “all over town—to various clubs and churches so others could see the general’s reply.”
• And LOL! The Republican National Committee complained about Ike’s excessive postage budget! After a second complaint letter from the RNC, “he quipped that [an aide] ought to write to the RNC and ask them: ‘How long has it been since you had a winner!?’” (Ike was the first Republican to win the White House since Herbert Hoover in the 1928 election.)

Note: My grandfather, Arthur B. Carlson, urged Scandinavians to vote for Ike. He often wrote weekly letters to the President and Vice President and received numerous personal responses. Note the 1960 first class four-cent postage stamp!

While there’s little mention of Ike’s VP, Richard Nixon, be sure to read why the touted “missile gap” in the 1960 Kennedy vs. Nixon campaign was actually fake news. And if you want to go deeper on the 1956 global crisis over the Suez Canal (see Chapter 11, “Principles and Tenacity in Times of Crisis”), read Eisenhower 1956: The President’s Year of Crisis—Suez and the Brink of War, by David A. Nichols. (Read my review.)

Plus, ponder Ike’s deep insights about the Holocaust—and how he strategically illuminated the horror. Finally, learn how Ike balanced risk and reward in the Delegation Bucket, when—addressing Far East issues early in his career—he dispatched an entire division (15,000 – 20,000 men) to Australia without asking for permission. “Rather than taking offense at this, [Gen. George] Marshall determined that Ike was exactly the kind of man he was looking for: someone who could make decisions and live with the consequences.”

On behalf of grandparents everywhere, thank you, Susan Eisenhower, for a spectacular book! I like Ike—even more. (And thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions, by Susan Eisenhower. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (12 hours, 24 minutes), narrated by Bernadette Dunne and Susan Eisenhower. (This includes a newly remastered version of President Eisenhower's 1961 Farewell Address.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Ike’s military staff engaged brilliant wordsmiths to draft the “victory” press release—signaling the end of World War II. General Eisenhower rejected every self-serving draft and, instead, he wrote one sentence to the Combined Chiefs of Staff! “The mission of this Allied Force was fulfilled at 0241, local time, May 7th, 1945.” So…when should brevity punctuate our successes in our organization?
2) Susan Eisenhower quotes General Goodpaster who once said to President Eisenhower, “It must take guts to delegate.” Ike’s reply quoted the 19th century German general Helmuth von Moltke, “Centralization is the refuge of fear.” So…on a scale of one to five (five is excellent), how gutsy are we in the Delegation Bucket?

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"You Can't Do a Thousand Things"
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

Speaking of presidential transitions (Oh, my!), here are two excellent books that all leaders in transition (now or later) should read:

#1. To read my review and order from Amazon, click on the title for The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duff.

On President Lyndon B. Johnson, the authors note: “He moved Eisenhower’s portrait to a more prominent position, so that it would be visible in the background of pictures of Johnson greeting various White House guests.”

#2. President Jimmy Carter’s chief of staff called his position, “Chief Javelin Catcher!” Here’s another must-read book. Jam-packed with leadership insights, I wrote two reviews for The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, by Chris Whipple. To read my review and order from Amazon, click on the title.

When Erskine Bowles served as President Bill Clinton’s second chief of staff, he “carried around a card with the president’s top priorities written on it—and rebelled when Clinton tried to go off script. ‘One day the president came out of his office and he had another one of his great ideas,’ he recalls. ‘And believe me, they were unbelievably great ideas. And I turned to him and said, ‘Mr. President, you have got to go right back into that Oval Office, right now!

“‘You’ve got to look at this list of things that you and I agreed you wanted to get done. Not that I wanted to get done, but you wanted to get done. If you will stay focused on those three or four things, I can set up the organization and the structure and the focus to make ‘em real. But you can’t do a thousand things.’”

For the master list of my book reviews (segmented within the 20 buckets/core competencies), visit the Book Bucket.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Ever had outside eyes give you frank feedback on how you’re positioning your leader and your senior leaders on your website, in eNewsletters, or in print? Check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Tags: Eisenhower

November 16, 2020

Oh God, I’m Dying! How God Redeems Pain for Our Good and for His Glory

Issue No. 452 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a leader’s very transparent personal journey through pain and suffering. It’s sobering, but soothing. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2016 review of Serve Strong: Biblical Encouragement to Sustain God’s Servants, also by Terry Powell. He writes that Merrill C. Tenney once told his class, “The devil never opposes insignificant work.”

Tire Tracks to Transparency

Hey! Quit your whining, complaining, and yammering. You’re not on a 40-year wilderness trek with Moses—and you’re not Mark Smith.

OK, let me soften that a tad. Perhaps you are experiencing pain—emotional, physical, relational, and more—but, good news, the authors of Oh God, I’m Dying have encouragement for you. Terry Powell and Mark Smith believe you can learn “how God redeems pain for our good and His glory.”

If you’re a leader—and you’re learning that leadership is challenging, you’re not alone. The authors note, “For a Christian leader—whether the venue is a church, parachurch organization or a school—the job description often comes wrapped in a burden.”

But there’s help! This book is a page-turner and could be a game-changer. I read it slowly over multiple mornings of quiet and reflection, but the back cover says you can read it in just 144 minutes. I don’t recommend a speed-reading marathon. This is a deep dive. Here’s why:

WHAM! “Oh God, I’m dying!” was Mark Smith’s helpless cry to God. Life looked good at age 30, then WHAM—a 1996 horrific car accident changed his life forever. After 45 minutes in his mangled Ford Taurus, rescuers used the “jaws of life” to extract this young leader. His body and his future looked bleak and painful. Doctors predicted months and months in the hospital.

A car swerved into his car and “the head-on collision sounded like a small bomb detonating,” and “the impact knocked Mark’s car a total of 80 feet off the road” and into an Indiana cornfield. (The other driver also survived.) Regaining consciousness, Mark “wasn’t sure he had a future on earth, but Mark felt the overwhelming presence of the One who controlled his future.”

Yet, this young college administrator, pastor, husband, and father (blessed with a one-year-old son), wondered if his walk with God and the sermon on grace and weakness he had just preached hours before (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)—would be sufficient for the long days and nights ahead.

POP QUIZ! I asked myself—and you may want to ask yourself—could you pass this test? Would your answer echo the Apostle Paul’s courageous response?

“It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.” (The Message)

Whew. Page after page, I cautiously wondered. Did this book interrupt my comfortable routine to prepare me for something coming? Do I want to endure pain to learn strength? Not really…but I continued reading. Maybe you should read this too. Ten reasons:

#1. MAXWELL ENDORSES. John C. Maxwell’s endorsement: “This book teaches you how to learn from and how to persevere in tough times.”

#2. MEMORABLE STORY. Amazingly, co-author Terry Powell (click here for my review of Powell’s book, Serve Strong) convinced Mark Smith to tell his story. Everyone has a story—but in just 169 pages (plus notes and resources), you’ll never forget this story—and the leadership lessons.

#3. MORPHING PAIN. Even today (24 years later), “What starts in the afternoon as a throbbing ache morphs into a burning sensation within a couple of hours. By eight p.m., he labels it a ‘roaring pain,’ as if an accelerant had been injected into the fire already glowing in his neck, left arm and hip. By 10:00 p.m., the ferocity of the pain generates tears.”

#4. MARK’S DAY JOB. You’re not gonna believe this! Dr. Mark Smith’s day job is president of Columbia International University in South Carolina. What’s a tougher job than leading an institution of higher education? Leading a university while coping with debilitating pain—every day.

#5. MIDNIGHT BALM. The long nights in those early days of unbearable pain pointed Mark Smith to the Scriptures he had previously memorized. You’ll delight in the powerful words of God generously sprinkled across the pages. And get this—dozens of Bible verses are highlighted with unique graphics above and below the Scripture—black tire tracks!

“The text most precious to Mark during his recovery was Psalm 34, especially verses 1-7.”

#6. MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL. The authors quote Marsha Hays, “Music is medicine for the soul.” In the brilliant last half of the book, the authors highlight 10 “Faith Lessons.” Lesson 5, “Using Music to Soothe the Soul” notes that when Mark’s spirit sagged, “God’s Spirit used hymns to massage his mind and restore his focus on the gospel.” When I read this short chapter—I couldn’t resist: “Alexa, play ‘My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.’”

#7. MORE LESSONS. The 10 short faith lessons for helping “God’s people deal with pain and suffering” are both soothing and sobering. (Feature one-per-week at your weekly staff meeting.)
• Faith Lesson 1: Clinging to God’s Word
• Faith Lesson 2: Pleading With God
• Faith Lesson 3: Embracing Brokenness
• Faith Lesson 9: Comforting Persons Who Hurt
• Faith Lesson 10: Redeeming Pain

#8. MATURITY CHECK-UP. “Releasing Resentment,” the fourth faith lesson, quotes St. Augustine: “Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.” Powell and Smith list eight very-very-convicting questions on releasing resentment, including this poke-in-the-ribs: “Have I stopped telling others what this person did to me?” (See Ephesians 4:29.)

#9. MONEY MIRACLES. I hesitate to mention Chapter 9, “Nowhere to Look but Up!” because my nonprofit CEO and fundraising colleagues will immediately read this chapter first—but please don’t. Terry Powell chronicles God’s blessing on the fundraising initiatives of Mark Smith over his career at three universities. Talk about miracle stories! Wow! But, if you skip Mark’s journey from a mangled Ford Taurus to the leadership of a major Christian university (Chapters 1 to 8)—you’ll miss the big idea of this book. They quote D.A. Carson:

“One of the things held out to grieving or suffering believers is the prospect of being more fruitful than they could have ever imagined.”

#10. MINISTRY GUTS. This story—this book—in the wrong hands with the wrong words could have been an egotistical tribute to a self-absorbed leader. It’s not. It took guts for Terry Powell to ask Mark Smith to share his story. And it took guts and transparency for Mark Smith to let us in on God’s grace in his life. The two of them—beautifully—contrast human frailties and weakness with God’s grace and power.

This is a very special book and I urge you to read this wisdom and share it with others.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Oh God, I’m Dying! How God Redeems Pain for Our Good and for His Glory, by Terry Powell and Mark Smith. Note: the paperback ships on Nov. 24. Click here for the Kindle Edition (available now).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The authors quote Charles H. Spurgeon: “Within the Scripture there is a balm for every wound, a salve for every sore.” Mark Smith found solace in Psalm 34. What Scripture refocuses your mind from your self to your Savior?
2) The authors write, “The library shelves of Christian colleges and seminaries sag with the weight of pastoral and theological tomes on the issues pertaining to suffering and faith.” But gratefully, the authors list 16 additional books on the topic, plus organizations that help people address pain and suffering in God-honoring ways. What resource have you found helpful to understand pain and God’s grace?
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Attn: Fundraisers! Never, ever, ever…send the same donor appeal to donors and non-donors. Never!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

Speaking of fundraising (see above) and the Donor Bucket, I recall attending a direct mail fundraising workshop years ago. The Big Name Consultant recommended that U.S. nonprofit leaders schedule their year-end fundraising appeals to arrive—get this—on the day after Thanksgiving. Not sure if that’s still good wisdom or not. (I’ll be waiting by my mailbox on Nov. 27 for your letter!)

But here’s some reliable take-it-to-the-bank wisdom (no pun intended): Never, ever, ever—send the same donor appeal to donors and non-donors. If I had $10 for every donor letter that THANKED me for my previous giving (when I’ve never/ever given to that organization), well…you know the rest.

Instead (at least) try simplified segmenting:
• Letter A is written to current donors.
• Letter B is written to prospects who have never/ever given. The goal: cross the line into the giver’s circle. (Then, customize the receipt/thank you letter to acknowledge the first-time gift. Get creative!)

It’s pretty simple—but my mailbox reports that no one’s attended my Simplified Segmenting Workshop. When you’re ready for the advanced workshop, segment your Letter A group into four segments, per R. Mark Dillon’s counsel in Giving & Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide. He divides current givers into four groups:
• The Gifted Giver (2-5% of givers)
• The Thoughtful Giver (15-25% of givers)
• The Casual Giver (35-50% of givers)
• The Reluctant Giver (perhaps 33% of givers)

And—this is encouraging—the Gifted Giver will show up at the dedication of a new building and ask, “What’s next?” Dillon says “the gifted giver seldom needs to be asked.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Giving & Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide, by R. Mark Dillon. Click here to read my review.

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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Do your fund development materials and videos need a refresh? Are you segmenting your donors and your customers effectively? Check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Tags: leadership, pain, suffering

October 25, 2020

Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings: 2021 Day-to-Day Calendar

Issue No. 451 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a laugh-out-loud 2021 day-to-day calendar that exposes all your lame meeting clichés! LOL! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, read my June review of Practicing the Present: The Neglected Art of Living in the Now.

2021 Calendar Mocks My Meetings Bucket

News flash! It appears that Year 2020 will never end.

Solution! Order this 2021 Day-to-Day Calendar immediately—and start living in the future. (You’re welcome!)

My 2021 joke-a-day calendar just arrived—and I can’t stop laughing! To be clear— I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS 2021 CALENDAR—but I did buy it, and I can’t stop laughing. I’ve already read every punchline from January 1 to December 31—and even with my mask and my muffled laughter, I already feel better saying goodbye to 2020.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS 2021 CALENDAR. Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings (2021 Day-to-Day Calendar) makes a mockery of my Meetings Bucket. This daily calendar is irreverent. It abuses agendas, disparages decision-making, and its cheeky arrogance is contemptuous. I couldn’t stop laughing. Here’s why:

MEANINGLESS METAPHORS:
• January 4: Use sports metaphors. “If something is great, say it’s a home run. Tell the team to skate to where the puck is going to be and keep the ball rolling until you throw in the towel.”
• January 12: Ask, “Will this scale?” no matter what it is. “No one even really knows what this means, but it’s a good catchall question that drives everyone nuts and definitely makes you look smart.”
• January 18: Ask if this is a crawl, a walk, or a run. “No matter what idea is being discussed, it’s always good to ask if this is a crawl, a walk, or a run. For bonus points, ask when the team will be able to fly.”

WHITEBOARD WIZARDRY:
• January 28: Focus on the vision. “Go to the whiteboard and write the word ‘vision’ with a circle around it. Remind everyone that everything we do must revolve around vision.” (Ouch! See my recent issue on vision!)
• April 23: Ask everyone to think outside the box. “Go up to the whiteboard and draw a box. Say, ‘We don’t want to think inside the box.’ Now draw an arrow pointing outside the box. Ask, ‘How can we think outside the box?’”
• May 14: Talk about the back end and the front end. “Write ‘back end’ and ‘front end’ with an arrow connecting them on the whiteboard. Say ‘We just need to hook up the back end to the front end.’ You’ll seem very technical.”
• December 10: Say we need to focus on customers. “Go to the whiteboard and draw a few stick figures. Circle one of them and say, ‘This is Lucy. Lucy’s a Mom. What does Lucy want? Who cares. What do we want? That’s a trick. What does Lucy want?’”

POWERPOINTS & PRESENTATIONS:
• January 26: Ask the presenter to go back a slide. “This will immediately make you look like you’re paying closer attention than anyone else. Then, after staring at the slide silently for several seconds, say ‘Ok, we can move on.’”
• October 2/3: How to become a keynote speaker. “Step 1: Put ‘Keynote Speaker’ in your bio. Step 2: You’re done.” (Note: The two-day weekend pages are hilarious!)
• September 25/26: Meeting Achievement Sticker. “Did you go to a meeting this month where you successfully projected your screen on the third try? Congrats! You get a sticker!” (The sticker reads, “Successfully projected my screen on 3rd try.”)

TRITE TIPS:
• January 5: Suggest a walking meeting. “Say you enjoy walking meetings because they clear your mind, just like they did for Steve Jobs. Now people will think you’re as smart as Steve Jobs.”
• January 11: Give your meeting a fun name. “When scheduling your meeting, call it something like a touchbase, powwow, huddle, sync session, roundup, tagup, or thought shower. This will throw people off the scent that this is going to be an excruciating meeting.”
• July 1: When taking meetings in Canada, apologize a lot. “Normally, apologizing is a sign of weakness, but saying you’re sorry in Canada is just how they do things. Start every sentence with ‘Sorry,’ and you’ll gain their trust in no time.”

REMINDER: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS 2021 CALENDAR. And one caveat—before you buy it for co-workers and friends, there may be a few days, with a few inappropriate words, you’ll want to delete from the calendar. (Hey! Why is March 4 missing?)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings (2021 Day-to-Day Calendar): How to Get by Without Even Trying, by Sarah Cooper

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Numerous "meeting tricks” in this calendar are Zoom-meeting-hilarious! Check out November 3, “On a conference call, ask, ‘Who’s speaking?’ If someone starts talking without announcing who they are, interrupt them with, ‘Who’s speaking?’ Remind everyone to identify themselves before speaking, and you will be seen as a true leader.” Suggestion: at the start of every Zoom meeting (or in-person meeting), ask a team member to read their favorite meeting trick from this calendar.
2) July 9 has its own trite bite. “Randomly alternate between agreeing and disagreeing. No one should be able to predict if you’re going to like or approve of anything. You know, like how it is with anyone in leadership.” Yikes! Seriously now—is your leadership based on a set of values so team members can regularly predict your response?
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“No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.”
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

One of the top book recommendations in the Team Bucket is The Cure: What If God Isn’t Who You Think He Is and Neither Are You, by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall. My favorite insight: “No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.”

Good news! The latest resource from the Trueface Team has arrived! Two Roads: A 4-Part Group Study of The Cure is a resource-rich small group combo of book study, video, and audio—perfectly packaged for this COVID-19 season.

And to be clear, I DO RECOMMEND THIS STUDY and it’s the perfect length—just four weeks.

Week 2 asks, “What mask am I wearing?” (How did the authors know so much about masks—writing before COVID?!) In the application section, the Trueface Team suggests this:

“Set aside time every morning before you start the day with a prayer asking God to help you take your mask off. Think about the mask you most often wear, then remind yourself, ‘That’s not who I really am. I don’t have to pretend to be that person.’”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Two Roads: A 4-Part Group Study of The Cure, by The Trueface Team. Trueface equips people “to experience the freedom of living beyond the mask.” Click here for more information.

P.S. And if you’re a big Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fan during this World Series (like John Lynch), you’ll appreciate another Trueface resource. Read my review of On My Worst Day: Cheesecake, Evil, Sandy Koufax and Jesus, by John Lynch.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. If your staff or customers are faking it in meetings—to appear interested in your products, programs, and services—you need communication tools with substance (not whiteboard trickery). Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Tags: meetings

October 13, 2020

Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade

Issue No. 450 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a definite nominee for my 2020 book-of-the-year honors. In this eNews, I’m going to persuade you to read Trey Gowdy’s new book on persuasion. (See how I did that?) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, here’s my May review of Non-Obvious Megatrends.

Trey Gowdy’s Persuasion Mistakes

Trey Gowdy, who served eight years in Congress (2011-2019), confesses, “The mistakes made early in my career were many and largely rooted in two areas: not understanding the dynamics of persuasion and not understanding the nature and characteristics of those I was try to persuade.”

I thought I knew a thing or two about persuasion—because I’ve been “persuading” people my entire life (or so I thought): family, friends, staff members, board chairs, board members, donors, clients, airline check-in desks (any upgrades?), and more.

Yikes! Then I read Trey Gowdy’s hot-off-the-press book, Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade. Apparently, I’ve been arguing, imposing my will, machine-gunning facts, interrupting, and worse—but not persuading!

Now I realize…I knew nothing about persuasion—but, gratefully, Trey Gowdy’s graduate level course in the precise practice of persuasion has seriously inspired me! I predict his book will dramatically change your thinking about how you persuade others. It’s already changed my thinking. Gowdy’s book has some very stiff competition, but it just might be my 2020 book-of-the-year—it’s that good.

Practice Makes Persuasion. As a former state and federal prosecutor, Trey Gowdy noted that his young litigators “needed two things: confidence and practice. We didn’t start in the courtroom. We started in the conference room. I would have them stand up and convince me to go see their favorite movie. That was the challenge—convince me that your favorite movie is worth my time.” (Try that at your weekly staff meeting—and then inspire your team to read Gowdy’s book.)

Divert and Deflect. In the section, “Plan and Prepare for Your Strengths and Weaknesses,” Gowdy urges you to spend serious prep time on the topic, “What do you least want to be asked yourself?” When stuck, Gowdy’s Plan B is to ask “unusual questions that divert and deflect.”

If it’s still not going well, he employs two tricks—but he warns: “They are both extreme.” The first trick: silence. “Silence is the greatest attention grabber in the world.” This one powerful paragraph will come in handy soon, I’m sure! “Learn the timing of silence—longer than a breath but not long enough that others think it’s a nap.”

The second trick: filibuster. “We are taught not to interrupt. We are taught to listen.” But he adds, “The most difficult witness to examine in Congress and in courtrooms are those witnesses who . . . simply . . . will . . . not . . . stop talking. Juries do not like rude people who interrupt and they certainly do not like to be interrupted.”

Master Your Favorite Persuasion Tool. After detailing dozens of that’s-a-great-idea persuasion tools and techniques—generously illustrated with memorable stories inside Congress and the courtroom—Trey Gowdy concludes with this:

“Just as you should identify your best communications gift, you should also identify your favorite persuasion tool. Which of the tools we have discussed would you enjoy most being highly skilled at? Which one could you see yourself mastering?”

Oh…If I Could Only Replay My Videotape! While genuinely inspired about mastering my favorite persuasion tools—the book brought to mind my inept persuasion performances in at least 10 real-life situations. Arrrgh! If Gowdy had only written this book 20 years sooner! For practice, I’m replaying those videos in my mind—and I’m using “the power of questions” to move those emotional situations to a better outcome. Fortunately, I don’t have to persuade Our Holy God to shower me with grace. He’s already done that.

10 FAVORITES. This was tough—picking just 10 persuasive points:
#1. Favorite chapter: “There Is Such a Thing as a Stupid Question.” (Hilarious!)
#2. Favorite mentor: The mother of Trey Gowdy’s childhood best friend. In just 30 minutes with a stunning use of questions—she helped Gowdy change the trajectory of his post-college plans and his life. (Did I mention—stunning!)
#3. Favorite courtroom scene: When Gowdy repeatedly asked a one-eyed witness, “Okay, what color was the blue bag?” (You’ll LOL along with the entire courtroom!)
#4. Favorite insight: “Stupid questions are better than stupid answers.” He adds, “It’s the difference between sounding stupid and being stupid.”
#5. Favorite license plate: US SENATOR 2. Why did Gowdy’s close friend, Sen. Tim Scott, choose that South Carolina license plate? “Trey, I was stopped [by police] seven times in one year as an elected official. Seven. I want the officers to know I am not a threat to them so nothing bad happens to me. I want to be safe, Trey, and stay alive.”
#6. Favorite axiom: “The most persuasive are the persuadable.” (Convicting!)
#7. Favorite contrasts: “Persuasion is not debating.” And, “Debating is science. Persuasion is art.” And, “Debating is for the best talker. Persuasion is for the better listener.”
#8. Favorite definition: Chapter 5, “The Burden of Proof Is in the Pudding.” The scale of burden of proof—absolutely fascinating: “Consent (0%), Articulable Suspicion (20-25%), Probable Cause (35-50%), Preponderance (50.1%), Clear and Convincing (75%), Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (95%), Beyond All Doubt (Ha! Impossible.)”
#9. Favorite short course on questioning: Brilliant explanations and examples of Leading Questions and Non-Leading Questions—and when to use them. (This reminded me of the AWE question in The Advice Trap.)
#10. Favorite impeachment insights (three categories of impeachment): Impeach the facts, impeach the conclusion, or impeach the person. (See chapter nine.)

Persuasive, Not Political. Although Trey Gowdy interjects numerous stories from the House committees he served on (or chaired), including Judiciary, Oversight, Intelligence, and the Select Committee on Benghazi, this book is not political—it’s persuasive, in the same way Rumsfeld’s Rules is not political.

Did I mention this might be my 2020 book-of-the-year? Enjoy! And thanks to Dick Daniels and Jason Pearson for recommending the book. (Jason’s a big fan of the audio version, narrated by Trey Gowdy—especially the courtroom scenes.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Doesn't Hurt to Ask: Using the Power of Questions to Communicate, Connect, and Persuade, by Trey Gowdy. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (8 hours, 52 minutes), narrated by Trey Gowdy.

SEARCH YOUTUBE: “Trey Gowdy, Power of Persuasion.” Check out the Q&A videos on YouTube featuring interviews with Trey Gowdy, including this Q&A with the Commonwealth Club (Sept. 2, 2020). And watch his persuasion approach at a pre-Fourth of July Sunday talk at Second Baptist Church, Houston (June 28, 2020). Learn why Gowdy drove two nuns from Washington, D.C. to Charlotte, N.C.!

Click here to view a Q&A on persuasion with Trey Gowdy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Trey Gowdy overcame his fear of public speaking by understanding that “there is no such thing as ‘public speaking’ because there is no such thing as ‘public listening.’” Because people process info individually—just focus, he says, on one person or one camera—whether it’s five in the room or 15,000. “Furthermore,” he writes, “most people are forgiving and will overlook (or flat out miss) mistakes.” When is the last time you’ve read a book on persuasion and effective communication? Is it time for a refresher?
2) Trey Gowdy sets the courtroom scene in Chapter 16, “How Do You Know If You’ve Got It?” Before you read his poignant closing argument to the jury in a death penalty case, he challenges readers: “Make your closing argument.” Powerful—and what a memorable weekly staff meeting you could facilitate around this “Dateline” setting. Try it!

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YIKES! Issue No. 449 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 1, 2020) was not emailed to subscribers, but is posted here on John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Read my rant: “Amazon Blocked My Review! Yikes!” Sadly, Amazon has blocked my review of a documentary film—but refuses to tell me why.
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Mastering “Cultures of Connection”
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Culture Bucket affirms, “We strive to create a corporate culture with core values that are crystal clear. We yearn for a God-honoring workplace where grace and trust are alive and well.”

This past weekend on Fox NFL Sunday, Michael Strahan, the popular analyst and Hall of Fame member who played his entire 15-year pro football career with the New York Giants—made a startling statement. Discussing his coach, Tom Coughlin, Strahan said it wasn’t until Coughlin began connecting with his players—off the field—that the team took shape and went on to win Super Bowl XLII over the New England Patriots in 2007—Strahan’s final season.

It reminded me of the book by another Michael S., Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work, by Michael Lee Stallard, Jason Pankau, and Katharine P. Stallard. Click here to read my 2015 review, “Coach K's Aha Moment!” I noted that Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski (“Coach K”) would agree that he was clueless about the power of connection—until his “Aha!” moment with his wife and three daughters around the family dinner table.

Good News! The revised, second edition of Connection Culture was published last month—and just in time! As you address the COVID-19 ripple effect, this book is needed now more than ever. The updates include additional insights and examples from organizations and companies that have mastered “cultures of connection.”

When you press “END” after your next Zoom call, reflect on Michael Stallard’s warning: “Employees who feel regularly left out, lonely, or out of the loop are not going to be able to do their best work and may not wish to.” Yikes!

To order the revised edition from Amazon, click on the title for Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work (Second Edition), by Michael Lee Stallard, Todd W. Hall, Katharine P. Stallard, and Jason Pankau. (And thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.)

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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. In his chapter on “Repetition, Repetition, Repetition,” Trey Gowdy writes about advertising’s “Rule of Seven” and the power of “effective frequency.” For help on crafting a communication plan that leverages repetition, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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11:52 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: persuasion, Trey Gowdy

October 01, 2020

Amazon Blocked My Review! Yikes!

Issue No. 449 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting was not sent via email—but is only posted online here.

Amazon Says "No" to My Review of
Citizen Trump Film

Sadly, Amazon has blocked my review of a documentary film—but refuses to tell me why. My disappointment with the people at Amazon is so, so frustrating. And that’s sad, because on so many levels I’m a raving fan of Amazon.

And—get this—the multiple communications from Amazon to me are so uncharacteristic of their 14 principles (core values) as detailed on their website here and in the book I reviewed in January 2020, The Amazon Management System: The Ultimate Digital Business Engine That Creates Extraordinary Value for Both Customers and Shareholders, by Ram Charan and Julia Yang. (Read my review.)

Hang with me here—and perhaps you’ll see “customer service” from a new perspective and discern if your organization’s “walk” equals your “talk.”

SEPT. 9, 2020. I posted my review of the documentary film, Citizen Trump, on my blogsite (click here and read the second article). This informative video contrasts the character in the film, Citizen Kane (President Trump’s favorite film), with Trump’s leadership style—and the savvy use of the media. As noted in my review, the film by Robert Orlando is neither a hit piece nor a promo piece. I’ve learned that some Democrats and some Republicans are not fans of the film, but others are. My take: the film is absolutely fascinating.

SEPT. 15, 2020 (Tues. 2:17 p.m. PDT). As per my routine, I always post my book and film reviews also on Amazon’s website. But…shockeroo! It was rejected! So I emailed Amazon: “I just tried to post a review of the Citizen Trump documentary film and got this message:

‘We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. If you would like to contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.’”

I also alerted Amazon, in this email, that I was legit. I noted, “I have posted 409 reviews of books and videos, with 3,075 helpful votes, and 50,000+ views. My ‘Reviewer ranking’ is #14,123.”

No response!

SEPT. 19, 2020 (Sat. 8:10 a.m. PDT). OK, I thought, Amazon is busy. Maybe I should send a gentle nudge? I emailed again:

“See my inquiry from Sept. 15, 2020 (Tuesday). As of today (Sept. 19, Saturday), I have not received a response.

“If there was something inappropriate with my first review (or it violated a guideline), I’ve written a new review here, but Amazon will still not let me post it. I continue to get this message:

“’We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. If you would like to contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.’”

I could not post my revised review. (See below to read it.)

No response!

SEPT. 25, 2020 (Fri. 10:13 a.m. PDT). Hmmm. Even though I’m a long-time Amazon Prime Member and I can view the video for free—maybe I need to purchase the video in order to write a review.

So…I purchase the video for $1.99 and receive a confirmation email from Amazon at 10:13 a.m., and since I had already viewed the video, I clicked on the link “REVIEW THIS ITEM.”

No dice! Amazon’s ingenious “AI” must have recognized the guy who has successfully posted 409 reviews on Amazon, and thought: “Here’s Pearson, again. Block that guy!” Huh?

SEPT. 25, 2020 (Fri. 11 a.m. PDT). And now this is why (at least in the past) I’ve been a raving fan of Amazon. I find the Customer Service webpages and ask a customer service rep to call me. I enjoyed a 19-minute phone call with “Sonika S.” She was pleasant, eager to help, and very responsive to my requests.

I explained the dilemma (Amazon was blocking me from posting a review of Citizen Trump) and she agreed to go to bat for me.

She promised to call back—specifically—on Sept. 27, 2020, Sunday 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Wow! Finally…I’ll have an empathetic live person to help me. I love Amazon!

Note: I also mentioned to my new friend, Sonika, that—ironically—I had received a “spoofing email” this same morning at 10:28 a.m. The message looked legit (no typos!) but the “Amazon Proclamation - Account Usage Suspension” was bogus. She offered to inform the “Spoofing Dept.” I thank her. (And, I received a helpful email from stop-spoofing@amazon.com at 11:54 a.m. PDT, which I responded to. That was fast!)

SEPT. 25, 2020 (Fri. 11:32 a.m. PDT). I received a personal follow-up email from “Sonika S.” confirming the Sept. 27 call-back. (But, I had hoped not to be called “Ms. John!”)

Hello Ms. [sic] John,

This is Sonika, Thanks for contacting Amazon Customer Service I hope your [sic] having a great day.

I relayed your information to the team trained to handle this scenario. You should hear back from them in the next 1-2 business days.

Keep in mind Ms. [sic] John that I'll be calling you back within the next 24-48 hours to check about the updates of your forms, I'll call September 27, 2020, at 8am Pacific Time.

We hope to see you again soon.

SEPT. 25, 2020 (Fri. 2:14 p.m. PDT). I received a “Message From Customer Service” that, I assume, was prompted by my new friend, Sonika. This was from another new friend, “Lou C.”

Hello,

Your review on "Citizen Trump: A One Man Show" was removed because your account is related to another reviewer of this title. I’m sorry for any frustrations this may cause but our guidelines prohibit related accounts from submitting reviews on the same items.

Lou signed his email, “Best regards.” That was nice.

SEPT. 25, 2020 (Fri. 2:50 p.m. PDT). Never one to let grass grow under my PC, I responded within the hour to my new friend, Lou. I write:

Now…I’m trying to make sense of your response.

What does this mean? “Your review on ‘Citizen Trump: A One Man Show’ was removed because your account is related to another reviewer of this title.”

My proposed review was never accepted by Amazon, so it was never “removed.”

Instead, when I tried to post a review, this is the message that appeared on the screen:

We apologize but Amazon is not accepting reviews on this product from this account. If you would like to contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.

I don’t understand how my account is “related” to another reviewer of this title. I have just one account on Amazon, and I’m a Prime Member. I am including (below) the two previous emails I sent to community-help@amazon.com (for which I never received a response).

[Note: I included the emails I had sent on Sept. 15 and 19.]

Are we still having fun with this David and Goliath story? How will it end?

SEPT. 26, 2020 (Sat. 1:47 a.m. PDT). I received yet one more “Message From Customer Service”—but this time, it’s from another new friend, “Robbie A” who thinks, apparently, this might be an IT problem!

Hello,

I'm sorry you had problems using our website. I wasn't able to reproduce the problem you had, but I'd like to report this problem to our technical team for further research.

Please write back to us with the following information:

* URL for the page where you experienced the problem
* ASIN/ISBN of the item you're trying to review, which you can find at the product page under product information
* Any error messages you received
* The operating system on your computer (for example, Windows 10 or Mac OS X)
* Your browser type and version (for example, Google Chrome)

We look forward to hearing from you.

SEPT. 26, 2020 (Sat. 6:45 a.m. PDT). Unfortunately, I was not awake when my new friend, Robbie, emailed me. But…I got up early on Saturday morning, with Great Hope, that I could continue being a raving fan of Amazon. Uh…nope!

In my 6:45 a.m. email, I responded to all of Robbie’s questions and added, “If you prefer, please call me and I can explain further.” I gave him my mobile number.

No response.

SEPT. 27, 2020 (Sun. 2:55 a.m. PDT). Wow…these Amazon people are night owls! This email was unsigned (mysterious!) but looked like it had gone up the chain a bit. I’m no longer being addressed as “Ms. John,” or “Hello,” but “Hello John W. Pearson.” Now…we’re getting somewhere!

Here’s what the “Amazon Review Moderation” department emailed me:

From: review-appeals@amazon.com [mailto:review-appeals@amazon.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2020 2:55 AM
To: john@johnpearsonassociates.com
Subject: A Message From Amazon Review Moderation

Hello John W. Pearson,

Amazon is unable to post the customer review because some of the details of this account indicate a relationship to sellers, publishers, or other reviewers of the product.

Why is this happening?
Customer reviews are meant to give customers unbiased product feedback from other Amazon shoppers. Because the goal of customer reviews is to help customers make informed purchase decisions, any reviews that could be viewed as advertising, promotional, or biased will not be posted.

Once a review is removed because it does not comply with Amazon's Community Guidelines, the account may not submit any new reviews on the same product.

If you would like to learn more, please see our Community Guidelines (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=14279631).

To contact us about this decision, please email community-help@amazon.com.

Huh?

SEPT. 27, 2020 (Sun. 8:00 a.m. PDT). I’m standing by for the promised Customer Service follow-up phone call from Sonika per our conversation and her email confirmation. No call! And…I had such high hopes. My “raving fan” enthusiasm dropped a few points.

No response.

SEPT. 27, 2020 (Sun. 9:33 a.m. PDT). I took a deep breath, after re-reading the “Amazon Review Moderation” email three times. At least some anonymous soul is responding.

So…I respond to the “Amazon Review Moderation” emailer (no name) and ask several questions:

“Would you be kind enough to explain what ‘relationship’ I have that would prevent me from posting a review?”

I noted that Sonika did not call at 8:00 a.m., as promised (nor has she called yet). Then (maybe this will help?) I reiterated the series of emails—with these comments and questions:

What’s perplexing—even more—is that every communique from Amazon has listed a DIFFERENT REASON for rejecting my review. This makes absolutely no sense!
• Sept. 25, 2020 (Friday 2:14 pm PDT) – the review was “removed because…” (Actually—the review was never posted!)
• Sept. 26, 2020 (Saturday 1:47 am PDT) – “…I’d like to report this problem to our technical team…” (So…is it technical or is it about content?)
• Sept. 27, 2020 (Sunday 2:55 am PDT) – “…some of the details of this account indicate a relationship…” (So…this is a new one? What should I believe?)

I add:

There are media reports that other reviewers have been blocked from posting reviews of Citizen Trump. Something is fishy, here—would you not agree?

My suggestion: we both could save a lot of time if you would ask an appropriate person (with both knowledge and authority) to call me on my mobile phone. (I listed the number.)

This is really so simple—just unblock me and I can post the review. Whew!

Thank you for reading this!

I closed with the reminder of my Amazon Review Ranking, with 409 reviews posted, and I also noted that Amazon had invited me, some years back, to be “Vine Reviewer,” which I did for several years. (You can’t join the program, you must be invited.)

SEPT. 28, 2020 (Mon. 7:38 p.m.). I was making progress—or so I thought! But I was totally unprepared for this one-sentence response, this time from “review-appeals.” No name, no next steps. Just this take-it-or-leave-it very-un-Amazon-like customer “service” response:

From: review-appeals@amazon.com [mailto:review-appeals@amazon.com]
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 7:38 PM
To: john@johnpearsonassociates.com
Subject: A Message From Amazon Review Moderation

Hello John,

Due to the proprietary nature of our business, we do not provide detailed information on how we determine that accounts are related nor the related accounts.

What? Seriously? I ask a simple question about why my review was rejected and I get a one-sentence response, without the name of the email writer—and it still sheds no light on the topic? Thanks, Amazon, and have a nice day, yourself.

SEPT. 30, 2020 (Wed. 12:15 p.m.). So…is Amazon blocking me or just blocking the review of Citizen Trump, for some strange or fishy reason? To find out if they’re just blocking me, I tried to post a short review of the Cartoons from The New Yorker 2020 Day-to-Day Calendar (which I had purchased last year). Within two hours, Amazon posted the review. Success! Maybe they still love me?

But…why, oh why, will Amazon not allow me to post a review of Citizen Trump?

Stay tuned...and see you at the movies.

John

P.S. “Alexa…you’re always so helpful. How do I post a film review on Amazon?”

_________________________________

My New Favorite Documentary!
SEE BELOW TO READ MY REVISED REVIEW OF CITIZEN TRUMP, in case my original review did not meet Amazon guidelines. (Amazon would not let me post this either!) The film is available on demand on Vimeo and Amazon Prime.

JOHN W. PEARSON’S REVIEW OF CITIZEN TRUMP: A ONE MAN SHOW
September 19, 2020 – 2nd try!

I’ve read my fair share of presidential biographies and histories, including The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity, by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duff. Up until this month, my favorite White House documentary has been The Presidents’ Gatekeepers (see also the book and my review of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, by Chris Whipple).

My new favorite documentary: Citizen Trump: A One Man Show.

What a brilliant theme—exploring President Trump’s favorite movie, Citizen Kane, and then comparing and contrasting Citizen Kane with Citizen Trump.

President Trump does not survive unscathed (facts are facts), but—refreshingly—this is not a Republican nor Democrat documentary. Absolutely fascinating!

You’ll watch it again, after viewing the 1941 classic, Citizen Kane, considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made.

Note: Robert Orlando is also the filmmaker behind the documentary and co-author of the book, The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War.

My vote goes to Robert Orlando!
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08:42 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Citizen Trump

September 18, 2020

2 Books: Maximizing Board Effectiveness & From the Inside Out

Issue No. 448 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a twofer (!)—two books on nonprofit leadership—with insights from Jim Galvin and Tom Okarma. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, here’s my review of Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, by Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams.

10 Minutes for Management and Governance

At your weekly staff meeting, I encourage teams to invest “10 Minutes for Management.” And in your quarterly board meeting, I encourage boards to invest “10 Minutes for Governance.” Here are two books (a twofer!) that will deliver insightful content for multiple 10-minute segments.

SUMMER SHORTS NO. 5 (two books):

REVIEW #1: Maximizing Board Effectiveness: A Practical Guide for Adaptive Governance, by James C. Galvin

So...recently, I was on a Zoom call with a nonprofit board (big surprise), and the board chair was explaining the distinctions between mission and vision. He stopped—mid-sentence—disappeared from the Zoom screen, and then returned with a new book in his library, Maximizing Board Effectiveness. He then read a paragraph from the chapter, “The Board’s Role in Strategy.”

Not to be outdone, the organization’s CEO repeated the sequence. Blank screen and then the showcasing of—you guessed it—Maximizing Board Effectiveness. Wow. Author Jim Galvin has a nationwide PR team!

As the co-author, with Dan Busby, of four recent board governance books, I welcome this new (June 2020) and helpful book to the boardroom. You can never read enough governance books! Galvin’s book—with a new twist on what he calls “adaptive governance”—is perfect for slicing and dicing during your “10 Minutes for Governance” segment at your next board meeting. (Click here to download the Busby/Pearson chapter, “Invest ‘10 Minutes for Governance’ in Every Board Meeting. We are all guilty of bringing our delightful dysfunctions into every new board experience.”)

Galvin describes three types of boards: Managing Boards, Governing Boards, and Navigating Boards. He introduces “adaptive governance” by explaining why boards underperform and what causes so much confusion about board roles and responsibilities. Interestingly, each of the three chapters on the three types of boards includes the same wisdom, “Chairing this type of board is not easy.” (LOL!)

As you know, I first look on page 25 of every book—where the author frequently has finally warmed up and delivered the goods. Ditto here! Pages 25 to 28 include 17 helpful questions formatted on a continuum: “On the one hand…on the other hand.” Helpful!

My five favorite features:
• Page 178: four quadrants contrasting technical complexity with social complexity: Wicked Problems, Tame Problems, Wicked Messes, Messy Problems!
• Pages 184-187: 36 discussion questions (three per chapter)—perfect for your “10 Minutes for Governance” segment
• Pages 198-193: 77 board self-assessment questions (SurveyMonkey compatible)
• Pages 94-96: four prerequisites that must be in place to transition from a Managing Board to a Governing Board
• Page 65: read this one-page chart/summary of John Carver’s Policy Governance® model—or read Carver’s book (latest edition: 448 pages!)

And thanks to Jim Galvin for mailing a review copy to my bunker!

REVIEW #2: From the Inside Out: Leading Where it Matters Most—The How-to Guide to Leading Nonprofits for Impact, by Tom Okarma

There’s a common theme in nonprofit leadership. Galvin’s book warns, “Chairing this type of board is not easy.” Tom Okarma’s comprehensive (but very readable and often humorous) how-to book for nonprofit leaders describes the leadership journey without embellishment:

Change. Is. Hard.

Why is nonprofit leadership so hard? Leaders from the for-profit side, says Okarma, know the business environment ground rules, but when they become nonprofit leaders—there are some surprises. (Okarma speaks from experience.) “…in a nonprofit you have an even tougher job. Not only do you have to manage and motivate your paid employees, but you have another team—an invisible workforce—your volunteers.” Peter Drucker would agree.

Okarma packs serious content into just 259 pages in four major areas:
• Part 1: Leading Yourself
• Part 2: Leading the Organization
• Part 3: Leading the Board
• Part 4: Leading Change

I discovered numerous treasures, including this: “Why are there so many ‘great’ leadership books and yet so few great leaders?” For some discouraged nonprofit leaders, this book will be on-going therapy. Gems:

MAJOR DONORS. Warning! Major donors don’t automatically make good board members. “I wish I hadn’t lived through this, again and again on various boards.”

FUNDRAISING STRENGTHS. Read the 42-page chapter on 20 characteristics of effective board members, including this: “Effective boards know the fundraising strengths of each director and use them accordingly. They clearly articulate the board’s role in fundraising.”

360 TRANSPARENCY. Few authors/leaders showcase their deficiencies. Okarma discusses “four unique challenges that were holding me back”—as revealed in a 360 Review. Is this a blind spot for you too? “I also learned at times I was inadvertently overshadowing some of my staff when we had guests in the building.”

MEASUREMENTS = IMPROVEMENTS. He quotes Peter Drucker, “What gets measured, gets improved.” Perhaps one of the reasons why change is so hard in nonprofits is the lack of SMART goals and measurements—and how to use those measurements to “make critical decisions about the agency moving forward.”

NON-DELEGABLE RESPONSIBILITIES. I’ve never met a for-profit or nonprofit leader who could show me his or her list of “Non-Delegable Areas of Responsibility.” The author explains why this is so important and how to know what to delegate and what not to delegate. For many, this chapter will be worth 10,000x the price of the book. His poke-in-the-ribs:

“You can try and handle all 317 responsibilities you’re currently juggling, or you can give me a chance to introduce a new perspective. I promise, I’ll help you get there, and there will be light at the end of the tunnel.”

FRESH ONE-LINERS. Wow…I’d pay to see Okarma’s massive notes as he was writing this book. Fresh insights—in well-crafted phrases and one-liners—that enriched my lifelong learning journey:
• “Be around, but not in the way.”
• “Success leaves clues.”
• “If you’ve never said ‘no’ to a new idea, your mission statement is probably unclear or misunderstood.”
• “Take time to work on your agency, not just in it.”
• “If you were a business, would you want to buy it, or merge with it?”

This is a perfect (perfect!) book for your “10 Minutes for Management” segment at your weekly staff meeting. Buy five copies and assign sections for the next five weekly meetings.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Tom Okarma learned from his 360 Review that “we needed to celebrate our successes more and that I needed to be a big part of that effort.” During this COVID-19 era, have we dropped the ball in the Hoopla! Bucket? Should “celebration” be one of our core values?
2) In the foreword to Maximizing Board Effectiveness, Bob Andringa adds to the “hard work” theme: “…every board must step up, be more effective than ever, and make the difficult [coronavirus] decisions in a timely manner. No going back.” What board member should read and report on this book for our next “10 Minutes for Governance” segment?
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View Peter Yang's pitch (1.5 minutes).

View This Virtual, Bracket-Style Pitch Competition—and Then Create Your Own!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Hoopla! Bucket affirms, “We harness the power of hoopla! for celebration, recreation, intentional food and fellowship gatherings, and just plain fun. We thrive on knock-your-socks-off spontaneity.”

Here are four Hoopla! ideas for you. If you appreciated my grandkids’ Zoom review of Peter Yang’s book, The Art of Writing, you’ll be delighted to know that Yang’s entrepreneurial company, Reviewerly, is in the “sweet 16” finals for a virtual, bracket-style pitch competition/tournament.

If—like me—unfilled sports stadiums and arenas are leaving you unfulfilled—here’s a virtual event to coalesce your team around learning, cheering, and pizza!

• Hoopla! Idea #1: Take a fun break and watch the pitch competition online on Sept. 21-24, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT all four days. Register here and vote for Peter Yang’s company, Reviewerly. (My grandkids will be voting—if I provide the pizza!)
• Hoopla! Idea #2: Learn the tools of the trade. Could your organization sponsor a Shark Tank-type pitch competition? Note: This one is designed by LiONS LAIR and they’re celebrating their 10th anniversary as “the leading pitch competition that brings together innovation and entrepreneurship” in Hamilton, Ontario.
• Hoopla! Idea #3: After watching the pitch competition, create your own. With 30 minutes of prep time, invite every team member to give their best “elevator speech” for your organization (or a pitch for a new program, product, or service). Award prizes!
• Hoopla! Idea #4: Check out Reviewerly—and brainstorm how this app might help you promote your next project, book, or cause.

Don’t forget the pizza! And for more ideas in the Hoopla! Bucket, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. When was the last time you celebrated with your team? Need hoopla! ideas like Jason’s Big Red Bowling Ball system? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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02:49 PM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: nonprofit leadership

September 09, 2020

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel

Issue No. 447 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a classic business book—and LOL—I finally read it! Plus, check out the parallels between Citizen Kane and Citizen Trump—a new documentary that is neither a hit piece nor a Trump ad. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, here’s my review of The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life.

I Finally Read the #1 Business Book!

Yikes. File this under “Really, Pearson? You’ve never read this top business book? And you call yourself a book reviewer?”

SUMMER SHORTS NO. 4:
The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel (2017)
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), and Dean Motter (Illustrator).

This past spring here in the bunker, Constantino (Connie) Salios emailed me and asked if I had ever reviewed The Goal by Eli Goldratt. Reviewed it? I’d never even heard about it. (Yikes.) Connie recommended this bestselling business book—and I immediately ordered it. He said it “reads somewhat like a Lencioni novel and is relevant for every organization and leader.” Back in 2007, Salios also recommended the classic 1949 film, Twelve O’Clock High, starring Gregory Peck. It’s a strategy smorgasbord!

But…full confession. I cheated and ordered the business graphic novel of The Goal. Big print and pictures. Just 130 pages. This “Introduction to the Theory of Constraints” will be immediately applicable to anyone with too many moving parts, too many spinning plates, too much or not enough inventory, and keeping the whole team moving in the right direction—at the right pace.

How did I miss this important book? Apparently, others have missed it also. Read the front page story in the Aug. 21, 2020, WSJ, “Why Are There Still Not Enough Paper Towels?” (The answer: blame lean manufacturing.) Maybe P&G didn’t make The Goal required reading. (Jeff Bezos does.)

Verne Harnish, author of my 2018 book-of-the year, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t (Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 2.0), gushes: “The Goal is the #1 business book of all time and the graphic adaptation makes this timeless classic and its powerful ideas even more accessible. If you only read one business book, it should be this one.”

The author, Eliyahu M. Goldratt (1947-2011) is known as the father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), “a process of ongoing improvement that continuously identifies and leverages a system's constraints in order to achieve its goals.” A bestseller since 1984, the book has sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

The Goal is one of Time Magazine's “25 Most Influential Business Management Books.” (Check out that list here. I’m only half-way done. Yikes, again.)

This is a “Summer Shorts” review—so I’m going to wrap it up without a spoiler. The author’s business novel approach is brilliant. (See also: The New One Minute Manager, Death by Meeting, and The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey). The interesting (and often humorous) story makes TOC understandable.

Here’s a short summary from the Libro.fm website: “Alex Rogo is the manager of a failing manufacturing plant who receives an ultimatum from corporate headquarters: Turn the situation around in three months or the plant will be scrapped. With help from a mysterious mentor, Rogo discovers a revolutionary new way to do business—a way for people in any field of endeavor to increase productivity, profitability, and personal fulfillment.”

Watch for:
• 3 measurements
• Bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks
• Wrong assumptions: “workers must produce 100 percent of the time…”
• Maximum stupidity (the difference between utilizing a resource versus activating a resource): “So running a non-bottleneck machine to its maximum is an act of maximum stupidity.”
• POOGI (Process of OnGoing Improvement): “There is always room for better results.”
• The 5 Focusing Steps of the Theory of Constraints

Technical? Yes. You may not manage an industrial plant, but you might lead a Scout or family hike one day with a dozen campers who hike at different speeds. Insightful? Yes—the real life hiking example turns complexity into a manageable process and cleverly explains The Theory of Constraints.

Did I mention this? “Jeff Bezos has made The Goal required reading for his top executives at Amazon, where it has been called ‘a bible’ for the team behind the company’s fulfillment network.” And Fortune Magazine compared The Goal’s leading character to “Obi-Wan Kenobi instructing Luke Skywalker on the use of the force.”

Hopefully this is enough to inspire you to read the book—or delegate the reading of the book to someone on your team. Here are three reading/listening options:

OPTION #1. BUSINESS GRAPHIC NOVEL (130 pages). The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel (2017) by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), and Dean Motter (Illustrator). Click here to order from Amazon.

OPTION#2. BUSINESS NOVEL (362 pages). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (30th Anniversary Edition, 2014), by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Click here to order from Amazon.

OPTION#3. AUDIO BUSINESS NOVEL (11 hours, 44 minutes). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (30th Anniversary Edition, 2014). Are you a listener? Listen to the business novel on Libro.fm, narrated by an Ensemble cast. Perfect for your next road trip! Can you identify with this scene in the opening audio? (Click here to listen to the 3-minute teaser.) The plant manager reveals: “This plant has four ranks of priority when filling orders:
• Hot!
• Very Hot!!
• Red Hot!!!
• DO IT NOW!!!!”

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) In the story of The Goal, the professor notes, “The numbers are wrong because they are determined in isolation.” How effective are our weekly meetings in eliminating silo thinking and decisions made in isolation from other processes and departments?
2) What’s your preferred learning style? Reading or listening? If reading, what do you think of graphic business novels like The Goal and StrategyMan? (Read my review of StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan, by Rich Horwath.)
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Update! Citizen Trump is now available on Amazon Prime.

Social Styles Research:
Watch Citizen Kane and Citizen Trump
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the People Bucket affirms, “We are diligent about understanding the four social styles—Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables and Expressives—and helping our people find their comfort zones as they grow in their interpersonal versatility skills.”

Whatever people system you use, you likely apply it to help you understand other leaders, perhaps even U.S. presidents and vice presidents. Breaking News: Donald Trump is an expressive! I appreciate the four social styles—because the four words describe the behavior and I can remember the system. (You may prefer Myers-Briggs, DiSC, Enneagram, or other helpful systems.)

So—to enrich your social style savvy, let me encourage you to view the new documentary, Citizen Trump—just released on Sept. 7. Watch the trailer:

Click here to view the Citizen Trump trailer.

Josh Shepherd, who covers culture, faith, and public policy for several media outlets (and previously worked at The Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Family), recently interviewed Robert Orlando, the Citizen Trump filmmaker, for The Federalist.

The headline: “Is Donald Trump Today’s ‘Citizen Kane’? ‘Citizen Trump’ Film Suggests Yes. Through the lens of the 1941 classic 'Citizen Kane,' a documentary filmmaker seeks to understand the life journey of President Trump and his successful venture into politics.”

Shepherd: “Watching the film, I kept waiting for it to shift. I thought, ‘This is where it’s going to become a Trump hit piece.’ Or, ‘Now it’s going to be a Trump ad.’ But it seemed to stick to facts and let the chips fall where they may. Why did you seek to avoid either extreme?

Orlando: “As a filmmaker, I’m just telling a story about a person, warts and all. Why wouldn’t a documentary about real-life events reveal all sides of the narrative? It’s not for me to tell you how to make a political decision about it.”

Note: Robert Orlando is also the filmmaker behind the documentary and co-author of the book, The Divine Plan: John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, and the Dramatic End of the Cold War. (Read my review.)

If you’re a U.S. citizen—and whether or not you’re voting for Trump, Biden, or anyone else—you will appreciate watching Citizen Trump. For more social styles research, check out my April review of eight leadership flicks, and if you have time (and who doesn’t?), go way back and watch the 1941 classic, Citizen Kane (1941), considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made. What—you haven’t read The Goal or watched Citizen Kane? LOL!

To view Citizen Trump on Vimeo, by filmmaker Robert Orlando:
CLICK HERE.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the power of the small screen to tell your story? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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12:51 PM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: The Theory of Constraints

August 20, 2020

The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions

Issue No. 446 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights Michael Hyatt’s 2020 book on vision—and why it dramatically changed my thinking. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you missed it, here’s my May review of Non Obvious Megatrends: How to See What Others Miss and Predict the Future.

Radio Station WII-FM: What’s In It For Me?

Yup. It’s still August in the Year of Covid (will this ever end?)…so here’s another “summer shorts” issue.

SUMMER SHORTS NO. 3:
The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business, by Michael Hyatt

Here are six short-and-sweet reasons why you (or someone on your board or team) should read this book.

#1. Michael Hyatt dramatically (dramatically!) changed my thinking about vision. I’ve facilitated dozens and dozens of strategic planning processes over the years. Mission. Vision. BHAG. Core Values. S.W.O.T. Yada, yada, yada. Oh, my—I missed the really big idea: the foundational importance of vision.

#2. The “Vision Grid” on page 87. I’m a sucker for the Boston Consulting Group’s quadrant. The author’s vision quadrant positions Vision against Communication. That’s brilliant. With an abstract vision and implicit communication—you get FOGGY. But with a concise vision and explicit communication—you land on CLEAR. Other not-so-good options are CONFUSING and INTUITIVE. Hyatt nails the problems in Quadrant 2 (abstract, explicit): “…she speaks in definitive terms as she describes what to everyone else sounds like nebulous ideas.” I’ve seen this often—but never had this memorable label for this big misstep.

#3. The perfect term: “fake work!” Hyatt writes, “Why are you writing that report, meeting with those people, working on that project, or setting that deadline? If it’s not to help you realize your vision, you might be wasting your time.” If there’s an unfortunate disconnect between your vision and your daily work—call it what it is: low-value “fake work.”

#4. Radio Station WII-FM. This is funny, but true. Chapter 7 is must-read: “Can You Sell It?” Hyatt writes, “You’ve probably heard that everyone is tuned in to the radio station WII-FM: What’s In It For Me? If I’m going to take this journey with you, they’re thinking, what does that mean for me? What’s my upside? They want to know why this new vision will be good for them and why they should care.”

#5. Four characteristics of a vision that inspires. Another must-read chapter. (Actually all 10 chapters/questions are must-read.) The four:
1) The vision focuses on what isn’t, not what is.
2) The vision is exponential, not incremental.
3) The vision is risky, not stupid.
4) The vision is focused on what, not how.

#6. “The Vision Arc.” Michael Hyatt’s graph of the vision arc includes seven phases of the typical organizational trajectory through time (similar to Jim Collins’ five stages). If you don’t interrupt the trajectory, look where it leads you: Startup, Rising, Transitioning, Mature, Legacy, Zombie, Dead!

I could go on, and on, and on—but this is a “summer shorts” review. But…just one more. What if your boss (or board) is the Keeper of the Status Quo? Hyatt lists five critical steps for selling your boss on a new vision. And this wisdom when selling to influential stakeholders: “You may not always be able to get agreement, but you can get alignment.”

After you read The Vision Driven Leader, follow-up with his 2018 book, Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals. (Read my review.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions to Focus Your Efforts, Energize Your Team, and Scale Your Business, by Michael Hyatt. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (4 hours, 48 minutes), narrated by Michael Hyatt.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Michael Hyatt writes, “Vision isn’t prophecy. It’s a tool not a timeline of inevitable happenings.” Did this book change your thinking about vision?
2) Hyatt: “A practical vision is specific enough to suggest strategy, but not so specific it commits you to one particular strategy.” Are we stuck on a sacred cow-type strategy?
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6 Pitfalls of Vision-Deficit Leaders
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Results Bucket affirms, “We also abandon dead horses and sacred cows.” Wow…it’s very tough to discard old strategies, but The Vision Driver Leader will help you. Hyatt asks, “What Difference Does Vision Make?” and details six pitfalls of vision-deficit leaders:
1) Unpreparedness for the future
2) Missed opportunities
3) Scattered priorities
4) Strategic missteps (“The future hasn’t happened yet. It’s imaginary.”)
5) Wasted money, time, and talent
6) Premature exits

Hyatt’s Venn diagram on page 45 pictures Vision, Mission, and Strategy in their own circles—interconnecting at the middle sweet spot: RESULTS. That’s perfect—and Peter Drucker, I’m sure, would add his “Amen!”

The Vision Driver Leader is so, so practical (three steps for this, five steps for that, and more). If your vision and mission wordsmithing is all theory and thesaurus, take time to screen this poke-in-the-ribs five-minute video, Mission Statement, from "Weird Al" Yankovic. Click here.

Click to view Mission Statement from "Weird Al" Yankovic.

For more resources in the Results Bucket, check out this webpage.

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14 BOARD QUESTIONS: Check out the 14 links to the 14 blogs on "The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask." Start with Question 2 on this ECFA blog, "Are We Addressing the Risks That Could Send Our Organization Over the Cliff?"

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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Is your creative team doing “fake work” or work that aligns with your vision and mission? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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08:42 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Michael Hyatt, vision

August 10, 2020

The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life

Issue No. 445 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends (get this!) a book on how to read a book! The author asks: Are you a Footprint Leaver or a Preservationist? And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and if you’re homeschooling again, click here to read my 2012 review of A Class With Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World’s Greatest Management Teacher.

“Give Yourself the Gift of Empty Shelves”

This is funny! Next month I’ll begin the 15th year of publishing Your Weekly Staff Meeting. The first issue was August 28, 2006, and I recommended Jim Collins’ easy-to-read 35-page booklet, Good to Great and the Social Sectors.

So after reviewing more than 450 books (some issues have highlighted multiple books), I took time to read a book about how to read a book! LOL! And it’s August in the Year of Covid, so here’s another “summer shorts” issue.

Summer Shorts No. 2:
The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life: How to Get More Books in Your Life and More Life from Your Books, by Steve Leveen

“Do not set out to live a well-read life but rather your well-read life. No one can be well-read using someone else’s reading list.”

Wham! Immediately, author and entrepreneur Steve Leveen lets you off the hook—no guilt. Just a boatload of ideas on navigating your own well-read life. The book features dozens of PowerPoint-worthy quotations, including this from Atwood H. Townsend:

“Never force yourself to read a book that you do not enjoy. There are so many good books in the world that it is foolish to waste time on one that does not give you pleasure.”

To uncover the books that will change your life (the big idea of the book), the author suggests you have two libraries:
#1. The Library of Candidates (based on your List of Candidates)
#2. The Living Library (your library of well-read friends)

Leveen did massive research and one-on-one interviews with readers and book clubs before writing this book. He notes that John Armato, a PR executive, “cherishes his growing Library of Candidates. When people ask him if he’s actually read all those books, he asks if they’ve actually eaten all the food in their kitchen. ‘It is good to put up a supply of books; it increases the odds that you’ll have what you want when you’re hungry for it,’ he says.” Leveen adds:

“Give yourself the gift of empty shelves. Like an open road, they hold the promise of your future examined life.”

The chapter, “Seizing More from Your Reading,” gave me several new ideas—and affirmed several of my best practices. “The advice-givers all agree that you should not start by reading the first sentence of a book and then plow your way through to the end.” His practical suggestions (start at 35,000 feet and conduct three tours of the book) include this: “Then take a third tour, and read a few introductory and concluding paragraphs from each chapter. That is where most writers sum up their major points.”

When should you give up on a book? “A few years ago I gave up on Crime and Punishment. I found it not enough crime and too much punishment.” Generally, Leveen votes for the 50-page rule: “…if you don’t like it after fifty pages, close the book and move on.”

Where do you find the meat of a book? Usually in the middle, but don’t forget my rule-of-thumb for striking gold on page 25 also. In Leveen’s book on page 25, you’ll find his generous recommendations of other books on how to read a book, including a classic, Good Reading: A Helpful Guide for Serious Readers.

I ordered The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life for the five scholars/grandchildren in my life. (Three are ready to begin their senior year in high school—whatever that might look like at Covid High.) Students and serious readers will appreciate Leveen’s “proven techniques for remembering” content. Example: In the 1940s, Ohio State University professor Francis Robinson conducted the psychological research that created the system, SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review.

Our granddaughter, Zuzu, keeps a list of the books she’s read. So far in 2020, she’s knocked off 130 books! Zuzu affirms Leveen’s suggestion: “Another way to help your long-term retention is by keeping a reader’s journal or annotated Bookography.” He also notes that “Some of the most satisfying reading of all is re-reading. The Bible is the most re-read book of all in the West.”

Every year, my friend and mentor, George Duff, re-reads Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive. Click here to read Jim Collins’ foreword to the 50th anniversary edition, “Ten Lessons I Learned from Peter Drucker.”

If you love books—and love the lifelong nourishment that good books deliver—you’ll feast on The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life (121 delicious pages), including a tempting bibliography of 86 books. (I borrowed a few titles for my List of Candidates and my Library of Candidates.)

Footprint Leaver or Preservationist? Don’t miss the pros and cons of Footprint Leavers (those who write in books—I’m in the marginalia camp) and the opposing group, Preservationists (no writing allowed). Leveen received more than 2,000 responses to his blog on this Big Argument, including “A book unmarked is a book unloved.” Read his follow-up 2009 blog post, “Why You Should Write in Your Books Now.” Also, learn why speed reading isn’t that important (the difference between reading speed versus thinking speed).

He quotes Mortimer Adler, coauthor of How to Read a Book: “Whereas a bookplate indicates financial ownership…writing in a book indicates intellectual ownership.” Leveen is encouraging. “If you have led an active reading life, your reading power at age eighty will tower over your reading power at age thirty.” And this:

“If you are not setting some books aside unfinished, you are not sampling enough books.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life: How to Get More Books in Your Life and More Life from Your Books, by Steve Leveen.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Do you write notes in your books? David McCullough noted that John Adams “wrote no fewer than 12,000 words inside the covers of Mary Wollstonecraft’s French Revolution (mostly disagreeing with the author).”
2) Peter Drucker would ask: Are you a reader or a listener? Leveen devotes 15 pages to the joy of audiobooks, “Reading with Your Ears.” Bestselling author Jerry Jenkins, a fan of audiobooks, told Leveen that he was such a fan of Frank Muller’s narration expertise that Jenkins asked Muller to record some of his Left Behind book series. Listen to Desecration (Book #9) on Libro.fm (9 hours, 38 minutes).
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A Blogger and an Aussie Visit Powell’s!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Book Bucket affirms, “We believe leaders are readers! We don’t just talk about books—we actually read them!”

In Issue No. 5 (Sept. 30, 2006), I wrote about “The Perpetual Power of a Perfect Gift.” After making a contribution to a national ministry in the 1980s, I received a book that I still treasure: A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie. I continue to read selections in this book every week.

I now treasure another book! Several years ago, my colleague and friend, Gary Williams, and I had a free evening together in Vancouver, Wash., following a training event hosted by Murdock Trust. Gary, the very effective National Director of Christian Management Australia, was visiting the U.S.

His research on Portland (just across the Columbia River) had prioritized a visit to Powell's City of Books, reputed to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. So we journeyed to Portland (for his first Uber journey!) and trekked the 1.6 acres of retail floor space. Powell’s has nine color-coded rooms and over 3,500 different sections. What fun! When we exited the bookstore, Gary presented me with a gift.

You guessed it—a book. But it was a very special book. And LOL! I finally read this gem during Covid-19! Confession: I shoulda/coulda read it sooner, but I didn’t. So finally, Gary, thank you! The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life is a remarkable book!

For more resources in the Book Bucket, check out this webpage.

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CFO PODCAST: John was interviewed by CFO David Beroth for the July podcast, Christian Nonprofit CFO. The topic: “7 Critical Financial Insights the Board Needs from the CFO.” Click here to listen.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Read any good books lately on branding and persuasion? Pearpod Media has the top titles. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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03:07 PM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: books, reading

August 01, 2020

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter

Issue No. 444 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends some bunker reading on persuasion. Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams says catchy slogans have a “percussion rhythm” to them. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click on the title to read my 2017 two-part review of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency.

31 Persuasion Tips From Scott Adams

Really, John? You want me to read a 2017 book by Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist? And is that really a caricature of Donald Trump on the cover? (You fool! You’ll lose half your readers!)

Actually…I’m going to persuade you to read a powerful book on the art of persuasion. Yes, Scott Adams colorfully sketches out the 2016 Trump campaign as his case study, but it’s much, much more than that. I read this persuasive book in November 2017—and just did a second read in February 2020.

It’s now August 2020—but during this Covid-19 lockdown, does it really matter what month it is? In August, I often take a break and feature summer reruns of books you’ve long forgotten. But not this August. Instead I’m calling August 2020 “The Month of Summer Shorts.” I’ll give you my best book recommendations, but short (or shorter) reviews. So you’ll have to do the hard work yourself—actually read the book! After all, you’ve got the time there in your bunker.

SUMMER SHORTS NO. 1:
Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, by Scott Adams

If your day job involves persuading people, customers, clients, donors, members, or anyone else to move from Point A to Point B—you will absolutely love this book. You’ll also chuckle frequently as you read sections to your coworkers, friends, and family.

My favorite snippets:

• Entertaining. “I invite people of all political perspectives to enjoy this book without getting sidetracked by politics. I won’t be discussing policies except in the context of persuasion. This book isn’t designed to change your mind about politics or about Trump. All I hope to do is teach you some things about persuasion by wrapping it in an entertaining first-person story.”

• Prune Your Sentences. In “How to Be a Better Writer” (see the two-page Appendix B), Scott Adams suggests: “Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence in this blog. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.”

• 31 Persuasion Tips. Adams fertilizes every chapter with one or more persuasion tip call-outs, including Tip 5: “An intentional ‘error’ in the details of your message will attract criticism. The attention will make your message rise in importance—at least in people’s minds—simply because everyone is talking about it.”

• Cognitive Dissonance. “Our egos prevent us from imagining we are irrational 90 percent of the time.” (Don’t skip this 12-page chapter or the two-page chapter on “Confirmation Bias.”)

• Master Persuader. “You should never take financial advice from cartoonists, but let me tell you one thing that feels safe to share: If the CEO of a publicly traded company is routinely described as having a ‘reality distortion field’—as was the case with Steve Jobs—keep an eye on that company. That’s a sign of a Master Persuader.”

• The Persuasion Talent Stack. “He sucked all the attention away from his sixteen competitors, rendering them uninteresting by comparison.” And…“It was pitch-perfect technique, and it leveraged most of his persuasion talent stack.”

• Facts and Reason. “Persuasion is all about the tools and techniques of changing people’s minds, with or without facts and reason.”

• Persuasion Tip 26. “Repetition is persuasion. Also, repetition is persuasion. And have I mentioned that repetition is persuasion?”

Yikes. I promised you a “Summer Shorts” issue—but there’s too much good stuff in Win Bigly. I’ll end with 12 teasers:
• Trump’s provocative style: that’s what New Yorkers call “talking!” (p. 11)
• Intentional typos (p. 23)
• The “McGurk Effect” video (p. 36) [Editor’s note: see also this short video by the author of Brain Rules.]
• CNN’s list of 24 explanations why Trump won in 2016 (p. 52)
• Why plumbers don’t use analogies (p. 58)
• An enormous persuasion mistake during the Republican debates (p. 81)
• “Concepts without images are weak sauce” and “Think past the sale.” (p. 138)
• The border wall: examples of good and bad persuasion (p. 139)
• “Red is the boss of all colors.” (p. 156)
• On catchy slogans that have a “percussion rhythm” to them. “A good sentence sounds good—in a way that music sounds good—independent of the meaning.” (p. 156)
• “How to Use the High-Ground Maneuver” (p. 194-197)
• “Why Joining a Tribe Makes You Powerful and Blind” (p. 205-255)

If I’ve persuaded you, then thanks for ordering from Amazon. Click on the title for Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, by Scott Adams. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (9 hours, 1 minute, narrated by Scott Adams).

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) Does your team have sufficient appreciation for differing viewpoints to discuss books (and concepts) from both sides of the aisle? Then have one team member read about persuasion in Win Bigly and another present insights from my 2009 review of Barack, Inc. – Winning Business Lessons of the Obama Campaign, by Barry Libert and Rick Faulk.
2) For a broad, historical sweep on Washington politics, read my 2008 review of The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington, by Robert D. Novak. The slant—how does an opinion writer persuade?
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The Mindset of the College Class of 2023
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Customer Bucket affirms, “We are zealots for researching and understanding our markets.” Over the years, I’ve linked to the Beloit College Mindset List that captured the worldview of each year’s freshman college class (and this mindset list of American history). A year ago, the list was handed off to Marist College (New York) and on Aug. 21, 2019, they published the 22nd edition, The 2019 Marist Mindset List for the college class of 2023 (students born in 2001).

The list is a brilliant customer analysis and I’m wondering why every industry/profession doesn’t’ publish their own annual “mindset” list. By the way, the Class of 2023, variously known as Gen Z, Gen I, Gen Tech, and “The Plurals,” is the first class born in the 21st century. What do you call this generation?

Here’s a sample of 18 of the 60 insights that made the 2019 list:

THE 2019 MARIST COLLEGE MINDSET LIST
FOR THE ENTERING COLLEGE CLASS OF 2023

Shoes, Siblings, and Sex:
• Like Pearl Harbor for their grandparents, and the Kennedy assassination for their parents, 9/11 is an historical event.
• The primary use of a phone has always been to take pictures.
• Nearly half of their generation is composed of people of color.
• There have always been indecisive quadrennial debates regarding the future of the Electoral College.
• Because of Richard Reid’s explosive footwear at 30,000 feet, passengers have always had to take off their shoes to slide through security on the ground.
• They are as non-judgmental about sexual orientation as their parents were about smoking pot.
• Apple iPods have always been nostalgic.
• They may well not have a younger sibling, as the birth rate in the U.S. has been dropping since they were in grammar school.
• They have witnessed two African-American Secretaries of State, the election of a black President, Disney’s first black Princess, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Baseball, Blackboards, and Books:
• Only two-thirds of this generation identify as exclusively heterosexual.
• YouTube has become the video version of Wikipedia.
• By their sophomore year, their generation will constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population.
• Quarterback Troy Aikman has always called the plays live from the press booth.
• The Apple Power Mac Cube has always been in a museum.
• Most of them will rent, not buy, their textbooks.
• They have probably all been “gaslighted” or “ghosted.”
• Blackboards have never been dumb.
• Cal Ripken, Jr., has always been retired.

Stay tuned. The 2020 list for the entering college class of 2024 will be released before school opens, or shall we say if/when school opens? For more resources and books in the Customer Bucket, visit this webpage.