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September 27, 2023

Oak Street Treehouse: The Day They Had a Party

Issue No. 577 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests that the occasional journey into a delightful children’s book may reward you with poignant insights and a fresh look into the face of Jesus. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 575 book reviews, and click here for my review of At the Heart of Management: Process, Tools and the Ubiquitous Exponential Law.

Finish this drawing of the face of Jesus, add color, and read why the occasional journey into a delightful children’s book may reward you with poignant insights.

Honest! A Leadership Guru Writes Children’s Books!

One of my favorites professors at Seattle Pacific University, Talmage Wilson (1926-2006), once shared a humorous, but poignant story in class. While serving as a missionary in what is now South Sudan (with his wife, Doris, a physician), he was asked to plan an inspiring session for the mission’s annual retreat. So he prayed and prepared.

At the appointed hour, each person received crayons and a single sheet of notebook paper featuring the outline of Jesus’ face. The assignment to these faithful missionaries who had endured their fair share of inspiring sermons: “Please color your page and reflect on the face and person of Jesus.” That was it. No sermon. No expository preaching. Just you, the crayons, and Jesus.

Prof. Wilson told our class, with his trademark mischievous grin, that not every missionary engaged deeply in the assignment! Yet, for those who set their expectations and egos aside, he noted, that session was a memory-maker for many.

Jesus said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.” (See Matthew 18, The Message)

I was reminded of this scripture when I read (wait for it…), a new children’s book:

Oak Street Treehouse:
The Day They Had a Party
by Dick Daniels and Mollie Bozarth (Illustrator)

Amazingly, this is the third book in the series. Beautifully illustrated by Mollie Bozarth, they are written by one of my favorite leadership gurus, Dick Daniels. (You read that right. Dick Daniels also writes children’s books!)

Last week, during my Uber Grandpa ride for our 16-year-old granddaughter, I told Annika about the Oak Street Treehouse books, and mentioned that Daniels also writes leadership and management books, including Leadership Briefs (my 2015 book-of-the-year), Leadership Core (my 2021 book-of-the-year), and Hardwiring New Leadership Habits (2023).

ME: “So, Annika, what do you think Dick Daniels writes about in this new children’s book?”
ANNIKA: “How to lead and manage children?!”
ME: “LOL!”

I won’t post a spoiler alert here because I hope you’ll order and read Book #3 in the trilogy—a poignant story about the friendly grandpa who lives in the Oak Street neighborhood. (Hint: It involves messaging God—and, yes, God does message them back.) The seven neighborhood kids plan a party and along the way, there’s a sweet discussion about heaven.

If you have children, grandchildren, or young neighbors, nieces or nephews (or look forward to having children or grandchildren), then you'll especially love these wonderful stories featuring warm conversations about God. And the books make great gifts!
• God Made Everything: The Day They Messaged God
• God Loves Everybody: The Day the New Kid Moved In
• God Is the Host of Heaven: They Day They Had a Party

Visit the Oak Street Treehouse website for coloring sheets and more!

No children or grandchildren—but you’re on the lineup to speak or lead an inspiring session for your church, Bible study, or your team? Take a page from Prof. Talmage Wilson! Or…visit The Oak Street Treehouse website here and download some coloring sheets!

John 1:14 (The Message) reads, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” This beautiful children’s book reminded me that God’s story is often best told with simple terms: Jesus moved into the neighborhood. I love these books!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Oak Street Treehouse: The Day They Had a Party, by Dick Daniels and Mollie Bozarth (Illustrator). And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.

READ ALL 3 BOOKS IN THE TRILOGY:
• Oak Street Treehouse: The Day The New Kid Moved In (2021) – Order from Amazon
• Oak Street Treehouse: The Day They Messaged God (2019) – Order from Amazon

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In 2018, when our triplet grandkids were 15, we had a fun discussion about the children’s storybook, The Book of Mistakes, by Corinna Luyken. (Read my review and their mistakes!) What might be the benefits of putting aside the latest “management by bestseller” gimmick and slowing down to drink in the simple truths of a book for children?

2) I received the book, Cathy and Carl Captured, by Dorothy Johnston, from my third grade Sunday School teacher in Seattle. The Lord used this book during my impressionable years. The book tells the story about the Oregon Trail missionaries, Narcissa and Marcus Whitman (also a physician), to nudge me about serving in Christian ministry. I treasure this first edition, published by Scripture Press in 1954, and signed by the author. It reminds me that a well-chosen gift of encouragement can have a powerful influence on both children and adults. Name a book that you still treasure.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 8: Five Business Classics
Book #47 of 100: The Goal

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #47 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

THE GOAL:
A Business Graphic Novel
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), and Dean Motter (Illustrator)

Books #46 through #50 spotlight five memorable books I’ve labeled “Five Business Classics.” Back in 2020 (when we were all in our bunkers), 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.” But…full confession. I cheated and ordered the business graphic novel of The Goal. Big print and pictures. Just 130 pages.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Goal
• Listen on Libro: The Goal (original book: 11 hours, 44 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

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.”

What Should We Learn From Count Zinzendorf?

Earlier this year, I listened to a hymn written by Count Zinzendorf—and I realized I knew absolutely nothing about this spiritual giant and prolific hymnwriter. It was high time to widen my reading! I googled the Count, watched some YouTube videos, and scanned the books on Amazon. I landed on this one, published in 2013. Read my review of Count Zinzendorf and the Spirit of the Moravians, by Paul Wemmer. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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The 4 Big Mistakes Board Seminars
Sept. 29: San Diego
Oct. 12: Irvine, CA

The Barnabas Groups in San Diego and Orange County are hosting seminars for nonprofit CEOs and board members. On Oct. 12, John Pearson and Mike Pate will present “The 4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board: How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance.” Contact TBG/OC for more info about the Oct. 12 seminar. John is also presenting the seminar on Sept. 29 in San Diego for TBG/San Diego. Can’t attend? Order the 107-page workbook from Amazon.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Every PowerPoint doesn't need to be jam-packed with content and every book doesn't need to rival War and Peace. Sometimes, graphic versions of books communicate more powerfully to "readers," while audio and YouTube videos will capture the "listeners" in your customer base. Need ideas? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: children, Dick Daniels, Jesus, leadership, Oak Street Treehouse

September 13, 2023

At the Heart of Management: Process, Tools and the Ubiquitous Exponential Law

Issue No. 576 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting spotlights both humor and deep learning in a new book, At the Heart of Management. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 575 book reviews, and click here for my review of Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive.

LOL! The score to date: Author Lino F. Ciceri leads with 1 point. The book reviewer’s score (Home): 0. (Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Niete.)

Beyond the Management Theory Jungle

This is funny! Earlier this summer, Lino F. Ciceri, the author of At the Heart of Management, emailed me a gracious invitation to receive a review copy of his new book. Here’s our string of emails:

ME: “Right now, my bookshelves are bulging with books I’ve already promised to review, so, reluctantly, I’ll have to say no to your kind offer. Hope the rollout goes well!”

AUTHOR: “John, I am sorry you are overwhelmed by too many undone reviews. In the future, At the Heart of Management might help you avoid this situation. Nonetheless, thank you for taking the time to respond. All the best, Lino.”

ME: “Congratulations! Your response to my ‘no thanks’ email ranks as the Number One Greatest Comeback! Really…LOL!” (I asked him to send me a review copy!)

AUTHOR: (His next email said the book was on its way.) He added, “Speaking of my book, it may be something other than a world changer or a trendy sensation, but that doesn't mean I wrote it without ambition. I apply scientific principles to human organizations, and from lofty skies, I draw critical management tools and practical considerations for success, as I have found that many business failures result from not having an understanding of fundamental management tools or being reluctant to put them into practice.”

You gotta love the author’s humility and his persistence! (Hmmm. Maybe that’s a fundamental hallmark of effective management?) So…score 1 for the author and 0 for this reviewer. Ciceri is both witty and brilliant!

If you read Issue No. 570 in July, you’ll recall I delivered a dump truck load of six leadership and management books for your summer reading, with a promise that I’d feature short snippets of these books in future issues. I asked you to consider this: “More Mistakes or More Leadership Books?”

“Be honest now. How many leadership mistakes did you make yesterday? How many mistakes last week? Last month? Last quarter?

“So…is it possible that if you read one more leadership book—you could potentially reduce your blunders, bobbles, bloopers, and bottlenecks?”

The author, a former research chemist and MBA professor from Italy, proposes a “scientific” approach to management. “The book breaks down the core concepts taught in an MBA, clarifying the language and introducing fresh ideas inspired by scientific analogies.” I wholeheartedly recommend this book!

At the Heart of Management:
Process, Tools and the Ubiquitous Exponential Law
by Lino F. Ciceri

In this helpful book, Ciceri builds the case for what he calls “Timeless Management” (TM). The author’s systematic approach to management leverages research, science, in-the-trenches experience, tools, and persuasion to convince readers and leaders to take a second look at the power of effective management. If I ever need an attorney to argue my case in court, I may ask Lino Ciceri to persuade the jury!

Ciceri promises, “This book is designed to enable you to apply the concepts and tools learned immediately in your work situation.” I especially appreciate this claim: “The following chapters attempt to go beyond the current management theory jungle and clarify some indispensable concepts.”

The author also promises that his TM process will foster “creativity through logical discipline and mastery without unnecessary complexity.” He adds, “With a solid foundation of tenacity, a good management approach can make the difference between failure and success. Strong will is a prerequisite, and an effective method will undoubtedly help anyone succeed.”

“All the best-known management views,” writes Ciceri, “such as those of McKinsey & Company or the Boston Consulting Group” may be reduced to three stages: “Analysis, project, execution & control.” He notes, “Conceptually, it is as simple as that, although that is only sometimes the case in practice.”

Who should read this book?
• New managers and wanna-be leaders and CEOs
• Management coaches and mentors
• Team members who are overwhelmed with complexity, but without an agreed-upon process
• University professors and management workshop leaders
• Guys who have made too many book review promises!

Lifelong-learning managers never met a management book that didn’t shed new light on an old discipline. Ditto this manager (me) and this book. The “Annexes” (aka Appendix) features 34 pages of fascinating content:
• Management definitions: (Drucker: “Management is the life-giving, the acting organ of the institution it manages.”)
• The history of management in a nutshell: The Art of War, Moses and Jethro, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Maslow, MBO, Theories X, Y, and Z, and more.
• Definitions: Purpose, Forecasts, Scenario, Strategic Fit, and more
• Management Tools: Balanced Scorecard, Exponential Law, Outside-in and Inside-out, Generic Strategies (3), Marketing Mix, Product Life Cycle, Gantt Chart, Benchmarking, JIT, PERT, the Pareto Principle (80/20), and more
• One-page Chart: “New Project: Preliminary Evaluation”
• Business Plan: “Illustrative Layout for Internal use”

Yikes. The author lists dozens of acronyms and other management concepts that were unfamiliar to me. (It’s a good thing I’m retired!) The bibliography features two categories: Recommended Readings (3 books) and Works Citied (24 resources). Did I mention his research? Wow. I was somewhat encouraged to know I have reviewed at least two of his featured books: Heroic Leadership: Best Practices From a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World and The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli.

The list is tempting. He introduces The 10-Day MBA and a book I’ve always wanted to read, My Years With General Motors, by Alfred P. Sloan. He also recommends titles by Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, Isaac Asimov, Warren Bennis, Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, and others. (Note: Along the way, I bumped into Complete MBA for Dummies, which reminded me of my reviews of several “dummies” books.)

Along with the meat and potatoes, there is also humor for dessert. Discussing Pareto’s 80/20 law in strategic planning (“20% of our efforts produce approximately 80% of our results”), the author notes: “Those big, thick strategic plans that go on for hundreds of pages and that no one will read are an example of poor strategic planning.”

In his chapter on “The Most Classical Management Model,” Ciceri persuades readers and leaders that his process is applicable for all. “Even a simple undertaking, such as a birthday party, is a management process requiring many decisions.”

His by-the-way insights are memorable. He writes, “Incidentally, in management, overlapping and puzzling definitions often exist. What if science used unclear words? This book uses precise and unambiguous definitions for terms such as purpose, strategy, goals, etc. Sooner or later, management studies will hopefully get closer to science.”

And by-the-way, if I had $10 for every minute I’ve wasted in strategic planning sessions (“What’s the difference between a purpose statement and a mission statement?”)…well, you know the rest.

Don’t skip these gems:
• The “Cohesive EU” matrix (developed by students at the University of Malta) with these quadrants: “Complain another day” and “Vae soli! (Heaven help you!)”
• In the chapter on goal alignment: “Without numbers, goals are wholly a matter of good intentions.”
• LOL! The author notes the book, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, and illustrates with four quadrants: Helpless, Stupid, Intelligent, and Bandit.
• Whoa! Read what Alfred Sloan learned (too late) when Walter P. Chrysler quit his job at GM—and later launched the Chrysler Corporation. (Note: This reminded me of the Sept. 6, 2023, WSJ article, “Up, Then Out: Why People Quit After Getting a Promotion.”)
• The “process questions” at the end of each chapter are excellent, especially the 13 questions from Chapter 6. Example: “What are the future demands on our people’s expertise?”

I agree with one book endorser who wrote, “Whatever your approach to management, your ideas are likely to change after reading this book. Indeed, your approach to life, in general, may be affected too.” The book is imminently applicable to businesses, nonprofits, churches, and—yes—even your family!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for At the Heart of Management: Process, Tools and the Ubiquitous Exponential Law, by Lino F. Ciceri. And thanks to the author and publisher for sending me a review copy.

BONUS BOOKS! Watch for more management and leadership book reviews coming (per the "Leadership Lotto" Issue No. 570.)

COMING SOON! Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High, by David Noble and Carol Kauffman (Feb. 21, 2023). Listen on Libro (9 hours, 49 minutes). With a foreword by Marshall Goldsmith, this book is so, so practical. Chapter 5, “Get Smart About People,” recommends you “Know Your Defaults to Get Beyond Them.”

COMING SOON! When Everyone Leads: How the Toughest Challenges Get Seen and Solved, by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride (Jan. 31, 2023). The authors propose a 10-point manifesto on redefining leadership. (See #5, "Plenty of people in important positions never exercise leadership.")

READ MY REVIEW. True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition, by Zach Clayton and Bill George. Do you “ask for compliance with rules” or “seek alignment through values?” The “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations” chart on page 123—gulp!

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In the final section, “Why Should Anybody Follow You?”—Lino Ciceri writes, “Management is the broadest, the most demanding, and the subtlest of all human activities. And the most indispensable for life.” What’s your view of management—and what management process do you use to organize your work and your life?
2) “To be a manager in real life, one must necessarily also be a leader,” writes Ciceri. Do you agree? (For more, click here to read what Olan Hendrix (1931-2023) said about leadership and management.)
3) Check out this helpful tool from the Program Bucket, "Worksheet #6.2: Top 10 Questions to Ask About Program Capacity and Sustainability." What question(s) did we fail to ask when launching our most recent program?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 8: Five Business Classics
Book #46 of 100: In Search of Excellence

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #46 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

In Search of Excellence:
Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies
by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.

Books #46 through #50 spotlight five memorable books I’ve labeled “Five Business Classics.” Business Guru Tom Peters, 40 years ago (!), introduced a new lexicon to the business world. (And this reminder: Ken Blanchard recommends every book deserves four readings to bridge the chasm between knowing and doing.)
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: In Search of Excellence
• Listen on Libro: The Heart and Soul of Excellence (Abridged, 1 hour)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

In Part 1, “The Saving Remnant – Successful American Companies,” Peters and Waterman write, “The eight attributes that emerged to characterize most nearly the distinction of the excellent, innovative companies go as follows:
1. A bias for action, for getting on with it.
2. Close to the customer.
3. Autonomy and entrepreneurship.
4. Productivity through people.
5. Hands-on, value driven.
6. Stick to the knitting.
7. Simple form, lean staff.
8. Simultaneous loose-tight properties.”

They add, “They don’t try to hold everyone on so short a rein that he can’t be creative. They encourage practical risk taking, and support good tries. They follow Fletcher Byrom’s ninth commandment: ‘Make sure you generate a reasonable number of mistakes.’” [More mistakes here!]

The First Management Book I Read:
Managing Our Work

The first management book I read was Managing Our Work, by John W. Alexander, IVCF's president. It was originally a staff training document to address those who had a reluctance to plan. Read my review here. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog. What was the first management book you read?

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Are you leveraging the most strategic management tools for telling your story? Read Business Storytelling for Dummies to learn the why, what, how, and who of effective storytelling, plus 10 ways to measure the results of a story initiative. And read this review of Chip Heath’s 2022 book, Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers. Need more tools? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: Lino F. Ciceri, management, process, tools

September 6, 2023

Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive

Issue No. 575 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a WSJ bestselling book with 37 powerful topics for your next 37 weekly staff meetings. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One: Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook.

View this 60 Minutes snippet (2014) featuring sports legend James Brown's interview with Greg Harden, Michigan's Executive Director of Athletic Counseling. Click here to view the 4-minute video and learn why Brown snagged a copy of Harden's syllabus on self-defeating attitudes!

37 Powerful Coaching Topics!

Apparently, my new hobby is editing book titles—and suggesting to authors and publishers several alternative attention-grabbing titles. (Where would that place me on the chutzpah scoreboard?) So here is this week’s book—already a Wall Street Journal bestseller:

Stay Sane in an Insane World:
How to Control the Controllables and Thrive
by Greg Harden

To be clear, I absolutely love this book. I can’t stop talking about it. It’s already on my Top-10 List of 2023 books. But, if the publisher had asked me to suggest book titles, I might have suggested these zingers from Chapters 18, 21, 22, and 30:
• It’s Perfectly Okay Not to Be Perfect!
• You Only Get One-Tenth of a Second to Feel Bad!
• 37 Powerful Topics for One-on-One Coaching
• SWOT Yourself!
• Say Thank You (And Then Shut Your Mouth!)

With 37 short chapters, this is a no-brainer resource for the next 37 weeks of your weekly staff meetings. I couldn’t find any fluff in any of the 37 relevant topics. Your coworkers and direct reports will love this book too. Greg Harden’s insights will enrich your leadership and your one-on-one coaching. (If you’re a wanna-be author, you’ll borrow the book’s brilliant format.)

Greg Harden writes, “I can’t teach Tom Brady how to throw the ball. I can’t teach Desmond Howard how to catch the ball. I can’t teach Michael Phelps how to do a perfect flip turn. All I can do is teach you how to become the world’s greatest expert on one subject: yourself.”

“If you train yourself to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, to the stuff you hate, how phenomenal are you going to be when you get to the stuff you love?” He adds, “The greatest competition you’re ever going to face is yourself.”

For more than 30 years, Greg Harden has built champions as Executive Director of Athletic Counseling at the University of Michigan. (See his 60 Minutes interview with sportscaster James Brown who called Harden “Michigan’s Secret Weapon.”) In addition to inspiring Tom Brady, Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, and others, he has counseled over 400 other student athletes who have gone on to professional careers in four major sports.

But…you’re not an athlete? No problem. This book on “How to Control the Controllables and Thrive” will become your go-to resource for your own gut-checks and for inspiring family, friends, and co-workers to step up.

By the way, did you know that Tom Brady (who wrote the book’s foreword) was not drafted by the New England Patriots until the NFL’s sixth round? (He was the 199th pick!) Yet, in his 23 seasons in the NFL, Brady won a record seven Super Bowl titles, three NFL MVP awards, and a record five Super Bowl MVPs. The author’s commentary on Brady is noteworthy. He came to Harden’s office for help. He writes, “This may be the perfect spot to let you know that athletes who have asked for help tend to have better outcomes than those who are required to meet with me.”

Here are 7 memorable principles
from this extraordinary book:

#1. There Is No “Geographical Cure.” Heisman winner Desmond Howard had been at the University of Michigan for a year and half and his football dreams were not coming true. Harden notes, “Desmond was starting to think that maybe it was time for the old ‘geographical cure.’ You know, the belief that if you go to another team (or another place to work, another city to live in), everything will suddenly turn out right. Even though you’ve changed nothing else about yourself, just packing up and moving will somehow magically fix everything.”

#2. The Value of a Short Memory. Harden hammers home his “one-tenth of a second” principle. “It’s the one trait so many of the greatest athletes I’ve ever known have in common: a short memory. My shot doesn’t go in. I drop the ball. I miss the wide-open net. I give myself one-tenth of a second to feel bad, and then I keep playing.”

He adds, “It works the other way, too. The ball goes in, I catch the pass, I score the goal. Now I’ve got one-tenth of a second to feel great about it before I get back to the game.” Harden says that to become a peak performer, “you have to retrain, reprogram, re-engineer yourself not to obsess over ‘triumph and disaster’ (to quote Rudyard Kipling) to ‘treat those two impostors just the same.’”

Learn the essence of author Greg Harden's coaching process by listening to Tom Brady (the NFL's G.O.A.T.) describe Harden's approach with him at the University of Michigan. Click here to view this 7-minute NFL Film (2016), "Inside the Mind of Tom Brady."

#3. Say Thank You (And Then Shut Your Mouth!). The author observes, “…to this day, I am amazed at the general human inability to accept a compliment. In fact, I’ve noticed that the better you are at giving compliments to others, the worse you are at accepting them for yourself.”

This is great advice! I tried it last week when Amazon’s Alexa asked if I wanted to reorder my favorite oatmeal.
• Me: “Yes! Thank you!”
• Alexa: “You’re so welcome. Your kindness really gives me a charge!”
• Me: (I shut up as Greg Harden urges! LOL!)

#4. Beware the Common Denominator of Your Bad Bosses! The book includes two jammed-packed chapters on interviewing: Chapter 33, “When You’re Interviewing Someone, Let Them Tell You Who They Are,” and Chapter 34, “When You’re Being Interviewed, Turn It Around!” Harden lists his best interviewing techniques: “panel interviews, role-plays, small group discussions, behavioral interviews, and formal presentations. In each of these formats, you’re creating a more dynamic, real-life scenario, and you can discover a great deal more about your candidates.”

When you’re interviewing for a position, Harden warns not to come across as the person who’s been cursed by a series of bosses who are jerks. “…I guarantee you, you just lost the job—because the common denominator in all of your bad situations was you.”

#5. If Don’t Golf, Skip Chapter 35! The humor oozes out of dozens of chapters, especially Chapter 35: “If You Happen to Be a Golfer…then may God have mercy on your soul. Also keep reading. If you don’t golf, be thankful and skip this chapter.” (But really, don’t skip this chapter.) Harden notes, “Of all the sports I’ve ever played, I think golf may be the best metaphor for life.”

This reminded me of the golf books I’ve reviewed, including this 2023 bestseller, Feherty: The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf's David Feherty, by John Feinstein. Greg Harden began his career as a clinical therapist at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. I wonder if Feherty would have avoided his numerous missteps if he had met Greg Harden early on.

#6. “I Had to Forgive My Father for Not Being Perfect.” Whew! Harden is very transparent and you’ll appreciate Chapter 7, “The Demon on the Left Shoulder (Self-Defeating Attitudes and Behaviors)” and Chapter 8, “The Angel on Your Right Shoulder (Self-Supporting Attitudes and Behaviors).”

You’ll reference these chapters frequently. Harden muses, “Why can’t I give up fear and self-doubt for Lent?” His insights on “letting go of yesterday’s baggage” (his assignment and exercise for a volleyball player) are powerful. He quotes Eleanor Roosevelt:

“No one can make you feel inferior
without your permission.”

Chapter 7 includes a convicting list of 29 self-defeating attitudes and behaviors that popped out during his workshops, including: blaming others, being revengeful, spreading rumors, being arrogant, and not sharing your true feelings. He adds a 30th behavior: addiction. (See my last issue for more on addictions.)

#7. Three Specific Things I Will STOP Doing. A two-page worksheet, “My Purpose, My Goals, My SDABs and SSABs,” features a helpful tool for coaching and mentoring and includes these fill-in-the-blanks prompts:
• My Purpose in Life (50 words or less)
• What would success look like for me?
• My Goals (measurable, actionable goals that will show progress toward success)
• Self-defeating attitudes and behaviors (SDABs) holding me back from reaching my goals (list 3)
--Three specific things I will STOP doing
• Self-supporting attitudes and behaviors (SSABs) that I want to cultivate in my life (list 3)
--Three specific things I will START doing

THERE’S MORE. I gotta stop here, but don’t miss these highlights:
• Public Speaking: Why you should memorize the first two minutes of your talk.
• 11 Testimonials: Powerful “testimonials” from 11 men and women, including Desmond Howard and Steve Hamilton.
• Two Exercises: When counseling a very unhappy volleyball player, how two exercises helped her bounce back.
• Faith-based, Solution-focused: The poignant song, Agape, written and sung by pro hockey player Cooper Marody as a memorial to his teammate, Colby Cave. Note: Kleenex alert! (Read why the author admires Marody's lifestyle: "faith-based, solution-focused.")
• SWOT Worksheet: How to conduct your own self-assessment on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
• Chapter 7: Why Harden thought of titling this chapter, “The Funnest Damn Chapter in the Whole Book!”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive, by Greg Harden with Steve Hamilton. Listen on Libro (5 hours, 39 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Greg Harden writes, “If you make it your mindset, your vision of who you are, that you’re going to make it a habit to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, in everything you do—if you make that your norm, your base level, your default mode—then on your absolutely worst day, even when you slip, you’re still going to be better than the average person on their BEST day.” What would it look like for you to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time—in your current role at work?

2) And speaking of worst days, here's my review of John Lynch's classic, On My Worst Day: Cheesecake, Evil, Sandy Koufax and Jesus.

3) In last week’s issue on workaholism and money—the author discovered her hyper-focus on success was very unhealthy. Can you give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time—and still lead and live a God-honoring life? (Read both books!)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 7: The Contrarian Thinkers
Book #45 of 100: Balancing Life's Demands

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #45 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Balancing Life's Demands:
A New Perspective on Priorities
by J. Grant Howard

Books #41 through #45 spotlight five unique authors I’ve labeled “Contrarian Thinkers.” Most books, and far too many preachers, will give you the well-worn dribble about balancing priorities: God is first. Family is second. Church is third. Your career is fourth. Bible scholar J. Grant Howard disagreed and wrote that a list of sequential priorities makes absolutely no sense.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Balancing Life's Demands
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

Dr. Howard (1929-2004) wrote, “It can’t be intelligently explained. It can’t be easily understood. It can’t be logically lived out.” He added, “I am convinced that the existing sequential model is not only impractical it is unbiblical.”

Instead, Howard believed that Matthew 22:34-40 says we have two relationships and responsibilities—equal in importance—God and our neighbor. With God at the center circle of his helpful diagram, a second circle of self surrounds God and then a third circle with five segments—work, world, government, church and family—make up the outer concentric circle.

“The Bible simply does not present the Christian’s commitments on some scale or list,” wrote Howard. “It does not give them to us as sequential priorities. We don’t do them all at the same time (though there are many areas of overlap), but we need to do them all.”

Legendary Football Coaches on Culture

Some books inspire, but leave out the critical steps. Matt Mayberry’s book inspires and delivers insights and implementation plans, plus helpful profiles on legendary football coaches and leadership gurus. He also warns about “Six Helpful Pain Points.” Must-read: Pain Point #2, “Misrepresentation of old mindsets and behaviors.” Read my review of Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Chapter 13 in Greg Harden’s book is a must-read: “Your Sport Is What You Do, Not Who You Are.” As you market and promote your organization’s visionary leaders—what role do you have in ensuring that your leaders are living healthy God-honoring lives? Reminder: “Your mission is what you do—not who you are.” Need ideas? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

05:45 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: 100%, coaching, geographical cure, Greg Harden, short memory

August 30, 2023

MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your "Enough"

Issue No. 574 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting discusses the “Never Enough” cult and how money and workaholism intersect. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Madison Avenue Makeover: The Transformation of Huge and the Redefinition of the Ad Agency Business.

Are you on the “Hamster Wheel of Never Enough?” Read why Manisha Thakor, at age 50, “had nothing to show for it except the privilege of a potential early retirement—a scenario that filled me with dread, because if I stopped working now that would mean I could no longer hide behind my work. I’d have to finally start living. It was all I ever wanted. It was everything I feared.” Note: If you need a hamster wheel, click here!

Gut Check on Workaholism! (Who me?)

Here’s a book about money—but it’s really about workaholism and much more. And here’s a gut check for you.

CHECK ONE:
[ ] Workaholism is not my problem. I will readily share this book’s message with my spouse and/or my accountability partner.
[ ] Workaholism is not my problem—but I will not share this review with anyone. (They would just meddle and who has time for that?)
[ ] Gulp. Maybe I am a workaholic. Maybe I should read this book.

MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your "Enough"
by Manisha Thakor

This thin book has a deep message, but if the publisher had asked me—I would have dropped the “zen” reference in the title and suggested these options:
• The Cult of Never Enough: Workaholism and Money
• The New House of Worship: The Office
• Money and Workaholism: The Hamster Wheel Syndrome
• Self-Worth = Net Worth: Wear That Busy Badge Proudly!

The author, a wealth advisor and expert on balancing financial health with emotional health, confesses: “For a long time, I had viewed my work addiction solely through the lens of money. That my obsession was driven by a net worth = self-worth mindset, and the faulty belief that the more money I earned, the more valuable I was as a human being. But I can now see that money was never even the true focal point.”

She quotes a financial therapist and coach. “Often, in money therapy, it isn’t really about the money, it’s about getting to: What is it that money represents for you? And for a lot of people, shame really cuts to the core.”

The author resonated with these insights and “had been silently making mental checkmarks” during the money therapy session.
• “I have long believed that something is wrong with me (check);
• I don’t feel whole (check);
• I try to fill that emptiness with work (double check).”

Manisha Thakor’s father, the CFO “of a Fortune 500 company, came from a well-educated Indian family.” Her “blond-haired, blue-eyed mother was a vibrant college professor” from upstate New York. The family visited her father’s family in India every year—and saw the gamut of both wealth and poverty—but she didn’t learn her misguided values from her family. (Her transparent story, including failures, is insightful.) Yet, she succumbed to misplaced priorities:
• She skipped her grandmother’s funeral “because I was too busy with some project, the content of which I can’t even recall today.”
• When her then husband almost lost his leg in a motorcycle accident in Nevada, she focused on her work in a San Francisco hotel room while her husband recovered alone in his hospital bed. She reasoned: “The surgery was successful. You still have your leg. You’re in pain, but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Writing about “Flawed Self-Worth Anchors,” the author reflects on her “four-digit” handbag collection when she worked in high-net-worth finance. She notes that any purse “that dared to cost over $1,000” was how she signaled her worth to her “flock.”

Eventually, after moving with her husband from Houston to Santa Fe—and installing hooks for her nearly $20,000 collection of handbags in her spacious closet—she had a wake-up call. Her “Wall of Shame purses could have fed a family of four in the U.S. for an entire year” or could have purchased 150 suits to empower women worldwide through the Dress for Success program.

So why should you read this book about the cult of “Never Enough?” I found it helpful in two areas: money and workaholism. I’ve detailed my own struggle with workaholism here (Buckets, Chapter 9) and here (Mistake-Making #20). I find that revisiting—and staying alert—about addictions can be beneficial. Perhaps this book will be a good reminder for you. Thakor’s robust 14 pages of notes includes many helpful resources, such as:
• “The Twenty Questions” from Workaholics Anonymous (W.A. adds: “If you answered ‘yes’ to three or more of these questions, you may be a workaholic. Relax. You are not alone. Many have found recovery through the W.A. fellowship.”)
• The Harvard Business Review article: “How Being a Workaholic Differs from Working Long Hours — and Why That Matters for Your Health”

And is there more to learn about money management and the cult of “Never Enough”—and its relationship to shame and workaholism? Absolutely—and the author delivers practical and probing questions and comments for both over-spenders and over-workers.
• Instead of “Do What You Love,” why you should “Be What You Love.”
• Why “baby steps” for workaholics actually work! (List the steps on your to-do list, since workaholics love to-do lists.)
• The literal “come to Jesus” moment when a husband discovered that all his eggs were in the financial wealth basket leaving him, along with his wife, “void of emotional wealth.” (He began attending church!)
• Consider “Joy-Based Spending”—a practice the author has been teaching for a decade, especially to those in their 20s and 30s. Three tools: 1) Do a Joy Audit, 2) Do an Hourly Wage Test, and 3) Take a Photo.”
• “If you won $10 million in the lottery and, on the same day, were told you had only ten years left to live, what would you start doing and what would you stop?”

Note: The chapter titles are very compelling and you will definitely finish this short book (thin, just 167 pages, plus resources). Note: To discern the veracity of the occasional “zen” references, I would encourage readers and leaders to study what aligns—and does not align—with the following theological frameworks. Consider:
• Saint Augustine: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
• Jesus: “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (John 10:10)
• Tolstoy: How Much Land Does A Man Need (Note: just $1.99 currently for this Kindle Edition, this short story is by Leo Tolstoy, the author of War and Peace.)
• Jesus: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)

The Apostle Paul, in Philippians‬ ‭4‬, also weighs in:‬‬ “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.”‬‬
‭‭ ‬‬
Again (my opinion), the “zen” references distract from the author’s important message, but I believe you’ll find numerous insights that will align with your values, such as:
• “Making money your god is the fastest route to misery and self-absorption.”
• Dr. Kate Levinson, a psychotherapist, explains why she took a year’s sabbatical from buying “stuff.”
• Slow down? “Even in our downtime, we’re listening to podcasts (at 2x speed) while getting in a workout.”
• The cheery admonitions to “follow your passion!” and “find a job that you love!” can be damaging. The author quotes a writer, “Our desks were never meant to be our altars.” (See also God Loves Your Work.)
• Consider the “slower lane.” As Elizabeth Gilbert memorably wrote, “You are not a Future 500 company. You don’t have to show increasing profits.”
• “For years, I treated Saturday and Sunday as bonus workdays…” Now, the author says “…using weekends to rest is a gift.” (See also Sen. Joe Lieberman’s book on the sabbath and Steve Macchia’s book, Crafting a Rule of Life.)

PRISON! Finally, in the chapter on “The Liberation of Enough,” Manisha Thakor reminds us: “But Never Enough cult members like me tend to turn money (and its bedfellows prestige and accomplishments) into an addiction, a competition, or a crutch. Instead of being an agent of freedom, money becomes a prison.”

And speaking of prison, see below for my review of Lessons from San Quentin, plus read what Harvard’s Clayton Christensen warned about in his year-end lecture to Harvard students. He asked, “How can I be sure that…I live a life of integrity—and stay out of jail?” (Read more.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for MoneyZen: The Secret to Finding Your "Enough” by Manisha Thakor. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 48 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In addition to the author’s approach to “Joy-Based Spending,” how could we enrich its meaning with Cameron Doolittle’s Joy Giving aspirations? (Read my review.)
2) In the counter-cultural book, The God Guarantee: Finding Freedom From the Fear of Not Having Enough, Jack Alexander quotes Dallas Willard, “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” Alexander then shares how he went from “my time, my talent, my treasure, my assets” to understanding there was more “me” in that approach—“and not a lot of God.” Do you have enough yet?
3) In Chapter 9, “The Team Bucket,” in Mastering the Management Buckets, I describe my own wake-up call about workaholism. So to set boundaries, I began using Worksheet #9.1, “The 21 Time Blocks: Toward a God-honoring Balanced Life.” Later, after very helpful counseling, I learned what was fueling my addiction. Today? “Hello. My name is John and I’m a workaholic.” What's your story?
4) John Maxwell waited until age 60 to write one of his books. Do you think the author's story will be different at age 60 (10 years from now)? (P.S. Want more money insights? Check out "The Money Couple's" books.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 7: The Contrarian Thinkers
Book #44 of 100: Lessons From San Quentin

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #44 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Lessons from San Quentin:
Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned in Prison
by Bill Dallas with George Barna

Books #41 through #45 spotlight five unique authors I’ve labeled “Contrarian Thinkers.” Trendspotter George Barna teams up with Bill Dallas for this book. Dallas describes his wake-up call on character development and the defining life lessons he learned from five years at San Quentin.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Lessons from San Quentin
• Listen on Libro (5 hours, 24 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

Here’s a snippet: “San Quentin dislodged my perception of the church as an institution and redefined it as a unified group of sinners who were so thrilled to be accepted by God that they accepted everyone who wanted to join them on the journey. Their emphasis was love, not rules; character, not attendance; spiritual fruit, not information retention.”

First Church of Sinners

“In ‘Sinners Anonymous,’ blogger R. Brad White calls AA a place of ‘healing, support, encouragement, and accountability’ and asks why this description does not apply to more churches. Perhaps if we renamed our congregations ‘Sinners Anonymous’ or ‘First Church of Sinners,’ he writes, this would assist us in making them feel more like AA.” Read my review of Why Can't Church Be More Like an AA Meeting? And Other Questions Christians Ask About Recovery, by Stephen R. Haynes. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

____________________________________________________

The 4 Big Mistakes Board Seminars:
Sept. 29: San Diego
Oct. 12: Irvine, CA

The Barnabas Groups in San Diego and Orange County are hosting seminars for nonprofit CEOs and board members. On Oct. 12, John Pearson and Mike Pate will present “The 4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board: How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance.” Contact TBG/OC for more info about the Oct. 12 seminar. John is also presenting the seminar on Sept. 29 in San Diego for TBG/San Diego. Can’t attend? Order the 107-page workbook from Amazon.

____________________________________________________

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Does “Hamster Wheel” aptly describe the culture for your communications and marketing team? It doesn’t have to be that way. Learn from other pros how they leverage tools, deadlines, and clarity to exceed goals and still have a life! Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

08:02 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: money, never enough, Saint Augustine, workaholism

August 16, 2023

Madison Avenue Makeover: The Transformation of Huge and the Redefinition of the Ad Agency Business

Issue No. 573 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting describes the transformation process of a global creative agency with 12 independent offices (silos) and on its fifth CEO in just four years. Yikes! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One: Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook, by Bob Phillips.

Remember this clever EDS commercial? The team at the digital creative agency, Huge, would clearly identify with the huge challenge of rebuilding an airplane in the air! View the one-minute spoof here.

"Faster Horses" Not the Answer

It’s still summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, but—if you’re honest—while you may still be on vacation, you’ve been thinking about the next round of your strategic planning process. Today’s book will get your juices going again. Read:

Madison Avenue Makeover:
The Transformation of Huge
and the Redefinition of the Ad Agency Business
by Michael Farmer

“Huge” is the corporate name of a digital creative agency. Their first client was IKEA. With 12 independent offices worldwide in 2021, the owners had just named their fifth CEO in four years. (That definitely calls for a YIKES!) IPG, “one of the big five global marketing communications holding companies,” somehow cajoled Mat Baxter (who immigrated with his family to Australia at age 12), to take a swing at this huge challenge (no pun intended).

Remember—this was during COVID, so when Baxter agreed to become Huge’s Global CEO, he began meeting with small segments of their 1,200 employees over Zoom. Across their 12 offices (London, Singapore, Bogotá, Toronto, Brooklyn, Chicago and other cities), each led by an “office president,” he discovered more than 100 job titles in the agency! There was no uniform “Huge Way,” or common approach with clients. Just 12 fiefdoms. Growth had stalled. (Does this sound like a fun job to you?)

Stunningly, Baxter invited the author, consultant, and prof, Michael Farmer, to shadow the hoped-for transformation process as a “fly on the wall.” Gratefully, readers can soak up all the learnings (and the missteps) as Farmer chronicles the 17-month process in 2021-2022. (He includes his notes in the book.)

And yes, they wore COVID masks during the first of three executive leadership team retreats. And get this: at their first retreat in Maine with 20 global execs (plus the author), Baxter intentionally did not provide an agenda in advance! Think about that! The retreat began with an ice-breaker dinner then focused on seven key questions for the next two days.

• If you’re a consultant (or a consultant wanna-be), you’ll love this book.
• If you’re a CEO or senior team member—facing no growth or slow growth—Madison Avenue Makeover is a must-read.

Fascinating. Enlightening. Templates. Replicable Ideas. Cartoons! And a promising exercise for your next senior leaders retreat.

HERE ARE 5 TAKEAWAYS:

#1. GUTSY SELF-ASSESSMENT REQUIRED! If you’re in need of a transformation, this book will give you courage—watching how the team at Huge pulled it off. To calm the obvious fears of major changes coming, the executive leadership team prepared and distributed an extensive “Frequently Asked Questions” document for every employee. (It runs 22 pages in the book’s appendix.) The FAQs includes this quote from Andy Grove, former Chairman and CEO of Intel, “To understand a company’s strategy, look at what they actually do rather than what they say they will do.”

Farmer writes, "To use a tired analogy, Baxter would have to rebuild the plan while it was flying." (View the EDS video here.) And they needed to keep the team informed and productive, which reminded me of Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges who writes, “It isn’t the changes that do you in, it’s the transitions.” (See also my ECFA blog post, “Beware the Emotional Effects of Transitions.”)

#2. MARKET RESEARCH SAYS: “FASTER HORSES!” Mat Baxter immediately retained a consulting firm to give guidance to the transformation process. (Warning: Strong opinions. Deep-seated cultures.) What will prompt revitalization and growth: Plan A or Plan B—and how will we know? The author notes, “Huge’s product approach was similar to what was carried out at Apple under Steve Jobs, who is reported to have said:

‘Some people say, “Give the customers what they want.” But that’s not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they’re going to want before they do. Henry Ford once said, “If I’d ask customers what they wanted, they would have told me, a faster horse!” People don’t know what they want until you show it to them. That’s why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page.’”

#3. GIVE THE PROCESS A MEMORABLE CODE NAME! “Within the ELT [executive leadership team], the transformation program was codenamed 'Project Polpo'—polpo being the Italian word for octopus, the complicated sea creature with eight arms, a soft and adaptable body for squeezing in and out of tight spaces, and a high brain-to-body weight ratio.”

Words matter—and I imagine this creative code name brought chuckles and motivation to the ELT. The author (in his fly-on-the-wall role) had full access to meetings and documents. The book includes the unedited snippet of a “Polpo Playbook Review,” led by the recently promoted Chief Product Officer.

#4. TRUST YOUR CONSULTANT! Baxter retained TBMC, a consulting firm with a unique process. Michael Farmer notes that “TBMC uses a unique, stylized vocabulary when describing advertising industry practices and the content of the consultancy’s transformation program.” Another gut check: what if the CEO or ELT doesn’t trust the process?

This reminded me of the wisdom from my friend and colleague, David Schmidt of Wise Planning. Dan Busby and I quoted Schmidt in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: “Your strategic planning consultant, facilitator, or volunteer will use different tools to get you to the top of Mount Everest (a completed plan). But it’s important to let your facilitator use his or her own tools.” (Read more here. Download Tool #14 here.)

#5. YOUR NEXT CEO: WHAT COMPETENCIES? When Mat Baxter agreed to become the fifth CEO of Huge in four years (!), he brought a critical competency with him: Turn-Around guy (see The First 90 Days and the four kinds of organizations). The challenges (did I mention this?) were huge: silos, no growth, global, new guy in town. The author quotes Baxter extensively—and you’re reminded that, as Peter Drucker urged, leaders must lead from their strengths. Drucker: “Effective leadership is not about being liked; leadership is defined by results, not attributes.”

Farmer notes that Baxter engineered a paradigm shift—with a new approach: “a results paradigm” focusing on seven outcomes (see pages 136-137 in the last chapter). One critical outcome: “a corporate mission to improve client results.” This reminded me of Peter Drucker’s observation about Leadership Network, founded by Bob Buford: “The fruit of your work grows on other people’s trees.” (Read more.)

There’s more—so I urge you to read and learn from this fascinating book:
• The “Fears, Gaps, Challenges” pre-retreat assignment for all senior leaders.
• “GOAT”—the firm’s “Go Away Time” 30-day sabbatical when a team member reaches 10 years of service.
• Metaphors: Huge landed on three unique “front doors” (learn about doorbells also) and what they first labeled “drawers.”
• Categorization (the 3-page template for the 3 front doors): Experience Transformation, Technology Realization, and Growth Creation (plus: 45 new "products" for helping clients grow).
• History, context, and pricing for creative agencies today: fascinating.
• The work from home dilemma for a global firm: read where Huge landed.
• More Metaphors: Conversion from being a “light bulb” for the clients to a “laser.”
• And this:

“Each employee needs to be an ambassador for results-driven work. This will require a major communications and cultural-development effort.”

Did the transformation work? Read the book!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Madison Avenue Makeover: The Transformation of Huge and the Redefinition of the Ad Agency Business, by Michael Farmer. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In discussing the best business model for Huge, their consultants delivered an overview of various business models—and their pros and cons. They warned, “Employing the wrong model contributes to client churn and talent burnout.” What’s our business model? How long have we had it? Is it working? Is it time for an upgrade? Can we do it while flying the plane?
2) Someone on your team should read another fascinating book on the advertising industry, The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising, by Kenneth Roman (read my review). A popular Ogilvyism was, “You can’t save souls in an empty church.” Discuss the fine line between advertising and manipulation. Spotlight one of your print ads, brochures, email blasts, or website page that generated remarkable results recently. Why did it work?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 7: The Contrarian Thinkers
Book #43 of 100: Talking to Strangers

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #43 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Talking to Strangers:
What We Should Know
about the People We Don't Know
by Malcolm Gladwell

Books #41 through #45 spotlight five unique authors I’ve labeled “Contrarian Thinkers.” Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell writes, “The issue with spies is not that there is something brilliant about them. It is that there is something wrong with us.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Talking to Strangers
• Listen on Libro (8 hours, 57 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

THE BIG IDEA: Really smart people (the CIA, military intelligence, regulators, university officials with Ph.D.’s, the list goes on…) are not that smart when discerning if people we don’t know well are hoodwinking us (think spies, double agents, Ponzi schemers, football coaches, job applicants, the list goes on…). So…what chance is there for the rest of us with average intelligence? Gladwell: not much! The author elaborates on two puzzlers:

PUZZLER #1: “Why can’t we tell when the stranger in front of us is lying to our face?”
PUZZLER #2: “How is it that meeting a stranger can sometimes make us worse at making sense of that person than not meeting them?”

Also on this theme, read my reviews of Fool Me Once and Code Name Blue Wren.

The Future Ridiculed!

The authors of Future Normal are realists: “The truth is that the future is abandoned, defunded, ignored, or ridiculed just as often as it is realized. So the real challenge isn’t predicting the future but rather predicting what will become normal.” Read my review of Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

____________________________________________________

The 4 Big Mistakes Board Seminars:
Sept. 29: San Diego
Oct. 12: Irvine, CA

The Barnabas Groups in San Diego and Orange County are hosting seminars for nonprofit CEOs and board members. On Oct. 12, John Pearson and Mike Pate will present "The 4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board: How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance.” Contact TBG/OC for more info about the Oct. 12 seminar. John is also presenting the seminar on Sept. 29 in San Diego for TBG/San Diego. Can’t attend? Order the 107-page workbook from Amazon.

____________________________________________________

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Would "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" ad or the VW Beetle "Lemon" ad still work today? Need new ideas or even a new business model? Need help with AI innovations? We can help. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

05:30 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: advertising, agency, growth, Huge, strategy, transformation

August 8, 2023

Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One: Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook

Issue No. 572 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a comprehensive—but very fun to read—book on attitude. This book has lists! Oh, my—the lists! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my video review of Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI.

Bad attitude? Think you have problems? Listen to the song, “Murphy and the Bricks,” and learn why Murphy won’t be at work tomorrow! (LOL!)

Attitude Listology!

Just published today, here’s a book with practical steps (and numerous lists) for growing a positive attitude. Yikes! I know at least a dozen friends who should read this! But then—as the author writes, “Double yikes!” and “Triple yikes!”—I, too, looked in the attitude mirror. I hope you’ll read this very relevant and very unique book:

Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One:
Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook
by Bob Phillips

Phillips doesn’t waste your time with filler in this important book. On pages 9 to 11, you’ll find the “Attitude Evaluation Scale” and I double dare you to assess your attitude using the 30 statements. (Oh…if only my friends would submit to this exercise!) Rate yourself on a scale of 10 (High/Positive) to 1 (Low/Negative). Examples:
#3. My attitude while driving demands a rating of …
#6. My attitude toward facing change would register a …
#10. My ability to deal with conflict would rate a score of …
#20. My tendency toward a negative spirit and negative comments deserves a …
#30. If I was suddenly ushered into the presence of God, He might give me an attitude rating of …

See what I mean? Your friends and your family members need to read this book! And triple yikes…it goes without saying—both you and I need to read this book. At least thrice.

Bob Phillips sprinkles convicting quotations about attitude throughout the book:
• John C. Maxwell: “Circumstances do not make you what you are. They reveal what you are.”
• Zig Ziglar: “Attitude improvement is much like bathing. It is something we recommend you do every day!”
• Tim Wright: “Our attitude is our personal boomerang to the world—whatever we throw out will come back to us.”

The book’s 26 short chapters address the wide, wide world of all-things-attitude. (I had no idea!) Chapters include: Attitude and Career. Attitude and Habits. Attitude and Gratitude (this will preach!). Attitude and Anger (now he’s meddling—with two chapters!). Other attitude pairings include Attitude and Complexity, Self-Image, Depression, Habits, Adversity, Forgiveness, and more.

WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK. Chapter 14, “Attitude and Career,” includes 10 pages of general questions, work-related questions, lists to rank order (“You prefer a work situation with…” and “You get the most job satisfaction from…”), plus relational questions, personal questions, and spiritual questions. Then there’s this bonus: “26 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Making Major Decisions.” (Example: “In one sentence, what is the issue or decision you’re facing right now?”) Fabulous questions!

MASTER LISTOLOGIST. The lists! Oh, my…the lists are phenomenal! I thought of calling this review, “Listography” but then I discovered it’s the name of a table game! Did you know you can order a “listography” journaling book? My opinion: Bob Phillips is a Master Listologist. My favorite lists:
• Attitude Issues (48 topics). Phillips quotes Charles Kettering: “A problem well stated is a problem half solved.”
• Bad Attitude Triggers (62 triggers). Oh, my—he’s been around us. Triggers include: Monday mornings, indecisive people, grouchy people, constant complainers, people who tailgate, other people being late, and 56 more!
• Bad Attitude Busters (30 complaints and 30 push-backs!). My favorite: “I struggle with impatience. How do I develop more patience?” Push-back: “Ask God to bring you more problems. You don’t need patience when you’re problem-free.”

Bob Phillips is a licensed marriage and family counselor and a New York Times bestselling author of over 130 books (not a typo!). He is the cofounder of the Pointman Leadership Institute. In this book, he shares numerous stories from in-the-trenches, including his years as executive director of Hume Lake Christian Camps (where one father threatened to deck him!). I’ve reviewed several of his books including:
• 101 Leadership Insights: Practical Tools, Tips, and Techniques for New and Seasoned Leaders (read my review)
• Overcoming Conflict (read my review)
• And a very helpful book on the four social styles, How to Deal With Annoying People: What to Do When You Can’t Avoid Them (read my review)

Attitude Is a Choice includes a helpful new idea (at least for me) on the four social styles (Analytical, Driver, Amiable, Expressive). In the chapter, “Attitude and Temperament,” Phillips assigns homework. Using a three-by-five-inch index card, write down five “positive” descriptors of your social style on one side, and then five “negative” descriptors on the other side. Carry the index card with you for three weeks and set an alarm to remind you to look at the card at least three times a day. (Triple yikes—for those negative descriptors!)

Phillips lists 14 negative descriptors for the “Driver” style (that’s me). I picked five and now this Top-5 list is in my pocket—an excellent reminder of how the other three social styles might view me. ("75% think you're nuts!" Read more.)

Don’t skip a page in this well-worth-your-time book. See especially:
• 35 pages on “The Bible’s Attitude on Over 270 Topics” with hundreds of Bible references from A to Z (Anger to Zeal).
• “If you think you have a problem, read The Bricklayer’s Story…” (See pages 103-104. Hilarious! Or view this video.)
• Take the “Self-Esteem and Self-Image Inventory” (71 positive and negative traits).
• Learn why you are a Zamboni!
• Consider 12 monthly exercises, such as “Smile Month” and “Reading Month.” (I may skip “Exercise Month.”)

Finally, if you preach, speak, give talks, or lead weekly staff meetings, you’ll leverage the pithy quotations from Henri Nouwen, Anne Lamont, C.S. Lewis, Jack Canfield, François Fénelon, Tim Keller, the Cheshire Cat, and others. Three of my favorites:

Socrates: “If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and depart.”

Lou Holtz: “Don’t tell your problems to people. Eighty percent don’t care and the other twenty percent are glad you have them.”

G.K. Chesterton: “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Attitude Is a Choice―So Pick a Good One: Practical Steps to a Positive Outlook, by Bob Phillips. And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Bob Phillips suggests a response when someone exhibits a bad attitude, such as: “Things aren’t going right for me.” Your push-back: “Should I bring balloons to your pity party?” (LOL!) Check out the other 29 “Bad Attitude Busters.” For our discussion: How do you discern whether to show empathy or a good sense of humor?
2) Inhis chapter, “Attitude and Forgiveness,” Phillips quotes Anne Lamott: “Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die.” Triple yikes! Is it possible that maybe just one chapter in Attitude Is a Choice just might contain enough nudges and/or convicting insights to merit reading this book?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 7: The Contrarian Thinkers
Book #42 of 100: Stop Setting Goals

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #42 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Stop Setting Goals
If You Would Rather Solve Problems
by Bobb Biehl

Books #41 through #45 spotlight five unique authors I’ve labeled “Contrarian Thinkers.” Bobb Biehl, a consultant’s consultant, opened the eyes of this goal-setting zealot (me) to a second reality in just one sentence: “When I work on problems, I come in early and leave late. When I work on goals, I come in late and leave early.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Stop Setting Goals
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

Are you a goal-setter or a problem-solver? (How about your direct reports?) Do you embrace the challenge of marketing a new product line (goal setting) or do you prefer improving the profitability of an existing product (problem solving)? Goal-setters, Biehl says, talk about goals and dreams, new hills to climb, and golden opportunities. Problem-solvers talk about problems and realities, following through on the commitments already made last year, maximizing and controlling, and overcoming roadblocks.

Note: For more on problem solving, read my reviews of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs and Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen.

What’s Your XQ?

What? You’ve never heard of XQ? Welcome to the club! Soren Kaplan, author of Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs, defines XQ as “…the combination of mindsets, abilities, and know-how gained from your unique life experience that empowers you to achieve your goals.” Click here to read my review. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Bob Phillips asks a probing question in his book, Attitude Is a Choice. “What energizes you about your work?” Do you know this about each team member? See the 10 pages of career-related questions in Chapter 14, “Attitude and Career.” Need more resources? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: attitude, Bob Phillips, negatives, positives, social styles

August 2, 2023

Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI

Issue No. 571 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a video review of the new Wall Street Journal bestseller from McKinsey on this digital age and AI. Plus, read the review from Dr. John Reynolds. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace (Emerging Leader Edition).

View the video review of the new book, Rewired. Listen in as Dr. John Reynolds and David Schmidt join Pearson to discuss AI. Learn why Reynolds urges, “Rewired is the book to have on your desk today.”

“Rewired is the book to have on your desk today.”

Attn: Leaders, Readers, and Listeners!

I’ve been haranguing you to delegate your reading—but for this issue, I actually delegated my review! Dr. John Reynolds, President of Los Angeles Pacific University, read and reviewed this week’s book and urges every executive to get it off the shelf and onto your desk!

Another bonus! Click here to view a short video conversation about AI with Dr. Reynolds, David Schmidt, and me—as we talk about all things digital, AI, and this book: Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI.

READ THE REVIEW FROM DR. JOHN REYNOLDS:

If you are an executive looking for one comprehensive “how to make it happen" book that is current, speaks to the executive in language that makes sense about the rapidly evolving digital world, then Rewired is the book to have on your desk today.

The style of the book is perfectly stated right on the dust cover: “Rewired is a practitioner’s guide for leaders ready to do the hard work needed to outcompete in the age of digital and artificial intelligence.”

Circle in your mind “practitioner,” “leaders,” and “digital,” and you will know right now that this is a must-read for every organizational leader.

Well-designed for a complex topic, the book is neatly divided into seven sections:
• Sections 1 to 4 focus on the business of leading people and leading the organization certain to come with digital transformation.
• Sections 5 to 7 identify the digital strategies required to support the organizational change and deliver impact—utilizing the latest data on governance and technology available.

Your more technical staff and Chief Digital/Information Officers will be ecstatic! There are several outstanding new and interesting insights. For example, “EVP” is not “Executive Vice President,” but an “Employee Value Proposition.” (Fascinating.) And if you want to learn more, read Chapter 10, “Hiring Digital Talent When They’re Actually Interviewing You” (especially pages 88-91). Discover the new talent management strategies needed in this digital world.

The book is loaded with practical “how-to-do-it” strategies, examples, and case studies to support the execution of digital strategies. An outstanding example is the chart on page 90, “The Most Important Job Factors for Software Talent,” showing four columns (Took a Job, Plan to Stay, Plan to Leave, Left) and the reasons for such action:
• Career development and advancement potential
• Compensation and financial-related factors
• Workplace flexibility
• Meaningful work
• Support for employee health and well-being

A talent acquisition map ready to go! Pages 92-96 feature a template to document your “Current State Recruiting Journey” and your “Future State Recruiting Journey”—populated graphically with yellow emojis (i.e. Motivated, Anxious, Stressed, Hopeful, Frustrated, Informed, Excited, and more). The recruitment phases note the timelines.

Several chapters on “doing agile” serve as a great primer if you’ve missed the large repository of information published on agile organizations over the last few years. The detailed and practical approaches to organizational structure and optimizing agile methods are masterful with several real-world examples and case studies—a signature of this well-researched book.

Rewired is a practical “this is what we learned, use our experience, now go out and do it yourself” reference for navigating the often-fraught challenges of digital transformation. It could easily be renamed “The Dummies Guide to Digital Transformation, Agile Organizations, and Technology”—but the book is too well-researched, and replete with research information, that any other title would not do the content and value justice.

Rewired should be on every executive’s desk, and definitely not on the shelf. It masterfully fuses Strategic Thinking with execution in a practical and logical roadmap—enabling organizations to be successful in implementing and adding value through digital transformation.

NOTE: A genuine THANK YOU to our guest reviewer of Rewired. John Reynolds, Ph.D., serves as the President of Los Angeles Pacific University (LAPU) in Los Angeles. Prior to his 20+ year career in higher education, John worked and consulted in over 40 countries speaking, consulting, and advising educational, corporate, and NGO leaders on strategy, leadership, and organizational development initiatives. In addition to being a President and CEO, John serves on several for-profit, nonprofit, and educational boards in the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Africa. John enjoys writing, speaking, teaching, and consulting, specifically in the areas of strategy, leadership, digital transformation, board governance, and organizational change.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Rewired: The McKinsey Guide to Outcompeting in the Age of Digital and AI, by Eric Lamarre, Kate Smaje, and Rodney Zemmel. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

BONUS! To read the 12-page summary of Rewired, by the authors, click here to sign up for McKinsey Quarterly. (See pages 18-29 in the June 2023 digital edition, Vol. 59, No. 3.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Who should read this book first? Who will ensure that Rewired is on the DESK of our digital and AI team members, not the shelf?

2) In our video review of Rewired, David Schmidt cautions about the unprecedented changes that AI is bringing to the workplace—and the “ten percent” factor that faith-based nonprofits, especially, should be vigilant about. Can we trust the data? As a consultant, Schmidt recommends that policies keep pace with these coming changes. “What’s core and what’s non-negotiable?” Who is giving us guidance on these key issues? (NOTE: The day after we recorded the video, this article appeared online: "'AI and the Church' tech initiative aims to bring God's power to those in need. Scott Beck, CEO of Gloo, believes that AI, used properly, can benefit 'human flourishing.'")

3) If you enjoyed the above review, check out the video review of The Four Workarounds, recorded on March 8, 2023, with John Pearson (host) and David Schmidt and Jason Pearson.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 7: The Contrarian Thinkers
Book #41 of 100: The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #41 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership
by Steven B. Sample

Books #41 through #45 spotlight five unique authors I’ve labeled “Contrarian Thinkers.” Steven Sample (1940-2016) served as USC’s president from 1991 to 2010. He had two general rules about decision making:
[ ] Rule No. 1: “Never make a decision yourself that can reasonably be delegated to a lieutenant.”
[ ] Rule No. 2: “Never make a decision today that can reasonably be put off to tomorrow.”

• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

The page-turning contrarian chapters include:
1. Thinking Gray, and Free
2. Artful Listening
3. Experts: Saviors and Charlatans
4. You Are What You Read
5. Decisions, Decisions
6. Give the Devil His Due
7. Know Which Hill You’re Willing to Die On
8. Work for Those Who Work for You
9. Follow the Leader
10. Being President Versus Doing President

LOL! AI Mimics John Pearson's Buckets Blog!

Just for fun—and thinking about artificial intelligence per the last three chapters of a book I recently reviewed—I asked ChatGPT: “Using the writing style and humor from 'John Pearson’s Buckets Blog,' write a book review of Decision Sprint by Atif Rafiq." In the blink of a robot, ChatGPT delivered a 545-word response, including a "Buckets" rating for the book! Read more here. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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The 4 Big Mistakes Board Seminar:
Oct. 12, 2023

The Barnabas Group/Orange County is hosting a seminar for nonprofit CEOs and board members on Oct. 12, 2023, in Irvine, Calif. John Pearson and Mike Pate will present The “4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board: How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance.” Contact TBG/OC for more information. Can’t attend? Order the 107-page workbook from Amazon.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Mystified by the divergent views on AI? Some of our clients have discovered breakthrough solutions—saving hours (even days) of precious time. Need an outside insight? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, McKinsey

July 26, 2023

True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition

Issue No. 570 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting delivers a Leadership Lotto of six books to delegate for your team’s summer reading fun! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns.

More Mistakes or
More Leadership Books?

Be honest now. How many leadership mistakes did you make yesterday? How many mistakes last week? Last month? Last quarter?

So…is it possible that if you read one more leadership book—you could potentially reduce your blunders, bobbles, bloopers, and bottlenecks?

This issue spotlights six leadership books (six!)—just in time for your summer reading. Think of this as winning the Leadership Lotto! Your investment in lifelong learning may not match the $1.08 billion payout to the Los Angeles lotto winner last week (it was not me), but reading, or listening to, the right leadership book, at the right time, can pay rich dividends. Here’s your summer reading (or listening) list. Dive into 1,563 pages (or 29 hours) of leadership lessons. Two ideas:
• Delegate your reading. Inspire your direct reports to each select a book to read and report on. (See The Book Bucket.)
• Read one book and host a “Bagels and Books” 20-minute break. Highlight your key insights in 10 minutes and allocate 10 minutes for Q&A.

#1. True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition, by Zach Clayton and Bill George (Aug. 30, 2022). Listen on Libro (9 hours, 1 minute). This book includes a foreword by David Gergen and endorsements by Alan Mulally and Tom Rath, author of StrengthsFinder 2.0. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

What? You haven’t read the classic book on authentic leadership by Harvard’s Bill George (and former Chair and CEO of Medtronic)? Good news! This 2022 edition (post-COVID) includes insights from coauthor Zach Clayton, a 37-year-old Millennial and founder and CEO of Three Ships.

George and Clayton interviewed 50 leaders “with an emphasis on the new generation of leaders.” Counting previous True North editions, they interviewed 222 leaders! The stories are poignant, such as Hubert Joly’s wake-up call when his HR leader noted that Joly’s name was in every box on their organizational chart!

To find his authentic self, Joly “embarked on a 2-year spiritual journey with a monk as spiritual director, undertaking the spiritual exercises of Ignatius de Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order."

Get this! In his first week as CEO of Best Buy in 2012, Hubert Joly “didn’t go to the corporate headquarters but instead worked in its St. Cloud, Minnesota, store.” Joly notes, “Wearing khaki pants and the iconic Best Buy blue shirt with a ‘CEO in Training’ tag, I spent my first days listening, asking questions, visiting every department, and observing sales associates interacting with customers.”

You’ll appreciate the QR Codes and stories spotlighting CEOs on their quest to find True North, such as the leader who, following a 10-day silent retreat, began a “wisdom tour”—meeting with 50 people “who could offer perspective on his next chapter.”

Warning. This is a dangerous book. The “I versus We Leaders” chart on page 168 is a gut check. Do you “ask for compliance with rules” or “seek alignment through values?” The “Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations” chart on page 123—gulp!

This Emerging Leader Edition of True North is not an analysis of the many crises that confront our world—“or the leaders who have caused them. Rather, this is a calling to you as emerging leaders of the next generations—Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z—to step up and lead authentically by discovering your True North and following your North Star to make this world a better place.”

“Many leaders have learned the hard way that external recognition is a fickle lover.” And read another gut check on page 133 about “the mistake of taking high-salaried jobs to pay off loans or live the high life, even if [these emerging leaders] have no genuine interest in the work.” Plus, read how Bill George found his sweet spot at age 46.

This reminded me of Frederick Buechner’s insight: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

At age 27, Zach Clayton participated in a three-day leadership workshop which included a 360-degree review “based on input from 10 of my colleagues. I opened the envelope excited to read about how much they admired my strengths but instead learned I ranked in the 19th percentile of leadership effectiveness.” Whew! Must-read!

Finally, because “self-awareness is the foundation of authenticity,” don’t skip Chapter 4, “Develop Self-Awareness,” and the interview question that revealed a lack of empathy—and nearly torpedoed Satya Nadella’s first position at Microsoft. (He’s now the CEO.) The question: “Imagine you see a baby lying on the street, and the baby is crying. What do you do?”

Later as CEO, Nadella observed that “Microsoft’s culture had become dogmatic because everyone had to prove they knew it all and were the smartest people in the room. Satya committed to change Microsoft’s culture from ‘know-it-alls’ to ‘learn-it-alls.’”

WATCH FOR MY SHORT REVIEWS OF THESE BOOKS at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog or at the Pails in Comparison Blog:

#2. Real-Time Leadership: Find Your Winning Moves When the Stakes Are High, by David Noble and Carol Kauffman (Feb. 21, 2023). Listen on Libro (9 hours, 49 minutes). With a foreword by Marshall Goldsmith, this book is so, so practical. Chapter 5, “Get Smart About People,” recommends you “Know Your Defaults to Get Beyond Them.” The authors describe four workplace one-on-one feedback scenarios using their “Four Stances.”
• Talking too much in meetings? Lean in.
• Try decreasing your word count. Lean back.
• Let others learn from their mistakes. Lean with.
• Reflect and then tell me what you think. Don’t lean.

#3. When Everyone Leads: How the Toughest Challenges Get Seen and Solved, by Ed O’Malley and Julia Fabris McBride (Jan. 31, 2023). The authors propose a 10-point manifesto on redefining leadership:
1) “Tough challenges are all around us."
2) "Most think leadership is a position. (It’s not.)"
3) "Leadership isn’t…authority, being the boss, vision, charisma, a servant’s heart, or an inspirational speech."
5) "Plenty of people in important positions never exercise leadership."
10) "And it’s not leadership if it’s not about our most important challenges.”

#4. At the Heart of Management: Process, Tools and the Ubiquitous Exponential Law (Kindle Edition), by Lino F. Ciceri (March 18, 2023). The author, a former research chemist and MBA professor from Italy, proposes a “scientific” approach to management. “The book breaks down the core concepts taught in an MBA, clarifying the language and introducing fresh ideas inspired by scientific analogies.” Really, really interesting!

#5. A Class With Drucker, by William A. Cohen (see below).

#6. 101 Leadership Insights: Practical Tools, Tips, and Techniques for New and Seasoned Leaders, by Bob Phillips and Del Walinga (see below).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The authors of True North suggest, “Ask for informal feedback from someone at least once a day; this could be as simple as a 1-5 rating after each meeting.” (See Tool #4, “Five-Finger Feedback,” in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Ready to ask for feedback?

2) The authors define True North in five sentences (page 107) addressing values, leadership principles, moral courage, and ethical boundaries. How do you define True North and what guides your beliefs and actions? (For more insights, read Parker Palmer’s short book, Let Your Life Speak.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 6: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #40b of 100: A Class With Drucker

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #40b in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

A Class With Drucker:
The Lost Lessons of the World’s Greatest Management Teacher
by William A. Cohen

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker (1909-2005). Part 6 features five books by/about Drucker, including this book that notes Drucker’s belief that “too few generals were killed” in World War I. (Read why!)
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: A Class With Drucker
• Listen on Libro (9 hours, 35 minutes)
• Visit the blog: Drucker Mondays
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

The author, “a struggling young ex-Air Force officer with no academic experience,” enrolled in Drucker’s PhD program in management at Claremont University in 1975. The book describes, in delicious detail, the author’s four years of evening classes with “Peter.” (Drucker disliked titles.)

Chapter Five should be required reading for your entire staff and board members—especially during your annual strategic planning update. The lesson: “If you keep doing what worked in the past you’re going to fail.” (Imagine Drucker's classroom color commentary on the Wall Street Journal's headline of Feb. 10, 2012, "Kodak Shutters Camera Business.") Note: William A. Cohen, Ph.D, Major General, USAF, Retired, has written numerous books on Drucker. (See Book #40 of 100 and more.)

101 Leadership Insights

Do you prefer your leadership lessons in short snippets? You’ll love 101 Leadership Insights: Practical Tools, Tips, and Techniques for New and Seasoned Leaders, by Bob Phillips and Del Walinga. Read my review here. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Working With Boards Podcast

John Pearson was interviewed recently by Dick Daniels on the “Right to the Point Podcast: Leadership Lessons in 10 Minutes or Less.” Hosted by Right Management Florida/Caribbean, these short-and-to-the-point podcasts cover a fascinating range of leadership and management topics. Click here for Episode 31 on “Working With Boards.” Click here for board governance books and resources.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. The book, A Class With Drucker, is a must-read for your marketing and communications team. (It’s also a must-listen-to!) See Lesson 9, “The Objective of Marketing Is to Make Selling Unnecessary,” and Lesson 6, “Approach Problems With Your Ignorance Not Your Experience.” Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: emerging leaders, leadership, True North

July 19, 2023

The One Year Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns

Issue No. 569 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting spotlights the unique hymn-a-day devotional, The One Year® Book of Hymns—and my short-lived attempt to write another book. (LOL.) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Finish Line: Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life, by Robert Wolgemuth.

Imagine singing an “awesome” hymn, led by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, with 10,000 others. The One Year® Book of Hymns and YouTube will enrich your mornings.

One Day. One Page. One Hymn.

Need a good chuckle today? Beginning late last fall, on most mornings while enjoying a period of quiet reflection with my Bible and other books, I often lingered in my favorite chair until a hymn came to mind. Then with earbuds in, I searched YouTube for a suitable version of the hymn.

I listened to the hymn and then emailed the YouTube link to myself. I would often sing or hum that hymn throughout the day. Most mornings, though sleepy-eyed, my first thought would be, “I wonder what my hymn of the day will be?” Sometimes, I’d visit Hymnary to learn more about the hymn writer. Often fascinating!

(And speaking of “lingering in my favorite chair,” here’s a poignant follow-up from Robert Wolgemuth and my review of Finish Line. Read or listen to his thoughts on how “A red wingback chair became a holy place for me to find God after my wife's death.”)

I’m loving this new daily practice and wanted to share it with you. Maybe it was the nostalgia and good memories of singing bass in school and church choirs. My hymn repertoire grew exponentially through required church attendance Sunday mornings, Sunday nights, and Wednesday nights. During college, I was our church’s choir director.

So…what made me chuckle? After collecting several months’ worth of YouTube hymns, I thought: “Hymmmn. Maybe there’s a market for a book of hymns—just the stanzas of old hymns (without the music). I could research hymns in the public domain (no copyright issues), plus a bit of history about the hymn writer. What a great book idea!”

As I was planning this new book—a cavalcade of worship—I was reminded of Bob Hisrich’s marketing principle #1: “If you have $10,000 to spend, invest $5,000 in researching and understanding your audience.” (See the bottom of Issue 568.)

Oops! Good idea, John—but Tyndale published this book in 2017! LOL! I may be six years late and a dollar short (the royalties would have been nice), but I do know when to throw in the towel. Besides, Tyndale’s book is wonderful:

The One Year® Book of Hymns:
365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns

So now, most mornings, I turn to the hymn for the day’s date and enjoy reading:
• All four verses of the daily hymn
• A brief bio/inside story of the hymn writer (sometimes a devotional thought)
• A related Scripture verse

ONE DAY, ONE PAGE, ONE HYMN—and then I find a suitable hymn version on YouTube. For example, today is July 19 and today’s hymn is “Rock of Ages,” written by Augustus Toplady (1740-1778), and the Scripture is Psalm 62:5-7. (This morning, I listened to The Oak Ridge Boys.)

Augustus Toplady was converted under a Methodist evangelist during his university years, but “Though impressed with the spirit of Methodism, he strongly disagreed with the Wesleys’ Arminian theology and waged a running battle with them through tracts, sermons, and even hymns.”

We read further that Toplady “…died of tuberculosis and overwork at the age of thirty-eight, two years after he published his own hymnal, in which ‘Rock of Ages’ and Charles Wesley’s ‘Jesus, Lover of My Soul’ (July 17) were placed side by side.” (Listen to The Choir of Trinity College, Melbourne.)

Browse the hymns and the short devotional readings and you’ll deeply appreciate those hymn writers who have already crossed the finish line—and enriched our journeys.
• “Day by Day and with Each Passing Moment” (Feb. 26) profiles Carolina Sandell Berg (1832-1903), who at age 26, watched her father, a parish pastor, drown at sea. (Listen to Fountainview Academy.)
• “According to Thy Gracious Word” (March 3) notes that James Montgomery (1771-1854), a fearless London newspaper editor, “was imprisoned twice for his strong editorials” on the abolition of slavery. (Listen to New Scottish Hymns Band.)
• “Before Jehovah’s Awful [aka Awesome] Throne” (March 5), by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), includes a British Christian’s awesome experience in singing this hymn with nearly 10,000 others, while led in worship by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. (Listen to The Symphonials, Ghana.)

“TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS” (March 15), written by Helen Howarth Lemmel (1864-1961), sent me down a holy rabbit hole! In 1918, this noted Christian singer who lived her final days in Seattle, was given a tract written by a missionary, Lilias Trotter, who served in Algeria. The tract, “Focussed,” stopped Lemmel in her tracks (no pun intended). View the movie trailer to learn why Lilias Trotter gave up a promising art career in Britain to minister in Algeria for 40 years. For more, visit the Lilias Trotter Legacy website. (Listen to Selah's version of the song.)
• View this 11-minute “story behind the story.”
• View the movie trailer.
• View the "Many Beautiful Things" documentary (70 min.) on Amazon Prime.

Learn more about Lilias Trotter, who inspired Helen Howarth Lemmel to write the hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.” View Many Beautiful Things: The Life and Vision of Lilias Trotter (movie trailer).

• “Amazing Grace” (March 17) notes John Newton’s response to suggestions that because of poor health and fading memory, he should retire at age 82! He said, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great savior.” This former slave trader was born in 1725 and died in 1807 at age 82. (Listen to Andrea Bocelli and Alison Krauss.)
• “Jesus Paid It All” (March 19), was written by Elvina Mabel Hall (1820-1889) in the choir loft of her Baltimore church—due to “the pastor rambling on too long!” With no paper to write on, she penned the verses in the flyleaf of her hymnal! (Listen to Hymns of Grace.)
• Stunning! The background on the hymn, “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus” (June 9), by George Duffield, Jr. (1818-1888), describes the 1858 Philadelphia citywide evangelistic morning and evening services. A 29-year-old Episcopalian preacher spoke to 5,000 men reaping 1,000 conversions, but four days later, Dudley Tyng died in an accident. His final words were “Tell them to stand up for Jesus,” so Duffield wrote the hymn. (Listen to the story and the hymn at Worship House Media.)

“JUST AS I AM” (June 22), was written by Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871), who wanted to clean up her act before becoming a Christ-follower. A minister, however, invited Elliott to “Come just as you are.” You’ll recognize this hymn, sung at hundreds of Billy Graham Crusades—except one. Listen to Cliff Barrow’s stunning story about the London crusade in 1967:

Sing along to “Just As I Am” with Cliff Barrows and others as Barrows describes an unusual absence of a hymn at the 1967 Billy Graham Crusade in London.

ENVELOPES & INK POTS:
• Charles Wesley (1707-1788) “wrote an average of two hymns a week for fifty years,” composing between 5,000 and 6,000 hymns in his lifetime.
• William R. Newell (1868-1956), enroute to teach his class at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, envisioned the words to a hymn. He “scribbled the words on the back of any envelope” and gave them to Daniel B. Towner, MBI’s director of music. Within an hour, Towner returned with the hymn, “At Calvary” (March 25). (Listen to The Collinsworth Family.)
• Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), at age 30 and blind, heard a revival choir sing “Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed?”(April 14), written by Isaac Watts. She responded to her Savior’s call and went on to write more than 8,000 hymns, including “Blessed Assurance” (May 1). (Listen to Alan Jackson.)
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) “…once felt Satan’s oppressive presence so keenly that he threw an inkpot at him.” Some believe that an ink spot still decorates the wall of his room in Wartburg Castle!” He wrote “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (Oct. 31). (Listen to the hymn led by Tommy Bailey at the Grand Ole Opry House as part of the Sing! Global Conference 2020.)

Hymmmn. I wonder what my hymn-of-the-day for tomorrow will be? I can hardly wait!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns, compiled and edited by Robert K. Brown and Mark R. Norton; devotions written by William J. Petersen and Randy Petersen.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) What’s your favorite hymn? Why?
2) Have you ever written, or thought about writing, a hymn? You’ll need your Bible and a dictionary, or maybe ask AI: “Alexa! What rhymes with heaven?” For the background on the hymn, “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” (July 2), by Walter Chalmers Smith (1824-1908), the great British hymnologist, Erik Routley, describes this hymn as “full of plump polysyllables!” (Listen to St. Paul's Cathedral Platinum Jubilee Service.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 6: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #40 of 100: The Practical Drucker

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #40 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Practical Drucker:
Applying the Wisdom of the World’s Greatest Management Thinker
by William A. Cohen

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker (1909-2005). Part 6 features five books by/about Drucker, including this book with the revelation that Drucker skipped his weekly staff meetings!
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Practical Drucker
• Listen on Libro (8 hours, 17 minutes)
• Visit the blog: Drucker Mondays
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

In my review, I listed 10 reasons why The Practical Drucker is must-read:
1) Drucker on Office Politics.
2) Drucker on Why You’re Usually Wrong. When the book arrived, I scanned the 40 chapter titles and circled 15 must-reads, starting with Chapter 9, “What Everyone Knows Is Usually Wrong.”
3) Drucker on Bribery.
4) Drucker on Market Research.
5) Drucker on 3 Rules When Hiring.

6) Drucker on Leadership as a “Marketing Job.” This will surprise you—maybe. “Famed marketing Professor Philip Kotler, who is often referred to as the ‘Father of Modern Marketing,’ said, ‘If I am the Father of Modern Marketing, then Drucker is the Grandfather of Modern Marketing.’”
7) Drucker: No Fan of the Peter Principle.
8) Druckerisms! If the 40 chapter titles don’t rev up your management motors, you may be in the wrong job. Here’s a taste: “The Seven Deadly Sins of Leadership,” “The Most Important Leadership Decision,” “Fear of Job Loss Is Incompatible With Good Management,” and “The Purpose of Your Business Is Not to Make a Profit.”
9) Drucker’s Favorite Leadership Book. (Read my review of the 2014 book-of-the-year.)
10) Drucker’s 7 Action Conclusions on Strengths.

Alphabetical Prayer List

Do you pray alphabetically? Learn more about Al Sanders (1927-2021) and his prayer journal. “Being an inveterate ‘organizer,’ he developed the habit of praying over names in alphabetical order." Read more here about his alphabetical prayer journal. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Oops! Methodology Over Message!

Mistake #22 in Mastering Mistake-Making chronicles the many mornings I found comfort in the methodology—not the Message. I was disciplined, yes, in meeting with the Lord most mornings, but it was more about checking the box than hearing God’s voice. In 2023, I added a daily hymn to my morning meeting (see above). I love it! For a list of “My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned,” click here. (For other books I’ve authored, or co-authored, click here.)

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Just guessing here…but was your logo designed in the 1980s? Does it still work? View this WSJ video, “What Burger King’s New Logo Says About Its Strategy. The company says the new logo is meant to feel retro and nostalgic.” If, like Peter Drucker, you agree that “What Everyone Knows Is Usually Wrong,” maybe you need an outside opinion? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: Fanny Crosby, hymns, Isaac Watts, Lilias Trotter

July 12, 2023

Finish Line: Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life

Issue No. 568 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests you plan now for your final exit by reading Robert Wolgemuth’s very personal book, Finish Line. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships.

Baseball/Heaven? Enjoy this video and the unlikely baseball/heaven metaphor from 2018 when Cubs rookie David Bote did the impossible. (View here.)

The Last Book You Read

In his new book, Finish Line, Robert Wolgemuth, quotes Joseph Bayly (1920-1986):

“God’s people should plan for a voyage of a thousand years, but be prepared to abandon ship tonight.”

Wolgemuth understands end-of-life challenges. His first wife died in 2014 after battling cancer for 30 months. He’s faced two cancer scares since 2020. Perhaps you, too, resonate with a friend who noticed he’s spending more time on CaringBridge than on Twitter. So when this book caught my attention, I wondered—is there anything more I need to learn about abandoning ship?

Am I ready to exit? “Ready is good,” writes Wolgemuth, who admits to being “in the publishing industry longer than Fred Flintstone worked in the stone quarry in the town of Bedrock.” (LOL!) So my expectations were high for this publishing guru’s book:

Finish Line: Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life

Expectations Exceeded—But a Warning! On most book journeys, I often read short paragraphs to my wife, Joanne, measuring her response as to what might make the cut into these book reviews. But after reading the first chapter, I quietly informed Joanne she’d have to read Finish Line on her own. Way too heart-grabbing to read out loud. Whew.

If you’re a tough, macho man—I dare you to read it. If you, or your parents, or family or friends are facing end of life challenges—I urge you to read Finish Line. (Breaking News: We will all face end of life challenges.) Somehow, Robert Wolgemuth masterfully blends death, beauty, pain, joy, suffering, and hope—all into one intimate conversation. Stunningly, he invites us into his life, including his decision to marry again.

The author’s humility helps. “As you know, I’m not a medical doctor, a clinically seasoned counselor, a seminary-trained pastor, or a scholar. As I often say, I’m just an ordinary guy trying to stay in his lane, walking down the sidewalk with you.”

Here's what touched me during this delightful walk with Wolgemuth. (Delightful? A book about death? Yes. The occasional doses of humor are perfect.) Enjoy:
• In the chapter, “Two Finish Line Guys in the Bible,” Wolgemuth profiles Abraham and Peter. John 21 paints one of my favorite pictures of Jesus—making breakfast on the beach for Peter and the disciples. (No fish all night, until Jesus intervened—and Wolgemuth captures the humor in it.)
• “Someone might quip that this is the very reason it’s called ‘fishing’ and not ‘catching.’ But these guys would not have been in the mood for levity. I’m sure of it.”
• Oh, my. You must read the “Saying Grace” chapter and the holy moment when the author’s grandfather, “who wasn’t far from the literal gates of Heaven,” prayed and gave Robert a blessing.

HEAVEN? Even if you’re not a Cubs fan, you’ll enjoy the reminder of the 2016 World Series (a birthday gift for me!) and the unlikely baseball/heaven metaphor from 2018 when Cubs rookie David Bote did the impossible. The Nationals lead with three runs. Cubs: goose egg (it’s a shutout). Cubs at bat in the bottom of the ninth. Two outs. Bases loaded. Bote pinch hits and smashes a walk-off grand slam! Cubs win 4-3! (Watch the video here.)

Wolgemuth’s play-by-play notes that an Instagram photo captured the moment: Bote’s “outstretched arms, making him appear to be flying.” The one-word caption: “Heaven.” And more heaven on earth! When Nancy DeMoss and Robert Wolgemuth married in 2015, it was the blessed uniting of two Cubs fans!

The “Who Will Be Your Pallbearers?” chapter, like others, blends pragmatic counsel with inspirational stories:
• When golfer Payne Stewart (1957-1999) lost his life in a private jet accident, golfer Paul Azinger asked for Wolgemuth’s help in drafting Stewart’s eulogy. Does humor help? (View Azinger’s tribute here.)
• Senator Bob Dole (1923-2021) asked his daughter to read a letter he had written for his memorial service at the National Cathedral. It read, in part: “I also confess that I’m a bit curious to learn and find if I am correct in thinking that Heaven will look a lot like Kansas and to see, like others who have gone before me, if I will still be able to vote in Chicago.”
• Throughout the book, practical and pious merge—like Robert and Nancy’s conversation about the casket used by Elizabeth Elliott (1926-2015): “…unpainted, exterior half-inch plywood with one-by-twos stapled inside at the seams.”

Whoa! Think about this from the chapter, “Spoiler Alert . . . Heaven Can Be Yours.” Wolgemuth: “When I began crafting this manuscript, the thought washed over me that this may be the last book I write. My journey will be reaching its destination. Then it dawned on me that, regardless of your age, it may be the last book you read.”
• When Robert Wolgemuth crosses his finish line, where will he be buried? With his first wife in Florida or with Nancy in Michigan?

There’s more:
• When Robert’s wife, Bobbie, was diagnosed with cancer, “…my daughters and I resolved the following declarations, which we repeated many times when people we loved asked how we were handling the news.” The five bullet points (“anchors”), including “We are not afraid,” guided them over the next 30 months. “Like stepping-stones across a rushing river, they became safe places for our thinking.”
• Wolgemuth frequently “commends” a book to readers and the vastness and the deepness of the titles, links, and videos are stunning—including this Atlantic article by Tim Keller (1950-2023), “Growing My Faith in the Face of Death.”
• Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth summarizes her life verse, Luke 1:38, with two simple words: “Yes, Lord!”

Grandchildren Blessings. Oh, my X 5! Wolgemuth graces readers with the actual blessings he has given his five grandchildren. And at the memorial service for Christian radio pioneer Al Sanders (1927-2021), Sanders’ grandchildren each read one of their grandfather’s favorite Bible passages.

Are you ready to “abandon ship tonight,” as Joe Bayly urged? What are your declarations? Are your legal papers up to date? Any blessings yet to pronounce? This book will inspire you—and the people you care about—to dispel fear, find peace, and prepare for the end of life. Joni Eareckson Tada, who wrote the book’s foreword, called it “your playbook” for your finish line. I agree. Read what American evangelist D.L. Moody (1837-1899) said before he crossed his finish line:

“Someday you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Finish Line: Dispelling Fear, Finding Peace, and Preparing for the End of Your Life, by Robert Wolgemuth. Listen on Libro (5 hours, 57 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Did you notice? Many of the people quoted in this eNews have already crossed the finish line. I also commend several books to you. Finish Line pairs wonderfully with Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story (read my review). Which book will you read first?

2) In Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Dr. Atul Gawande reminds us: “People die only once.” So when facing fork-in-the-road sick and dying decisions, “They have no experience to draw on. They need doctors and nurses who are willing to have the hard discussions and say what they have seen, who will help people prepare for what is to come—and escape a warehouse oblivion that few really want.” Re-read Joe Bayly’s aspiration, “Be prepared to abandon ship tonight,” and then discuss who in your life models this theology?

3) Want to start with a shorter book? Check out Ron Cline's three big ideas in Finishing Well (just 76 pages). Read my review.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 6: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #39 of 100: Drucker & Me

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #39 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

A Year with Peter Drucker:
52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness
by Joseph A. Maciariello

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker (1909-2005). Part 6 features five books by/about Drucker, including this book with a foreword from Jim Collins who writes, “It is exceptionally well-written and provides a glimpse into the secret sauce of how a truly great teacher can have an impact on the world through a truly great student.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Drucker & Me
• Visit the blog: Drucker Mondays
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

An oboe player becoming a violinist? Forget it! Bob Buford (1939-2018), who also authored Halftime and other books, launched Leadership Network with Drucker’s encouragement. LN became a catalyst for the mega-church movement. Drucker understood management in both the marketplace and the nonprofit world. Buford notes, “Peter frequently used the metaphor of a symphony conductor when he talked about management.”

“A conductor would never ask an oboe player to play the violin or vice versa. The role of the conductor is to make sure the right people are playing the right instruments so that when the baton comes down, the symphony made great music.”

Then Bob confesses, “More than once I have employed a person who performed well in a maintenance role in a large, prestigious organization. It never seems to work out. It is the difference between Special Forces and holding down a Pentagon job.” Note: The book’s foreword is by Jim Collins and the epilogue (a movement history) is by Ed Stetzer.

Open This Letter in 10 Years!

Brilliant idea! A loving father, a U.S. Army captain in the Korean War, writes his six-year-old daughter a poignant letter with this caveat, “Open this letter in ten years.” The daughter treasures all his letters and publishes them in 2022. Read my review of Open This Letter in Ten Years: Life Lessons from Dad’s Love Letters, by Linda DeHoff and Bill Butterworth. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Remembering Bob Hisrich

In 1990, when Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. released Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles, Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D., was already an established author and ultimately authored or co-authored 37 books before he crossed the finish line on Feb. 1, 2023, at age 78. I’m still saddened by this news. While some of the 1990 examples in the book we co-authored are outdated, the 10 marketing principles are even more relevant in 2023, including #1: “If you have $10,000 to spend, invest $5,000 in researching and understanding your audience.” (Note: For a summary of the 10 principles, See Chapter 6, “The Program Bucket,” in Mastering the Management Buckets.)

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Here’s a get-your-attention exercise to announce to your marketing and communications team: “This is just a drill, but our CEO was just hit by a bus. He has crossed his finish line. The board chair has asked us to draft the news release and post a fitting tribute on our website, including quotes from key people. Our deadline is 12 noon. Go!” Hopefully, this won’t happen anytime soon, but are you prepared? Need best practices? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: death, exit, finish line, heaven, peace

July 3, 2023

How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships

Issue No. 567 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights five “go deeper” questions to learn “How to Work with (Almost) Anyone.” (Great title!) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Decision Sprint: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action.

Featuring dozens of helpful and fascinating metaphors about relationships, How to Work With (Almost) Anyone mentions “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” print (1831) by Hokusai. The painting reminded the author of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as he discusses “The Repair Question: How Will You Fix It When Things Go Wrong?”

The Bad Date Question!

This is a remarkable book! How good is it? By page 86, I paused my reading and ordered the book for a young leader. When I finished the book, I thought of a dozen “old” leaders (excuse me—experienced leaders) that will also appreciate this book. So, obviously, order at least two books:

How to Work with (Almost) Anyone:
Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships
by Michael Bungay Stanier

So what grabbed my credit card on page 86? The author (who goes by “MBS”) populates his fun-to-read book with exercises, QR codes, and practical tips, including “Say This: Your Word & Phrase Toolkit.” In the quest for the “Best Possible Relationship” (BPR) with your boss, your board chair, your coworkers, your friends, and your family—MBS delivers insightful questions and contrarian counsel.

Example: If you want to work well with (almost) anyone, the author suggests you leverage “The Five Questions of the Keystone Conversation.”
• The Amplify Question: What’s Your Best?
• The Steady Question: What Are Your Practices and Preferences?
• The Good Date Question: What Can You Learn from Successful Past Relationships?
• The Bad Date Question: What Can You Learn from Frustrating Past Relationships?
• The Repair Question: How Will You Fix It When Things Go Wrong?

In one of dozens of contrarian insights, the book points readers to a resource-rich website including a 28-minute video—and a conversation between MBS and a team member tackling a new assignment. The big idea: “Let’s chat about how we work together before we talk about what we’re working on.” Brilliant!

Using the five Keystone Questions in their video, both Michael and Ainsley discuss their working styles, including “What’s Your Best?” They answer the question: “When do you shine? And when do you flow?” Michael shines when he’s creating, teaching, and coaching. (He admits that he’s not a detail guy.) Ainsley shines when she can trust the people and systems so she can zone in on projects. She’s also at her best in a crisis (example: “…when we press ‘go’ and we meant to press ‘pause!’"). She also loves learning and new situations.

In the video, Michael also asks Ainsley a question that I highlighted on pages 34-36. The full-page graphic convicts:

“The curse of competence
traps you doing what you’re good at
but not fulfilled by.”

The “curse of competence” reminded me of Patrick Lencioni’s new assessment. (Read my review here.) Likewise, MBS spotlights an applicable exercise for the BPR’s “Amplify Question.” It's just too tempting to skip over. Assignment: "Consider your key responsibilities and most common day-to-day tasks and assign them to the appropriate box."

I'M FULFILLED BY vs. I'M GOOD AT

MBS writes, "If you're lucky, you'll have several tasks in the High/High box: you're both good at and fulfilled by them." (See page 36 for more.)

What’s your best? When do you shine? Do the important people in your life know this? Do you know this about them? The questions and exercises in the book will help you “Go a Little Deeper” (see the deep-sea diving helmet icons!).

Yikes. It’s “Summer Shorts” season—and I’ve half-heartedly promised readers “shorter” reviews. Way too challenging with this book. Permit me, please, to bullet-point a few more highlights:
• The metaphors! Every chapter fascinates with a memorable metaphor (“The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” architecture, ecology, Chef’s Table, video shoots, “How to Look Less Corpse-Like on Zoom,” lizard brain, and Bilbo Baggins on GPS!)
• The BHAG. “This book is the start of a movement to improve 10 million working relationships.”
• The incredible and comprehensive sweep of the literature! (And I thought I was a step ahead of most in my reading. Not!) You’ll appreciate the list of more than 20 books.
• In the very helpful bonus section, “Know Your Stuff,” MBS features an exercise, “How Did They Love You?” leveraging Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages. (I once asked nonprofit board members if they knew their CEO’s preferred love language.)
• The writing is so fresh, so relevant, and so hopeful. What creates your “peak moments?” And this: “How do you build pathways rather than fill potholes?”
• The four buckets! How to remember that your truth is not necessarily the truth. Very helpful discussion on data, judgments, feelings, and what you want.
• Brené Brown: “Clear is kind.” (See the note about clarity in my last review.)

It’s rare that an author's second or third book is as exceptional as the first one. This is the fourth book by MBS that I’ve reviewed—and it builds on these three (all exceptional!):
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever (This million-seller features the AWE question. Read my review.)
• The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever (2020 Book-of-the-Year)
• How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters (read my review)

Oh, my. This book would have been helpful years ago, but since I still muddle my way through some relationships (do you?)—I will use the author's realistic, yet encouraging tools and axioms:

“Not every relationship is going to be fantastic.
But every one could be better.”

That principle is one of about 20 full-page attention-getters that require reflection. Here’s another one: “People join an organization but leave a manager. You don’t want to be that manager. You don’t want to have that manager.”

WOULD YOU?
• Would you invest 3 hours and 42 minutes to listen to (or read) a book that could help enrich your relationships? (Of course you would.)
• Would you order How to Work with (Almost) Anyone for a new team member so you could “…chat about how we work together before we talk about what we’re working on?” (Of course you would.)
• Would you give this book to your boss—and then schedule time to go through the “The Five Questions of the Keystone Conversation?” (Gut check?)

The almost final chapter, “The Juicy Bits at the End,” (my nominee for best chapter title of the decade!) features 10 common questions and short answers about the BPR, including:
• Does this ever get easier and less awkward? (Answer: Yes.)
• Does the dysfunction go away? (Answer: Must-read. It’s hilarious.)
• Does this work for every relationship? (Answer: No.)

MBS also answers the question, “Will this work with my boss?” He responds, “Often but not always. Some bosses will be delighted that you’d like to design a BPR together. Many will be slightly wary and confused because no one will have done this with them before. And some won’t be in the least bit interested. Personally, when I’ve had that final type of boss, I’ve ended up trying to find a new role or job.” (I appreciate this wisdom. You'll appreciate the entire book.) One last idea I've found helpful: read the HBR article, “How to Manage Your Boss.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for How to Work with (Almost) Anyone: Five Questions for Building the Best Possible Relationships, by Michael Bungay Stanier. Listen on Libro (3 hours, 42 minutes).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Yikes! Bob Phillips reminds us in Overcoming Conflict that by the time we’re in our mid-sixties, "...we’ve spent several thousand hours in some form of conflict." So the author of How to Work With (Almost) Anyone urges you to invite those relationships into Keystone Conversations. MBS warns, “Don’t be that person who invites someone to a Mysterious Meeting That Sounds Like Trouble!” Instead, “Explain what the Keystone Conversation is, either in person or in writing, and that the point is to give you both the chance of a successful working relationship.” Would you be willing to try this?

2) At Salesforce, according to MBS, to build better relationships and understanding—they ask each other, “Where did you learn your work habits?” (Read more in the “bonus” chapter.) Answer this question: “I [work like this] because I’ve learned [story of when you learned this preference].”

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 6: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #38 of 100: A Year With Peter Drucker

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #38 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

A Year with Peter Drucker:
52 Weeks of Coaching for Leadership Effectiveness
by Joseph A. Maciariello

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 6 features five books by/about Drucker, including this book with a weekly insight and a “Practicum-Prompt,” such as “Are you developing leaders in your organization, or are you developing bureaucratic, rule-following functionaries?”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: A Year With Peter Drucker
• Listen on Libro (11 hours, 12 minutes)
• Visit the blog: Drucker Mondays
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

This is the perfect book for your weekly staff meetings with 52 short chapters (each week is about five pages), a short intro with the big idea, insights from Drucker’s writings, and color commentary from Joseph Maciariello. The 52 “Practicum-Prompts” function as pokes-in-the-ribs. See Bob Buford’s question from Week 40, “What is in your box?” Plus, read David Schmidt’s Week 40 commentary in Drucker Mondays.

POP QUIZ!

I have two questions for you: 1) How many uncomfortable arguments have you had in the last 12 months? 2) How many books have you read in the last 12 months on how to STOP arguing? After you read How to Work with (Almost) Anyone (see above), dip into Why We Argue and How to Stop: A Therapist’s Guide to Navigating Disagreements, Managing Emotions, and Creating Healthier Relationships, by Jerry Manney. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.
____________________________________________________

The Bully in the Boardroom

Dan Busby and I noted this wisdom from former Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam in Lesson 23 of More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! Haslam admits, “It was more than a little bit helpful to keep the phrase ‘created in the image of God’ in the back of my mind as I listened to someone criticize me or my policies.” Do you have a bully in your boardroom? Read Lesson 23 here. Read the blog post by Nate Parks. Order the book.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. The marketing and communications teams in your organization face unending deadlines which often create relationship conflicts. Do your team members have a plan for addressing this? As MBS notes in his book, “Some people have brought out the best in me, while some have managed (temporarily, thank goodness) to crush my spirit, soul, resolve, and confidence. I’ve also done those things to others.” Read the book! And for more storytelling help, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

09:20 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: best possible relationship, BPR, competence, conflict, conversations, fulfillment, work issues

June 28, 2023

Decision Sprint: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action

Issue No. 566 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a graduate-level baptism in decision-making. Was your last meeting an input meeting or an output meeting? And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth.

“The start or any new phase of a project is characterized by unknowns,” writes the author of Decision Sprint. “They are like puzzle pieces when you first open the box. Plentiful and unclear how they all relate.” Perhaps like The Clearly Impossible Puzzle with 1000 clear pieces (and no colors)!

“Caught in a Cycle of Inertia”

Raise your hand if your job and/or personal life involves making numerous decisions. (I see those hands!)

Now raise your hand if you’ve ever read a book, attended a seminar, or listened to a podcast or TED talk on effective decision-making. (Hmmm.)

Confession! After college, I had been a decision-making zealot (or so I thought) for almost 20 years before I attended Steve Holbrook’s “Effective Decision-Making” course. Embarrassing! (I’m still so grateful for Bob Kobielush’s vision for what we called the Leadership Development Institute back in our CCI/USA days.)

How about you? Ready for a graduate-level baptism into the art and science of decision-making? It’s here, thanks to Atif Rafiq:

Decision Sprint:
The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown
and Move from Strategy to Action

Last week, over at the Pails in Comparison blog, I gave you a sneak peek and promised that Decision Sprint will revolutionize your meetings (and more). How important is this book? I underlined nearly every sentence in the first four pages.

Atif Rafiq was the first Chief Digital Officer in the history of the Fortune 500. After serving at Amazon, he became McDonald's first CDO. (One problem: “When I arrived, we counted no fewer than 25 apps for McDonald’s in the US app store.”) He describes his first executive project briefing. He was at the head of the table—conscious of first impressions—with about 30 people. Another problem: “We were heavily resourced, yet everyone was operating in silos.”

RAFIQ’S CONFESSION! “Reflecting on that first meeting, I had one regret. A single question I could have asked would have changed the entire tenor. A question that would challenge people to think differently and begin to shift the norms of the company: “Is this an input meeting or an output meeting?”

Yikes! Like you just now, I wandered back through hundreds of meetings in my mind—wondering, were those input meetings or output meetings? Yikes, again.

Decision Sprint will be your new go-to resource for improving meetings and clarifying issues. (Oh, my. I could have used these insights every day. But even the author notes that it took him 10 years to wrestle these concepts into this book. Refreshing!)

I’m calling this review, “Part 2 of 2,” because I labeled my sneak peek, “Part 1 of 2.” In that blog post I asked five questions and threatened to list 44 more—and not give answers—so you’ll actually do the hard work of relearning and rethinking decision-making. My fifth question bears repeating:

#5. SMILE. The former president and CEO of Volvo Cars says that “Asking why with a smile five times is very efficient.” Why?

After McDonald’s, Rafiq became Chief Digital Officer and global CIO at Volvo. He notes, “I had never run an IT department before, yet Hakan [Volvo’s CEO] gave me 1,500 IT people to manage.” (Not a typo!) I think that may have involved a higher level of decision-making! Yikes. Anyway…here goes. I’ll pose a few more questions if you’ll read the book and deliver the answers? Fair?

#6. NO TITLES. Why did Volvo “do away with titles and replace them with what each executive believed was their main contribution” to the company?

#7. CLARITY. At the time, Volvo’s executive management team replaced their job titles with “a variety of pithy descriptions.” The CEO’s new title: “clarity of thought.” What other Fortune 500 CEO believed that was his main job?

#8. MBO. In a fascinating five-page Q&A between the author and Hakan Samuelsson, now former president and CEO of Volvo Cars, Hakan says, “I don’t like management by objectives.” (A famous guru said, “Management by objective works—if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you do not.” Who said that and who invented MBO?)

#9. DIFFERENT PLANETS! At McDonald’s, the author immediately observed that working at Amazon was akin to living on one planet, yet McDonald’s was on another planet! “There was no language to connect the planets.” Finally, over the next 10 years, Rafiq “developed the language, words, and methods to connect the planets: “Upstream” and “Downstream.” How would you define “upstream work” and “downstream work”—and where should senior leaders engage? (See the chart on page 25—another bullseye for my “Page 25 Takeways” rule of thumb.)

#10. AI MANAGEMENT. Part Four of Decision Sprint (48 pages) “will stretch your thinking on the future of management and the role of artificial intelligence (AI), once companies and teams are working effectively upstream.” (See Chapters 12-14: “Digital Tools,” “AI as Mission Control,” and “The Upstream CEO.” Gut check! “Grammatical errors are fixed as you type. Can we leverage this concept into the world of management?”)

Atif Rafiq writes about “Management Fueled by AI” including “AI as Error Correction.” Decision Sprint is a must-read! (Read Issue No. 565 to learn why a robot may be CEO of the Year in 2050!)

AI BOOK REVIEW NO. 1. And just for grins—thinking about artificial intelligence—I asked AI, “Write a book review of ‘Decision Sprint’ by Atif Rafiq.” In the blink of a robot, ChatGPT delivered an insightful 517-word response. (Go to the bottom of my blog here.)

LOL! AI BOOK REVIEW NO. 2. And for more fun, I then asked AI, “Using the writing style and humor from 'John Pearson’s Buckets Blog,' write a book review of 'Decision Sprint' by Atif Rafiq." This time, ChatGPT thought it was auditioning for a standup comedy gig! Click here to enjoy the 545-word over-the-top parody of my writing style! LOL! (AI rated the book “5/5 Buckets!” Love it!)

I could have easily Pop Quizzed you with another 39 questions, but then you’d miss the joy of the journey. Watch for:
• “The work of management will be transformed in a way that would make Peter Drucker roll in the grave.”
• The three components of Decision Sprint: “exploration, alignment, and decision-making” and why exploration (asking questions) is so critical.
• The 13 workflows (brilliant!) including: 1) Initiating an Exploration, 3) Sourcing Questions, 13) Conducting Decision Meetings.

• Could the author have done more at Mickey D’s? “Could McDonald’s have become Uber Eats before there was one?”
• Why spontaneous interaction might be more productive than scheduled meetings. “It’s very difficult to be creative at an 8:00 in the morning meeting.”
• Why “questions are critical.” (This reminded me of my 2020 book-of-the-year, The Advice Trap. The author just released his latest book this week, How to Work With (Almost) Anyone. Watch for my review.)
• Why publishers were caught flat-footed and “ceded total dominance of e-books to Amazon.” Post this on your office wall: “They were likely caught in a cycle of inertia.”

OK, you’ve been warned! Will your next meeting be about inputs or outputs? Are you working upstream or downstream? Why? Of the five elements of a workflow (participation, purpose, inputs, outputs, and format)—what did you miss in your last meeting? Who should read this book first?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Decision Sprint: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action, by Atif Rafiq. Listen on Libro (available July 11, 2023). And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.

P.S. BONUS PODCAST! Click here to listen to Tiffani Bova's podcast interview with Atif Rafiq about his new book. (Bova is the author of The Experience Mindset which I reviewed in Issue No. 565.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Chapter 9, “Hack Today’s System,” the author of Decision Sprint writes: “My promise is there will be fewer and more effective meetings for everyone at all levels.” Pipe dream? Or could reading this book enrich our decision-making and our meetings? What might be the ROI of a meeting audit?
2) When, where, and how often should senior executives jump into the decision-making progress? First, read Decision Sprint. Then, communicate your style. While tossing old files last week, I ran across an inter-office memo template from 1999 that I titled, “Hands Off Memo From J.P.” It read:

Okay…here’s the deal.
You get a dollar every time you think I’m being too “hands on” and you want me to be “hands off.” I get a dollar every time you ask me to be “hands on” and I want to be “hands off!”
(Billings at month end!)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 6: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #37 of 100: The Daily Drucker

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #37 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Daily Drucker:
366 Days of Insight and Motivation
for Getting the Right Things Done
by Peter F. Drucker with Joseph A. Maciariello

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 6 features five books by/about Drucker, including this book with daily management morsels such as, “People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Daily Drucker
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

With 366 daily doses of Drucker, each page includes a memorable “Action Point.” On April 11, “The Four Competencies of a Leader,” Drucker summarizes the sermonette from his one-year management bible with this: “Set aside ten minutes every Friday afternoon to give yourself a weekly report card on all four skills:
• Listening
• Communicating
• Reengineering mistakes, and
• Subordinating your ego to the task at hand.”

AI Writes Lyrics in 3 Seconds!

The authors of The Future Normal asked AI to change the lyrics to a song. “The lyrics ... came back in three seconds. No human, not even the world’s best songwriters, could produce something this quickly. And most people would agree that the lyrics are distinctly passable.” Whew! Another must-read: The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade, by Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Boards Asleep at the Wheel!

There are three times, especially, when “boards fall asleep at the wheel,” as Dan Busby and I wrote in More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! Watch for: 1) Misreading the landscape, 2) Inability to see the forest for the trees, and 3) Becoming mired in the weeds. Read Lesson 36 here. Read the blog by Steve Altick. Order the book.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Stumped on the appropriate (and legal) use of artificial intelligence (AI) at your organization? Your storytelling will be enriched—and your graphic designers will save time and money—if you leverage AI effectively. (See this WSJ article, “The Best AI Apps to Try Now.”) We’re using it right now. For help, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: AI, ask why, Atif Rafiq, decision-making, sprint

June 21, 2023

The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth

Issue No. 565 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a WSJ bestselling book (#4 last week) that promises: “The fastest way to get customers to love your brand is to get employees to love their jobs.” And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story.

Good news or bad news? According to Jack Ma, cofounder of Alibaba Group, “In 30 years, a robot will likely be on the cover of Time magazine as the best CEO.” (Photo credit: Jason Pearson, Pearpod, with Jason's thanks to AI.)

Your Maniacal Focus on the Customer? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

(You didn’t hear this from me…but when you read this book, start with Chapter 10, “Ripped from the Headlines.” Yikes—what a wake-up call!)

Tom Peters, co-author of the classic, In Search of Excellence, begins his foreword to Tiffani Bova’s well-researched book, “In The Experience Mindset, Tiffani reminds us of the true importance of an outstanding employee experience. Have you heard this from me, from others? Yes. But in this book, Tiffani backs it up with firsthand research, intriguing stories, and her own experience, providing lessons along the way.” Read:

The Experience Mindset:
Changing the Way You Think About Growth
by Tiffani Bova

Actually, I did read this book properly—from the foreword and the very helpful introduction to the last chapter and notes. I tried to skip around, but the intro and insights of “Customer Experience” (Chapter 1) and “Employee Experience” (Chapter 2) were too compelling. If you drill down deeply into the first 40 pages, you’ll understand why leaders must change the way they think about growth—and why the employee experience has “been suffering at the hands of a maniacal focus on customer experience.”

Wait? Isn’t that Job #1? Focus on the customer? Yikes, again. This book will change your thinking—like few books do.

With excellent lookbacks into business and organizational history, Tiffani Bova (named twice to the prestigious Thinkers50 list), describes how we ended up with a lopsided focus on the customer—to the severe detriment and damage of our employees. Her deep research is compelling:

“The fastest way to get customers to love your brand
is to get employees to love their jobs.”

Good News! “To be clear, adopting an Experience Mindset is not about establishing a new executive position or business unit.”

Bad News! “There’s no quick and easy fix to any such deeply embedded, systemic problem (sorry!).” As Bova discussed in her previous bestseller, Growth IQ, “the one thing about growth is that it is never one thing.”

Good News! Tiffani Bova has already done the work for you—with hundreds of key points in the book already underlined, plus each chapter includes helpful takeaways and “Conversation Starter Questions.” This definition jumped out because it was underlined: “Ultimately, the Experience Mindset is about fully maximizing the leverage points between a strong employee experience and customer experience to create a virtuous cycle of momentum that leads to significantly better growth rates.”

Start thinking and talking with two new acronyms:
• CX – the customer experience
• EX – the employee experience

Bova urges companies “…to remove the self-imposed tension between EX and CX and approach them for the first time as part of a new operating philosophy and enterprise strategy.” The first two chapters deliver bullet-point summaries of the characteristics of “Superior CX” and “Superior EX.”

Of the seven characteristics for each experience, “Flexible” is listed for both. Note that for the EX, “flex hours and remote work” are valued by employees. So if your CEO is demanding a full return to the workplace (read any issue of the WSJ), now post-COVID, you might need to rethink this. (See also Gallup’s recent research on a flexible working environment. Read my review of Culture Shock.)

So what would no silos and a perfect blend of CX and EX look like? Read Chapter 10, “Ripped from the Headlines.” (The intro reminded me of the Dragnet opening on my 1950s TV!) “What you are about to read is based on true events. Names, places, and events have been changed, fictionalized, and altered for anonymity, but make no mistake—stories just like this take place every day.”

Oh, my! It’s the “story” about a fictitious CEO, William Waterbridge, and his well-known “Waterbridge Way.” I have a pretty good hunch who the author is skewering in this chapter, but one person survives to lead a turn-around at another company. At the new company, this CEO models the best practices of blending CX and EX. (It’s the perfect story to illustrate the book’s powerful message—and you won’t forget it.)

By the way, Chapter 7 has a fascinating discussion on technology (“Can I Have Some Tech with My Taco?”)—and is one of the four “PPTC” components of The Experience Mindset: People, Process, Technology, and Culture. This quote from Jack Ma, cofounder of Alibaba Group, kicks off the chapter on productivity and experience—“Two Sides of the Same Coin.” According to Jack Ma:

“In 30 years, a robot will likely be on the cover of Time magazine as the best CEO. Machines will do what human beings are incapable of doing. Machines will partner and cooperate with humans, rather than become mankind’s biggest enemy.” (Note: So far, I’ve written my own book reviews, but ChatGTP might help me soon!)

Along the way (did I mention deep research?), you’ll discover content for dozens of water cooler conversations (you are back at the office, right?) about well-known companies—and their hits and misses. Brief profiles of each corporate example include very creative graphics to punch home key points:
• Southwest Airlines: “All cultures start with hiring.”
• Zappos: “Longest Zappo’s customer service call to date in 2016: 10 hours, 43 minutes!”)
• The Ritz-Carlton: “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”
• Unilever: “Allow employees to create their own individualized future-fit plans including 18-month skill development plan.”
• Airbnb: “You have a customer experience team. Could we have an employee experience team as well?”

COFFEE, CULTURE, COMPLAINTS, AND MORE:
• Starbucks: Why Howard Schultz returned in 2022 (a third time as CEO!) to refocus the company on CX and EX—“a crisis of prioritization.” (It’s routine to take shots at Starbucks, as The Babylon Bee did last year! LOL!)
• Clearco: The CEO “set up an email inbox and asked everyone to post ideas on “The Stupid [Stuff] We Do.”
• An Australian Company: “Created an entire journey map wall showing steps required for both employees and customers to open a complaint and ultimately resolve it.”
• Chipotle: “Launched a fresh learning management system called ‘THE SPICE HUB’ focusing on upskilling through gamification and immersive education.”
• IBM: “Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game—it is the game,” said Lou Gerstner, IBM’s CEO from 1993 to 2002. (See also Ginni Rometty’s recent book on her IBM years, Good Power.)
• VW: The 2015 scandal when Volkswagen “rigged about 11 million diesel vehicles with software to dodge government emission tests.” (Employees feared retribution for pushing back.)

Still not convinced you need to enrich your focus on EX? Bova shares the familiar meme that deserves repeating:
• CFO asks CEO: “What happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?
• CEO says: “What happens if we don’t and they stay?”

I appreciated the way the author set-the-record-straight on the full context of Peter Drucker’s statement, “The purpose of business is to create a customer.” Bova notes Drucker also included the importance of the employee and warned managers not to treat them like “conscripts.” She writes, “Because the first phrase fit the emerging shareholders and customers first narrative and the second most definitely didn't, only the first is widely remembered and taken commonly as ‘Drucker’s view.’”

Further enriching our understanding of business history (and how the customer was inappropriately prioritized over the employee), she quotes W. Edwards Deming, who said that 85 percent “of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.” She references other favorite gurus and authors such as Ram Charan and Seth Godin, who both endorsed this book, as did Marshall Goldsmith, Liz Wiseman, and Roger Martin.

In Chapter 9, “Using Metrics to Understand and Improve CX and EX,” Seth Godin is quoted: “Measurement is fabulous. Unless you’re busy measuring what’s easy to measure as opposed to what’s important.”

This chapter also highlights the value of the Net Promoter Score (NPS), created by Fred Reichheld. (Read my review of Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers.) But did you know there is also the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)? In the section, “EX Metrics That Matter,” Bova discusses several options for measuring employee satisfaction, turnover and retention rates, and more. As with NPS, eNPS is measured by a single question:

“On a scale of zero to ten,
how likely is it you would recommend this company as a place to work?”

While your HR team will definitely embrace this book—don’t silo this important wake-up call to just a segment of your organization. Tiffani Bova summarizes her message in the “Author’s Note” at the end of the book (must-read). “The biggest threat facing business today seems to lie in workers’ unhappiness.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Experience Mindset: Changing the Way You Think About Growth, by Tiffani Bova. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 30 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

P.S. BONUS PODCAST! Click here to listen to Tiffani Bova's podcast interview with Atif Rafiq about his new book on decision-making. (Watch for my review of Decision Sprint next issue.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Are you gutsy enough to measure employee satisfaction? Ask this eNPS question: “On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it you would recommend this company as a place to work?” (Reminder—responses of 7s or 8s are "passives" and 0s through 6s are "detractors.")
2) If you lead a faith-based organization, check out the resources and assessments from Best Christian Workplaces, including certification, surveys, consulting, and coaching. As a team, read this book from my 2022 Top-10 list, Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being, by Al Lopus with Cory Hartman. Before you read the book—right now—write your own list of “eight keys to boost employee engagement and well-being.”

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #36 of 100: The Effective Executive

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #36 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Effective Executive:
The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
(50th Anniversary Edition – 2017)
by Peter F. Drucker and Foreword by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 6 features five books by Drucker, “the father of modern management,” and includes a foreword from Jim Collins with 10 lessons he learned from Drucker.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Effective Executive
• Listen on Libro (6 hours, 15 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

Jim Collins writes in the foreword, ““If you are to read one book on executive self-management, it should be this, Peter Drucker's definitive classic, The Effective Executive.” Below are five of the 10 lessons that Collins learned. (Read all 10 here.)
1) First, manage thyself.
3) Work how you work best (and let others do the same).
5) Prepare better meetings.
6) Don't make a hundred decisions when one will do.
8) Stop what you would not start.

Decision Sprint: Sneak Peek!

Watch for the next issue and my review of the WSJ bestseller, Decision Sprint: The New Way to Innovate into the Unknown and Move from Strategy to Action, by Atif Rafiq. You will never lead a meeting the same way again. Guaranteed! For a sneak peek, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog. And for more “PICs,” click here.

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The Customer, Team & People Buckets

As Tiffani Bova points out in The Experience Mindset, a maniacal focus on the customer won’t end well. So take time to blend the insights from The People Bucket, The Team Bucket, and The Customer Bucket from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates and Tips from John Pearson, with commentary by Jason Pearson (2nd Edition, 2018). Order from Amazon.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Chapter 7 in The Experience Mindset asks, "Can I Have Some Tech with My Taco?" If you need help with the four "PPTC" components (People, Process, Technology, and Culture), we can help—and we'll throw in a taco or two, and maybe some AI. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

09:29 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: #customer, #CX, #employee, #EX, #Tiffani Bova

June 14, 2023

Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story

Issue No. 564 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests that you and your family members start now to write your own obituaries and/or “life stories”—before someone else writes about a person you won’t recognize! (Happy Father's Day, anyway.) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for another Father's Day gift option, Feherty: The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf's David Feherty.

My son, Jason, jokes that instead of my photo on the screen at my memorial service, he’ll display a QR Code so attenders can order my latest book! LOL!

Happy Father’s Day! Please write your obituary!

In one of the 800 obituaries that James R. Hagerty has written for the Wall Street Journal, his April 16, 2020, piece on Earl Graves (1935-2020) was quite memorable. Graves and his wife launched Black Enterprise magazine and much more—but it was this entrepreneur’s description of his wife that made me laugh. Graves said his wife, Barbara, was “vice president in charge of shutting down the publisher’s bad ideas.”

Obituary? Laugh? Absolutely! And you’ll laugh often and just maybe—when you’ve read this book—you’ll be inspired to write your own “life story,” a short and sweet obituary or a long and laugh-filled chronicle of what made you tick. If so, James R. Hagerty (“Bob”) has some great insights for you in his wonderful book:

Yours Truly:
An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story

This may be my 2023 book-of-the-year. It’s that good and filled with promise. Just ask my wife, Joanne, who listened to dozens of paragraphs that I read to her last weekend, like these chuckles:

Chapter 4—succinctly delivered in two pages—offers “What Not to Include” in your obituary:
• Endorsements. “They waste space and weary the reader needlessly.”
• Boasts. “Your life story is not a nomination for sainthood.”
• Exaggerations. “If you attended a six-week course at Harvard, do not call yourself Harvard-educated.”
• The Complete List of Every Public-Service Appointment and Club Membership. (Too bad. I had some very noteworthy leadership roles in third grade!)
• Things You’re Not Sure About. “If readers find one error in your story, they may have trouble believing the rest.”
• Things That Go Without Saying. “Don’t describe your spouse as loving unless you see a serious risk readers will doubt that.”

Really, John? You think everyone should write their own obituary and/or “life story” just because the author wants to sell books on this topic? Full confession—I was skeptical. Not everyone enjoys the writing process or recording their thoughts into an iPhone. But, after reading this gem—absolutely. Write your story! I’m now a fully devoted zealot of the “write-your-own-obituary” club. This truly enjoyable book explains how and why. “Don’t leave it to family members, who are almost certain to make a hash of it.”

Hagerty adds, “Don’t let anyone tell you that sharing your story is selfish, a sign of conceit or vanity. It’s an act of generosity.” He quotes poet Jim Harrison, “Death steals everything except our stories.”

The author notes, “This book is for anyone who wants their story to be fair, accurate, interesting, and maybe even inspiring. It explains how to make sure your story is told the way you want—and how thinking about and preparing that story can help you live a better life.”

WHY? “…your story is likely to be written in haste by a friend or family member distracted by grief and the many urgent tasks of dealing with a death. And, I’m sorry to inform you, this well-meaning person will probably describe someone you would not recognize.”

Writing your story, I’m now convinced, should be on everyone’s bucket list. “Many seem to find it therapeutic.” Reading the wide array of obituary examples in Yours Truly (many people you’ve never heard about) reminded me of more than 20 of my own life events that I had forgotten. I might include them in a longer version of my obituary. (I think my five grandkids and other family members and friends might even read my “bucket” stories.)

In between innings at the Angels vs. Cubs baseball game last week (don’t ask who won), I told my son, Jason, about this fascinating book—and how it inspired me to write my obituary.
• Me: “Here's an idea, Jason. At my memorial service, you could give everyone a copy of my yet-to-be-written book, John’s Obituary and Bucket Stories.”
• Jason: “How about instead of your photo on the screen, I show a QR Code so they can order the book online?”
• Me: LOL!

Hagerty continues, “No, telling your story is not another irksome task, like making a will or clearing out the attic. Telling your story is less difficult than you may imagine. Telling your story can be amusing. It can pay off in unexpected ways.” As the only fulltime obituary writer for the WSJ, Haggerty suggests you ask yourself three questions:
• What were you trying to do with your life?
• Why?
• And how did it work out?

You’ll strike gold as you read Yours Truly. Here are some of the treasures I found. When interviewing a living person to help them write their obituary:
• If the answers are too generic, “Ask the same question 10 times in 10 different ways if need be.” (Eventually, the author learned one person had spent time in prison!)
• “Bob Greene made a transcript of his father’s recordings so they would not be lost to future generations lacking cassette-tape players.”
• “If an obituary can’t be fun, what’s the point of dying.” (Ask me about my favorite LOL memorial service!)

This book inspired me to focus on the lead sentence in my obituary—abandoning generic templates and embracing vivid descriptions, such as:
• A political cartoonist began his mother’s obituary with this: “Margaret Marilyn DeAdder, professional clipper of coupons, baker of cookies, terror behind the wheel, champion of the underdog, ruthless card player, and…”
• “Harold met Jesus at 8:27 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019.” (Hagerty comments, “The specificity of this statement suggests to me that morning is a good time to die because, apparently, there is no line at the pearly gates at that hour.”)
• The author gives us permission to use whatever verb or euphemism we prefer to describe our exit. “After all, it’s your obituary.” He lists options and I found my favorite: “John W. Pearson kicked the bucket on…”

MODELS & MISFITS. Hagerty includes stunning examples of obituaries in Part Two, “Models and Misfits,” with profiles of heroes, characters, and more:
• Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen (read my review of How Will You Measure Your Life?) was widely known for “offering his own life as a case study.”
• The Seattle Seahawks owner, Ken Behring (1928-2019), whose mother told him, “You better develop a personality. You are not going to make it on your looks.”
• Catherine Hamlin (1924-2020) who, with her husband, medically treated more than 60,000 Ethiopian women over 61 years.
• In the chapter, “Fishers of Men,” Hagerty highlights the “life story” told by Ron and Al Lindner in their book “that doubles as a memoir and devotional.” The founders of In-Fisherman magazine (and more) note how AA and a revival meeting changed the trajectory of Ron Lindner’s life.
• My favorite profile (with the author’s hints on how to ask questions) featured Ceinwen King-Smith, who spoke Chinese, Russian, French, and other languages. She made 23 trips to China. (Born in Chicago in 1945, her parents were ministers and she was blind. Absolutely stunning.)

In the chapter, “How Pros Cover Their Own Stories,” you’ll love TV anchorman Mort Crim’s story, who started out as the “Teenage Evangelist” in his Church of God denomination. His God-given chutzpah scored him one-on-one meetings with Paul Harvey, Walter Cronkite, and KFC founder Harland Sanders. (He was the inspiration for the Will Ferrell Anchorman movies!) And how did it work out? “Crim discovered he didn’t need a church or a pulpit to give sermons.”

No surprise, Hagerty’s writing is superb. While “Brother Alvah” strummed an electric guitar on a Midwest church tour, “…young Mort squeezed gospel sounds out of his accordion.” The author is working on his own obituary and will likely include his hitchhiking adventure in 1975. He describes the truck driver who gave him a ride: “He had 25 tons of cement in the back and a pack of cigarettes up front.”

Hagerty confesses that when he was based in Hong Kong, he was unprepared for his father’s death in 1997. See Chapter 19, “How We Failed My Father.” Today, however, he’s more than ready for his mother’s tribute. Back in 2012, at 85, she was still writing five columns a week for her local newspaper when she “went viral” worldwide with her review of the Olive Garden restaurant that had just opened in Grand Forks, N.D. The snickering response worldwide landed her on the front page of the WSJ. (Must-read!)

In Hagerty’s pre-written newspaper version of his own obituary, his humor flows. He will include this: “I write obituaries,” he often said. “If you get a phone call from me, it probably isn’t a good sign.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story, by James R. Hagerty. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 16 minutes). Read more about the book here. And listen to this podcast interview of the author here (43 minutes).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) James R. Hagerty mentions a James Thurber book about Thurber's boss at the New Yorker, Harold Ross. Thurber shuns chronology, and “somehow it works.” Hagerty adds, “For those who don’t want to be shackled by chronology, Thurber produced a model of chaotic brilliance.” The chapter, “Inspiring Memoirs,” may sink my book budget—but the examples gave me permission to write my own story in my own voice. What’s the most inspiring memoir you’ve ever read—and why?

2) Gary Hoag was thinking way outside the batter’s box when he announced, “Play Ball!” on Oct. 21, 2022, at the memorial service for our mutual friend, Dan Busby (1941-2022). Dan, the former president of ECFA, was also a researcher, writer, and expert on the history of baseball tickets. Hoag blessed Busby’s family and friends by streaming the memorial service from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. (Read more here.) So are you inspired and ready now to write your own obituary and life story (short or long)? Hagerty warns, “Don’t leave it to family members, who are almost certain to make a hash of it.”

3) Need more ideas? In my blogpost, “You Should Write a Book,” I spotlight three books that would fit Hagerty’s criteria. I also list three more ideas on documenting your life, including a once-a-week email from Storyworth. What’s your plan? How many copies of Yours Truly will you order today?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #35 of 100: Fit at Last

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #35 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Fit at Last:
Look and Feel Better Once and for All
by Ken Blanchard and Tim Kearin

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 5 features five books by Blanchard, including this quick-reading and transparent get-fit motivational book by Blanchard and his coach. They reference a doctor’s question to a patient: “Would you rather exercise for 1 hour a day or be dead for 24 hours a day?”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Fit at Last
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

AND SPEAKING OF OBITUARIES! When Ken Blanchard’s son noticed that his dad was “gimping around and looking a lot like Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Scott admonished him:

“Dad, I’ve heard you kid around and say to Mom that when a tour bus unloads passengers at a hotel in Hawaii, 35 women will get off the bus and only 5 men, because the rest of the guys are dead.”

This is a get-fit book like none you’ve ever read. Order now. Just do it!

Father’s Day Gift Idea!

Yes…it’s very funny, but also tragic. Read Feherty: The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf's David Feherty. Author John Feinstein writes, “Feherty’s concern wasn’t so much whether he could stay sober when working but whether he could be funny when he was sober.” (Note: When this golf book was published in May, it was immediately ranked #1 in “alcoholism recovery” on Amazon.) Read my review and for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Really! Include Mistakes in Your Obituary!

The WSJ’s obituary writer (see above) urges you to include “lessons learned from your mistakes” in your obit. So maybe my obituary is already written? In 2021, with my wife’s encouragement, and my son’s help, I wrote Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook). Bob Lonac, CEO at CRISTA Ministries from 2006 to 2019, recommends this book in a two-minute video. View here. Order here. Read more here. “Chapter 2 is my favorite mistake,” says Lonac.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Looking for a quick-and-easy “life story” option? Order THIS. 52 Ways to Share Your World With Those You Love, by Jason Pearson and Doug Fields. Beautifully designed as a tool (really a treasure) for parents and grandparents to think, write, and then pass along to each child or grandchild—you’ll be prompted to share meaningful messages on 52 topics in this fill-in-the-blanks journal. (Read John’s review.) For more storytelling help, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: James R. Hagerty, kick the bucket, life story, obituary

June 10, 2023

Turning Donors into Partners: Principles for Fundraising You'll Actually Enjoy

Issue No. 563 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting begins our “Summer Shorts” series—with a feeble attempt at shorter book reviews. Today—a double feature: a book for generous givers and a book for fundraisers. (Both will find asking and giving enjoyable.) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for a possible Father's Day gift, Feherty: The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf's David Feherty.

Here's the first "Summer Shorts" issue for 2023. (Oops!)

Summer Shorts: Enjoying Generosity

TIMING IS EVERYTHING…OOPS! For my faithful readers in the Northern Hemisphere, today’s issue launches my “Summer Shorts” eNewsletters—a summer-long marathon of short and crisp reviews of more must-read books. (Did I mention “short”?)

We begin with a double feature: two books on enjoying generosity. My well-thought-out plan: since Book #34 of 100 (see below) is Ken Blanchard’s The Generosity Factor—I will pair that inspiring book for donors with a new how-to book for fundraisers. Perfect! (Except…OOPS! I might fudge a bit on the “short” promise.)

Honest! Brad Layland’s short book (catch that?) really deserves a long review. It’s jam-packed with practical and memorable fundraising best practices—and the in-the-trenches stories are amazing!

Turning Donors into Partners:
Principles for Fundraising You'll Actually Enjoy
by Brad Layland (Jan. 24, 2023)

Honest! Even though I’m “retired” (whatever that means!), Layland’s book got my fundraising juices going again. And, for the record, I have read and reviewed my fair share of fundraising and generosity books over the years. Examples: Willmer, Nelson, Rodin, Frank, Doolittle, Hoag, Dillon and more. (See also The Donor Bucket and The Book Bucket List #1, by category.)

Reading Turning Donors into Partners reminded me of the legion of generous givers who joyfully partnered with the nonprofits I led over 35 years. Yet, every page or so gave me insights I wish I had learned way back then. So whether you’re just starting your fundraising journey, or you’re a pro—and you’re mentoring others—you will enjoy reading and implementing the practices and principles in this book. (Promise: I’ll send you a Chick-fil-A gift card if you don’t learn something new and actionable from this book.)

3 OPTIONS FOR LEARNING:
[ ] OPTION #1: VIDEO. View this inspiring testimonial (4½ minutes) as Joshua Morrison (age 16!) describes how God told him, at age nine (!), to raise $100,000 for Habitat for Humanity’s “Pennies for Homes Campaign.” The project: build a home for a low-income family. In the book, Joshua’s response: “So that is 10 million pennies! And instantly I heard God say, ‘You got to do that!’” Fast forward: Joshua raised $100,000 with help from Brad Layland's video training.

View this 4½-minute video testimonial to learn how God inspired a nine-year-old to begin the journey of collecting 10 million pennies for Habitat for Humanity!

[ ] OPTION #2: DELEGATE. Trust the recommendations of God-honoring fundraisers and delegate your reading to a key team member or volunteer. Visit here to read the enthusiastic endorsements from R. Scott Rodin, Kimberly Thornbury, Peter Greer, Steve G.W. Moore, Andy Bales, and others. Newcomers to fundraising will especially appreciate Tom Lin’s foreword—contrasting fundraising fumbles (at age 24) with his recent capital campaigns as president and CEO of IVCF/USA.

[ ] OPTION #3: ENRICHMENT DAY. If more resources for your nonprofit ministry or church would expand your reach, then buy a dozen books and assemble your team for an offsite enrichment day. Listen to the book (3 hours, 26 minutes)—and press “pause” after each of the five best practices—and then drill down further.

If I were leading your enrichment day (after conducting a needs assessment), I’d likely mention these take-aways below. (But don't call me—I'm "retired.") Highlights:
• The “Taking Donors Seriously” (TDS) principle-based fundraising framework.
• The stark difference between transactional fundraising and relational fundraising (and the Biblical model).
• The party game with three people on “washing an elephant.” (Perfect metaphor!)
• Really? We could achieve our fundraising goal within the first three months of our fiscal year?
• Why “people are the biggest givers,” not foundations and not corporations.
• Are we doing the equivalent of buying an old vacuum cleaner? (Another perfect metaphor.)
• Why “our fundraising planning should start with the who, not the what.”
• Why we should memorize the six principles of fundraising—and why Oprah should not be on your prospect list! Principle 2: “People give because they are asked.” (This reminded me of Olan Hendrix’s story about the pastor who was upset with a major giver! Go here to access the link to “Development and the Local Church.”)

HUMBLE PIE!
• Why the author didn’t give a third gift to a major organization.
• What’s our soft spot in the TDS framework: Case Statement, Leadership, Prospects, The Strategy, or The Annual Plan? (What’s our top strength?)
• Why carefully listening to donors may change how you prioritize the statistics and needs you’re addressing. (Brilliant story on page 41.)
• It’s possible you’ve never discerned “the lifetime value of your organization,” but the short section on pages 43-47 will dramatically change your storytelling—and possibly give you a visual at your next event.
• Why the “strategy manager” on your fundraising team should be a volunteer. Really!
• The three primary roles that your executive director or CEO should play in fundraising.
• Why Brad Layland ate humble pie in the kitchen at a fundraising dinner hosted at a billionaire’s vacation home!

THERE’S MORE! Yikes! “…most organizations allow 50 percent or more of their donors to lapse on an annual basis.” (This reminded me of my preparation one year to teach direct mail fundraising to camp directors. I mailed a $10 check to 10 organizations—and then watched how they acknowledged (or not) my first gift. More interesting—how they attempted to keep me from lapsing. One seminary president wrote that he had a book with my name on it—in his office ready to mail—once he received my next gift (warm, compelling, gracious). Contrast that with a prison ministry that almost (this is my own hyperbole!) threatened to send an ex-con to my front door to collect my next gift!

POP QUIZ! What is the most effective way to connect with a donor? Phone, Zoom, coffee shop, dinner in a restaurant, or at the donor’s vacation home?
• The four priorities when discerning which prospects to contact next.
• How an 80-year-old board member missed the fundraising event, but still invited a new donor to give $5,000!
• Why the 80/20 rule is yesterday’s wisdom—and how to ensure a large gift doesn’t torpedo next year’s budget.

I loved the story about the author meeting a donor for the first time, at the request of Denny Rydberg, who served as Young Life’s president from 1993-2016. (A fellow SPU alumnus, Denny passed away in 2019.) It’s an insightful story on why relationships matter.

BIOLA & BURGERS! Biola University just received the largest gift in its 115-year history to build the $92 million Snyder School of Cinema & Media Arts, as a tribute to Esther L. Snyder, co-founder of In-N-Out Burger. Why Biola and not your nonprofit? Read this book and you’ll better understand relational fundraising. And note: the book gives you access to about a dozen resources, including sample case statements, courtesy of Brad Layland's firm, The Focus Group.

Oops! So much for “Summer Shorts!” (I’ll try harder next issue.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Turning Donors into Partners: Principles for Fundraising You'll Actually Enjoy, by Brad Layland. Listen on Libro (3 hours, 26 minutes). And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy. I just ordered the book for one of my favorite nonprofit leaders.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Which staff member and which volunteer should read Turning Donors into Partners first? Which donor should receive a gift copy of Ken Blanchard's book (see below)? Does "ENJOY" and "JOY" aptly describe our fundraising practices and the response of our donors?
2) The author writes, “…most organizations allow 50 percent or more of their donors to lapse on an annual basis.” What percentage of our donors lapsed last year? What’s our plan to keep current givers active and joyful?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #34 of 100: The Generosity Factor

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #34 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Generosity Factor:
Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure
by Ken Blanchard and S.Truett Cathy

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 5 features five books by Blanchard, including this quick-reading business parable by Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy (1921-2014), founder of Chick-fil-A.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Generosity Factor
• Listen on Libro (2 hours, 25 minutes).
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson).

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?
• CEOs and Senior Leaders—on the fast track, but maybe the wrong track. A less-than-humble business owner (the Broker) meets a thoughtfully generous business leader (the Executive). You’ll follow their conversations through the Four T’s: Time, Talent, Treasure, and Touch.
• Not-Yet-All-In Givers—especially those who are grasping too tightly to their resources and may be blind to the needs around them (as was the Broker).
• Pastors and Church Board Members—who perhaps build stewardship campaigns based on budget needs (“Today is Stewardship Sunday! Here’s the pledge card!”), versus teaching Biblical generosity because it’s…well…Biblical!
• Chief Development Officers and fundraisers—who prioritize methodology over motives.

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TOOL #8: The Board’s Annual Fundraising Audit

Tool #8 in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, includes a 10-question TRUE OR FALSE quiz. Example: “The board understands the ministry’s fundraising program relating to raising restricted donations.” (True or False?) Tool #8 is one of six board assessment tools in this 22-tool workbook. Download Tool #8 here. Read more here.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. As you inspire your donors in generosity—note that one size doesn’t fit all. In his book, ReBrand: Workbook + Coloring Sheets For Ministry Branding, Jason gives new labels to the four classic social styles. Two styles are task-oriented: “The Info-Sponge Customer” and “The Just-the-Facts Customer.” And two styles are relationship-oriented: “The Heartfelt Customer” and “The Share-Meister Customer.” Does your storytelling touch all four styles? For help, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: fundraising, generosity, joy

June 2, 2023

Culture Shock: An Unstoppable Force Has Changed How We Work and Live

Issue No. 562 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting offers a possible “Top-10” book for 2023 from Gallup. Warning! Employee disengagement impacts customers and cash! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems.

Leverage your team’s strengths with personalized coffee mugs! Gallup says employee engagement is the lowest in seven years. You can fix this!

Splitter or Blender: What’s Your Work Style?

We once thought we were savvy leaders and managers—before COVID.

We once thought that all team members working on-site was best—before COVID.

We once thought that the five-day week was perfect—before COVID.

BAD NEWS: Everything has changed and Bizarre World seems like the new normal. We all have strong opinions on what works in the workplace.

GOOD NEWS: Gallup’s new book, Culture Shock (May 30, 2023), sets aside opinions and leverages their stunning research to propose seven “Recommendations for the New Workplace.” The book’s subtitle immediately teased me into the 30 short, but substantive chapters.

From Gallup!
CULTURE SHOCK:
An Unstoppable Force Has Changed How We Work and Live. Gallup's Solution to the Biggest Leadership Issue of Our Time
by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

What’s happening in this post-COVID era? The authors warn:
• “Nothing is going back to normal. This is a moment of evolutionary change.”
• “The danger is that a majority of employees will now operate more like independent contractors or gig workers than employees who are loyal and committed to your organization.”
• “Employees are also now less likely to say that their organization delivers on its promises to customers.”
• “Simply put, your employees and customers know each other. Many are best friends. All the good stuff in human nature and customers is at risk.”
• “The real fallout isn’t here yet. The real fallout will come when the storm of declining employee engagement hits the customer.”

There’s more bad news! “According to Gallup, a staggering 90% of U.S. employees with desk and office jobs aren’t longing for the old workplace to return. Only CEOs are.” And this: “…U.S. employee engagement has reached a seven-year low.”

Co-author Jim Clifton is Gallup Chairman and co-author Jim Harter, Ph.D., is Gallup’s Chief Workplace Scientist. Research-based, their workplace insights are so, so important—if CEOs and managers will just stop and listen. Don’t skip this one from two insightful leaders. They’ve teamed up before to write It’s the Manager (read my review). And Clifton’s Born to Build, with Sangeeta Badal, Ph.D. (read my review), is a hopeful look at entrepreneurship.

TOP-10 BOOK. Culture Shock is already on my list of Top-10 Books of 2023. Someone on your team must read and report on this solution-filled path to our post-COVID dilemmas. Your employees and your customers will thank you.

WHO KNEW? There will never be a return to “normal,” warn the authors. “Who knew that everyone in the whole world with an office or desk job could check into ‘Hotel Zoom International’ at the same time. A spectacular digital advancement for humankind came wrapped inside a global health catastrophe.”

BRILLIANTLY PACKAGED into 30 single-topic chapters (about three pages each), the book runs just 158 pages, plus a robust appendix of another 100 pages, plus a tempting 20-page reference section. You’ll appreciate the deep research that helps you solve these pesky post-COVID issues:
• Chapter 3: “The Business Problem.” The authors’ stunning opening: “You probably haven’t heard this: ‘Our employees and front-line managers control customer outcomes and daily cash flow more than any other single lever we can pull.’”
• Chapter 4: “The Role Human Nature Plays in Business Outcomes.” Using the “Gallup Path^®” graphic, the authors admonish: “Customer retention is the most critical metric on a CEO’s dashboard.” They add, “…your engaged employees create your engaged customers.”
• Chapter 5: “The Most Important Habit of a Great Manager.” Why getting this wrong “is the root cause of burnout.” The habit? “One meaningful conversation per week with each team member.”

CONFESSION! We all make mistakes and Gallup confesses this: “Over the years, Gallup missed asking why people who have desk jobs are required to travel miles from their home to sit in what is basically just a different chair. Like many things, we just assumed there was no better way.”

So what’s the best way forward? In-person, work from home, or a hybrid model? Chapter 7 goes deeper on “Why the Commute?” and Chapter 8 delivers the latest surprising research on “Is In-Person Time That Valuable?” But two chapters jumped out at me:

Chapter 10: “Splitters and Blenders: Two Different Relationships to Work.” Oh, my. I’ve built my management model around what I call “The 3 Powerful S’s: Strengths, Social Styles, and Spiritual Gifts.” Now…I’ll have to add a fourth “S” for “Splitters and Blenders!”

A new question from Gallup: “In your best life imaginable, would you prefer a job that is 9 to 5 where work and life are separated, or one where work and life are more blended throughout the day?”
• “Splitters might work best at home or in the office but want to maintain a strict schedule of hours in each location.”
• “Blenders might get their work done on weekends, evenings or early in the morning before the office opens.”

But here’s the gut-check:
• “Imagine managing someone and not knowing which type of employee they are.”
• “Now imagine leading a team of people who don’t know who the splitters are and who the blenders are on the team.”

And this is interesting: “Gen Z and young millennials are equally divided between splitters and blenders.” And “45% of working baby boomers prefer a work-life blend.” Plus, another warning! “Overall, blenders are more likely than splitters to be looking for another job (53% vs. 48% respectively). This presents a slightly greater challenge for retaining these employees.”

Chapter 12: “Is the Four-Day Workweek a Good Idea?” Read the full chapter to understand the nuances for your organization, but note this: “Our data suggest that a four-day workweek may be advantageous for those who do not have the option to work remotely.”

“THE REAL PROBLEM is that most employees are poorly managed.” In the U.S., almost seven in 10 employees are not engaged—or worse, disengaged—at work. “These people are spending their workday watching the clock, intentionally working against their employer or planning their escape—a symptom of an unhappy workplace.”

ALERT! “If instead of shortening the workweek, employers focused on improving the quality of the work experience, they could nearly triple the positive influence on their employees’ lives.”

There’s so much more here—so order this must-read book and discover…
• …the six skill sets of great managers. “Managers account for 70% of the variance in team engagement.” (Chapter 27)
• …why “only 21% of employees strongly agree that they trust the leadership of their organization.”
• …what matters more than the number of days an employee is at the office. “…80% of employees who said they received meaningful feedback in the past week were fully engaged—regardless of how many days they worked in the office.”
• …why (gulp!) “only 16% said that the last conversation with their manager was extremely meaningful.” (See Chapter 29, “One Meaningful Conversation With Each Employee per Week.”)
• …the 7 Recommendations for the New Workplace. (See Part 5: “Gallup’s CEO Playbook.”)

WEEKLY CHAT! Chapter 29, based on a study of 2,354 teams, “How to Make Meaningful Conversations a Weekly Habit,” will require that your managers are coached so they’ll become competent coaches. And by the way, does your organization have a certified CliftonStrengths coach? (Note: See my two-page form from the Meetings Bucket, “Weekly Update to My Supervisor,” which outlines how to have a meaningful weekly conversation—and includes reminders about “The 3 Powerful S’s” for both the manager and the direct report.)

ONE MORE. I gotta add this! On disengaged employees and the coming customer crisis, the authors warn that board members “don’t pay attention to this stuff because they can’t see the connection.” Example: When the chief human resources officer (CHRO) convinces the board that employee engagement is at 80%, then the board claps, “and the CHRO leaves with the board believing 80% of their employees are engaged.” (Rarely true!) Here’s why:

BAMBOOZLED BOARDS! You must read why only 5s on a 1 to 5 scale (5 = strongly agree) should be counted. (Many HR surveys count the 4s also to get to the inaccurate 80% figure.) Example: How many team members would strongly agree (a 5) with this statement: “There is someone at work who encourages my development.” (See Chapter 3 for more engagement questions.)

In addition to several brilliant examples on how the CliftonStrengths assessment keeps square pegs out of round holes (read about Jenny, Deepak, and Giselle), the authors give this startling stat: Just one in 10 managers have been trained on how to manage in a hybrid environment! And…don’t skip the fascinating short profiles on three strengths pioneers: Peter Drucker, Abraham Maslow, and Don Clifton.

I know…you have a lot of work ahead.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Culture Shock: An Unstoppable Force Has Changed How We Work and Live. Gallup's Solution to the Biggest Leadership Issue of Our Time, by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter. And thanks to Gallup Press for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Does your weekly staff meeting need to change? According to Culture Shock, “Among hybrid employees, 32% indicate that virtual meetings are less effective than in-person meetings, compared with 17% who say virtual meetings are more effective. More than half (51%) say there is no difference.” So…which meeting formats are working for us—and what’s not working? Do we know everyone’s preferred style: Splitters or Blenders?

2) The world is changing! Read this WSJ article by Alexandra Samuel, “How Retailers Should Start Catering to Hybrid-Working Customers. A lot of us no longer work 9 to 5, or commute into the office. Yet retail businesses seem stuck in a different era.” Then ask your team members: “Has our organization made any significant changes in our products, programs, or services—that relate to hybrid-working customers?”

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #33 of 100: Leadership Smarts

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #33 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Leadership Smarts:
Inspiration and Wisdom from the Heart of a Leader
by Ken Blanchard

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 5 features five books by Blanchard, including this tasty smorgasbord of leadership axioms and quotations.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Leadership Smarts
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Blanchard delivers a one-liner (in big type) on each left-hand page and his color commentary (in 100 words or less) on the right-hand page. I counted 75 “leadership smarts” from the mind of the chief spiritual officer of the Ken Blanchard Companies. Here’s some brain food:
• “The key to developing people is to catch them doing something right.”
• “Things not worth doing are not worth doing well.”
• “Success is not forever and failure isn’t fatal.”
• “What motivates people is what motivates people.”
• “People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.”

This is fresh:
• “Trying is just a noisy way of not doing something.” Blanchard adds, “Many people are interested rather than committed. They talk about trying to do something, rather than actually doing it. They make lots of noise, but fail to follow-up.”

Just open this book to almost any page—and inspire your people:
• “Vision is a lot more than putting a plaque on the wall. A real vision is lived, not framed.”
• “A river without banks is a large puddle.” (Blanchard on boundaries.)
• “All empowerment exists in the present moment.”
• “The cure of too much to do is solitude and silence.”

Not Just for Spiritual Giants!

Honest. You don’t have to be a spiritual giant to read this fascinating biography, but—warning—you will ask yourself, “Do I exhibit any signs of spirituality in my comfortable life?” Whew. Read Count Zinzendorf and the Spirit of the Moravians, by Paul Wemmer. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Tent Cards & Tools for Leveraging Strengths

Tool #20 in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, includes suggestions on spotlighting the CliftonStrengths of your team members and board members. Just feature each person’s Top-5 strengths on a tent card (or a personalized coffee mug)—placed in front of each meeting participant. (My tent card reminds everyone that I want to stay FOCUSED!) Download Tool #20 here. Read more here.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Whoa! Ken Blanchard writes, “This is the first time in the history of business that you can be great at what you’re doing today and be out of business tomorrow.” Gallup warns about “culture shock” (see above). Are you resting on your laurels—or strategizing on the story you’ll be communicating next week and next month? We can help. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: Culture Shock, employee, engagement, Gallup

May 27, 2023

Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems

Issue No. 561 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a new book with a 100-day plan for "blending" the expertise of nonprofits, for-profits, and governments to solve big problems. Uncle Sam still needs you! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my review of two fascinating books on Carlos Ghosn, the infamous CEO of Nissan and Renault.

Attn: U.S. Readers! Happy Memorial Day Weekend! And...a reminder that Uncle Sam still needs you! Read Bridgebuilders and then order this coffee mug to remind you to stop whining and start leaping over silos to solve our country's deepest problems.

Stop Whining and Start Leaping Over Silos!

OLD SCHOOL: Listen to the news or read about the latest government debacles, disasters, and poorly-planned programs—AND THEN WHINE!

NEW SCHOOL: Stop whining and start “leaping over the silos that too often handcuff leaders in solving society’s biggest problems.”

Wake Up Call! Your company and your favorite nonprofit can help your government manage our overwhelming problems. The key is in the title of this new Harvard Business Review Press book (May 23, 2023) from William D. Eggers and Donald F. Kettl:

Bridgebuilders:
How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems

If you serve with a nonprofit organization...as a volunteer, board member, or staff member—someone on your team MUST read this book!

If you’re an owner or a team member at a for-profit company...you may be surprised to learn that “bridgebuilding” is the new currency for helping our local, state, regional, and national governments to solve big problems. (And oh, my—we do have problems.)

CONFESSION. Before I cracked open this book, I looked at 10 other books on the shelf in my “Library of Candidates.” Why read a book on government—when government often makes the problem worse? (Ronald Reagan: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.")

But then, the graphic on page two (“The Vending-Machine Model” of government) sucked me in! LOL! By page 17, “The Bridgebuilder Imperative” sold me. Wow! This is an important book—and I can make a difference. I know hundreds of nonprofit and for-profit leaders and board members who MUST read this book!

IN FACT…I’m such a fan of this book, I ordered a copy of Bridgebuilders for my favorite government servant, John Moorlach, who served as a county official and state senator in California. Who's on your short list that should read this book?

Peter Drucker would have loved this book! In Chapter 6, “Focus on Outcomes,” the authors discuss the challenges of what Drucker would label “inside results” versus “outside results.” The subtitle: “Internal Procedures Can’t Dominate the Search for Multisectoral Success.” As is true of all 10 chapters in Bridgebuilders, the authors conclude each chapter with “Ten Ways Bridgebuilders Can…[chapter title].” Brilliant and practical summaries!

Chapter 6 includes this: “Don’t conflate inputs and outputs for outcomes.” They add, “To be sure, output measures matter and should be tracked, but to truly improve the well-being of families and communities, the focus should be on outcomes.” (Amen! For more on outcomes, read my chapter, “The Results Bucket.”)

This reminded me of the book, The Gatekeepers, and the disciplined focus of Erskine Bowles who served as President Bill Clinton’s second chief of staff. Bowles “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.’”

WHAT GOVERNMENT/SOCIETAL ISSUES DO YOU WHINE ABOUT? Homelessness? Crime? Civility? Immigration? Gas stoves? Political arrogance? Climate? (I could go on…)

HERE’S A THOUGHT. Read the book and then share it with your favorite nonprofit leader, your favorite politician or government employee, your pastor or priest, or anyone who whines too much! When absurd government programs are suggested—don’t whine—jump in and “leap over the silos.”

HUH? And speaking of absurd—assuming the reporter got the facts right—read this May 20, 2023, report about NYC’s plan to put “kiosks in stores that connect ‘would-be thieves’ to social service.” (You gotta be kidding me! See the note above about the vending-machine model of government. Prophetic!!!)

The authors, with significant academic and in-the-trenches credentials, cover the problems and solutions—with dozens of fascinating examples—of innovative bridgebuilding initiatives, plus numerous failures (and why programs failed). Example: when members of the 9/11 Commission asked, “Why didn’t the world’s best intelligence agency see this coming?”—they landed on two key failures: 1) the intelligence community was plagued by a “failure of imagination,” and 2) a failure to connect the dots. “On paper, government had become blended. In practice, its approach to understanding these intelligence changes had not.”

More examples:
• After a week of disorganized chaos after Katrina, a collaborative leader brought 2,000 responders together at a Dillard’s department store warehouse—and launched the recovery effort with a simple set of core values. (See Chapter 1, “Knock Down Barriers.”)
• Another memorable graphic is on page 212 in Chapter 10, “Make the Exceptional Routine.” The drawing, “Conducting the Orchestra” spotlights the perfect metaphor for effective bridgebuilding. The authors note six bullet-point features of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “public-private collaboration across multiple sectors” during his three terms, 2002-2013, including: “Engage the private sector not simply as funders but as real allies.”
• NASA: “OpenStack software, emergency foil blankets, cordless drills—NASA keeps catalyzing innovation. Spin-off technologies that began at NASA include memory foam, the computer mouse, and many cell phone cameras. NASA intentionally encourages commercial innovation, welcoming it from all comers.” (Three cheers for JFK’s BHAG!)

4 WAYS TO JUMP INTO THIS IMPORTANT BOOK:
[ ] OPTION #1. Read the 100 bullet points (10 per chapter)—and then jump into the chapter that grabs your interest.
[ ] OPTION #2. Read the eight-page conclusion, “The Urgency of Bridgebuilding,” outlining the holistic approach to addressing the fundamental challenges of modern government: Urgency, Complexity, Mismatch, Blending, Data, and Trust.
[ ] OPTION #3. Read the appendix, “A 100-Day Plan for Bridgebuilding in Your New Government Job.” (Just four pages, this should be posterized and posted on every government office wall—including the White House and your city council chamber!)
[ ] OPTION #4. Listen to the book at Libro (8 hours, 38 minutes).

BRILLIANT! In addition to the gems above, the authors deliver a final section, “How to Teach This,” with recommended takeaways, readings, case studies, and discussion questions for each of the 10 chapters. (Why don’t all authors leverage this format?) Plus, the 29 pages of notes are a footnote feast—tempting articles and more, including how the StrengthsFinder assessment is impacting government, plus a Forbes article on “America’s Top Givers 2022: The 25 Most Philanthropic Billionaires.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Bridgebuilders: How Government Can Transcend Boundaries to Solve Big Problems, by William D. Eggers and Donald F. Kettl. Listen on Libro (8 hours, 38 minutes). And thanks to Harvard Business Review Press for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The authors of Bridgebuilders credit the chief of staff of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, with creative collaboration in the Katrina recovery effort. One key: “learning to solve the right problems.” (Government rarely does this well on their own.) Should you focus on the problem or the solution? For more read Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, by Uri Levine.

2) The next time you drive by a homeless encampment, ask yourself: Why haven't the brightest minds on the planet solved this problem yet? Could we "solve problems before they happen," per Dan Heath? (Read this.) What about human trafficking? Could we do more to "blend" government solutions with nonprofit and for-profit initiatives. What's the church's role? (Read this.) OK...now your thoughts. What's on our 100-day plan to attack a societal issue?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #32 of 100: The New One Minute Manager

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #32 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The New One Minute Manager
by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, M.D.

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 5 features five books by Blanchard, including this update of the original “all-time #1 bestseller on managing your work and life."
• Order from Amazon: The New One Minute Manager
• Listen on Libro (1 hour, 27 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

On goals, Blanchard asks why unmotivated team members suddenly become motivated after working hours when they, for example, go bowling and hit a strike? But why isn’t the same person motivated at work?

“Because he doesn’t know where the pins are.” The young team member adds, “I get it. How long would he want to bowl if there were no pins?”

The authors add, “It’s the same with watching football. How many people in this country would sit in front of their TVs on a Sunday afternoon or Monday night and watch two teams run up and down the field if there were no goals to shoot at or any way to score?”

The secret? Feedback! Or as Blanchard and Johnson preach, “Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.”

Permission to Skip This Meeting?

Hopefully, you’re a big fan of weekly staff meetings, but would you be gutsy enough to announce this policy? At the author’s company, Leverage, they “also have a rule that anyone is allowed to respectfully leave a meeting if they don’t feel the need to be there or are not adding value to the conversation.” Read more in Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work, by Nick Sonnenberg. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Stars, Hearts, Money Trees, and Stop Signs!

“Focus on Outcomes” is one of 10 building blocks in the book, Bridgebuilders (see above). For more on outcomes—and creating a results-focused culture—read Lesson 23 in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom (Second Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson, “Focus on Mission Impact and Sustainability. The ‘dual bottom line’ equips boards to address dead horses and sacred cows (or goats).” Click here to read about the four-quadrant impact matrix: Stars, Hearts, Money Trees, and Stop Signs.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Is your nonprofit (or for-profit) positioned as a “bridgebuilder?” Do your marketing and communication tools articulate “Lone Ranger Arrogance” or is it clear—from the get-go—that you are experts in partnerships and bridgebuilding? Need an outsider looking in? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

01:37 PM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: bridgebuilders, government, problems, silos

May 22, 2023

Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn

Issue No. 560 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests that going deeper, and reading more broadly, might change your mind about an event or a person's character. Here's the second book I've read on Carlos Ghosn. A page-turner! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my Pails in Comparison Blog review of Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies.

Really? Lebanon honored Carlos Ghosn with a stamp in 2017, yet now he can't leave the country! Read the ongoing saga of Ghosn's arrest and then escape from Japan. Guilty or a fugitive from injustice?

“Le Cost Killer” Quotes C.S. Lewis

Carlos Ghosn worked 13-hour days and endured 48 hours in the air each month, often flying between Tokyo and Paris—with side trips to Brazil and Lebanon. He was the first person on the planet to run two companies on the Fortune Global 500 simultaneously (Nissan and Renault)—an always-in-flux “alliance.” Later, he added another title to his business card, “Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors.”

In France, his aka was “Le Cost Killer” for his restructuring of Renault. In Japan, his moniker was “Seven Eleven” for his daily schedule, but he was also applauded as “Mr. Fix It” for saving Nissan. Ghosn (now 69) was a turnaround superhero and the business press and other gatherings (the World Economic Forum in Davos, etc.) couldn’t get enough of this guy.

Then, he was arrested in Japan. Yet according to the authors of Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn, the same person who was lauded by auto execs worldwide also kept a C.S. Lewis quotation on his iPhone:

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
it is thinking of yourself less.”

You’ll remember the newsclips and headlines back in 2019—when Ghosn shocked the world. He’s made headlines ever since, including this Wall Street Journal article, by Nick Kostov and Sean McLain, on Aug. 6, 2022: “The Inside Story of Carlos Ghosn’s Brazen Escape From Japan. The scheme involved stacks of cash, a stealthy dash to the airport, and plenty of cloak-and-dagger tactics. In the end, though, the auto executive had to hunker down in a claustrophobic box, hoping no one would look inside.”

Old news? No! The leadership lessons abound in Boundless, by The Wall Street Journal’s Nick Kostov and Sean McLain. I just read this page-turner, and I would have read another 250 pages, but the authors must have been exhausted after writing this. Their sources were astonishing. There will likely be dozens and dozens of sequels, articles, podcasts, and case studies yet to come.

Just look at how the Harvard Business Review has covered Ghosn—both before and after his arrest and escape! Visit HBR and search “Carlos Ghosn” and you’ll see 31 results, including a four-part audio series, “The Rise and Fall of Carlos Ghosn.” Part 4 (Episode 806) concluded on June 24, 2021.

So why my fixation on Carlos Ghosn? Every element of the timeline is stunning:
• Jan. 19, 2018 – Arrest in Japan
• Dec. 30, 2019 – Arrival in Lebanon after escaping Japan
• Jan. 8, 2020 – Press conference in Beirut
• June 22, 2021 – Collision Course published (read my review)
• Aug. 9, 2022 – Boundless published (see below)
• 2023 and beyond – Who knows?

In my review of Collision Course, which I titled “Rubber Stamp Boards & Lapdog Auditors,” I listed nine reasons to read the book and noted that the editorial pages of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were in unlikely agreement during the early days of Ghosn’s arrest and escape.

Now, I’m urging you to read Boundless for even more leadership lessons, boardroom dysfunction, cultural clashes, displays of loyalty and disloyalty, and more. The two award-winning WSJ investigative reporters have written a page-turner. You won’t stop talking about it. I’ve decided that, looking back, I’ve often formed early and lasting opinions of events and character qualities—without having the full picture. We rarely do get the full picture, but Boundless, published just nine months ago, fills in many of the blanks with extraordinary “in the room” details. How’d they do that?

What’s Ghosn’s side of the story? Guilty? Not guilty? Or is he a fugitive from “injustice” as he claims? Visit Carlos Ghosn’s own website here.

To order the book from Amazon, click on the title for Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn (Aug. 9, 2022), by Nick Kostov and Sean McLain. Listen on Libro (9 hours, 16 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In my review of Collision Course, I wrote that from his safe perch in Lebanon, Carlos Ghosn had been interviewed numerous times about his daring escape from Japan. “As the Alliance wobbled without him, Ghosn seemed to relish in sniping at its troubles from the sidelines. He derided the group’s new consensus-based approach as ‘Santa Claus’ management.” How would/should your CEO and/or board spokesperson respond to a former CEO’s sniping?

2) In Boundless, the authors write that meetings between Renault and Nissan teams to discuss using a common car part “quickly turned into trench warfare.” They add, “Internal surveys of French and Japanese managers showed a persistent cultural gap. ‘When a Japanese person says yes, it means they’ve understood, not that they’ve agreed,’ one Renault engineer lamented. ‘By contrast, if we don’t respond immediately, they consider that we agree, which is unfair.’” How diligent are we in understanding the diversity of leadership styles and cultures in our organization?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 5: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #31 of 100: The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #31 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
by Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr., and Hal Burrows

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 5 features five books by Blanchard, including this lifesaver I reviewed in Issue No. 12 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting.
• Read my review (very short!).
• Order from Amazon: The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Get the Monkeys Off Your Back! Read this classic book on effective delegation. Why delegate a task to an inexperienced team member when you can nail the project faster, better and with less hassle yourself? If you thrive on being the Problem-Solving Guru on your team, this book is for you and your ego. You’ll learn how to get the “monkey” (someone else’s assignment) off your back and how to avoid accepting monkeys in the first place.

The authors penned this humorous classic on delegation to help your entire team understand and use this powerful “monkey” analogy and language. It will dramatically change your office culture. Honest!

YOUR FIRST 37 DAYS!

What if you only had 37 days to set the course in your new role as CEO of United Airlines? Read my review of this master class in leadership and culture, Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies, by Oscar Munoz with Brian DeSplinter. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Dysfunctional Delegation Diseases

Visit The Delegation Bucket and download the seven-question assessment, "Dysfunctional Delegation Diseases." Take this gut-check and diagnose the severity of your delegation diseases. Are you a Code Green, Code Yellow or Code Red? Read more on delegation in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. It seems that everyone’s an expert today on telling your story: social media influencers, podcasters, pundits, and bloggers. Who do you trust? AI? The “experts” with tried and true research? Or new, but untested strategies and tactics? We can help! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
____________________________________
Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

08:42 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Boundless, Carlos Ghosn, escape, leadership, Nissan, WSJ

May 11, 2023

2 Books: Polycentric Mission Leadership & Well Connected

Issue No. 559 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks if you’re up-to-date on effective leadership models and innovative partnership strategies? Here are two books: a classic on partnerships, and new research on global leadership—more provisions for your lifelong-learning journey. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my Pails in Comparison Blog review of Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies.

Are you up-to-date on global leadership models and innovative partnership strategies? Here are two books: a new one (just 102 pages) and a classic (352 pages).

2 Books: Global Partnerships and Global Leadership

Gut Check! If The Starfish and the Spider was the last book you read on movements, partnerships, and global leadership—the book that everyone was talking about 17 years ago—then it’s probably time to unplug and download some new models and frameworks. This issue features two books: 1) new research from Joe Handley on global leadership and movements, and 2) a related book and tribute to a friend, Phill Butler (1936-2023), and his go-to handbook on building partnerships.

As a reminder, The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations spotlighted numerous organizations—not top-down hierarchies (spiders), but starfish enterprises (like AA, Wikipedia, the Quakers, and the Apache) that rely on “the power of peer relationships.” Read my very short review here. But this issue reminds you to stay current—there’s much more today than just those fish and insects!

The best leaders today are lifelong-learning leaders—always looking around the corner and testing both old and new models lest their leadership skills becomes rusty, archaic, and grossly irrelevant. (Watch out for those flavor-of-the-month Tweeters, gurus, and podcasters. “Lead like this!” “No, lead like this!” “No…just stop leading and listen…to me!”)

PHILL BUTLER (1936-2023). I was reflecting on all of this when I received the sad news that Phill Butler passed away on April 2, 2023, at age 86. Read his family’s tribute here and click here for information about the online celebration of life service, Saturday, May 13, 2023.

His bio includes this: “Phill was a pioneer in the mission partnering movement and a visionary ministry entrepreneur who launched and led three world-changing ministries over the course of 50 years—InterCristo, InterDev, and VisionSynergy.”

I had the privilege of serving on the InterDev board for a few years—and I still remember the stunning impromptu mentoring lessons Phill shared in board meetings, often in response to a board member’s probing question. In one meeting, I said to Phill, a consummate lifelong learner: “That five-minute tutorial on global culture was stunning! How many times have you presented those insights?” Phill’s response: “That’s the first time. I just responded to that insightful question.” Our board’s response: speechless!

BOOK #1: WELL CONNECTED
The InterDev board kept reminding/inspiring (pestering!) Phill to write a book. Gratefully, much of his wisdom on partnerships was captured in his 2006 book, Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope through Kingdom Partnerships.

Bob Buford (1939-2018) called Well Connected a must-read. Phill’s book has been published in 11 languages and it remains the go-to “handbook” for facilitating collaborative work among ministries and mission organizations worldwide.

“Expect Problems With Partnerships” was the title of my review of Well Connected (read the review here). While many of us claimed to be savvy about building partnerships, Butler’s book quickly dispelled that myth. If you read the book, be prepared to assess your current partnerships against Phill’s truth-telling principles on what constitutes a true partnership. Charles Handy once said that “the world may admire truth-tellers, but few will want to employ them.” (Did I mention gut check?)

You may want to begin by reading the summary (Chapter 1) and then delegating your reading to a team member who will review the book at a future staff meeting. Notes:
• The appendix is worth the price of the book, especially the five-page “Partnership/Network Diagnostic/Evaluation Tool” for your current presumed partnerships.
• Or…you can rate yourself with 10 questions: “Are We Good Partnership Material?” If you score 60 or less (100 is possible), Butler suggests you host a leadership meeting to look at your scores and discuss improvement options.
• Or…check out “15 Critical Principles” of partnerships, including: 2) Lasting partnerships need a committed facilitator. 4) Effective partnerships have limited, achievable objectives in the beginning. 5) Effective partnerships start by identifying key felt needs among the people being served. 8) Effective partnerships are even more challenging to maintain than to start. 15) Effective partnerships expect problems and pro-actively deal with them.

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships, by Phill Butler.

BOOK #2: POLYCENTRIC MISSION LEADERSHIP

Thank God for thinkers and writers like Joe Handley! The creative leader of A3 (formerly Asian Access), tackled a complex—but fascinating—topic for his Ph.D. dissertation. He explored “…a new theoretical approach to leadership that I call Polycentric Leadership.”

His definition: “Polycentric Leadership is collaborative, communal leadership empowering multiple centers of influence, and a diverse array of leaders to meet today's challenges.”

He describes six leadership traits in his model:
• Charismatic
• Collaborative
• Communal
• Relational
• Entrepreneurial
• Diverse

If you’re a student of leadership and a lifelong learner, you’ll find Handley’s leadership model instructive and fascinating. Chapter 4, “A Model of Polycentric Leadership” notes concrete examples of organizations, including the Wycliffe Global Alliance (100 organizations!), and J.R. Woodward’s “Missional Church Model.” In that model, Handley describes “…how the equipping team leads like geese in flight, who share the leadership load and take turns based on their giftings.”

Hmmm. How about adding “Lead Goose” to your business card?

Yes, this short book (102 pages, plus the robust bibliography) reads like a Ph.D. dissertation because…well…it is a dissertation. But it’s a worthy addition to your lifelong-learning library. (Or at least, as Steve Leveen recommends, add it to your Library of Candidates.)

Three Quick-Reading Options:
1) Visit the robust website, “Polycentric Leadership,” for articles, definitions, and more.
2) Read the short article in Outcomes magazine, “Polycentric Leadership: A Leadership Model for a Polarized World.”
3) Read the chapter summaries (and the page 52 chart) in Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward A New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership, by Joseph W. Handley, Jr.

You’ll note that I paired Handley’s book with Phill Butler’s book (above). Handley references Butler’s wisdom 21 times with a few pokes-in-the-ribs on collaboration. Butler: “Everybody talks about collaboration, but nobody does it. It’s an idealized and realized value—there’s a huge difference.” Butler recommended the Harvard Business Review article, “Who Should Be Your Chief Collaboration Officer?” (That would also look good on a business card—if you actually did the work.)

My favorite chapter, “Interviews Within the Lausanne Movement,” was based on interviews with 33 leaders from across the world—both inside and outside the movement. Jason (our son) and I were privileged to have roles at the 1989 gathering in Manila, Lausanne II: International Congress on World Evangelization. Now, almost 35 years later, it was fascinating to read about the internal conflicts, funding challenges, and leadership views (top-down or collaborative?). Maybe…"they’ll know we are Christians"... by our leadership model?

Handley doesn’t hold back—and his book also includes critiques of his Polycentric Leadership model. (Who does that?) Looking back at both my CEO years and my consulting years—leading and attending numerous seminars and keynote sessions with gifted global participants—I can vouch for the challenges of collaborating with a diversity of leaders. (Lausanne II hosted 4,300 leaders from 173 countries, including the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe!) I’ve made my fair share of cultural and leadership mistakes in Taiwan, Turkey, Thailand, Hong Kong, Austria and South Africa—to name just a few.

I confess in my Mistakes book chapter, “Traveling Without Preparing” (Mistake #11), that I should have been a more diligent student of global culture. Most books I read too late. (See also the six books in Part 13 of Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.) I was privileged to serve an alphabet of global organizations (WEA, EEA, ICETE, CCI, EMQ, WCA, and more), but if Phill Butler and Joe Handley had written their books earlier—that would have been helpful!

Today, I pray for global leaders that their leadership “goes beyond a pulpit”—echoing the aspirations of Grace Samson-Song, a Lausanne board member. I also pray for one country a day from the prayer guide, Operation World, 7th Edition (soon to be updated), and the app. (Read my review of the 2001 edition.) Or pray for the persecuted church with the GCR prayer app.

To order the paperback edition from Amazon, click on the title for Polycentric Mission Leadership: Toward A New Theoretical Model for Global Leadership, by Joseph W. Handley, Jr. (Click here for Kindle edition.) And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Well Connected, Phill Butler wrote that effective partnerships have a “partnership champion” inside every church, ministry, or organization in the partnership. Why might that be absolutely critical? How are we doing on this principle?

2) In Polycentric Mission Leadership, Joe Handley reminds us that leading internationally is chaotic and complex—and even more challenging for “social sector” organizations, per Jim Collins (see Book #30 below). Another stunning example: the saga of Carlos Ghosn, who became the world's first person to run two companies on the Fortune Global 500 simultaneously (Nissan and Renault). How’d that work out? Read my review of Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire and watch for my review of Boundless: The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos Ghosn (I just read this...whew!). What leader comes to mind who emulates the six traits of Polycentric Leadership? How about 4 out of 6?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 4: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #30 of 100: Good to Great and the Social Sectors (just 35 pages!)

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #30 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Good to Great and the Social Sectors:
Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer
(A monograph to accompany Good to Great)
by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 4 features five books by Collins, including the first book I reviewed in Issue No. 1 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting.
• Read my review (very short!).
• Order from Amazon: Good to Great and the Social Sectors
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

While Good to Great was written primarily for leaders of for-profit enterprises, this 35-page monograph is focused on nonprofits (the social sectors). The differences for the Good-to-Great Concept:

BUSINESS SECTORS: “The profit-driven economic engine makes it possible to create a sustained machine independent of any single leader or funding source.”

SOCIAL SECTORS: “Funding often favors ‘time telling’ tied to specific projects or a charismatic leader, rather than to building a sustainable organization.”

My favorite illustration: The Cleveland Orchestra which “…held itself accountable for playing the most challenging classical music with supreme artistic excellence, and doing so even better with each passing year, guided by the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) of becoming recognized as one of the three greatest orchestras in the world.” What’s your organization’s BHAG?

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Segment Your Customers Prayerfully: The Engel Scale

In “The Customer Bucket,” we reference the market segmentation principles from “The Engel Scale,” per James Engel’s and Wilbert Norton’s book, What’s Gone Wrong With the Harvest? A Communication Strategy for the Church and World Evangelism. Read Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook and leverage the six worksheets and resources from “The Customer Bucket,” including the Engel Scale. (See also my review of Faith for Exiles.)

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09:45 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Joe Handley, Partnerships, Phill Butler, Polycentric Leadership

May 3, 2023

Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs

Issue No. 558 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a likely bestseller from the authors of Blue Ocean Strategy—with a new word of the decade! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my recent review of Built to Beat Chaos.

The authors of the new book, Beyond Disruption, urge leaders not to be thwarted or stymied by the boundaries of a chessboard. Go beyond!

Beyond the Chessboard!

The bestselling authors of Blue Ocean Strategy urge nonprofits and for-profits to think beyond disruption. And to achieve innovation and growth without doing damage to industries, companies, or jobs—think “could,” not “should.” Think kinder and gentler, perhaps?

The old way: “This is the chessboard, and these are the pieces. In light of this, how are you going to play best?”

How wise leaders execute the Beyond Disruption way: “Rather than start with the chessboard, they start with their minds and imaginations, the magic between their ears, to envision what could be and what should be irrespective of what is.”

Here’s another must-read—just published this week by Harvard Business Review Press:

Beyond Disruption:
Innovate and Achieve Growth
without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne

I usually look for the meat of a book on page 25. The authors delivered on page 28 with two objectives for this important book:
• “First, we aim to show why broadening the existing view of innovation and growth by including nondisruptive creation is of paramount importance today and will be even more so in the future.”
• “Second, we aim to show how you can generate nondisruptive creation, by laying out the building blocks for identifying, acting on, and capturing nondisruptive opportunities and by outlining areas ripe for nondisruptive creation that you can seize.”

In case you missed it, “nondisruptive creation” is the word-of-the-week, and likely, the word of the decade. But first—a trip down memory lane:
• Slide rulers
• BlackBerry
• Blockbuster
• Ocean liners
• Taxis
• Cameras with film
• Road atlases

“For the past 20 years,” write these bestselling authors and professors of strategy, “’disruption’ has been the battle cry of business: Disrupt this. Disrupt that. Disrupt or die. Calls for disruption have rung across Silicon Valley, major corporate boardrooms, the media, and business conferences around the globe.”

Examples: Uber replacing taxis, Amazon replacing local bookstores, GPS replacing road atlases, and iPhones replacing…well, almost everything!

Now…after reading this book, I’m evaluating every new idea (including Shark Tank episodes) with a question: Disruption or Nondisruptive Creation?

The authors add, “Corporate leaders have continually been warned that the only way to survive, succeed, and grow is to disrupt their industries or even their own companies. Not surprisingly, many have come to see disruption as a near-synonym for innovation.”

Kim and Mauborgne argue that there’s a better way. “It is a distinct new concept,” they write. “Nondisruptive creation creates new industries without leaving failed companies, lost jobs, and destroyed markets in its wake. It offers the immense potential to innovate new markets where none existed before.” Trust me—this is a very compelling argument—and my mind immediately imagined how my nonprofit colleagues will read this book and run with it. (Example: Read my review of Rooting for Rivals.)

Dozens and dozens of unique and memorable examples of nondisruptive creation are spotlighted. (I’m offering a Starbucks card to anyone who can read this book and NOT share a story with a friend or family member!)
• When Cunard ocean liners lost business to the airline industry they tried and failed with an airline—but then created something new: luxury vacationing at sea.
• When a 3M inventor wanted a better bookmark for his choir hymnal, he collaborated with a colleague and invented the post-it note—an innovation that didn’t disrupt any other product.
• When rural South Koreans moved to the city—they could not replicate the clay pot (buried in earth) fermenting method used for kimchi, a staple of the Korean diet. A nondisruptive market solution was launched in 1996—and today, more than 90% of Korean households have purchased an in-home kitchen appliance called Dimchae. (No disruption!)
• Ditto Bette Nesmith Graham who created Liquid Paper—no one lost their job and no product was sidelined. (By the way, she was also the mother of the future guitarist for The Monkees, Michael Nesmith. Now I'm a believer!)

The authors/professors already had plenty of street cred—they’re codirectors of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute in Fontainebleau, France. They are honored as two of the four leading thinkers in the 100 years of Harvard Business Review’s publications. And in 2022, Thinkers50, the global ranking of management thinkers, named Blue Ocean Strategy as one of the top 10 classic books on management.

What? You haven’t yet read what the Financial Times called “one of the bestselling business books of the century”? Here you go:
• Article: “Blue Ocean Strategy” (Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2004)
• Book: Blue Ocean Strategy: Expanded Edition (2015)
• Video: “The Explainer: Blue Ocean Strategy” (2½ min.)

In Chapter 4, “The Rising Importance of Nondisruptive Creation,” Kim and Mauborgne weigh in on the tension between corporate economic gain and social good. They balance the mandate that, of course, corporations must make money—or they will do zero good. I appreciated this discussion—because it is so relevant today with perhaps more woke voices than wise voices. (Read Andy Kessler’s WSJ opinion column, “A Wrench Thrown Into Capitalism.”)

The authors are realists—there is not just one approach for achieving growth without displacing industries, companies, and jobs. They write, “…when it comes to the innovation of new markets, nondisruptive creation presents one workable path toward addressing this challenge. Here social good is not a sideshow but is locked into economic good by its very nature of creating without destroying, thus generating nondisruptive growth."

The authors add, “In other words, with nondisruptive creation, social good is not achieved in how companies spend money but begins to be achieved in the very way they make money to thrive and prosper. Instead of compromising economic good, nondisruptive creation brings economic good and social good closer to moving in lockstep.”

Beyond Disruption is richly illustrated with fascinating stories, such as the 3D-printed mechanical arms for a young war victim in South Sudan, to Bangladesh (microfinance for the poor) to the French postal service, La Poste’s “Watch Over My Parents” program (weekly home visits to the elderly!).

You’ll love the helpful and numerous tables—comparing current practices to potential best practices. Will this new approach be easy? No! But there are reasons to try this path and there are advantages: “Nondisruptive creation is emotionally and politically easier for incumbents’ internal stakeholders to get behind.” And what about external stakeholders? “While disruptive creation tends to increase conflicts with social interest groups and governments, nondisruptive creation largely sidesteps these challenges.”

My favorite chart: The Confidence-Competent Map with four quadrants:
• High Confidence, High Competence: PURSUE
• High Confidence, Low Competence: RETHINK
• High Competence, Low Confidence: RETHINK
• Low Competence, Low Confidence: DISCARD

There's more! I still need to inspire you with “cricketainment” and how the Board of Control for Cricket in India satisfied the cricket purists, yet introduced a shorter version of cricket to millions more. (Hmmm. I wonder if Major League Baseball in the U.S. borrowed some ideas?)

Or…the role that assumptions (one of my favorite topics) play across industries, especially how one finance firm peeled back banking’s assumptions. (See Table 8-1: The Assumption-Implication Analysis for overseas education loans—a helpful comparison chart for any innovation.)

Or…how one UK charity, Comic Relief, moved from “pity pleas” to their Red Nose Day. And get this: “Because Red Nose Day is held only once every two years, donor fatigue doesn’t set in, and people look forward to the next one.”

BEYOND THE NONPROFIT CHESSBOARD! We’re still years away from solving deep societal issues (homelessness, crime, racism, religious persecution, and more). Could this book move your favorite nonprofit closer to breakthrough solutions? Any risk in listening to the audio book (just six hours) or reading this important book? No risk at all—compared to the potential opportunity. It's time! Unhook yourself from the boundaries of your chessboard!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs, by W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 6 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) After GPS devices arrived in our cars (a “high end” solution), the innovative app, Waze, is mentioned in Beyond Disruption as one of the many “breakthrough solutions from the low end.” Uri Levine, Waze co-founder, wrote the 2023 gem, Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs (read my review). His interesting matrix includes four quadrants: “Winners” (high usage/value and many users), “Niche” (high usage/value, but few users), “Losers” (low usage/value and few users), “Dreams and Nightmares.” Are we focusing on problems or solutions? What’s the right answer?

2) OK, here’s a Starbucks card and our thanks to [insert team member name] for giving us a quick overview of Beyond Disruption. Now, around-the-room, give us one example of a disruption (here or somewhere on the globe) that negatively affected other jobs, companies, or industries. And then for our second around-the-room question, share a nondisruptive creation that combined economic gains with social good.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 4: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #29 of 100: Turning the Flywheel

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #29 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Turning the Flywheel:
A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great
(Why Some Companies Build Momentum and Others Don’t)
by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 4 features five books by Collins, including Turning the Flywheel.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Turning the Flywheel
• Listen on Libro (1 hours, 47 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

You’ve sold over 10 million books worldwide. The assignment in 2019: boil it all down and deliver the key thought—the Big Idea—of what leaders and managers are missing. What one concept would you pick—that rises above everything else—and is your critical message for organizations today? Jim Collins picked the flywheel.

Using the flywheel concept at Ware Elementary School, the principal and her team saw satisfactory reading levels of just 35% mushroom to 99% in just seven years. True or False? (Read my review.)

LAUGHING AT YOUR OWN JOKE!!!

I just read the delightful new book, An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark!, by Florence Hazrat. The author (from the UK where "!" is known as the exclamation mark) quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald who frowned on exclamation marks—because using them is “like laughing at your own joke.” (LOL!!!) Read my review here and for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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Trend-Spotting Exercise

Tool #15, “Board Retreat Trend-Spotting Exercise,” details how to leverage a simple trend-spotting template to generate insights and interaction on a key hot topic at your next retreat. That’s just one of 22 tools in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson (2019). Order from Amazon. And click here for 22 blogs on the 22 tools.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Note that the authors of Beyond Disruption believe that nondisruptive creation plays better with both internal and external stakeholders—than “disrupt or die!” That’s huge when telling your story. For more ideas, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

11:05 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Beyond Disruption, Blue Ocean Strategy, disruption, innovation, nondisruptive creation

April 26, 2023

Built to Beat Chaos: Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others

Issue No. 557 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting changed my thinking about chaos! Plus, if you love checklists—you’ll love Built to Beat Chaos! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my recent review of the Harvard Business Review Press book, The Anxious Achiever.

The new book, Built to Beat Chaos, includes a stunning number of checklists, including the “Stop the Nonessential Checklist” and the “Give Career Feedback Checklist.”

Checklists for Confronting Chaos!

In case you haven’t noticed, the name of this eNews is Your Weekly Staff Meeting. And every so often, I actually spotlight books that will enrich your meetings. Today’s pick will do that and more. Much more!

SLANDER! Can you relate to Gary Harpst’s shot across the bow? “We love to slander the idea of meetings, but purposeful meetings are a primary tool for leaders to maintain alignment and engagement.” That’s just one of dozens of insights, plus checklists and next steps—succinctly delivered in this comprehensive new book:

Built to Beat Chaos:
Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others
by Gary Harpst

In Chapter 11, “Get Results Through Teamwork,” Harpst leverages his in-the-trenches CEO experience with four best practices for attacking the daily chaos. (And his view on chaos will surprise you!) I can describe this book’s uniqueness in one word: CHECKLISTS! This helpful chapter delivers four detailed checklists to flesh out the author’s four best practices for delivering results through teamwork:

• Know and Report Progress Checklist (10 questions). Example: “Does your team appreciate knowing if you are off track and support you in getting back on track? Do you feel free to be honest about your progress?”
• Synch One-on-One Checklist (9 questions). Example: “Do you understand the person’s communication style and personality?”
• Synch as a Team Checklist (8 questions). Example: “Are there clear expectations for meeting preparation? Are written status updates sent before the meeting? Is there a deadline for sending them so people can read them? Is the agenda published in time to prepare?”
• Step Back and Learn Checklist (6 questions). Example: “Does your approach work for entry-level workers who may never have thought about what it means to be a self-leader?”

HIGH TURNOVER. Harpst recommends a “Step Back and Learn” mentoring session with each of your direct reports at least quarterly. “This meeting is not a performance review. It is a mentoring session with two-way dialogue.” He adds, “I don’t have empirical data on this, but I notice a strong correlation between high turnover and the number of people managed by one supervisor. With more interaction between employees and getting to know them, could turnover be improved?”

“The starting place for more effective meetings,” writes Harpst, “is to change our thinking.” He quotes a senior exec’s comment in the HBR article, “Stop the Meeting Madness,” who said, “I believe that our abundance of meetings at our company is the Cultural Tax we pay for the inclusive learning environment that we want to foster…and I’m ok with that.”

Gary Harpst speaks from deep experience. He was co-founder and CEO of Solomon Software, “which was acquired by Great Plains Software and soon sold to Microsoft.” Don’t skip the chapter on “Someone Who Builds Oneness” and his story of the firm’s annual gathering of business partners (2,000 attended!)—and how the team leveraged the “100 Point Exercise” to get buy-in in a breakout. They have used this process more than 5,000 times over the past 20 years! (The book gives you free access to their Gordian™ Problem Solving App.)

LISTEN TO THE MANAGE 2 WIN PODCAST:

Listen to Gary Harpst, author of Built to Beat Chaos, talk about Biblical wisdom on leading yourself and others—on the Manage 2 Win Podcast with David Russell.

BIBLICAL CHAOS! So what’s with the author’s unique view on chaos? Few books change my thinking—but Built to Beat Chaos did and it was a needed poke-in-the-ribs. Noting the “execution paradox” principle from his book, Execution Revolution (read my review), Gary Harpst writes that “…every organization outgrows its ability to execute.” (You knew that, right?!) Chaos? "God created chaos in the first place: to challenge us to the deepest level, to burn off the impurities of false hopes and beliefs."

In Chapter 1, “Chaos Refines Us,” Harpst writes, “The good news is that we have been created for a purpose, and even chaos exists for a purpose. And these two purposes are interrelated.” (Example: The Tower of Babel.) I then wondered—why did the author write a business book with the subtitle, “Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others”—will this work? If you lead your life according to the principles of the Bible—you will find this book absolutely refreshing, original, thoughtful, and even inspirational. Harpst melds Biblical wisdom with business savvy. Built to Beat Chaos is unlike any business or leadership book I’ve ever read or reviewed.

But…what if you’re not a fan of the Bible—or faith-focused? Harpst is not preachy, but he appreciates lifelong learners. “If you are unsure or even wary of a biblical view of leadership, please consider this. The people I learn the most from are those who think differently than I do.” (Amen! See the five chapters, “Contrarian Thinking,” in Part 7 of Mastering 100 Must-Read Books, Books #41 to #45.)

MASTERY. Built to Beat Chaos features three major sections: 1) What Effective Leaders Should Know, 2) What Effective Leaders Should Do, and 3) What Effective Leaders Should Be. I love this: “The central premise of this book is that your existence is not an accident, and neither is your purpose. Every human is created in the image of God and is designed to win at something—to conquer some part of the chaos around them. The biblical language used is unmistakably strong—‘mastery,’ ‘dominion,’ ‘overcoming,’ ‘ruling.’ You were created to be a victor, not a victim.”

PART 1: WHAT EFFECTIVE LEADERS SHOULD KNOW
• 5 Kinds of Leadership: Self-leadership, Functional Leadership, Change Leadership, Process Leadership, Strategic Leadership
• “Order is easier to create than keep.” See the four quadrants of weak and strong Strategy versus weak and strong Execution. Quadrant III is Fire Fighting!
• The Growth Deception: “Headcount increases linearly, but communication-related challenges grow geometrically.”
• Fred Brooks quote: “Adding people to a late project makes it later.”
• The critical reminder of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s “Decision Matrix: Important vs. Urgent.”
• Note the succinct “Takeaways” bullet points at the end of every chapter. Example: “Leadership expertise requirements grow in five areas… The deception comes in that the skill requirements are rising with complexity, but it is not obvious to leaders that the gap is widening.”

PART 2: WHAT EFFECTIVE LEADERS SHOULD DO
• 20 checklists in Chapters 7 to 13 (worth the price of the book!)
• See the “Connecting People to Purpose Checklist.” Harpst: “It makes them miserable when they don’t see the connection. Or they see the connection, but the organization is so dysfunctional that they feel like they can’t win.”
• Two dimensions of leadership: Process (Managerial Habits) and People (Engagement Habits). What quadrant are you in: Bureaucratic, Disengaged, Effective, or Disillusioned?
• Stop the Nonessentials Checklist: “Do people understand that stopping is not a failure but a success?” (See “My Don’t Do List” in the Delegation Bucket.)
• What thought leaders do you follow? Harpst lists 18 of his favorite learning resources including Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Patrick Lencioni, Ram Charan, C.S. Lewis, Stephen Covey, David Allen, Michael Gerber, Jim Collins, and others. He reminded me about Peter Senge’s book, The Fifth Discipline (I read it, but haven’t reviewed it).
• Is anyone tracking wasted time? Do you know the three main purposes for group planning? (“If you are sloppy about your plan approval dates, it means your planning is sloppy too.”)

“You can’t overcome chaos with words;
you overcome it with purposeful action.
Without purpose, actions just contribute to more chaos.
Without action, chaos wins.”

PART 3: WHAT EFFECTIVE LEADERS SHOULD BE
Note! Does the author really save the best until last? You be the judge—but don’t skip this really, really good stuff!
• “Outcome Vagueness!” Harpst: “Lack of clarity delegates the definition of what success is to someone else. Yet when you get the result, you are disappointed that it wasn’t what you wanted.”
• “It’s strange that we have time to do the project over again but don’t have time to do it right the first time.” (Bonus book!)
• Hundreds of call-outs! (Assignment: underline at least 25 insightful sentences that are not already highlighted in large font. Every book should follow this format!)
• The author confesses, “…I have also made enough mistakes to be able to tell you with full authority what does not work.” (Three cheers for mistakes!)
• The 3 ways to kill teamwork: 1) Use Force, 2) Treat Everyone the Same, and 3) Don’t Change.
• A brilliant metaphor for the importance of agreed-upon standards: “If one carpenter’s tape measure used twelve inches to mean a foot and another uses thirteen inches per foot, I will not be thrilled with the house they build.”

A or B GUT CHECK!
A) Will you read this book this week? Or…
B) Will you inspire a team member to spotlight this book at your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” segment at your next staff meeting?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Built to Beat Chaos: Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others, by Gary Harpst. And thanks to the author and the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Read the Tower of Babel chaos story in Genesis 11:1-9 and then discuss, “What can we learn from the Tower of Babel story in the Bible?” (Note: I asked AI that question—and the response was, frankly, better than I expected!)

2) In a recent WSJ column, “The Business Genius in ‘Air’ Isn’t Michael Jordan,” Ben Cohen notes a scene in the new movie, AIR, that he says “should be required viewing for any executive in any line of work.” Nike CEO Phil Knight, apparently, had a common response to new ideas: “I don’t know. Maybe it’ll grow on me.” (View the trailer. Note: I have not seen the movie.) Cohen writes, “His willingness to delegate and keep an open mind about ideas that he didn’t particularly like may have been the most unusual and valuable aspect of Mr. Knight’s management style in the years when Nike was taking flight.” Hmm! How do you listen, learn, and respond to new ideas—especially ones that don’t immediately resonate with you?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 4: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #28 of 100: Great by Choice

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #28 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All
by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 4 features four books by Collins, including Great by Choice with his classic comparison company methodology.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Great by Choice
• Listen on Libro (8 hours, 45 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

MORE CHAOS! Using memorable stories to answer the question, “Why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not?”—Jim Collins introduces us to 10X companies and 10X leaders.

The stories are fabulous, often very funny. Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer had the moniker DOCTOR DOOM and Commissar of Concern, taught to him by the “Grand Master of Productive Paranoia himself, Bill Gates.” Yet it was Gates who put his foot down when Ballmer wanted to boost the head count to—get this—17 people!

OLAN HENDRIX
1931-2023

Olan Hendrix, the founding executive director of ECFA, passed away on April 13, 2023, at age 91. I was saddened to receive this news, but gladdened to reflect on the powerful influence that Olan had on thousands of Christian leaders and ministries. I was also the grateful recipient of his leadership generosity. In Mastering the Management Buckets, I shared a personal story. Read it here. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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"Expect the Unexpected!"

MY MISTAKE #7: Minimizing Murphy's Law. I ignored the axiom that "if anything can go wrong, it will." Years later, Ted W. Engstrom (1916-2006) reminded me, "Expect the unexpected."

I should also have memorized O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law: "Murphy was an optimist!" Read more in Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Does your communications and marketing team hit deadlines—with agreed-upon results? Are the omissions and gaps obvious? You’ll appreciate a team-read of Built to Beat Chaos: Biblical Wisdom for Leading Yourself and Others. We can help you grow your team’s competencies and careers. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free two to four times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: biblical, chaos, checklists, Gary Harpst, leadership, management, wisdom

April 19, 2023

The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower

Issue No. 556 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting warns—anxiety comes with every leadership role. But there’s good news—read on. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my recent review of The Screwtape Letters and the movie, Nefarious.

The author of The Anxious Achiever struggled with Imposter Syndrome and feelings of inadequacy. She discovered she was not alone!

“Anxiety Comes With the Job”

Oh, my! If you are not currently anxious or struggling with an anxiety disorder, then read The Anxious Achiever—and, with opened eyes, you may be in for a big surprise. (Just kidding…or not?) Read this.

Morra Aarons-Mele writes, “When I was the head of marketing at an international company, every Thursday I felt nauseous and developed a migraine, plus I was exhausted because I couldn’t sleep the night before. It took me a long time to realize that the lunchtime staff meetings I had to run on Thursdays triggered terrible feelings of performance anxiety, imposter syndrome, and social jitters.”

She adds, “My body was broadcasting the news, but I hadn’t yet learned to connect my physical experiences to my emotional landscape.”

Whew. Morra Aarons-Mele is one very transparent author. And this is one very important book. In just 86 revealing pages, “Getting to Know Your Anxiety” distinguishes anxiety from fear (per the American Psychological Association). And—get this—“Do you ever find yourself micromanaging, or redoing others’ work because it’s not up to your standards? These are just a few of the many ways that anxiety can show up at work and affect our well-being and effectiveness.” (Now…she’s just meddling!)

In the next 135 pages, “A Leader’s Tool Kit for Managing Anxiety at Work,” the author serves up seven challenges (with solutions) that are common to many leaders who struggle with anxiety. (Note: This is a book for leaders.) And, by the way, have you slowed down enough to observe how your anxiety affects your team members? So how many of these seven topics should you read more about?

CHECK 1 OR MORE:
• Negative Self-Talk
• Thought Traps
• Unhelpful Reactions and Bad Habits
• Perfectionism
• Control
• Feedback, Criticism, and Imposter Syndrome
• Social Anxiety

Using dozens of in-the-trenches stories and interviews from her podcast, The Anxious Achiever, Morra Aarons-Mele’s book is so down-to-earth. She writes, “In early 2021 I was asked to join a prestigious, invite-only group for business authors. This was the kind of company that triggered instant imposter syndrome. Bestselling writers, household names, mega TED speakers, even a four-star general . . . you get the idea. When I wrote an email to introduce myself to the group, I confessed that even saying hello created intense anxiety. To my delight, one of the group’s most prestigious members replied, ‘Feeling imposter syndrome is a qualification to be in this group.’”

Based on the notes I made for this review, I could easily write two or three reviews. I compiled seven stunning “hooks” to use in the first paragraph—but had to pick just one. The other nominees:

• THE LIE. “Everything leadership gurus say about bringing your whole self to work or leading with empathy and authenticity is a lie until we talk about our experiences with anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, suicidal ideation, or whatever other mental health challenges are affecting us."
• WORLD LEADERS. When she asked a Harvard Business School prof “how many of the legendary leaders she studies—people like Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and John Lewis—dealt with anxiety and depression, she said, without missing a beat, ‘The vast majority.’”
• DRINK IT AWAY? “Anxiety comes with the job. You will be dealing with anxiety in one way or another, directly or indirectly, on a daily basis. So the only effective approach is to become skilled in managing it and to even use it to your advantage. As much as we may want to make anxiety disappear, the answer is not to try to wish it away, work it away, drink it away, exercise it away, or hide, deny, or suppress it away.”

“Minimize brainstorming,” suggests Morra Aarons-Mele when managing the room on team video calls. “Brainstorming can trigger social anxiety and can freeze up introverts.” Click here to view the four-minute video, “3 Steps to Stop Remote Work Burnout,” in the TED series, “The Way We Work.”

• BAD RAP. “…I would be the first to say that anxiety has gotten a bad rap, and that trying to eradicate or eliminate it—or any other difficult emotion for that matter—will ultimately undermine your leadership and your mental health. If you’re anxious by nature, this is just part of who you are.”
• OFFICE JOKE. “We often joke that our offices are like families . . . large, dysfunctional families.” The author notes the Bowen family systems theory that “the bulk of the problems we experience in adulthood stem from the negative ways we learned to manage stress and anxiety in our families of origin.”
• MISTAKES. “I had an ‘Aha!’ moment a few years ago when my kindergartener told me that he’d learned a big lesson in school that day. He proudly relayed, ‘When I make a mistake, my brain grows! So it’s a good thing to make mistakes.’” [Amen!]
• I’M A LOSER! One of four techniques the author cites from Russ Harris, “one of the world’s experts on ACE” (adverse childhood experiences), is when feedback or criticism sparks anxious feelings, “Type your negative thought on your computer in big, bold font:

‘I’M A LOSER.’

Now play around with the text: increase the font size, change it to all caps, render it in the most ludicrous font you can find… Make the text jump up or down, wiggle, or dance… Once again, you’re dialing up the ridiculous factor, which immediately makes you take your thought less seriously.”

Note: Harris also suggests three other hilarious responses to negative self-talk:
• “Identify the negative thought that tends to hook you repeatedly—for example, ‘I’m incompetent’—and replace it with “I’m a banana.” Repeat that 100 times and your imposter syndrome feelings will lose their punch!
• “To the tune of the ‘Happy Birthday’ song, sing your negative thought, either in your mind or aloud.”
• “Repeat your negative thought in the voice of a cartoon character, a movie star, or a character from your favorite TV show or meme.” (Suggestions: a Monty Python character or Alvin the chipmunk!)

ANY GOOD NEWS, JOHN? Yes! I was skeptical that I could “turn my biggest fears into my leadership superpower,” but this book is very convincing and convicting. Not easy—but doable. But thanks to this book, I am on a new path in the way I think about anxious moments and anxiety—for myself and others. (See also my intro to The Team Bucket in Mastering the Management Buckets and see Mistake #20 in my “mistake” book to learn what I learned from a gifted counselor. Plus, read my review of Anxiety at Work.)

MORE INSIGHTS:
• How to identify your triggers.
• The list of 54 emotions—to ensure you “go beyond the obvious to identify exactly what you’re feeling.” (Read the HBR article by Susan David here and take her free five-minute "Emotional Agility Quiz" here.)
• How to be your own “detective” with a “Quick and Easy Body Scan.” Did you know that “physical tells can function like the check-engine light in our cars: they’re the early warning sign that anxiety is taking over.”
• 10 Thought Traps, including: All-or-Nothing Thinking, Catastrophizing, Discounting the Positive, and Ruminating and Overthinking.
• Why the chief talent officer at Ford Motor Company “once held a failure party with one of his teams, complete with a DJ.” (It was about wringing “every single learning we can out of this catastrophe…”)
• Why the author froze at a book signing talk—and why she didn’t do keynotes for another four years after that!
• 14 signs of imposter syndrome—and why you should keep a “clip file” of your accomplishments and feel-good letters and emails.
• Oh…and don’t skip the helpful charts and tables, such as “Break a Bad Habit and Make Progress at Work.”

Good News! Your anxious feelings and/or deep anxiety can become your strengths!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower, by Morra Aarons-Mele. Listen on Libro (8 hours, 54 minutes). And thanks to Harvard Business Review Press for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) What? Professional golfers also have anxiety and depression? Watch for my May review of Feherty: The Remarkably Funny and Tragic Journey of Golf's David Feherty, by John Feinstein. (If you can’t wait until May, then read this review from the WSJ.) OK, team—let’s get real. How prevalent is “imposter syndrome” in our organization—and what effect is it having?

2) “Deliver me from all fretfulness,” writes John Baillie in his morning prayer for the 27th day of the month. (Read the prayer here. Order A Diary of Private Prayer here.) The Apostle Paul writes in the letter to the Philippians (Eugene Peterson called it "Paul's happiest letter”), “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.” Share with the team your daily routine to push back against “Negative Self-Talk” and pesky “Thought Traps.” Need encouragement? Sing along to “He Will Hold Me Fast.”

3) Delegate your reading! Here are 5 related books. Ask 5 team members to each read 1 book and enrich lifelong learning with a 10-minute overview each week (5-minute summary and 5-minute discussion): 1) Anxiety at Work. 2) Fearless. 3) Jump. 4) Serve Strong. 5) Necessary Endings.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 4: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #27 of 100: Good to Great

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #27 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Good to Great:
Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t
by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 4 features four books by Collins, including this bestseller from 2001. Warning! It’s possible that any team members still in school in 2001 are faking it when they pretend to know what the “hedgehog concept” is all about—and why it matters.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Good to Great
• Listen on Libro (9 hours, 58 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Is it possible that you often throw around Collins lingo—and some team members nod knowingly, while others feign understanding? Can they finish the paragraph when you talk about a Good to Great or Built to Last concept?
• The Hedgehog Concept
• Clock Building, Not Time Telling
• Level 5 Leadership
• BHAG
• The Bus
• The Stockdale Paradox
• Greatness at the Cleveland Orchestra
• The Flywheel
• The 3 Circles: Passion, Competence and Your Economic Engine (and what is different in the social sector)

If you serve in, or serve on the board of, a nonprofit—you'll also appreciate Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer. (It’s just 35 pages.)

Church Boardroom Bloopers!

News Flash! There’s way too much confusion in the trenches on the appropriate roles and responsibilities of church board members. New church board members are often overwhelmed. (“No one told me!”) Veteran board members have turned micro-managing into an art form, and senior pastors often use the mushroom management approach (Google it!).

Click here to read a summary of Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Click here to read guest bloggers discuss the book.

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IQ, EQ, and Now…XQ!

Yikes! Morra Aarons-Mele (above) writes with stunning transparency. Apparently author Soren Kaplan got the same memo! He is also very, very transparent and his personal examples and vulnerability are prompts for searching your own soul.

Read his 2023 book, Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs. Read my review here—and for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do print and online storytelling deadlines ramp up the anxiety on your team? The Anxious Achiever lists “telltale signs” that you may be micromanaging your team. “…you insist on being cc’d on everything; you tell team members to run everything by you; you assign yourself to projects that don’t need your input; you refuse to delegate…” Wanna talk? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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Tags: anxiety, anxious, loser, stress

April 13, 2023

Screwtape Letters Meets Nefarious

Issue No. 555 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting invites you re-read a classic book by C.S. Lewis—and to view the new movie, Nefarious, opening on April 14. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my reviews of The Case for Easter and Contagious Faith.

The pokes-in-the-ribs in The Screwtape Letters, the classic by C.S. Lewis, toy with our holy ground comforts of meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades! Whew! Convicting!

Nefarious—A Modern Screwtape Letters!

Really, Pearson? You now want me to read or re-read (or listen to) the C.S. Lewis classic, The Screwtape Letters? Ok. I can do that! Good idea. After all it was Lewis who said, “It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.”

But then…you’re also urging me to see the new movie, Nefarious, (opening April 14)? Really, John? Is this your week-after-Easter spiritual growth next step for me: dinner and a movie? Well—I’m all ears (and eyes). Go ahead—make my day!

It’s fairly simple, my faithful eNews reader. Just watch the news. Evil raises its grotesque head every day: shootings, scams, scandals, shameful sexuality. Add a daily dose of sacrilege, sleaze, smut, and selfishness—and sin is feeling right at home. Or, more accurately, Satan and his stooges are parading through town—undeterred it seems.

You’ll recall that The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), is a series of 31 short letters from Uncle Screwtape, a senior demon to “Our Father Below” (Satan) to his young nephew, Wormwood (also on the same team). Screwtape’s letters urge the novice demon, Wormwood, to cajole, manipulate and deceive his “patient” so Hell can snatch another win.

Screwtape labels Holy God as the “Enemy” and his tutelage of Wormwood is what one person has called “at once wildly comic, deadly serious, and strikingly original.”

View this four-minute interview of Max McLean who plays Screwtape on stage.

Screwtape (played by Max McLean) instructs Wormwood, “All the healthy and out-going activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at least he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, ‘I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.’”

Screwtape: “I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.”

And this: “You should always try to make the patient abandon the people or food or books he really likes in favour of the ‘best’ people, the ‘right’ food, the ‘important’ books.”

“Let him, if he has any bent that way, write a book about it; that is often an excellent way of sterilising the seeds which the Enemy plants in a human soul.”

Remind me again, John—how The Screwtape Letters and the movie, Nefarious, relate to each other—and to me?

Once again—it’s fairly simple. Nefarious showcases an inmate on Death Row—just hours before his execution. The final checklist requires a psychiatrist to affirm that the convicted serial killer is sane. (Did I mention that the inmate is demon-possessed and prefers to be called “Nefarious.” And…did I mention that the psychiatrist is an atheist?) Yikes. Fasten your seatbelt and view this movie trailer:

Watch this two-minute movie trailer for Nefarious—and see why critics are calling it “a modern Screwtape Letters.”

The Nefarious filmmakers describe the movie as a “spiritual thriller” (It’s rated “R” for some disturbing content. Hmmm. My local news channels in Los Angeles should add an “R” almost every evening. Yikes.) Visit the website here to learn more and purchase tickets at a location near you. Click here for group discussion resources and click here for the EPK (electronic press kit), including how they filmed the movie at a working prison in Oklahoma.

POP QUIZ! Who said the following? Screwtape or Nefarious? Do you believe, as the Apostle Peter wrote, that “The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping” (1 Peter 5)?

"Who Said This?" Quiz:
_____ 1. “In a week or two you will be making him doubt whether the first days of his Christianity were not, perhaps, a little excessive. Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things’. If you can once get him to the point of thinking that ‘religion is all very well up to a point’, you can feel quite happy about his soul. A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.”

_____ 2. “You ignorant sack-of-meat. You think your atheism will protect you? Hell is full of pathetic trash who thought the same as you. Who spent their lives boldly proclaiming their views on how the universe functions—never contemplating that they could be wrong. You should see them now.”

_____ 3. “‘I played the flute, and you wouldn’t dance. I played a dirge and you wouldn’t weep.’ You don’t believe me when I say I’m a demon—and you don’t believe me when I say I’m not. So which story do you want me to tell?”

_____ 4. “The real use of Jokes or Humour is in quite a different direction, and it is specially promising among the English who take their ‘sense of humour’ so seriously that a deficiency in this sense is almost the only deficiency at which they feel shame. Humour is for them the all-consoling and (mark this) the all-excusing, grace of life. Hence it is invaluable as a means of destroying shame.” [More on humor here!]

_____ 5. “Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. It is far better to make them live in the Future. Hence nearly all vices are rooted in the future. Gratitude looks to the past and love to present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead.” [More on the Present here.]

_____ 6. “The cross was our greatest mistake. We thought we’d lost—until my Master realized man still wants to be his own god. To serve no one but himself... Whereas the carpenter demands—as the price for his ‘suffering routine’—that you fall to your knees and worship him.”

_____ 7. “Looking round your patient’s new friends I find that the best point of attack would be the borderline between theology and politics.”

ANSWERS: Read The Screwtape Letters and go see the movie, Nefarious.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. Listen on Libro (3 hours, 36 minutes). Note: a second audiobook is also featured on Libro.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The Screwtape Letters has dozens of subtle and not-so-subtle pokes-in-the-ribs for the serious reader. Similarly, just a quick read of “The Inner Ring” speech by C.S. Lewis is so, so convicting. Yikes! On our egotistical desires to be invited into the various clubs, circles and inner rings in our society, Lewis warns, “Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things.” Why do you think we strive so hard to be accepted into the inner ring?

2) In the movie, Nefarious, the character admits this: “We arrange a series of temptations—gradually increasing in terms of duration, intensity and degree of moral iniquity. Absence of baptism in this case allowed us to begin work well before the age of reason. At four or five, the theft of a toy car can do a great deal... later on we move to bigger things. At eight, his grandmother’s gift of a Ouija board—for Christmas of all things—gave us immediate access to controlling his decisions... so we began steering them... without him bothering to question where the guidance came from. Enough ‘yesses’ and few enough ‘no’s’ gave us increasing rights over the victim’s physical and mental processes.” Yikes! Do you believe “the Devil is poised to pounce” as Peter writes in the New Testament?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 4: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends
Book #26 of 100: How the Mighty Fall

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #26 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

How The Mighty Fall:
And Why Some Companies Never Give In
by Jim Collins

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 4 features four books by Collins, including this unique study of failures! So why study failures? “We do ourselves a disservice by studying only success.” Collins adds that “most companies eventually fall, and we cannot deny this fact.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: How the Mighty Fall
• Listen on Libro (4 hours, 41 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

This is not a happy book (applying all of today’s happy talk won’t do it!)—it’s a must-read book. Leaders that are in it for the long haul will learn principles and best practices for preventing, detecting, and reversing decline. Collins identifies five stages of decline:
• Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
• Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
• Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
• Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
• Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death

“Overreaching” is one of the symptoms of Stage 2. “When an organization grows beyond its ability to fill its key seats with the right people, it has set itself up for a fall,” he warns.

Date Board Prospects Before Proposing Marriage!

In my workbook and half-day workshop, we explore The 4 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board (3rd Edition): How Leaders Enrich Their Ministry Results Through God-Honoring Governance. Mistake #2 is “Not Dating Board Prospects Before Proposing Marriage.”

Order the workbook to learn how to recruit and inspire the right people—with the right motives—to serve on your board by focusing on the four phases of board recruitment. Order from Amazon.

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“Why Can't Church Be More Like an AA Meeting?”

Imagine—if you could transport back to the 1950s and ask C.S. Lewis this question: “Why Can't Church Be More Like an AA Meeting?” Good news! Author Stephen R. Haynes asks and answers that question, plus “Other Questions Christians Ask About Recovery,” in his insightful book. He also asks this humdinger: “What is a clergyman and lifelong churchgoer to make of the fact that the spiritual highlight of his week more often than not is a secular recovery meeting?” Read my review here—and for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. How do you communicate the facts (not the myths) of Heaven and Hell? C.S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters. I’ve had the privilege of working with the Nefarious filmmakers as they leverage this “spiritual thriller” to get people thinking about the most important issues in life. We can help you tell your story! Contact me (Jason Pearson) at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Tags: C.S. Lewis, Nefarious, Screwtape Letters

April 7, 2023

2 BOOKS: The Case for Easter & Contagious Faith

Issue No. 554 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting spotlights two books for Easter from the prolific pens of Lee Strobel and Mark Mittelberg. Easter Blessings! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for my Pails in Comparison blog review of The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross.

Listen to the Fountainview Academy of British Columbia perform “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” by Isaac Watts (1674-1748). “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”

Turn or Burn!

This weekend, Christ-followers are meditating on the “Wondrous Cross” on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Myth? Feel-good religion? Or the most momentous dividing line in history? During Lent, I’ve been reading and reflecting on two books (well, actually three).

• The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Resurrection, by Lee Strobel

• Contagious Faith: Discover Your Natural Style for Sharing Jesus with Others, by Mark Mittelberg and foreword by Lee Strobel

But first a “mistake” story (see Mistake #21). During my college years, I signed up for a weekly training course on how to effectively talk about my Christian faith with others. One evening, the instructors over-emphasized one point: Never, ever, say: “TURN OR BURN!”

We all laughed. We understood the power of friendship evangelism—and why that harsh approach might backfire (no pun intended).

Back at the dorm that night, after finishing my homework, I engaged in yet one more late night bull session with other students. One friend, raised in the church (as they say), had pretty much rejected Christ. Flip a coin: was he an atheist or an agnostic tonight? Intelligent—he had ready answers for my Evangelism 101 tactics. Nothing worked. Brick-wall stubbornness. Then that Still Small Voice nudged me. “John, stop relying on your expertise—stay connected to the Vine.” (See John 15.)

Shockingly, I next heard my own voice demand: “TURN OR BURN, FRIEND!” Yikes! I had just violated Rule Number 1. My Christ-following friends stared at me with that look, “Pearson, you idiot! Didn’t you hear the guy say never, ever, use that line?” I’d done enough damage, so I excused myself and went to bed.

Knock. Knock. Knock. About two in the morning, half asleep, I answered the door. It was my stubborn friend. “John, after you said ‘Turn or Burn’ last night, I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m done fighting with God. Pray with me. I want to live for Christ.”

5 STYLES. Mark Mittelberg reminds Christ-followers that when you are confident in your faith, you can “Discover Your Natural Style for Sharing Jesus with Others.” In Contagious Faith, he suggests five ways to talk about your faith—based on your unique gifts and personality: Friendship-Building, Selfless-Serving, Story-Sharing, Reason-Giving, and Truth-Telling.

Do you recognize your natural style? Mittelberg quotes 2 Corinthians 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” He adds, “An effective ambassador is one who knows the language and culture of the people to whom he or she is sent. Well, that’s you—nobody knows your family and friends the way you do. Nobody speaks their language, or relates to their culture, or is connected to their past, like you.” (For more on your ambassador job description, you’ll love reading John Jackson’s new book, Grace Ambassador.)

Caution! While you might resonate with one of Mittelberg’s five styles—note that each style chapter includes “Key Skills for Every Christian.” And this warning: Each style has downsides, including the cautions below. (Read the book for the complete list of cautions.)
• Friendship-Building. Cautions: “Stay genuine, establish boundaries, prioritize truth.”
• Selfless-Serving. Caution: “Serve without conditions.”
• Story-Sharing. Cautions: “Be honest, speak in plain English.”
• Reason-Giving. Cautions: “Admit it when you don’t know; win people, not arguments; and expect a little tension.”
• Truth-Telling. Cautions: “If you come on too strong or too fast, people will likely become defensive and distrust whatever you say. So, slow down a bit.” (Yet… “Resist being overly cautious.”)

Hmmm. Maybe my “Turn or Burn” truth-telling jab was appropriate—since his description of a Truth-Teller nails me! I also better understand my style and motivations with what I call “The 3 Powerful S’s” (spiritual gifts, social styles, and strengths). I’m a “Driver” in social styles and my top CliftonStrengths is “Focus.” The author uses “focus” in describing Truth-Tellers. (Maybe I need to add Mittelberg’s five Contagious Faith styles and call it “The 3 Powerful S’s + 1.”)

Throughout this book, the author generously sprinkles inspiring and instructive stories and personal illustrations. Mittelberg tells us that comedian and magician Penn Gillette (an outspoken atheist) received a Bible from an audience member after a show. He was not offended. Instead, Penn said:

“If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell . . . how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? . . . I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.” (Click here to view this four-minute video.)

View this four-minute video and listen to what comedian and magician Penn Gillette said about the man who gave him a Bible.

Lee Strobel was also an atheist (see his book below). Mittelberg quotes Strobel: “I tend to be a skeptical person. My background is in journalism and law, so you can imagine when you put those two things together what kind of jerk—I mean skeptic—you get! I was the legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, and we used to pride ourselves on our skepticism. We didn’t want to accept anybody’s word at face value. We always tried to get at least two sources to confirm a fact before we printed it in the newspaper. So, no kidding, we had a sign in our newsroom that said:

So...ready to check it out? The “Recommended Resources” section (11 pages) in Contagious Faith is abundant—and may bust my book budget yet again. It includes books, workbooks, training materials, and 33 websites. I just ordered this book (352 pages): The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers), by Mark Mittelberg. Note: You can also click here to take a seven-question assessment on your Contagious Faith style.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Contagious Faith: Discover Your Natural Style for Sharing Jesus with Others, by Mark Mittelberg, with a foreword by Lee Strobel. Listen on Libro (2 hours, 9 minutes, read by Mark Mittelberg). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

SO…DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE CROSS is the dividing line in history—and calls you, your family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to embrace the case for Easter?

LEE STROBEL is a prolific writer (more than 40 books) and is perhaps best known for his book, The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, and the movie of the same name. (Watch the trailer.)

View The Case for Christ movie.

This Easter weekend is the perfect time to read, or listen to, The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Resurrection.

An atheist-turned-Christian, Strobel, is the former award-winning legal editor of The Chicago Tribune and is also the Founding Director of the Lee Strobel Center for Evangelism and Applied Apologetics at Colorado Christian University. (Mark Mittelberg is the executive director of the center.)

Do you know the answers to these three Easter questions?
1) Was Jesus’ death a sham and his resurrection a hoax?
2) Was Jesus’ body really absent from his tomb?
3) Was Jesus seen alive after his death on the cross?

The Case for Easter examines those three questions—and more—and just as you’d expect an investigative journalist to do, Strobel digs deep for:
• The medical evidence
• The evidence of the missing body
• The evidence of appearances

Even if you know and believe the Good Friday to Easter Sunday chronology, you’ll appreciate the page-turning narrative. In his short conclusion, Strobel asks, “…maybe you’re still a skeptic or seeker. If so, let me challenge you to pursue the truth about Jesus enthusiastically and honestly. Make this a front-burner issue.” (Note: I’m guessing Strobel might add here, “No pun intended!” Or as I challenged a friend, “Turn or Burn!”)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates Evidence for the Resurrection, by Lee Strobel. Listen on Libro (2 hours, 28 minutes, read by Lee Strobel). Note: Mass market paperback pricing available on Amazon.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Mark Mittelberg writes, “There’s an old saying that tells us, ‘Evangelism is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.’” That reminded me of the poignant true story told by Scott Hahn about the beggar and Pope John Paul II. (Read my review of The Pope & The CEO: John Paul II's Leadership Lessons to a Young Swiss Guard, by Andreas Widmer.) Mittelberg urges every Christ-follower to “Make room for divine interruptions.” Share a story with our team when you responded to a “divine interruption.”

2) Mittelberg quotes Colossians 4:5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” So...how ready are you to answer questions about your faith? Is it time for a refresher (book, course, webinar, or podcast)? Check out this recent seminar with both Mittelberg and Strobel: click here.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 3: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends

Book #25 of 100: The Three Signs of a Miserable Job*

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #25 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Three Signs of a Miserable Job:
A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees)
by Patrick M. Lencioni

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 3 features four books by Lencioni, including this no-brainer book that should be required reading for every team member.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
• Listen on Libro (4 hours, 54 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Using his classic “fable” format, Lencioni helps us discover why so many CEOs, senior leaders, managers and employees are miserable at work—and what to do about it. His diagnosis is simple, yet profound—focus on “immeasurement, irrelevance and anonymity.” (He coins the word “immeasurement” and it’s perfect.)

*NOTE! An updated edition of “The Three Signs” book was published in 2015 with this title: The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing the Three Root Causes of Job Misery.

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Oops! My Q&A Mistake With Lee Strobel!

Mistake #4 in Mastering Mistake-Making details my embarrassing faux pas in New Zealand when Lee Strobel and I were conducting a Q&A session with pastors and church leaders. I sorted the 3x5 card questions that were submitted and then pitched them to Strobel.

All was going well…until it wasn’t. Oh, my. Read “Mistake #4: Not Learning How to Listen” and my 24 other memorable mistakes—and what I learned. This chapter also references Strobel’s bestselling book, The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, and The Case for Christ movie.

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Paint the Sistine Chapel Ceiling!

This is the perfect gift for both kids and adults who enjoy coloring books! Each page includes a Sistine Chapel Ceiling graphic to color—plus a memorable insight from Michelangelo, including this: “Perfection is no small thing, but it is made up of small things." Click here to read my short description of Michelangelo's Sacred Art of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling: A Coloring Book Exploration, by Jason Pearson. And for more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do your marketing and communication tools speak to the five styles suggested by Mark Mittelberg—or just your preferred style? How about the four social styles (Drivers, Analyticals, Amiables, and Expressives)? Reminder: one size doesn’t fit all. See Jason’s commentary for Bucket #7 in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook. For help, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

06:30 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: atheism, Contagious Faith, Easter, Lee Strobel, Mark Mittelberg, The Case for Christ

April 1, 2023

Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry

Issue No. 553 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights stunning (and scary) accounts of scammers, cheaters, and financial fraudsters. Yikes! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 550 book reviews, and click here for last week's review of You're the Leader. Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic.

Are there any yellow flags flying in your organization? How about red flags? Learn more about perpetrators, prey, and whistleblowers in this must-read new book, Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry.

Fraud Is NOT an April Fools’ Day Joke!

Happy April Fools’ Day! Now let’s get serious. You know the old axiom, “You can pay me now…or pay me later.” Here’s my version:

[ ] Option #1. You can read Fool Me Once now—and learn to spot scams and fraud today. (Maybe in your organization right now?)
[ ] Option #2. You can read Fool Me Once later—after you’ve been scammed.

Whew! This book will pump up your heart rate—and prompt your suspicious mind (as Elvis would say). It reads like a crime-busting novel—but it’s all true, including the $53 million that the comptroller from Dixon, Illinois, embezzled from her city! This is a must-read page-turner.

Fool Me Once:
Scams, Stories, and Secrets
from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry
by Kelly Richmond Pope

The author, Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, shines a light on scams and fraud from three perspectives:
• Perpetrators
• Prey
• Whistleblowers

She has interviewed many, many perps—and get this—some (after prison) join her for transparent conversations in her classes at DePaul or on presentations to businesses and professional groups. She examines the how and the why of fraudsters. Kelly Richmond Pope offers sound best practices so you and your organization do not become victims—or even innocent bystanders—to fraud. This book is One. Big. Wakeup. Call.

For a taste of the author’s research and deep dives into hundreds of scams and the three elements of the “Fraud Triangle” framework (opportunity, pressure, and rationalization), start reading in any chapter—but have your blood pressure monitor handy! Examples:
• “We didn’t learn about internal controls in seminary,” confessed Suzanne, a Lutheran pastor. Until…letters from the Illinois Department of Revenue and the IRS arrived. Fast forward…the church elders learned that Debbie, the volunteer church treasurer, had helped herself to almost $181,000 in church funds.
• Bob, a lawyer and accountant, who taught at DePaul University’s college of business, was sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for a $22.9 million mortgage fraud scheme. “He lost his law license, his teaching job, his house, his standing in the community, and his marriage.” (Oh—did I mention he also served on his church board?)
• Robert was a compounding pharmacist who pleaded guilty to intentionally diluting 98,000 cancer drug prescriptions for 4,200 patients. (Each watered-down vial equated to more profit for Robert). And yes, people died—but that happens to some cancer patients, right? Would anyone notice? His sentence: 30 years. Why did he do it? He owed the IRS $600,000 and “Years earlier, he had pledged $1 million to his church, which was to be paid in three installments. Everything was coming due at the same time.”

Have you ordered the book yet? You must! And don’t miss the stunning documentary that Kelly Richmond Pope produced and directed about the City of Dixon’s fraud. Amazon Prime asks, “How could one woman steal $53 million without anyone noticing? All the Queen's Horses tells the story of Rita Crundwell as self, the perpetrator of the largest case of municipal fraud in American history.” Click to view.

View the documentary, All the Queen’s Horses, to learn how the comptroller for the city of Dixon, Illinois, embezzled $53 million—undetected for 20 years!

The author wrote the book “for anyone who manages money or thinks that fraud can never happen to them or their organization.” She adds, “No matter where you work, no matter where you live, no matter how much (or how little) money you make, your life could be tinged by fraud. It’s to your benefit to understand how it works.”

LOL! While reading this book, I received an email from “José,” who asked, “Did you receive my donation of 3.5M dollars?” And—not to worry—because the email footnote promised that “This message has been scanned for the Ebro Hydrographic Confederation against possible malicious codes.” (At least, that’s how Google translated it from Spanish.) LOL!

But…before you laugh at me, note that the author was almost scammed in a sketchy phone call, until she asked a colleague to listen in. The big idea of this book—we are all susceptible to fraud. “So how do you protect yourself and your company from fraud? By understanding how fraud takes place and by not being afraid to speak up when it does.”

You’d expect a university professor to organize this uncomfortable topic in a thoughtful way and she doesn’t disappoint.
• PERPETRATORS: Intentional Perps, Accidental Perps, and Righteous Perps
• PREY: Innocent Bystanders and Organizational Targets
• WHISTLEBLOWERS: Accidental Whistleblowers, Noble Whistleblowers, Vigilante Whistleblowers, and Crossovers

I’ve attended my fair share of finance workshops over the years, including annual briefings and more with outside auditors (as a CEO and a board chair), but I must admit—I learned something new and critical in every chapter. Yikes! I should have been more vigilant in my leadership years and more helpful in my consulting years. Did I mention? This book is required reading!

Understanding each of the above categories will help you stay alert. You’ll learn both the how and the why. In discussing intentional perps, the author notes research on three kinds of arrogance: individual, comparative, and antagonistic. The latter, “which is considered to be the worst type, is found in people who enjoy denigrating others based on an assumption of superiority.”

Caution! Did you know that arrogance is also a component of narcissistic personality disorder and that “…along with psychopathy and Machiavellianism, narcissism is one of three characteristics in the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits…”? (Read my book review on narcissistic pastors and churches.)

Kelly Richmond Pope notes that in her experience, “intentional perps typically exhibit traits of grandiose narcissism.” That type “have an inflated sense of self and think they should receive special dispensations simply because they’re so wonderful.” But…another caution—perpetrators are not all alike. In addition to intentional perps, “Accidental perps are people who didn’t originally set out to commit a crime but accidentally found themselves benefitting from someone else's mistake.” The big question: “Do I take or do I tell?”

Righteous perps (what a great description!) mirror the syndrome called the Robin Hood effect. “People like Robin Hood exist everywhere, including corporate America. Some of these folks…rationalize their crimes because they’re ‘helping someone else.’ They robbed Peter to pay their pal, Paul. (A new company, perhaps? PayPaul.)” The author believes Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, would love righteous perps!

There’s so much more:
• View the author’s 12-minute TED Talk, “How Whistle-Blowers Shape History.”
• Phishing, vishing, and smishing!
• The excellent “chapter takeaway” bullet points and end-of-chapter quick facts.
• Dan Ariely’s research on the brain—and why after lying for 12 or more times, you “stop feeling any negative emotions or guilt (assuming you did in the first place).”
• Why whistleblowers are often scorned and not praised. Do you consider them rats and snitches—or heroes?
• The Whistleblower Triangle: “…outlines the decisions that confront most whistleblowers. Similar to perps, whistleblowers weigh the opportunity, pressure, and incentives to blow the whistle.”
• Warning! Before you become a whistleblower, read page 178—and note that “69% lost their jobs or were forced to retire” after speaking up and “64% were blacklisted from getting another job in their field.”
• Why the author took a polygraph test to clear her name—and when all else failed, wrote a blog about it.
• And why “…friendship, faith, and family are not accounting controls. They are relationships, and you must never confuse the two.”

Did you know that the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners identified 11 types of nonprofit schemes in 2020? Corruption accounted for 41% of all cases, following by billing (30%), expense reimbursements (23%), and cash on hand (17%). Others included: noncash, skimming, check and payment tampering, cash larceny, payroll, financial statement fraud, and register disbursements. (Read the 2022 report here and note the "Fraud Prevention Checklist" on pages 92-93 of the downloadable report, including this question, "Are regular, anonymous surveys conducted to assess employee morale?")

YELLOW OR RED FLAGS? After reading this book, you will become more alert to red flags—and when to “stop and wonder.” (See the author’s list of 12 red flag triggers, including “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have a photo on LinkedIn.”)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry, by Kelly Richmond Pope. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 28 minutes). And thanks to Harvard Business Review Press for sending me a review copy.

BONUS RESOURCE! Join the ECFA Webinar, “Fraud Case Studies & Controls to Protect Your Organization,” on April 5, Wednesday 1:00 p.m. ET.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Author Kelly Richmond Pope ordered an item from one of her favorite designers. The Calleen Cordero handbag arrived promptly. The next day, an identical handbag arrived. Oops! Now she had to decide: “Do I take or do I tell?” (This reminded me of Clayton Christensen’s counsel to his Harvard Business School students, “100 Percent of the Time Is Easier Than 98 Percent of the Time.” Read my review of How Will You Measure Your Life?) What would you do—and what have you done recently—when “opportunity” presents itself?
2) What color is the flag in your staff meetings and board meetings? To stay alert to potential scams and fraud, click here to read Lesson 35, “Is Your Board Color-Blind to Hazardous Conditions?” in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom by Dan Busby and John Pearson. What color was flying at our last board meeting: green, yellow, or red? (Click here to read the lesson commentary/blog by Danny de Armas.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 3: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends

Book #24 of 100: The Ideal Team Player

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #24 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

THE IDEAL TEAM PLAYER:
How to Recognize and Cultivate
the Three Essential Virtues
by Patrick M. Lencioni

Books #22 through #40 spotlight 19 books I named to “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends” group—featuring Patrick Lencioni, Jim Collins, Ken Blanchard, and Peter Drucker. Part 3 features four books by Lencioni, including this leadership fable. Would your leadership team agree on the three essential virtues of a team member?
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Ideal Team Player
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Warning! Lencioni urges you not to hire anyone who doesn’t live out all three virtues: Humble, Hungry, and [People] Smart. What happens if a prospect has just one out of three? Lencioni’s memorable labels are caution enough:
• Humble Only: The Pawn
• Hungry Only: The Bulldozer
• Smart Only: The Charmer

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Scam Protector!
In your organization or company—how protected are you from scammers, cheaters, and embezzlers? How about “righteous perps?” Is your whistleblower policy update to date? Mastering the Management Buckets notes this:

“Don’t let non-financial people off the hook. The core competencies of the Budget Bucket must be learned and applied by every team member. At your monthly meeting to monitor the monthly financial reports, create a Q & A culture that affirms that ‘There are no dumb questions.’”

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"Columbo Investigates the Last Supper!"
That's how I titled my review of the perfect book to read during Lent. Scott Hahn describes his book, The Fourth Cup: Unveiling the Mystery of the Last Supper and the Cross, as “part memoir, part detective story, and part biblical study.” Read my review here and check out other book reviews on the Pails in Comparison blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Your organization’s storytelling strategy and tactics may be pitch-perfect. But…has your team invested time in the Crisis Bucket—so you’re prepared when a crisis hits? Who is your spokesperson? Who do you trust in the media—to get your story out? Read this reminder from The Crisis Bucket: “Don’t trust your instincts in the middle of a crisis. Involve a trusted adviser immediately.” Read more commentary by Jason Pearson in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook. Contact Jason at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).