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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 intiatives. 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).
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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: 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).
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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: 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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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.

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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).

10:19 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

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).

11:19 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Fool Me Once, fraud, Kelly Richmond Pope, scams

March 24, 2023

You're the Leader. Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic

Issue No. 552 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting delivers leadership lessons from the Mayo Clinic’s executive coach. You’re the Leader. Now What? is so robust, I could have written four reviews! Honest! 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 the Zoom Review of The Four Workarounds with David Schmidt and Jason Pearson. (Plus, listen to Season 25 of The Discerning Leader Podcast below.)

STOP! Just stop it! Stop being a decision-making machine. You’re not going anywhere! Instead...try the ROW FORWARD process by Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Richard Winters.

Warning! We Are Decision-Making Machines!

The Mayo Clinic’s executive coaching leader has a warning for all leaders: “We are decision-making machines.” (Memo to self: That’s not good!) Dr. Richard Winters adds, “We make decisions reflexively even when situations call for a more considered approach.”

And worse: “We form instantaneous opinions based upon our emotions, experiences, expertise, and beliefs. And we are rarely stumped.”

And even worse: “We overplay our expertise. Our confidence in our own experience leads us to overestimate our ability to make reasoned decisions in complex environments.”

But there’s hope for us! This jam-packed leadership book, by the director of Leadership Development for the Mayo Clinic Care Network, covers an amazing array of leadership principles, tools, and tips—and a bit of therapy on the side. If I were still a CEO, I’d make this book required reading for each direct report. It’s perfect for new leaders and it’s a stimulating reminder for old leaders (I mean…veteran leaders).

You're the Leader. Now What?
Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic
by Richard Winters, M.D.

THIS IS GOOD MEDICINE!

SNAPPLE DECISION! In 1993, Quaker Oats Company bought Snapple but the CEO—not recognizing the limits of his own experience (the big idea in Chapter 1)—failed to understand Snapple’s quirky culture. In 1997, the company sold Snapple and lost $1.4 billion. “What followed was an easy decision for Quaker’s board: find a new CEO.”

BONUS! Click here to download a 30-page PDF of the book’s table of contents and first chapter, “Recognize the Limits of Your Expertise.” Click here to download six resources from the book, including the “ROW Forward Framework.”

FIVE DOMAINS OF DECISION-MAKING. Using the “Cynefin framework” (“Cynefin is the Welsh word for habitat”), the author notes that every decision falls into one of five domains: Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, or Confused. Before you wrestle your next decision to the ground—read Chapter 2, “Map Your Decisions,” and discern which type of decision you’re addressing. (Attn: All Staff! Chapter 2 is required reading! Bagels will be in the breakroom to inspire you!)

BLIND SPOTS? GET OFF THE DANCE FLOOR! From the executive summary of Chapter 3, “Step Up to the Balcony,” Dr. Winters writes, “Leaders must alternate between participating and observing, as in the metaphor of the dance floor and the balcony. Leaders need time on the balcony away from the pressures and the rhythm of real-time response of the dance floor. The balcony perspective nurtures insight as it provides an opportunity to look over blind spots and make sense of the environment with a more expansive view.”

WORST BOSS EVER! Winters quotes Seth Godin who “wrote about the world’s worst boss—the voice inside our own head.” Godin explains: “If you had a manager that talked to you the way you talked to you, you’d quit.” So does the voice inside your head inspire you—or bully you? Chapter 4, “Understand Burnout and Well-Being” includes six dimensions of psychological well-being. (Can you name all six?) And yikes…don’t skip the differences between effective leaders and ineffective leaders—and how this impacts burnout.

EGOSYSTEM VS. ECOSYSTEM. Wow! Here are four core values that a major corporation showcased on their wall: Respect, Integrity, Communication, and Excellence. However…those were Enron’s core values. Too bad Dr. Winters didn’t write Chapter 5, “Amplify Engagement,” until September 2022. Enron imploded in 2001.

The author’s counsel: look at your organizational chart. “An overreliance on titles and formal leadership roles promotes what author and artist Austin Kleon calls an organizational egosystem—a decision-making structure tailored to the egos and blind spots of the few; the (en)titled.” The antidote? “Effective decision-making, especially in complex settings, occurs within a collaborative and engaged organizational ecosystem.”

THE 5 HATS OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS. Dr. Winters delivers very, very practical counsel on the five hats of effective leaders: Teach, Mentor, Coach, Supervise, and Sponsor—and explains the differences. For example:
• “Mentor to help your colleague consider the world through your experienced eyes.”
• "Coach to help your colleague investigate and consider their perspectives of the world through their own eyes.”

Did I mention practical? Chapter 6, “Lead During One-on-One Conversations,” features 15 possible responses to the question, “A colleague is experiencing burnout and seeks your help. Which of the Five Hats of Effective Leaders would you wear?”

THE COGNITIVE HEADLOCK. Oh, my! In Chapter 7, Dr. Winters describes an early meeting as the first-ever chair of finance for Mayo Clinic’s 21 emergency departments. Halfway through the meeting, he realized “…I was bombing, big time.” Sound familiar? “I could see a large vein bulging right in the middle of one colleague’s forehead. Some colleagues had tears in their eyes.” He uses this transparent and teachable moment to ask readers, “What would you have done in that moment?” He gives two common missteps:
1) “Rather than acknowledge and understand the discomfort of the room, some leaders run away from the uneasiness as if it had never occurred.” Or…
2) “…perhaps you do the opposite. You don’t run; rather, you dig in. You explain. Each. Detail. Again. Because your colleagues obviously do not get it.”

He calls the second option, “the cognitive headlock.” Some leaders just double down, mentally deriding their colleagues. “Oh, I get it, I see that you’re angry and that you’re sad, but you don’t have my expertise. I know this data’s important and it’s going to empower you. You disagree, but that’s because you don’t get it.” And so many leaders (in every industry, he says) push through the resistance, erroneously believing that “eventually their colleagues will catch up to them and thank them. The leader. The expert.”

There’s a better way, promises Dr. Winters. And—now that he has our attention—he presents his “ROW Forward Framework,” a three-step process outlined in Chapter 7.
1. Construct Shared Reality and direction.
2. Generate multiple Options.
3. Identify the Way Forward and create action.
Then…repeat the ROW Forward steps.

PEBBLE IN SHOE MEETING. Veteran leaders will find the author’s leadership concepts (the why) blended nicely with daily best practices (the how and when). I immediately experimented with his “Adopt a Constraint Ritual” for deep thinking. Chapter 8, “Document Your Perspectives,” quotes Muhammad Ali:

“It isn’t the mountains ahead that wear you out;
it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

Winters adds, “Some of the most effective leaders with whom I work conduct ‘pebble in your shoe’ meetings on a quarterly or semi-annual basis. They ask their colleagues to help them identify the next complex issue to tackle. ‘What are the pebbles in your shoe?’ ‘What are the frustrating, time-consuming things that get in your way?’”

THERE’S MUCH MORE:
Chapter 9: Three methods for capturing the perspectives of your colleagues—before or during a meeting. (This called to mind Chapter 2, "Perspective," in Steve Moore's book, The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible.)

Chapter 10: In his coaching research, Dr. Winters has identified “fears and worries” that hold leaders back. His bullet point list highlights 38 fears and worries!

Chapter 11: To create a shared vision, Winters references an MIT Sloan Management Review article on the most frequent core values affirmed in corporations. “Integrity” is included by 65 percent of the 562 large corporations in the sample. (But Patrick Lencioni might weigh in, “Not so fast!” Read his HBR article on values.)

Chapter 12: Dr. Winters begins this chapter, “Generate Multiple Options,” with his compelling first sentence, “Now for the fun part.” He hooked me in! He notes a research paper, “Surprising But True: Half the Decisions in Organizations Fail,” and then becomes an evangelist for looking at options. His favorite, I’m guessing, is “The Vanishing Options Test” popularized in Decisive, by Chip and Dan Heath. Winters contrasts the “Average Genie” approach (granting wishes) with the “Eccentric Genie” proposition (removing options). This is “a technique I use each day as I coach, and lead, and even as I make online purchases.”

Chapters 13-14: The three levels of delegation and the differences between To-Do, Their-Do, Our-Do, No-Do, and Do-Be-Do-Be-Do. Plus: OKRs, tracking boards, and the value of a good idea with great execution. And think about this: “Perhaps the most dangerous moment of any decision-making process happens when everyone involved walks out of the room and heads back to their regular lives.”

This book is so, so helpful, I made more than 50 notes in the front of my book—plus I typed them up (which is rare). I could have written four reviews. If you’re a leader, a manager, a coach, or a coach wanna-be—this book is required reading.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for You're the Leader. Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic, by Dr. Richard Winters. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 39 minutes). And thanks to Mayo Clinic Press for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Dr. Winters notes that “sometimes our shorthand phrases conceal blind spots, fears, and incorrect assumptions. Our words disguise generalizations, distorted thoughts, and critical variables that we tune out or omit.” He gives practical examples on how to coach one-on-one by “clicking” on a shorthand phrase—and asking for more explanation. (See also The Coaching Habit.) What are common phrases we hear in our work environment that may be obstacles to clarity?
2) The author writes that “the Eccentric Genie understands the nuances of complexity. Instead of granting wishes, Eccentric Genie eliminates them.” For example, your program person asks, “I would like to add more bells and whistles to our presentation at a cost of $2,500.” The Eccentric Genie replies, “You cannot. But what else could you do?” Should we try this in our organization after reading Chapter 12?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 3: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends

Book #23 of 100: Death by Meeting

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #23 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

DEATH BY MEETING:
A Leadership Fable...About Solving
the Most Painful Problem in Business
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 (in the classic Lencioni style) and his four kinds of meetings: 1) Daily Check-in, 2) Weekly Tactical, 3) Monthly Strategic and 4) Quarterly Off-site Review.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Death by Meeting
• Listen on Libro (4 hours, 31 minutes).
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

PEARSON POP QUIZ! Everyone stand up. OK…now remain standing if your job requires you to attend at least one meeting a week. OK…now remain standing if you are in a minimum of five meetings a week—such as a staff meeting, one-on-one meetings, etc. (I know…everyone is still standing.) But now…remain standing if you have ever read a book, attended a workshop, viewed a webinar or had coaching on effective meetings management. (Anyone still standing?)

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The Discerning Leader Podcast (Episodes 1-4)
Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast (Episodes 1 to 4) as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, from Leadership Transformations, and John Pearson dialogue on the 10 phases of a spiritual discernment process—from Steve’s book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (John’s 2022 Book-of-the-Year). Click here for Season 25, A Process for Discernment.
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CODE NAME BLUE WREN
POP QUIZ! Click here for 10 TRUE OR FALSE questions on the new book, Code Name Blue Wren: The True Story of America's Most Dangerous Female Spy, by Jim Popkin. It’s a page-turner (the book, not the pop quiz!). Click here to read my review. And read more book reviews on the Pails in Comparison blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. The author of You’re the Leader. Now What? notes that every decision falls into one of five domains: Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, or Confused. As you tell your story to your customers and donors, are you positioning your program, product, or service appropriately—based on the problem you’re attempting to solve for them? We can help Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

09:25 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: coach, decision-making, leadership hats, Mayo Clinic, mentor, sponsor, supervise, teach

March 16, 2023

Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World

Issue No. 551 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a master class in leadership from Ginni Rometty, IBM’s former Chairman and CEO. 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 the Zoom Review of The Four Workarounds with David Schmidt and Jason Pearson. (Plus, listen to Episode 4 of The Discerning Leader Podcast below.)

Pop Quiz! What would you do in your first 100 days to set the tone as IBM’s new leader?

Master Class in Leadership

I know. I know. I confess that sometimes I will overuse glowing adjectives and not-so-clever rhetorical tools to inspire (or guilt) you into reading a book—but please believe me—my heart is in the right place. My book reviewer’s lexicon often oozes with…
• Must-read!
• Page-turner!
• Buy 2 books!
• Can’t-stop-talking-about-it!
• A leader’s leader—yet stunningly transparent!

Well…here we go again. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. This is a very special book. And yes, you better buy two copies to share with your team.

GOOD POWER:
Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World,
by Ginni Rometty

Ginni Rometty, the former Chairman and CEO of IBM (2012-2020) traveled through 10 jobs, for almost 40 years—in just one company!—and her up-close-and-personal reflections deliver rich and meaningful reading. It’s a coaching class. Actually, it’s a master class.

If Harvard Business Review Press had asked me to title this book, I might have suggested: Good Person, or Good Leader, or All-Around Good. Rometty is not yet a saint (especially to those who lost their jobs via tough calls from the CEO office), but I was struck with the depth and breadth of this master class on leadership. Examples:

MASTER CLASS #1: FIRST 100 DAYS. Beginning as a systems engineer with IBM in 1981—and serving in a wide variety of challenging roles, Ginni Rometty was named IBM’s CEO in 2012. At the time, she was one of just 19 women who were leading a Fortune 500 company (there are 53 today).

Pop Quiz! You’re IBM’s ninth CEO and first female CEO in 100 years! You’re following some industry and leadership giants like Thomas Watson, Sr. (1914-1956) and Thomas Watson, Jr. (1956-1971) who later served as ambassador to the Soviet Union under Jimmy Carter. (So what would you do in your first 100 days to set the tone as IBM’s new leader?)

Chapter 7, “Building Belief” (one of her five leadership principles) is a fascinating case study for new CEOs (and the boards that select new leaders). Good stuff (like her definition of “good power” pops up throughout this very helpful book). Examples:
• Upon being named CEO (two months before her start date), she immediately made 20 phone calls—“the people whose influence had been instrumental to this moment,” including one leader “who had promoted me to my first management position and taught me so much about leading with values.”
• She also called former IBM CEOs, including John Akers (1985-1993) and Lou Gerstner (1993-2002), and half a dozen clients, plus family, friends, and current direct reports. (What 20 names would be on your call list?)
• For her worldwide broadcast to IBMers on her first day as CEO, Rometty intentionally positioned herself at IBM’s primary research labs in Yorktown Heights, N.Y.—“because research had long been our company’s differentiator,” a key belief she’d championed for years. Strategically, she was counting on the almost 3,500 researchers at IBM to lead the reinvention of their innovation engine.

• And imagine this! For her first worldwide video broadcast, “I stood in front of the group, no slides, no charts. Just me and them.” She leveraged stories to champion what she titled their three Strategic Beliefs and “Being Essential from Day One.”
• No easy task! “My goal was to come out of the gate with a balance of optimism and realism, to paint reality and give hope.” She’s very transparent that her nine years at the helm were not all smooth sailing.

What would you do and say on your first day as CEO of a worldwide organization that today has around 300,000 employees in 170 countries? Yikes!

MASTER CLASS #2: LEARNING TO LEARN. Oh, my! Chapter 4, “Learning to Learn,” is now required reading for my four teenage granddaughters and one grandson. I’ve told them often how critical it is to interview the boss before taking a job. Insights:
• Ginni Rometty was given her first management position in 1987 and her boss “taught me how to manage people by how he managed me.”
• “During my second full year of working for Pat, my team averaged twenty-five days of formal education, which was 60 percent more class time than IBM required.”
• On creating a culture: “When Pat first joined the company, he was once sent home for wearing a light-yellow shirt instead of a white one!”
• Rometty’s vulnerability makes her story even more real and readable. Read the uncomfortable conversation she had with her manager. “Pat was talking about my weight.” (That talk ain’t gonna happen in 2023! Oh, my.)

• To her direct reports, she was a “nitpicky editor” and they nicknamed her Ginni “Red Pen” Rometty.” More than once, she writes, “I received a red pen as a gift.”
• The time management theme oozes throughout the entire book, including the time a client asked for her highlighted notes—rather than sitting through her boring presentation!
• A former colleague and “astute strategist” coached her, “Know what makes you great, because IBM would make a horrible Google, just as Google would make a horrible IBM.”

MASTER CLASS #3: LEADERSHIP AXIOMS. When you buy two copies, you better buy two red pens also. You’ll underline the leadership insights and axioms on dozens of pages.
• “I was developing a propensity for continuous learning…”
• “Everyone had something to teach and I didn’t always wait for a mentor to find me.”
• “Over the years, I established a mosaic of mentors and tried to become a composite of their best behaviors.”
• “I also was becoming a ‘T-shaped’ professional, developing a breadth but also a depth of knowledge in a particular area.”
• “In essence, I was learning the value of learning.”

“Knowledge, however, is not enough. In researching this book, I read over performance reviews from my first years at IBM.” She adds, “Rereading the appraisals reminded me just how much people value seemingly simple acts…
• “like being prepared,
• being on time,
• being responsive,
• keeping others informed so they’re never surprised,
• or just having a positive attitude, especially under stress.
• Reliability.
• Dependability.
• Initiative.
• Anticipating problems and addressing them before they fester.”

“These are all things people appreciate. And when all else was equal, I think professionalism helped me stand out.”

There’s so much more. Why Rometty wrote 100 handwritten thank-you notes before a big meeting. Why when other U.S. company executives were fleeing Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, she promptly flew into Tokyo. And why, on her first day as CEO, she sent letters to each of IBM’s senior vice presidents “describing three things I admired about them.” In some cases, “I articulated ways I thought they could grow.”

And certainly the acquisition (she called it a “merger”) of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting division deserves its own master class status. Her plan? “I immediately assembled a transition team of three hundred people from each business, and for six weeks everyone hunkered down in offices and hotel ballrooms to get acquainted and figure out what a combined organization would look like.” (Oh, my—to be a fly on the wall, or even the guy tasked with cleaning up the meeting rooms each day. “Wow! Look what’s on this flip chart!”)

Full Disclosure! I must admit that Good Power touched a few emotional buttons for me. My oldest brother, Paul (1939-2015) launched his career at IBM in 1961 in San Jose, Calif., and then true to IBM’s internal slogan (“I’ve Been Moved”) also worked for the company in Boulder, Colo.

A classic white-shirt engineer, Paul was an invaluable mentor to me, especially in my CEO years. (I still own IBM stock.) Visit the Systems Bucket here to read my tribute to Paul when, at a CMA national convention in Nashville, he mentored a team of volunteers in “process management” and how to leverage a “just-in-time production assembly line.” He was a true IBM systems guy!

Thank you, IBM, and thank you, Ginni Rometty, for this master class in “leading positive change in our lives, work, and world.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World, by Ginni Rometty. Listen on Libro (9 hours, 24 minutes). And thanks to Harvard Business Review Press for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) When Thomas J. Watson, Sr., was the chairman and CEO of IBM (1914 to 1956), a sales rep flubbed a $1 million government bid and immediately submitted his resignation to Watson. After discussing the series of mistakes—and what the sales rep would do differently the next time—Watson refused to accept the resignation, noting, “Why would I accept this when I just invested one million dollars in your education?” (Read the full story in Mistake #1 in Mastering Mistake-Making.) What’s the “mistake culture” in our organization? Do we celebrate and learn from our mistakes?
2) Ginny Rometty writes that her first boss at IBM had both gravitas and a high degree of what we now call emotional intelligence. “His ability to combine soft and hard leadership styles is an essence of good power.” For more on this, read my review of The Softer Side of Leadership: Essential Soft Skills That Transform Leaders and the People They Lead, by Eugene B. Habecker. So…in our organization, how effectively do we leverage both soft and hard leadership styles?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 3: The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends

Book #22 of 100: The Motive

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #22 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

THE MOTIVE: Why So Many Leaders
Abdicate Their Most Important Responsibilities
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. We’ll start with the first of Lencioni’s best four—and his insights will shock you. (Don’t skip a page.) He calls for “the end of servant leadership.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Motive
• Listen on Libro (2 hours, 37 minutes).
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Lencioni writes, “If someone were to dive into a stack of my books for the first time, I’d tell them to start with this one.” This “leadership fable” business story, plus end-of-the-book lessons, has a new twist—and it’s not subtle. The poke-in-the-rib: Why do you want to be a leader? It’s a must-read.

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The Discerning Leader Podcast, Ep. 4 (3/16/2023)
Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, from Leadership Transformations, and John Pearson dialogue on the 10 phases of a spiritual discernment process—from Steve’s book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (John’s 2022 Book-of-the-Year). Click here for Season 25, Episode 4, "Faith-filled Conclusions (Phases 8, 9, 10)," A Process for Discernment (March 16, 43 minutes).
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THE FUTURE NORMAL

I did not ask AI to write this review. I was tempted, but I wrote this review the old-fashioned way. This must-read on 30 trends (including "Augmented Creativity") will be a great resource for your planning teams. Read The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade, by Rohit Bhargava and Henry Coutinho-Mason. Click here to read my review. And read more book reviews on the Pails in Comparison blog.

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PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do your marketing and communication teams have “a propensity for continuous learning?” We can point you to the latest trends, TED talks, podcasts, audio resources, coaches, mentors, and even those resources some still call “books.” Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

09:19 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: Ginny Rometty, good power, leadership, learner, master class

March 9, 2023

The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems

Issue No. 550 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting required big help! So I recruited David Schmidt and my son, Jason, to help us think about a hot-off-the-press book on four workarounds that scrappy organizations leverage. (View our Zoom Review.) Fascinating, yet troubling! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for my review of Rising Together. (Plus, listen to Episode 3 of The Discerning Leader Podcast below.)

Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations and the 3 Little Pigs!

You gotta love an author/professor from Oxford University’s Engineering Sciences Department and the Saïd Business School who spotlights the story of “The Three Little Pigs” to explain the thesis of his new book (just published on March 7, 2023).

If I were still a CEO, I’d buy four copies of The Four Workarounds—and schedule a four-hour team meeting. I’d leverage Paulo Savaget’s hilarious color commentary on “The Three Little Pigs” to explain his four workarounds. Then having previously delegated each of the four big ideas to four team members—I’d give each person 30 minutes to explain the concept of their assigned workaround.

And then, I’d sit back and look forward to the creativity oozing all over our organization’s most complex problems.

This is a compelling book, but—CAUTION!—it may irritate your worldview and core values, but please read it. I absolutely love the title and the subtitle:

The Four Workarounds:
Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations
for Tackling Complex Problems
by Paulo Savaget

And speaking of core values, the subtitle reminded me of a brilliant core value at Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission when Jeff Lilley was their president. Of their seven core values, this was my favorite: “INNOVATIVE & SCRAPPY: We are creative and innovative in our efforts to accomplish our mission.”

For this interesting book, I invited my son and co-author, Jason Pearson, and my longtime friend and consultant/mentor, David Schmidt, to join me for a Zoom Review. Click here.

Pearson, Pearson, and Schmidt
on “The 4 Workarounds”

Click here to view our lively conversation.

As you’ll learn while viewing our Zoom Review, author Paulo Savaget features four types of “workarounds” that both for-profit and nonprofit organizations have leveraged to address their most vexing and complex problems. The four workarounds:

#1. Use a PIGGYBACK—when “there are other people or relationships that you can leverage.”
#2. Use a LOOPHOLE—when “there is a set of formal or informal rules that you dislike.”
#3. Use a ROUNDABOUT—when “there is a self-reinforcing behavior that can be influenced.”
#4. Use a NEXT-BEST—when “there are available resources that can be repurposed.”

Part I of the book (about 150 pages) gives stunning examples of how innovative business leaders, activists, and others have leveraged Piggybacks, Loopholes, Roundabouts, and Next-Best strategies to attack and solve very complex issues. He writes, “Workarounds are clever, unexpected, economical, and effective.”

In Part II, Savaget cleverly suggests how the Big Bad Wolf in “The Three Little Pigs” might use workarounds to satisfy his hunger for bacon! (LOL!) But he also notes how the pigs might respond with their own workarounds. A second example features Hilda, a German computer programmer, with a liberal worldview on immigration—and how she might use workarounds to help Syrian refugees to “become legally entitled to make a living” in spite of the German bureaucracy. (Pretty clever, actually.)

Caution! The author tilts toward fuzzy edges around values, ethics, and rules. In Part II, “Using Workarounds,” he urges us to “critically reflect on the value of deviance, zooming out to think about how workarounds can enable us to deviate effectively and gracefully from all sorts of conventions, from explicit rules to implicit norms.” He adds:

“We’ll explore how a workaround mindset necessitates a willingness to experiment quickly, fail productively, and repeat the process rather than conduct methodical assessments and define contingency plans.” (See also my review of Burn the Boats and why the author suggests you "Throw Plan B Overboard!")

You’ll have to listen to our Zoom Review for more. Even better—read the book with your team members. I would start with some brainstorming on the “case study” of either the three little pigs or Hilda, the German activist.

And note! Savaget complains, “My pet peeve is when people say that you must think outside the box, and then they follow a one-size-fits-all brainstorming approach. Not every creative activity needs Post-its and flip charts!” (Oh! That hurts!!)

You’ll appreciate and learn from:

THE PIGGYBACK. The author documents how ColaLife, a nonprofit that began work in Zambia, piggybacked their life-saving remedy (previously with no distribution channels) by “designing the medicine’s triangular packaging that fit between bottles in Coca-Cola crates.” (See photo.) Coke was widely available everywhere--so they piggybacked on Coke's delivery system. At the time, childhood diarrhea was the second leading cause of death in children under five in Sub-Saharan Africa.

THE LOOPHOLE. Brazil was the location for a creative workaround orchestrated during COVID by the governor of a Northeast Region state with seven million people. Desperate for ventilators from China (but with no direct flights from China to Brazil), Governor Flavio Dino, a former federal judge, fought regulations and budgetary limitations to save his people. At both U.S. and Germany refueling stops, the ventilators were confiscated. Dino’s workaround through Ethiopia involved an ingenious series of loopholes. (Legal? Be sure to read “Confronting the Morality of Loopholes.”)

THE ROUNDABOUT. Paulo Savaget, who holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, is also a Gates Scholar. He writes, “Roundabout workarounds disturb and redirect positive feedback loops, which lead to self-reinforced behaviors.” I’ll spare you the details here of one nation’s attempt to discourage public urination, but you can enjoy our Zoom Review conversation to get the details—and learn how to tap into people’s belief systems to “spark changes in their behavior.” (Here’s a short video.)

THE NEXT BEST. In 1972, attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020), argued a sexism case in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, with her husband, Marty, a tax specialist. “On the opposing bench was the solicitor general—the Ginsburg’s former Harvard Law School dean.” What to do? “Notorious RBG,” who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1993 to 2020, used a “Next Best” strategy to win the case on appeal. A champion of women’s rights, RBG argued Moritz v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue on behalf of a man who was being discriminated against. “By arguing from the position of a man’s diminished rights, RBG…successfully set a historic precedent that unequal treatment on the basis of sex is unconstitutional.” (Tune in to our Zoom Review for more details.)

There’s so much more, such as the bullet-point “prompts” for all four categories. NEXT BEST: “How can resources be reassembled in unconventional ways?”

DON’T SKIP…the numerous innovations by nonprofits and why Pepsi’s PR backfired when they attempted to piggyback on the BLM movement. You can also learn how the author became a student of his boss (who “answered emails erratically”) and scheduled the perfect time for emails to arrive in his boss’s inbox (see page 245).

Savaget also urges us to “Be Messy” and suggests that “Coming up with workarounds is more like playing with Legos than completing a puzzle: you have building blocks, and your challenge is to build something.”

WARNING: Your values and worldview may not align with every example (pro-choice, divorce loopholes, immigration, etc.), but as we discuss in the Zoom Review—it’s important to understand your own value system and respond in creative, innovative, and ethical ways when you leverage these four workaround strategies.

PROMOTE YOUR WORKAROUND! In the Zoom Review, you'll hear Jason's suggestion to email your organization's workaround strategy to the author, so he'll have more examples for his students at Oxford and for his next book! Contact Paulo Savaget.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems, by Paulo Savaget. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 2 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) For more ideas on workarounds, I’ve seen creative leaders use Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck, by Michael Michalko. (Read my review.) This brainstorming card deck has 56 cards including two instructional cards, with four or five cards for each of the nine key processes, plus seven cards with creative ways to evaluate ideas. It’s a brilliant instant brainstorming system. But one more caution! It could be dangerous to your boring, status quo! The S.C.A.M.P.E.R. process leverages the nine principal ways of changing a subject: Substitute something. Combine it with something else. Adapt something to it. Modify or Magnify it. Put it to some other use. Eliminate something. Reverse or Rearrange it. Should we use this resource on one of our complex problems?

2) Is “Innovative and Scrappy” one of our core values? If not, should it be? Read more from Patrick Lencioni and the four categories of values in his insightful Harvard Business Review article, “Make Your Values Mean Something.” (Read my commentary here.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #21 of 100:
Joy at Work

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #21 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Joy at Work:
A Revolutionary Approach to Fun on the Job
by Dennis Bakke

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Joy at Work, a 2006 bestseller, describes Dennis Bakke’s radical approach for bringing joy into the corporate and nonprofit workplace.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Joy at Work
• Listen on Libro (9 hours, 28 minutes): 100% discount!
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

In 2006, I had the privilege of facilitating an all-day workshop at the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. The CFO of the DEA had invited his finance team to read Joy at Work—and then go deep on how the principles and values applied to their important work.

Why was I the facilitator? Dennis Bakke, the author, was not available and recommended me. I came away so impressed with the men and women at the DEA—and their heart for service and lifelong learning. Bakke’s book is a must-read. (Click here to listen to the first three minutes of his book and why his father advised Dennis not to attend Harvard Business School. LOL!)

BONUS! In 2013, Dennis Bakke wrote a follow-up business novel to Joy at Work—further fleshing out his approach to decision-making and delegation. The story, if you’re gutsy enough to read it, will convince you that “decision-making is simply the best way in the world to develop people.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Decision Maker: Unlock the Potential of Everyone in Your Organization, One Decision at a Time, by Dennis Bakke
• Listen on Libro (4 hours, 23 minutes): 100% discount!

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The Discerning Leader Podcast, Ep. 3 (3/9/2023)
Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, from Leadership Transformations, and John Pearson dialogue on the 10 phases of a spiritual discernment process—from Steve’s book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (John’s 2022 Book-of-the-Year). Click here for Season 25, Episode 3, "The Prayerful Process: Phases 4, 5, 6, and 7." (March 9, 41 minutes)
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JESUS REVOLUTION MOVIE!
My son, Jason, and I recently experienced the Jesus Revolution movie together. Two thoughts: 1) If you are a Christ-follower, definitely go see it. 2) If you are a seeker, definitely go see it. Experience it. Click here to read my review. (Read more book reviews on the Pails in Comparison blog.)

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do you need help tackling your most complex problems? As the author of The Four Workarounds notes, sometimes you need an outsider looking in—to give fresh eyes and insights to sticky issues. We can help! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

09:39 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: complexity, loopholes, next-best, piggyback, roundabouts, workarounds

March 2, 2023

Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace

Issue No. 549 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights eight common workplace triggers that push team members into their silos. You’ll need to order two books! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for my review of Grace Ambassador. (Plus, listen to Episode 2 of The Discerning Leader Podcast below.)

Order 2 Copies! Do It Now!

Honest. You’ll thank me if you STOP what you’re doing right now and order two copies of Rising Together. Really. Do it now.

Why? Author Sally Helgesen, a noted leadership coach and Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame member, warns that there are eight triggers in the workplace that “are the prime reasons men and women end up retreating to gender silos, narrowing their experience and depriving themselves of useful connections.”

She writes, “The emphasis in universities in recent years on encouraging people to shield themselves and others from potential triggers does a huge disservice to students who will soon find themselves in a workplace where the ability to deal with a range of people is expected and required.”

She encourages us to address the triggers (don’t retreat) and “build fruitful relationships with those we perceive as different from ourselves.” Easy to say, but how? After explaining the nature of triggers, Helgesen uses in-the-trenches workplace stories, with insightful color commentary, on not just the problem—but how real people (bosses, senior leaders, interns, middle managers, and new hires) are building healthier workplaces. The triggers:
• Trigger 1: Visibility
• Trigger 2: Managing Perceptions
• Trigger 3: Confidence and Competence
• Trigger 4: What Are You Trying to Say?
• Trigger 5: It’s Not Fair
• Trigger 6: The Grapevine and the Network
• Trigger 7: That’s Not Funny!
• Trigger 8: Attraction, the Uncomfortable Bits

Wait a minute! “Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace” sounds like it might be secret code for wokeness—the usual DEI talking points. Right?

Wrong! In discussing the “global spread of D&I (now DEI) initiatives and departments over the last twenty-five years,” the author notes that “…the relationship between diversity and inclusion is often misunderstood. For example, I frequently hear leaders describe diversity as their ‘goal.’ This makes little sense. Diversity is not an aspiration or an objective, it is a reality: it defines the nature of the global talent pool from which organizations large and small must draw. Inclusion by contrast is the only sustainably useful method for leading people who have historically stood outside the mainstream.”

For emphasis, Helgesen repeats this distinction twice on one page (so we’ll get it!): “So diversity describes the nature of the situation, while inclusion describes the means by which the situation can most effectively be managed and led.”

Frankly, because this is still such a hot and controversial topic, I wanted to find a reason not to read this book—and especially not to recommend it. But I couldn’t put it down—and Rising Together may be on my final list of the Top-10 books of 2023.

I began by sampling the chapter, “Trigger 7: That’s Not Funny!” Did you know that Tom Peters, of In Search of Excellence fame, has cut way back on using humorous quips when speaking? (Read why in the section, “Humor Gone Awry.”) And what should you do when your boss tells jokes that are inappropriate or just aren’t that funny? (I remember asking the new CEO of a charitable foundation what was different in his new role compared to his previous senior position at a large nonprofit. His response: “Now that I’m giving money away, everyone laughs at my jokes!”)

The author notes several helpful insights from the book Humor Seriously (read my review) on how to leverage appropriate humor to communicate vulnerability. This chapter also painfully reminded me of my inappropriate attempts at humor until a co-worker gave me some gutsy coaching. (See Mistake #14 in my book here.) Rising Together would have been helpful a few years back. Oh, my.

I so appreciate and trust Marshall Goldsmith’s work (his book on the 20 annoying workplace habits was my 2013 book-of-the-year). So I couldn’t ignore his foreword and his endorsement. Helgesen quotes Goldsmith frequently throughout the book, including this stunner: “There has probably never been a time in history when senior leaders were less racist and sexist than they are now. But there has also never been a time when more complaints are being lodged.”

Gratefully, Helgesen delivers a powerful one-two punch. She quotes the former CEO of a major health company who notes “that aha moments don’t amount to much if they don’t spur action and change behavior.” So his personal motto is:

“Aha moment. Now what?”

Helgesen uses that memorable line to structure the content of Rising Together:
• Aha Moment: Part I: Eight Common Triggers
• Now What: Part II: A Culture of Belonging

Why am I urging you to order TWO books today? Because your team will want to go deep on the triggers and the “Now What?” next steps. Inspire your best synthesizer to read and report on Rising Together at your next weekly staff meeting. Then, perhaps, go deep for the next eight weeks—featuring one trigger per weekly meeting.

I made 46 notes (by page number) on the blank pages in the front of my book—and I could have doubled that number easily. Here’s a taste of this very helpful book:

VISIBILITY. “We feel triggered by people who struggle with visibility. If we have a talent for promoting ourselves, we may feel triggered by those who refuse to do so…” Helgesen believes that “successful careers are usually built on three legs: expertise, connections, and visibility. Of these, visibility is the least acknowledged.” (How intentional is your workplace in giving visibility to everyone—at every level?)

MEN NEVER ASK THIS! In workshops, the author is often asked, “How can I represent my achievements/claim credit for my successes without anyone thinking I’m self-centered/aggressive/too ambitious?” She adds, “I have never heard this question from a man.”

THE FALLACY OF OMNICOMPETENCE. Taking a page from the EQ literature on self-awareness, Helgesen describes people with “little sense of their own limitations,” a hazard described by Coach Jeffrey Hull as “the fallacy of omnicompetence.” Those with “I-have-all-the-skills mind-set” communicate a severe lack of humility and, says Hull, “those who lack humility do not inspire trust.” (This reminded me to re-read Andrew Murray’s classic, Humility, which declares: “Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure.”)

And speaking of humility, in addition to several references to Alan Mullaly’s CEO stint at Ford (after Boeing), Helgesen reminds us of that hilarious SNL clip, “Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley” and his guest, Michael Jordan. (Click here for the 6 ½-minute video.)

View SNL’s Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley with guest Michael Jordan. This NBA star tells Stuart, “I’m blessed” and oh, my! Read this week’s WSJ article on the auction for “six Nike Air Jordan sneakers that Michael Jordan, His Airness himself, wore during the six NBA championship games the Chicago Bulls won in the 1990s.”

THERE’S MUCH, MUCH MORE:
• The popular mantras (such as “I gotta be me”) that “are often used as a license for unleashing our inner jerk.”
• On effective communication, the author asked a senior leader (a woman) what had been the key to her success. “Without hesitation she replied, ‘My ability to be concise.’”
• 7 pitfalls to avoid when communicating across generations (“Many younger people associate the phone with something gone wrong.”)
• 7 rules for acting and speaking as a professional (“Professionals don’t complain.”)
• “Bill Carrier notes that, in every network, people assume one of three roles: contributor, neutral, or threat.”
• Amy Gallo’s HBR article, “How to Approach an Office Romance (and How Not To)” with practical Dos and Don’ts.

PLUS:
• “Peter Drucker had a rule for himself: he was always the last to speak.”
• Why you should include “the squeaky wheels” in early discussions.
• Why Tom Peters “believes that ninety percent of our problems could be ameliorated if we hired for collegiality.” (And why some organizations are flipping their recruiting practices and asking “prospective hires about what community service they had done.”)

Helgesen concludes this important book by reminding all of us that “Culture is not HR’s job, or the leader’s job. It’s our job, regardless of the positional power we hold.”

And don’t miss Marshall Goldsmith’s compelling insights on the last page of the book. He offers “a great question for people who insist they have no interest in power, are unwilling to pursue it or proudly disdainful of those who do.” (Sorry…you’ll need to order the book to discover and leverage this question.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace, by Sally Helgesen. Listen on Libro (8 hours, 49 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) “Clarity doesn’t just happen,” writes Sally Helgesen in the chapter, “Trigger 4: What Are You Trying to Say?” In her workshops, she asks participants to write an intention statement in 30 seconds or less. (No buzzwords, verbiage, nonspecific abstractions, or generalities like “I seek to be an agent of transformation.”) Her exercise on pages 88-91 is worth the price of the book. She adds, “As Inc. magazine points out, buzzwords and jargon primarily serve to make smart people sound stupid.” Ready? Set? Go! Write, in “personally resonant and compelling language, what you most want to contribute to your job.”

2) Reading this book reminded me of Gov. Bill Haslam’s in-the-trenches comment in 2018 during his second term as Tennessee’s governor: “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.” When you’re criticized, what keeps you centered to avoid your attack mode?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #20 of 100:
The Best Question Ever

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #20 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

2 BOOKS!
The Best Question Ever
and
Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets:
5 Questions to Help You Determine Your Next Move
by Andy Stanley

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. After reading The Best Question Ever, we bought a case of these books and gave them to dozens of clients.
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets
• Listen on Libro (4 hours, 4 minutes).
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

In 2007, Dick Towner and my wife, Joanne, urged me to read Pastor Andy Stanley’s poke-in-the-ribs, The Best Question Ever: A Revolutionary Approach to Decision-Making. When Dick and Joanne gang up on me, I had no choice—I read this powerful book. Stanley updated the book in 2014 (Ask It) and then in 2020, he added four more questions and gave us Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets. So what’s the best question ever?

“In light of my past experience, my current circumstances,
and my future hopes and dreams,
what is the wise thing for me to do?”

___________________________________________________________________________

John Joins Steve and Matt for Podcast Episode 2
Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott, from Leadership Transformations, and John Pearson dialogue on the 10 phases of a spiritual discernment process—from Steve’s book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (John’s 2022 Book-of-the-Year). Click here for Episode 2, "The Open-Hearted Approach (Phases 2, 3)" in Season 25, "A Process for Discernment" (March 2) - 41 minutes.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do your marketing and communication pieces reflect an organizational culture that seeks to bridge the huge divides in our world? If you’d like an honest outside assessment of your communication approach (branding, logos, images, website copy, and more), give us a call. We can help! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

09:46 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: DEI, humility, humor, omnicompetence, triggers

February 21, 2023

Grace Ambassador: Bringing Heaven to Earth

Issue No. 548 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks, “What’s on your name badge?” and “Is God up to something this month?” And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for my review of Hardwiring New Leadership Habits. (Plus, check out The Discerning Leader Podcast below.)

John Jackson’s new book, Grace Ambassador, urges churches to flip the script on the 80/20 Rule—with 80% of us deployed “in the community as the Church distributed.”

Aircraft Carrier or Cruise Ship?

Imagine—if you really, really, truly believed that you were a Grace Ambassador! Imagine if that moniker was on your name badge:
• At your workplace!
• At your school!
• In your neighborhood!
• In your home!

Imagine—if the ripple effect of the Asbury Revival (some call it the Asbury Awakening) prompted thousands (millions?) of Christ-followers across the globe to really, really, truly engage with the world as Grace Ambassadors!

Church Gathered vs. Church Distributed! Imagine—if you flipped the script in local churches and just 20 percent of the church family “would be needed for the ministries of the Church gathered and 80 percent could be equipped and released for redemptive presence ministry in the community as the Church distributed.”

Every so often, over the decades, a book comes along and sparks a spiritual awakening. Books like:
• A Taste of New Wine, by Keith Miller
• Body Life, by Ray Stedman
• Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, by C. Peter Wagner
• Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby
• What book(s) would you add?

Coincidence? Serendipitous? A God-wink? Perhaps as you follow the sparks from the Feb. 8, 2023, Asbury Revival, you too will thirst for next steps. Perhaps this is the book, in God’s timing, for this season:

Grace Ambassador:
Bringing Heaven to Earth
by Dr. John Jackson

John Jackson’s short book (just released this week) is profound, powerful, and prophetic. Think heart, mind, and soul—no surprise for a university president. The insights and bold challenges—also no surprise. The humor? A wonderful bonus. Read this:

“I am not sure how many of us would invite a modern-day Jesus to address our church leadership conferences, since His three years of public ministry left only 120 frightened followers in that Upper Room!”

“Full Employment Policy.” Caution! Jackson will disrupt your “lethal misbeliefs” and reorient your theology. What will it take to get people out of the pews and into their God-given kingdom assignments? This former pastor, ministry leader, and prolific author believes the church today needs a “full employment policy”—but it’s not what you’re thinking. He writes:

“Every Christian has received a specific calling of God to ministry. Do you know your place in God’s plan? The vast majority of us are not employed on a pastoral ministry team in a local church setting.
• That means our primary call to ministry—our place—is within a non-church setting.
• Our secondary call to ministry is within a local church family.”

What? The drill isn’t Sunday morning at eleven anymore?

In my old age, the final book I’d like to write will be titled, If You’ve Only Got an Hour-a-Week to Give to God—Come and Hear Me Preach! My opinion: that’s the dominant message of many local churches. Fill the pews on Sunday morning—and we’re all happy. (Don’t get me started.)

Jackson’s 20/80 rule is so, so contrarian. But just imagine when Grace Ambassadors—already equipped for service—deeply understand that their workplaces are “not a curse, but a calling.” Imagine! He asks us to affirm that the mission of the church is more like an aircraft carrier—not a cruise ship!

Note: Larry Peabody, author of God Loves Your Work, quotes a pastor who confesses, “…I had spent the majority of my time equipping my congregation for what they were called to do in the minority of their lives. This majority-minority disparity is rampant across the pulpits of America. It is fundamental that we need to address this Sunday-to-Monday gap.”

Jackson invests two chapters on spiritual giftedness with a memorable metaphor—this 2003 Super Bowl commercial spoofing the Cast Away movie, starring Tom Hanks. (View this 45-second hilarious video!)

“What’s in the package?” asks the FedEx executive/desert island survivor when, five years later, he delivers the FedEx box to its rightful owner—unopened, of course. View the 45-second video.

The memorable line: “What’s in the package?” That's what the curious FedEx executive/desert island survivor asks when he delivers the box. The woman at the door opens the box and answers, “Nothing, really, just a satellite phone, GPS locator, fishing rod, water purifier, and some seeds.”

Jackson notes, “This is how some of us live! We possess packages that contain exactly what we need, treasures right in front of our noses, and we do not even open them.” He adds, “Your treasure is your spiritual gift. If you are unaware of it, then it remains an unopened package that contains exactly what you need to find your place in God’s plan.”

I’m so grateful for leaders who helped me discover my spiritual gifts—and deploy them in God’s unique assignments for me. Reading these two chapters reinforced again my wonder and appreciation for God’s plan for the church. (See my Mistake #18 in Mastering Mistake-Making, “Not Understanding My Spiritual Gift Mix,” and Book #53 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.)

“Double Listening.” Today, culture is a mess. In summarizing each of the spiritual gifts noted in the Bible, Jackson quotes John R. W. Stott who acknowledged Karl Barth’s wisdom on the spiritual gift of teaching. “…the goal of the communicator, the teacher of God’s Word, is to practice ‘double listening’—taking the newspaper in one hand, the Bible in the other and building a bridge between the two, so the timeless truths of God’s Word connects with the reality of today’s news.”

(In my seminary days, Dick Ottoson was my very innovative pastor. He would often do just that in Sunday services: read the headlines of the Chicago Tribune—and then pray through the problems on our behalf. Powerful!)

Second Reformation. Jackson is also praying—for a second Reformation. He is “…praying for a corporate revival as the Church of Jesus begins to release His grace and goodness to the world in every sphere of culture.” He challenges readers and leaders to affirm, “What season of life we are in and when it would be best to move into other realms of service.”

Are you hanging on to your current assignment with clenched fists? Or like Jackson, are you praying that you “will have the spiritual maturity to serve in a different capacity for the sake of the Kingdom of God” when your current assignment is over and you enter a different season of life? (That takes spiritual guts!)

Hmmm. Asbury Revival this month. A new and powerful book this month. A new movie this month, Jesus Revolution (opening Feb. 24) chronicling the Jesus People movement of the 70s. Hmmm. What is God up to? In his book, Jackson also reminds us about the 1857 New York City revival (imagine!) when businessman Jeremiah Lanphier “started a noontime prayer meeting. His church had appointed him as a ‘city missionary,’ and not knowing what to do, he prayed a simple prayer: ‘Lord what wilt Thou have me to do?’” (Listen to the rest of the story here.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Grace Ambassador: Bringing Heaven to Earth, by Dr. John Jackson (foreword by Ed Stetzer). Listen on Libro (4 hours, 47 minutes).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) John Jackson writes, “The concept and reality of grace is like a sumo wrestler—hard to get your arms around!” (He defines it further.) How would you define grace? If your name badge read “Grace Ambassador,” how might your life change?
2) Are your spiritual gifts deployed or, per Jackson’s metaphor, still in the FedEx box? Visit this website (for individuals and teams) for a discovery tool that provides you with a personalized analysis of your God-given spiritual gifts. What are your spiritual gifts—and do your co-workers and boss know them and encourage you to leverage your gifts in your workplace?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #19 of 100:
Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #19 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions:
Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders
by Peter F. Drucker, Frances Hesselbein, and Joan Snyder Kuhl

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Peter Drucker writes, “Self-assessment is the first action requirement of leadership: the constant resharpening, constant refocusing, never being really satisfied.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions
• Listen on Libro (2 hours, 55 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Who is your primary customer? Peter Drucker writes that “the primary customer is the person whose life is changed because of your work.” As you think about Grace Ambassador and Drucker’s five questions (especially “Who is our customer?”), download Worksheet 2.1, “Local Church Simplified Segmenting Chart: Who is God calling you to reach and serve?” from the Customer Bucket. Click here.

PODCAST: Steve Macchia Invites John to Discern!

Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast as Steve Macchia and Matt Scott from Leadership Transformations drill down with guest John Pearson on the 10 phases of a spiritual discernment process—from Steve’s book, The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything (John’s 2022 Book-of-the-Year). Click here for Episode 1, "The Big Question (Phase 1)" in Season 25, "A Process for Discernment" (Feb. 23). The podcast is 37 minutes.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Do you know the spiritual gifts of each person on your communication and marketing teams? Are you leveraging them? Do they view their story telling roles as a calling or a curse (per Grace Ambassador)? Are you leveraging the spiritual giftedness of your current volunteers? We can help! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

04:25 PM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: church distributed, Grace Ambassador, reformation, revival

February 18, 2023

Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential

Issue No. 547 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting quotes Matt Higgins, a Shark guest on ABC’s Shark Tank. He recommends you “Burn the Boats” and toss Plan B. (Do you agree?) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for over 500 book reviews. And click here to listen in on “The Next Chapter With Charlie Podcast” as Charlie Hedges interviews me for Part 2 on my mistake-making adventures!

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had this response to the emergency escape route offered by the United States: "I need ammunition, not a ride.” It was a classic “Burn the Boats” mindset. (Order this t-shirt on Amazon.)

“I Hate Plan B”

Oh, my. When the U.S. offered Volodymyr Zelensky an emergency escape in 2022 because “Ukraine had no chance of overcoming the full weight of the Russian army, and that if Zelensky didn’t abandon Kyiv soon, he would meet his demise,” he went on the air with this response to President Joe Biden: “I need ammunition, not a ride.”

Matt Higgins, guest shark on ABC’s Shark Tank, urges you—and all leaders and entrepreneurs—to “Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential.” That’s the subtitle of his new book, Burn the Boats.

Get real! No escape plan? No Plan B? That’s just crazy-thinking. (Or is it?)

Maybe if you’re a mega-wealthy person (a shark or a successful entrepreneur, or like Higgins, you’re cofounder of a private investment firm), you can burn the boats and go all in. But what if you’re leading a small nonprofit or church, or growing a family business—do you dare bet the farm? Wouldn’t failure be devastating?

The wisdom in this book may surprise you. And I’m guessing you’ll inspire (bribe?) your kids and grandkids to also read this book. At age 10, growing up in poverty in Queens, N.Y., Higgins “sold flowers on street corners and hawked ten-dollar leather handbags from a van at local flea markets” to help his mom with expenses. With no dad in the picture, he dropped out of high school at 16. He later earned a law degree—but get this—he never took the bar exam. That was part of his “Burn the Boats” mindset.

The book features dozens of leadership insights (in bold print) that may stop you in your tracks. (Hmmm. I hadn’t thought of doing that. That might work.) Examples:
• “Maybe you’re the wrong leader for this business, no matter how incredible it is.”
• “When I was working at McDonald’s, my advantage was my willingness to be the best gum scraper anyone could be, and do it with a smile.”
• “Big Leaps, Not Incremental Progress.” (Hmm. That sounds counterintuitive to one of my favorite books, Little Bets. I need to think about this!)

• And this: “It’s a common mistake in private equity to spend tons of money and energy on experts to look at the financials of a business, but no money on psychologists to do a deep dive on the leader.” Higgins now brings in his favorite industrial psychologist “for major deals anytime I have the leverage to make it a condition of writing a check.” Four cheers for feedback! (See my Mistakes #12 to #15 and listen to Charlie Hedges interview me on his podcast.)
• “It’s a recipe for failure, and the single biggest trap I see smart leaders fall into.” What’s that? Failure to look within—realizing you can’t do it all. The result? “You’re hiring people because you have to, not because you want to. So you end up holding your employees to an impossible standard, micromanaging them, and stepping in too soon when you’re worried they’ll fail.”

And speaking of failure, listen to this one-minute clip from Arnold Schwarzenegger, “I Hate Plan B.”

View this one-minute video to learn why Arnold Schwarzenegger says “I hate Plan B.” In his endorsement of Burn the Boats, he writes, “Big dreams require relentless focus, and any time we spend planning for failure set us up for failure.” (Do you agree?)

CHAPTER 5, “EMBRACE EACH CRISIS,” is my favorite chapter. (Three cheers for The Crisis Bucket!). Imagine this: Matt Higgins was NYC’s youngest press secretary ever for Mayor Rudy Giuliani when 9/11 shocked the world. He later became the COO of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the firm tasked with rebuilding the site of the World Trade Center.

Higgins has two key lessons on crisis management: 1) A crisis can “lead to superior long-term resilience, and an increased ability to cope and thrive in the future.”
2) "A true Burn the Boats mindset harnesses the clarity that comes in a crisis without needing the walls to come crumbling down around us. Crises force us to limit choices and focus on what really matters. But we can do that anyway.”

OOPS! I MEANT TO SAY…Chapter 6, “Break the Patterns That Stand in Your Way,” is my favorite chapter. Honest! The alignment with the new book on XQ, Experiential Intelligence, is stunning. (Read them together!) Higgins’ highlights:
• How a Bloomberg reporter derailed Juicero—a startup. “CNET called them ‘the greatest example of Silicon Valley stupidity!’”
• “Ask yourself: If you’re in the hospital for a week, will the business still function?”
• “The biggest job of a leader is putting great talent in place and helping them shine.”
• Higgins quotes an owner, “I knew I had to hire a president, but hiring senior leaders into a company is just about the hardest thing you have to do. A bad hire in a senior position is a catastrophe.”

Burn the Boats grows on you. There’s so much more you’ll discover and share with colleagues:
• 4 principles for embracing a perpetual growth mindset
• 4 archetypes every organization needs: the Visionary, the Catalyst, the Executor, and the Communicator (What’s your role? Compare these four to Lencioni’s six types of working genius here.)
• 5 destructive behavior patterns: Withholders, Hijackers, Victims, Martyrs, and Gaslighters
• 4 characteristics predictive of success: Empathy, Defiance, Detail, and Finish

Who on your team will read and report on this important book first?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential, by Matt Higgins. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 14 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Matt Higgins’ chapter, “Consolidate Your Gains,” he asks “What do you do better than anyone else?" How would you answer that?
2) In the chapter, “Submit to the Greatness of Others,” it seemed to me that Matt Higgins was channeling Peter Drucker’s counsel to Bob Buford (1939-2018). Buford wrote, “We would use their credibility, not ours—we were the platform, not the show. Or as Peter once told me, ‘The fruit of your work grows on other people’s trees.’” (Click here to read my review of Drucker & Me: What a Texas Entrepreneur Learned from the Father of Modern Management.) So…is our organization structured to be the platform or the show?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #18 of 100:
Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #18 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership:
Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry
(Expanded Edition, 2018)
by Ruth Haley Barton

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. I posted reviews of this very special book three times (so far!). I titled my first review, “Soul Whackers.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership
• Listen on Libro (6 hours, 47 minutes, 2015 edition)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

The first edition of Ruth Haley Barton’s book was published in 2009, but read what Gary Haugen, Founder and CEO of International Justice Mission, writes in the foreword to the expanded edition in 2018 (click here):

“…imagine with me for a moment, a staff of high-performing lawyers, criminal investigators, social workers and professionals in Washington, D.C., and offices across the developing world, rushing into the office to begin their day, faced with the task of fighting slavery, human trafficking, police abuse, and other forms of violent oppression. As these staff arrive at their desks, their first order of business is to stop. All phones are off. Laptops closed. No email. No meetings. Just silence. Solitude. Stillness. For thirty minutes.”

Haugen gave every staff member two gifts: a blank leather journal with the words “8:30 Stillness” embossed on the cover and this book by Ruth Haley Barton. For more, listen to the three-minute audio from Chapter 1, “When Leaders Lose Their Souls.” Click here. (Oh, my.)

ASBURY! Imagine the “soul whacking” that is happening on the campus of Asbury University since a spiritual revival broke out on Feb. 8, 2023. Read more here.

Part 2: Charlie Hedges interviews John on The Next Chapter Podcast

"Mastering Mistake-Making (Part 2 of 2)" is the topic on this week's podcast of The Next Chapter With Charlie Hedges. LOL! Charlie labels John a "Master of Mistake-Making" in this 37-minute interview on the book John and Jason Pearson wrote in 2021. This is Episode 269. Listen here or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Listen to Part 1 of 2 (Episode 268) here.

More on the book here.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Burn the Boats says there are four archetypes every organization needs: the Visionary, the Catalyst, the Executor, and the Communicator. Who is your Communicator and how effective is your storytelling? We can help! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

07:31 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: burn the boats, Matt Higgins, Plan B, Shark Tank

February 10, 2023

Hardwiring New Leadership Habits: Does Development Develop?

Issue No. 546 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a nettlesome question from Dick Daniels: “Does development develop?” Hardwiring New Leadership Habits is a must-read! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), and click here for over 500 book reviews. And click here to listen in on “The Next Chapter With Charlie Podcast” as Charlie Hedges interviews me this week about mistake-making.

Dick Daniels notes that your team likely includes three groups: Expectation Exceeders, Expectation Meeters, and Expectation Missers. So…are you good with the status quo, or is it time to hardwire new leadership habits?

No Way!

Been there. Done that.

You’re a fly-on-the-wall at Global Organization Resources Inc.’s annual senior team three-day offsite retreat. Everyone’s prepared. Planning for the next year, the 10 leaders have thoughtful ideas on GOR’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Then it happened! On Day 2, “Synthesis Day,” the CFO, Wilson, threw a monkey wrench onto the agenda. Wham! (And he’s “usually the quiet one in the corner who’s looking over his spreadsheets.”) His big beef? GOR was spending way too much on developing their people.

And no surprise, Wilson had his facts and figures. “It’s the warm, fuzzy expenditures that make us feel better…” he said. But the people development budget was three times more than what their two largest competitors spend annually.

The team's response at the CFO's disruption? “I was shocked. We were shocked. Say what?” And with that testy opening, Dick Daniels treats leaders and readers to a master class in leadership—at all levels—with this nettlesome question, “Does Development Develop?” (OK—geniuses! Prove that one to your number-crunching CFO.) Good News! The answers are in this book:

Hardwiring New Leadership Habits:
Does Development Develop?
by Dick Daniels

“No way,” I thought. When Dick Daniels alerted me to his new book, I tilted toward skepticism. “What more could he possibly write about?” Daniels is a stunning thinker and writer—and his previous books are so comprehensive that I named both as my books-of-the-year in 2015 and 2021. So…hasn’t he already said it all in two books?

• Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity (2015 Book-of-the-Year: read my review)

• Leadership Core: Character, Competence, Capacity (Leadership Multipliers) - (2021 Book-of-the-Year: read my review)

No way! (Er, um…way!)

Hardwiring New Leadership Habits: Does Development Develop? is jam-packed with ready-to-use action steps and insights—coupled with a memorable metaphor: how to connect three “wires” to hardwire new leadership habits. The book is short and crisp and brings a holistic clarity to that pesky question: does development develop?

How much does your organization spend (or invest) in people development? Dick Daniels writes, “The motivation in developing team members is either proactive or reactive. Companies spend money proactively to move the needle from good to great in specific aspects of one’s leadership.”

“The other approach is a reactive investment to address problem areas or deficiencies in one’s leadership approach. Our assumption is that leadership represents learned competencies. Great leaders never stop growing, so they never stop learning and applying what they learn.”

And this warning: “Sometimes the reactive initiative is a last attempt to help a team member before deciding whether to retrain, reassign, or release and replace them.” He agrees with Lisa Lang, in her ATD article, “Enter the Learning Zone,” who writes:

“What individuals learn in school is no longer enough
to sustain a career. Learning must be embedded into employees’ daily lives at work to facilitate lifelong learning.”

Just 170 pages, the take-aways in this hot-off-the-press book are remarkable:
• The matrix contrasting No Organizational Investment vs. Organizational Investment (horizontal) and Organizational Value vs. No Organizational Value (vertical). The no/no quadrant: “Leads to Organizational Atrophy.”
• Why the leadership development mission must address all levels: supervisors, managers, and leaders.
• What happens when there is an absence of “a succession planning leadership pipeline from the company’s talent pool”—and why the development vision is so critical.

ALERT! “One of the toughest leadership transitions is the move from operational leader to strategic leader,” writes Daniels. He notes the “seven seismic shifts” that must occur per the HBR article, “How Managers Become Leaders,” by Michael D. Watkins. Example: “Bricklayer to Architect.” Click here to read the article or click here to order HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers (with bonus article “How Managers Become Leaders”). Serendipitously, Watkins’ book, The First 90 Days, happened to be in the rotation today for the second book review below (Book #17 of 100).

THERE’S MORE!
• The Character and Competence matrix:
--High Character/Low Competence: “I like you but I don’t respect you.”
--High Character/High Competence: “The Leadership Capacity Multiplier”
--Low Character/Low Competence: “Your days are limited here.”
--Low Character/High Competence: “I respect you but I don’t like you.”

• “The New Nine Box Grid”—perhaps the most important five-page chapter on leadership ever written. (Honest!) Chapter 3, “Hardwire Connection #3,” describes three groups: Expectation Exceeders, Expectation Meeters, and Expectation Missers. How are you currently addressing those with Low Potential and Low Performance? And…how are you inspiring and retaining those with High Potential and High Performance? I’d buy this book just for this chapter.

• Stunning questions that enrich clarity:
--10 Culture Questions (#3: “What are the spoken and unspoken rules, and does anyone get a pass?”)
--“The Stay Interview” from SHRM (read more)
--Personal Reflection Tool: a 21-day exercise, with your coach, for self-assessment at the end of each day.
--10 Organizational Diagnosis Questions (scale of 1 to 10): How valued is development in your organization? Example: “Just hire someone soon” vs. “We have a leadership pipeline.”
--The Johari Window Model: Do you know anyone in the “Known to Others” and “Not Known to Self” quadrant? That’s the “Blind Spot.”

Bottom Line: If you’re a senior leader—and you think you don’t need this book, you may have a blind spot. And speaking of blind spots (read this), bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith endorsed Dick Daniels’ book and called it “Powerful!” I agree.

Does development develop? How would your team—and your CFO—answer this pesky question?

And by the way, I was wrong. Dick Daniels does have a lot more to write about—and I have a lot more to learn. So will Hardwiring New Leadership Habits be my 2023 Book-of-the-Year? No way! (But…I’ve been wrong before.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Hardwiring New Leadership Habits: Does Development Develop? by Dick Daniels. (Click here to read a two-page article by Daniels in TD Magazine.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Chapter 8, “Hardwire Connection #8: Avoid Tripping the Ten Circuit Breakers,” Dick Daniels warns about “circuit breakers” that can dismantle a people development culture. He writes, “Among the three levels of a development culture, leading yourself is always harder than leading the team or even leading the organization.” He quotes Lee Iacocca: “The speed of the boss is the speed of the team.” Do you agree or disagree—why?

2) Daniels includes 15 antonyms for hardwired: “unplanned, accidental, acquired, artificial, careless, disorder, external, flexible, foreign, incidental, negligent, slack, spontaneous, superficial, and thoughtless.” Oh, my! Would any of these words apply to the development culture in our organization?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #17 of 100:
The First 90 Days

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #17 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The First 90 Days:
Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter
by Michael D. Watkins

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. The author of The First 90 Days uses a helpful acronym, “STARS,” that describes four transitions: Start-up, Turn-Around, Realignment, and Sustaining Success. Warning! A successful CEO of a Turn-Around may fail at a Realignment.

• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The First 90 Days
• Listen on Libro (6 hours, 58 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

The “STARS” theme oozes through all the chapters. The author gives examples across all sizes of organizations, including an astounding example from Coca-Cola. Warning leaders than no one is immune from the perils of transition, he discusses the CEO stint of Douglas Ivester, promoted to Coke’s CEO in 1997, after serving three years as president and COO.

“But Ivester was unable to make the leap from COO to CEO. He refused to name a new COO, even when strongly pressed to do so by Coke’s board of directors. Instead, he continued to act as a ‘superCOO’ and maintained daily contact with the sixteen people who reported to him. His extraordinary attention to detail which had been such a virtue in finance and operations, proved to be a hindrance in his new position. Ivester could not free himself from day-to-day operations enough to take on the strategic, visionary, and statesmanlike roles of an effective CEO.”

The Wall Street Journal even piled on. (Read my review.)

Charlie Hedges interviews John on The Next Chapter Podcast
Mastering Mistake-Making (Part 1 of 2)" is the topic on this week's podcast of The Next Chapter With Charlie Hedges. LOL! Charlie labels John a "Master of Mistake-Making" in this 35-minute interview on the book John and Jason Pearson wrote in 2021. Charlie started podcasting before most of us could even spell the word. This is Episode 268. Listen here or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

More on the book here.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. How robust is your leadership succession pipeline for your communications and marketing teams? Are you attentive to retaining great people and addressing under-performing people? We can help you enrich your pipeline with creative approaches. (Every role does not require exactly 40 hours of work per week!) Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

08:00 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: development, Dick Daniels, hardwiring, leadership

February 4, 2023

Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World

Issue No. 545 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights Don Schoendorfer’s stunning story: PhD engineer launches a global nonprofit by reading Nonprofit Kit for Dummies! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, click here for my Top-10 book picks from 2022 and my 2022 Book-of-the-Year, and click here for four updated book lists.

How many PhD engineers does it take to give away 1.3 million wheelchairs in 94 countries? (One!)

Hell Freezes Over in India!

No problem! It’s 1974 in Cambridge, Mass., and Don Schoendorfer braces for the first question on his oral qualification exam for his engineering PhD at MIT. The brilliant professors on the committee begin with their best curveball:

“People mention that when they walk out onto the Golden Gate Bridge, they can hear humming. Could you please explain where that sound is coming from?”

Schoendorfer nailed it! And he nailed the follow-up questions about equations, first principles, and more. He writes, “By the time I was done answering every line of questioning from the committee members, my hands were covered in white chalk and the blackboard behind me, the one I’d been writing on, was filled with equations, drawings, and solutions.”

Fast forward. How did God orchestrate the journey of a shy introvert from Ashtabula, Ohio…to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology…to the burgeoning bio-medical field of blood cell separation in Southern California…to becoming the founder of a global-impacting nonprofit that has given the gift of mobility (free wheelchairs!) to more than 1.3 million people in 94 countries on five continents…and counting? You must read:

Miracle Wheels:
The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World
by Don Schoendorfer with R.C. George

Super Bowl Sidelight! In the book’s foreword, NFL Quarterback Nick Foles, the 2018 MVP of Super Bowl LII (his Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41–33), notes that an estimated 75 million people worldwide still need wheelchairs.

In this inspiring and very transparent book, Schoendorfer shares the poignant story of how his daughter urged her parents to return to church. In 1996, “over that first year attending Mariners Church, I went from being a ‘pedestrian Christian’—someone merely standing on the sidewalk and watching other people practice their faith—to wanting much more.”

After several failed attempts to serve others (tutoring, etc.), Don invites us into his conversation with God! Oh, my.

“I know you’re an introvert, God said. You don’t like people in general, I’ve really noticed that. You barely got through your psychology class in college. You’re not trained as an educator. You have no knowledge about being a mentor. And quite frankly, I’m discouraged that you’re not using the tools I gave you.”

“What tools would those be, Lord? I wondered.”

“You’re an engineer, aren’t you? As an engineer, can’t you come up with something that would help my kingdom?”

In church, he was convicted by a four-sentence story, “The Fool’s Game,” shared by his pastor, Kenton Beshore. (Read more in this 2006 Los Angeles Times interview. And note to pastors: It’s content—not length—that makes your sermons impactful! For example, read about a sermon Juan Carlos Ortiz once preached. Classic!)

What happened? From prototype in 1999, to 100 wheelchairs in Don’s garage, to the journey with four pilot test chairs to India in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission, the global nonprofit was launched. When was the last time you and three other volunteers hurdled the obstacles of airline schedules, visas, and the bureaucracy to travel to India—and checked medical supplies, medicine, and four wheelchairs as baggage? LOL!

Fighting jet lag and in search of cold drinks during their first night in India, the team asked their hotel clerk to recommend a restaurant. The local establishment was named “Hell Freezes Over!” (The perfect metaphor for this 21-year journey!)

The India trip, for Don, was research-focused. He wanted to gather data to document and prove that his wheelchair prototype could be used in the developing world. “When I left California, this had been my expectation for this trip, to collect cold, lifeless data. But what I found instead were real people with real needs that I had the ability to meet face-to-face. I’d come to India with a paper on my mind. But I left India with people in my heart.”

Click here to view the 2½-minute video as Don Schoendorfer talks about his new book on ABC’s Good Morning America 3.

Update! According to Free Wheelchair Mission, through the generosity of their donors, “six containers of wheelchairs arrived at their destinations in Chile, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and the Philippines in January 2023. Soon, 3,178 people with disabilities in these countries will receive the gift of mobility.” To give the gift of mobility (one or more wheelchairs), visit FWM here.

Amazing! But, let’s back up a bit. Before FWM was incorporated as a nonprofit, checks began arriving from friends who shared Don’s passion for bringing the gift of mobility to the world. Generous checks! His garage was crammed with wheelchairs, but donors challenged him to purchase more materials for more wheelchairs. What to do?

One friend simply said, “Don, you need to start a nonprofit.” So what does this biomedical engineer, with a PhD in mechanical engineering from MIT, do? The same thing you’d do. He bought a copy of Nonprofit Kit for Dummies! (I actually reviewed this book in 2014. Click here.)

The rest is history—but not really. There’s much more to come. Don Schoendorfer quotes global stats that indicate 75 million people still need wheelchairs. He invites you to help like our mutual friend, George Duff (1931-2023) helped. With his family and local church, George Duff (read my tribute here) was a longtime cheerleader in the Seattle area for Free Wheelchair Mission. To listen to Don Schoendorfer’s comments at George Duff’s memorial service on Jan. 14, 2023, click here and fast forward to Minute 40.00 for Don’s seven-minute tribute. Schoendorfer notes seven qualities that Duff modeled. (That will preach!)

I gave my grandkids this book so—I pray—they’ll connect the dots between life experiences (XQ) and God’s call.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Miracle Wheels: The Story of a Mission to Bring Mobility to the World, by Don Schoendorfer. And thanks to Connie Salios (FWM board member) for sending me a review copy.

BONUS BOOK! While reading Miracle Wheels, I also read a new book on “XQ” (the third dimension of IQ and EQ). Don Schoendorfer could be the PhD poster boy for Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs. Soren Kaplan, the author, defines XQ as “…the combination of mindsets, abilities, and know-how gained from your unique life experience that empowers you to achieve your goals.” (Read my review over at the Pails in Comparison blog.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Who on our team and in our circle of family and friends should read Miracle Wheels? Who would be gutsy enough to share this book with selected donors of our favorite nonprofit? (Whoa! Would all their money then go to Free Wheelchair Mission—or would this God-story maybe inspire givers to be even more generous with more nonprofits?) John Pearson gave this book to his grandkids (all teenagers)—so they would learn how to connect the dots between life experiences (XQ) and God’s call. Whose life will you impact with this book?

2) To drill deeper on XQ and how Don Schoendorfer leveraged his life experiences to create and implement the vision of Free Wheelchair Mission, read Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs, by Soren Kaplan. Think back: what experiences growing up, in school, and in your early career days, prepared you for the work God has called you to do now and in the future?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #16 of 100:
Necessary Endings

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #16 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Necessary Endings:
The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships
That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward
by Dr. Henry Cloud

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Necessary endings, writes Henry Cloud, “are the reason you are not married to your prom date nor still working in your first job.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Necessary Endings
• Listen on Libro (7 hours, 15 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Cloud lists 11 reasons why leaders and managers avoid necessary endings, including these four avoidance strategies:
• “We are afraid of the unknown.”
• “We do not possess the skills to execute the ending.”
• “We have had too many and too painful endings in our own personal history, so we avoid another one.”
• “We do not learn from them, so we repeat the same mistakes over and over.”

If your gut says it’s time to end a relationship, help an employee exit, dismount a dead horse, say farewell to a sacred cow, or drop a loser program, product or service, this “pruning book” will show you how.

XQ - Experiential Intelligence
You’re familiar with IQ and EQ, but what about XQ? Read John’s review of the new book, Experiential Intelligence: Harness the Power of Experience for Personal and Business Breakthroughs, by Soren Kaplan. And check out other new book reviews on the Pails in Comparison blog.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. How compelling is your story? Should your founder or CEO (or even a volunteer or customer) write your organization’s story? With self-publishing tools today and gifted writers, it’s faster than you think. (Read “You Should Write a Book” for several examples.) Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Tags: Don Schoendorfer, miracles, wheelchairs, XQ

January 21, 2023

Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs

Issue No. 544 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting delivers a “True or False” quiz with 13 statements about a hot-off-the-press handbook for entrepreneurs—relevant for CEOs and entrepreneurial team members. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, click here for my Top-10 book picks from 2022 and my 2022 Book-of-the-Year, and click here for four updated book lists.

“A start-up is a journey of failures,” writes Uri Levine. Good luck!

Entrepreneurial Wisdom: True or False?

“A start-up is a journey of failures,” writes Uri Levine, who describes himself as a passionate entrepreneur and disruptor, and a two-time “unicorn" builder. He quotes Albert Einstein, “If you’ve never failed, you’ve never tried anything new.”

Quick! You, or someone on your team, must read and report on this fabulous book, just published Jan. 17, 2023:

Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution:
A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
by Uri Levine

The author notes that Ben Horowitz was a CEO prior to becoming a successful venture capitalist. Once Horowitz was asked, “Did you sleep well at night, being the CEO of a start-up?” The response: “Oh yes. I slept like a baby. I woke up every two hours and cried.” That’s actually true—but what about the following statements?

TRUE OR FALSE?

[ ] 1. WOZ TOOK NOTES! Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, loves this book! He writes in the foreword that he “read every word, taking handwritten notes on paper.” (True or False?)

[ ] 2. FIRE FASTER. Uri Levine said the “first trigger for writing this book” was when a CEO heard Levine speak about the hard firing/hiring decisions that CEOs must make. On the second day of the event, the CEO told Levine, “It’s done. I fired my cofounder. It was painful and I didn’t sleep all night long, but once I announced that to the company, everyone approached me and said, ‘Thank you, it was about time!’ So, I know I did the right thing.” (True or False?)

[ ] 3. UNICORNS DEFINED. Levine is the co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest community-based driving traffic and navigation app. Google acquired Waze for $1.15 billion (not a typo) in 2013. Levine is also a former investor and board member of Moovit, the “Waze of public transportation.” Intel acquired Moovit for $1 billion (not a typo) in 2020. By the way, start-ups which sell for $1 billion or more are called unicorns. (True or False?)

[ ] 4. PAIN! “A problem is easily defined,” writes Levine. “When you tell someone about it, that person should say, ‘Yeah, I have that issue as well!’” The author says problems fit into a two-by-two matrix with two axes: “Total Addressable Market” and “Pain.” And before you disappoint investors with your new idea, be sure you review the four quadrants in the matrix:
• “Winners” (high usage/value and many users)
• “Niche” (high usage/value, but few users)
• “Losers” (low usage/value and few users)
• “Dreams and Nightmares” - This includes everyone, but “low value or low frequency of use”—think of the DMV: a pain, but your visits are not frequent enough for someone to fix it. (True or False?)

[ ] 5. FAILURE IS OK. Oh, my! Chapter 2, “A Start-up Is a Journey of Failures” slams you with 35 pages of warnings! Expect failure and good luck in the “desert of no traction.” In the early days of Waze, “We turned the app on worldwide all at once, and it was a disaster. It was simply not good enough—except in four countries: Ecuador, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Latvia.”
• “Failure is not only OK but also necessary.”
• “Failure is not a badge of shame.”
• “Launch before your product is ready.”
• “How much time should you allocate to your journey of failures? Years!” (True or False?)

View the book’s promo video (1 minute, 27 seconds).

[ ] 6. START-UP “STARTIPS.” Every chapter concludes with five or more summary bullet points, “Startips,” such as:
• “Make your mistakes fast.”
• “If you’re afraid to fail, you’ve already failed because you’re not going to try.”
• “Rule of thumb: Users convert on the third try.”
• “The proven lifetime value of a customer needs to be at least three times higher than the customer acquisition cost, otherwise you don’t have a sustainable business model.”
• “Price is determined in the market, and not by the company. The cost, however, is determined by the company, and the market doesn’t care about it.” (True or False?)

[ ] 7. FIRING/HIRING. Levine believes you’ll know if a new hire will fit in within one month—and that’s why he titles Chapter 6, “Firing and Hiring” (with the emphasis on firing). “Remember that a great hiring manager will have a hit ratio of about 80 percent and a miss ratio of about 20 percent. Even Golden State Warriors basketball star Steph Curry doesn’t score 80 percent from three-point range.” (True or False?)

[ ] 8. OPERATING IN PHASES. Whether you’re 24/7 on a for-profit start-up or a nonprofit start-up, this book is must-reading. Example: How do you discern what is your “MIT”—your Most Important Thing? If you get this wrong, says Levine, you’ll hire the wrong person for the wrong phase. “Be careful not to hire too early,” he cautions. (True or False?)

[ ] 9. PMF. Get ready to become a student of Product-Market Fit (PMF). “The most dangerous moment for a start-up is when you think you’ve figured out product-market fit even though you really haven’t." Peter Drucker would have loved this book—it’s all about listening to the customer and also watching the customer try out your new product, program, or service. Another warning: “You need to do iteration after iteration of your product before you ever hire a salesperson.” (True or False?)

[ ] 10. ROLLER-COASTER JOURNEY. “If building a start-up is a roller-coaster journey, then fundraising is a roller coaster in the dark. You don’t even know what’s coming. Closing a deal would be in the dark, upside down, and in reverse…” (True or False?)

[ ] 11. TEN-FOOT POLE! In 2010 when Waze was almost out of cash, Levine pitched a very successful venture capital fund. In an adjoining room, Levine heard one of the potential investors comment, “We wouldn’t touch Waze with a ten-foot pole.” Fast forward to the day Google acquired Waze, the Waze team discussed whether they should send those non-investors an actual ten-foot pole! “We didn’t, but we enjoyed considering it!” (True or False?)

[ ] 12. FAST GROWTH. How fast can, or should, you grow? Chapter 10, “How to Get to a Billion Users,” is absolutely fascinating—with 32 short topics (I counted them) on growing your enterprise, including “50 Other Ways It Didn’t Work,” and a very practical whiteboard exercise, “50 Ways to Bring Your Users.” (True or False?)

[ ] 13. FUNDRAISING! Levine believes funders invest for two reasons: they liked the story and they liked the CEO. “You need to be at your best, and appearance does matter. So, the CEO goes to the first meeting ALONE [boldface by the author]. That way, no one else is on the stage with the CEO to take away the spotlight." Note: This reminded me of the wisdom in the book, Backable. (True or False?)

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK?
• For-profit leaders and start-up wanna-be's.
• Nonprofit leaders. (Very relevant insights!)
• Any team member tasked with launching a new product, program, or service.
• Anyone whose fear of failure has short-changed your organization’s growth.
• Every CEO and board member.
• Anyone who loves Shark Tank (including reruns!) – Note: Watch for my February review of Burn the Boats.

LOL! I loaned my review copy of this compelling and comprehensive book to an entrepreneurial friend. He loved the detailed narrative, but I needed my copy back (with my notes!). So I ordered this book for him.

TRUE OR FALSE? SPOILER ALERT (in Spanish!). ¡Todas las afirmaciones son verdaderas!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, by Uri Levine. Listen on Libro (11 hours, 48 minutes).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) According to Uri Levine, there are four different types of user categories: Innovators, Early Adopters, the Early Majority (afraid to try new things—don’t like change), and the Late Majority (“will use something only if they must”). So…per the “User Segmentation” chart on page 209, do we understand our users—and how different they are from you and me?
2) “A start-up, in order to be successful,” writes Levine, “needs to do one and only one thing right, and to increase the likelihood of doing so, it needs to say no to everything else.” He adds, “Focus is about doing one thing at a time.” So…let’s look in the mirror. How many times have we said “no” in the last 90 days?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #15 of 100:
The Advantage

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #15 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The Advantage:
Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business
by Patrick Lencioni

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Patrick Lencioni says that “bad meetings are the birthplace of unhealthy organizations and good meetings are the origin of cohesion, clarity and communication.”

• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Advantage
• Listen on Libro (5 hours, 25 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

In Lencioni’s next to last chapter, “The Centrality of Great Meetings,” this best-selling business guru writes, “If someone were to offer me one single piece of evidence to evaluate the health of an organization, I would not ask to see its financial statements, review its product line, or even talk to its employees or customers: I would want to observe the leadership team during a meeting.”

Note: to read my reviews of four more Patrick Lencioni books, see Part 3, “The Mount Rushmore of Leadership Legends,” in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

“You’re Leading a Parade!”
George Duff, my friend and mentor, was welcomed to his heavenly home on Jan. 1, 2023. He was 91. A celebration of life service was held on January 14 on Mercer Island, Wash. I’ve been so blessed with rich memories of George this month, including this wisdom: “Remember, you are talking not to a crowd but to a parade that is changing all the time.” (Read my blog for ECFA here.) Read my tribute here.

Note: George Duff was a volunteer champion of Free Wheelchair Mission (watch for my review of the new Miracle Wheels book). Visit FWM to send a tribute card to the Duff family.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Nervous about launching your new product, program, or service? Join the club! We’ll walk you through the “MIT” steps and, maybe, provide therapy along the way! Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Tags: entrepreneurs, fundraising, roller coaster, unicorns

January 12, 2023

Praying With the Early Christians: A Year of Daily Prayers and Reflections on the Words of the Early Christians

Issue No. 543 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests several conversation-starters for your morning meetings with Almighty God. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, click here for my Top-10 book picks from 2022 and my 2022 Book-of-the-Year, and click here for four updated book lists.

We’re over-blessed with resources to prompt our morning conversations with Almighty God. What’s your favorite?

Morning Music With the Master

In just 750 tightly-crafted words in the introduction to this short-and-significant 365-day devotional, Eugene Peterson winsomely pulls us into the grand life of conversation and prayer with Almighty God. His 1994 book (one of four in a series) is still a gem:

Praying With the Early Christians:
A Year of Daily Prayers and Reflections on the Words of the Early Christians
by Eugene H. Peterson

He quotes Baron Friedrich von Hügel’s belief that prayer “is more like sucking on a lozenge than gulping a meal.” And he notes G.K. Chesterton’s view “that there was a great difference between the lively person wanting to read a book and the tired person wanting a book to read.”

If your daily discipline of meeting God for conversation and comfort is ever-growing and deeply satisfying in 2023—feel free to exit this issue and move on. But if you’re like me—and over the years, you’ve appreciated a variety of morning disciplines—keep reading.

In a dozen days, so far, in 2023, I’ve discovered renewed joy in the simple and short daily devotional readings from Eugene Peterson (1932-2018), the prolific pastor, professor, and author who also penned the beloved Bible paraphrase, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Each daily page includes:
• The date
• The topic (with two to five Bible verses to read)
• Key verse
• Short commentary (five to seven lines)
• Short prayer

I’m so enjoying Praying With the Early Christians—which spotlights “a little over a quarter of our New Testament scripture” which was written by St. Luke. (Did you know that?) Luke’s Gospel of Jesus Christ and his Acts of the Apostle “are a two-volume work that provides a comprehensive account of the early Christians.”

Peterson hoped to inspire us into this daily rhythm of readings from St. Luke—with the expectation “to get us modern Christians praying into step with the early Christians” so that we will be as “astonished as was the first-century world with their love and witness.”

As part of my conversations with the Lord, per the “ACTS” discipline (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), I’ve begun this delightful adoration/praise journey every morning with this book.

But I've added one element. After reflecting on the daily reading, I wait for the Lord to remind me of a hymn or worship song. (Sometimes, the daily prayer is a line from a hymn.) Most mornings, with ear pods in, I listen to a new or favorite version of the hymn that comes to mind, thanks to Amazon Music , YouTube, or iTunes. Or sometimes I whisper, “Alexa, play ‘Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart.’”

Listen to “Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart.’”

It’s the first thought I have when I wake up—“I wonder what hymn or song the Lord has for me today?”

Example: Last week, when prompted about “hope” by Eugene Peterson, the Lord led me to this soul-touching rendition of “Whispering Hope” from the BBC Songs of Praise broadcast of Nov. 2, 2008, featuring Hayley Westenra and the Cornwall Male Voice choirs. Oh, my!

Click here to view this two-minute, soul-touching hymn, “Whispering Hope.”

Some mornings, I venture over to Hymnary.org to learn more about the composer and then hum along with the original lyrics. (See more on “Whispering Hope” here.)

Years ago, Bob Andringa reminded me of the wisdom in this proverb:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is today.”

If you aspired to start a 2023 morning conversation/prayer habit with the God of the Universe on January 1, but you haven’t launched yet—no problem. Today is the second best time to start. (And I just checked—He still has openings!)

Over the years, I’ve appreciated a wide variety of resources for my morning meetings:
• A Diary of Private Prayer, by John Baillie (read my review or read online here)
• Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, by Sarah Young (read my review)
• The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, by Arthur Bennett (Editor) - (read my review)
• Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuals and Groups (2005 Revised Edition), by Richard J. Foster and James Bryan Smith (read my review)
• And click here to scan my list of “2020 Spiritual Growth Resources,” including Trust for Today: 365 Days of Encouragement – A Year With the Trueface Team and Silencio: Reflective Practices for Nurturing Your Soul, by Stephen A. Macchia, Editor. (click here for 12 resources)

And this caution from Silencio about one zealot:

“Deciding to read through the Bible in a year, at breakneck speed,
he completed his assignment … but he sensed very little of the voice of God in his life.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Praying With the Early Christians: A Year of Daily Prayers and Reflections on the Words of the Early Christians (Praying With the Bible series), by Eugene H. Peterson.

MORE OPTIONS! The “Praying With the Bible Series,” by Eugene Peterson, also includes three more titles: Praying With Moses, Praying With the Prophets, and Praying With Paul. Click on the titles or the books below to order from Amazon:

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
What resource do you use for inspiring team members at your weekly staff meeting? Some leaders feature a “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” segment each week (see Mastering 100 Must-Read Books). Another resource is The One Year Mini for Leaders, by Jim Seybert. (Read my review.) What should we do in 2023 to make our weekly staff meetings enriching and with appropriate Hoopla?

AND THE WINNER IS! In Issue No. 542, I invited readers to submit their cartoon captions for the desert island survivor. The judges had a tough time deciding (and the rules book was thick), so…(drum roll)…there will be two Grand Prize Winners:
• Dick Nelson: “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”
• Sydney Romanov: “A fortunate result of the boat crash, he finally had time to figure out what his wife meant by ‘I’m fine.’”

Congrats to both winners—and, as they say, the “check” is in the mail! At your next staff meeting—photocopy the cartoon and invite team members to write their cartoon captions. (Why? This will help jumpstart your 2023 creativity for Hoopla! Bucket values.)

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #14 of 100:
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #14 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There:
Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break
by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter

Books #6 through #21 spotlight 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Good News: a client gave me this book in 2013. Bad News: a client gave me this book!
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
• Listen on Libro (9 hours, 38 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Whew! This is one powerful, convicting book. Bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith says there are 20 workplace habits you need to break. He quotes Peter Drucker:

“We spend a lot of time teaching leaders what to do. We don’t spend enough time teaching leaders what to stop. Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”

Goldsmith agrees and then asks, “When was the last retreat or training session you attended that was titled, Stupid Things Our Top People Do That We Need to Stop Doing Now?”

“You’re Leading a Parade!”
George Duff, my friend and mentor, was welcomed to his heavenly home on Jan. 1, 2023. He was 91. A celebration of life service will be Jan. 14 on Mercer Island, Wash. I’ve been so blessed with rich memories of George this month, including this wisdom: “Remember, you are talking not to a crowd but to a parade that is changing all the time.” (Read my blog for ECFA here.) Read my tribute here.

Note: George Duff was a volunteer champion of Free Wheelchair Mission (watch for my review of the new Miracle Wheels book). Visit FWM to send a tribute card to the Duff family.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. We have strategized with numerous clients and helped them design eye-catching books and resources that tell their stories—and enrich the lives of their customers and/or donors. For example, here’s a unique resource for your visually-oriented team members: Michelangelo's Sacred Art of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling: A Coloring Book Exploration. Order from Amazon. For more ideas, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

05:15 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: devotional, early Christians, prayer

January 5, 2023

I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders)

Issue No. 542 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting launches 2023 with a LOL book to jumpstart your creativity. Hilarious, yet poignant. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for my Top-10 book picks from 2022 and my 2022 Book-of-the-Year.

“He finally had time to…”
Zillions of cartoonists have reinvented this desert island cartoon. What’s your LOL caption? Complete the sentence and submit to Your Weekly Staff Meeting. (There may be prizes!)

Jumpstart Your 2023 Creativity

OK, I admit it. I read the comics every day in the online editions of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. (I only read the funniest strips. My opinion: comics are trending towards unfunny, unfortunately.)

My favorite annual Christmas gift (Thank you, Joanne!) is the page-a-day Cartoons from The New Yorker 2023 Day-to-Day Calendar. The cartoon below is hilarious! The camper in the tent asks, "Do you hear something?"

And when a great humor book comes along, I laugh my way across every page. Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) reminds us, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Comics, cartoons, and LOL books all share a DNA that inspires me: CREATIVITY!

Example: Are you creative enough to write an original punch line for the classic desert island cartoon? There have been zillions—but they keep coming. The creativity of many cartoonists and authors is stunning. So…when Jason Gay’s new book arrived last month, I savored it …slowly…miserly measuring out each chapter…as if I only had one treasured book on that lonely desert island.

I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me:
Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders)
by Jason Gay

This is the perfect book for the new year. Good medicine for the soul. Enjoy it—chapter by chapter, dose by hilarious dose—but warning! This Wall Street Journal sports writer sometimes shifts the gears in his clown car and very personal and poignant stories pop out. You’ll love this book!

MARS. Jason Gay predicts that we’re all going to wind up on Mars. Traveling there, you’ll receive “an insane amount of frequent flier miles.” It’s a long flight, but you can “look out the window” or “read the in-flight Mars Rocket magazine. It’s, like, eleven profiles of Elon Musk.” And this: “When you get to Mars, the jet lag is going to be unbelievable. I’m just warning you.”

Good news! “There will be pickleball, because those pickleballers are everywhere now.” And—this is a surprise!—“There are probably board meetings” to discuss septic systems and elevator problems. “Life is too short,” admits the author. “I’m not raising my hand for any Mars board subcommittees.”

ATTN: SWA SURVIVORS. If you survived a flight (or did not) during Southwest Airlines’ cancelled flights debacle, you’ll appreciate Jason Gay’s chapter, “Fighting While Flying.” He writes, “Somewhere along the way, flying stopped feeling like travel and started resembling . . . the internet, in real life.” (So true!) He suggests “doses of perspective” including:
• “Assume your flight is going to be a terrible experience.”
• “We need to widen the category of reasons we can ban people from the sky.” (Example: “Passengers who take off their socks.”)
• “Stop the window screen patrol” and “Recline humanely.”
• “Loud typing.” (He’s been shushed more than once while working on a column!) And: “Can we please take it easy on the jerky?”

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. Before you read this chapter—and to exercise your creativity competencies—make a list of the proper gift for each year of wedded bliss (Years 1 to 51). I had no idea that the rules have been updated! Here are some hints:
• 7th Year: Phone charger
• 10th Year: Typing lessons
• 34th Year: Book about submarines
• 44th Year: Tire jack

PUBLIC SPEAKING. Apparently, even after reading Public Speaking (one of my Top-10 books of 2021), I have more to learn. Jason Gay says he “had the shocking honor of addressing the graduating class” at his college alma mater. (He thinks the invite was actually meant for another person named Jason!) But he does dispense timely wisdom: “The main goal of any speech is to stop talking.” (He lists 23 short keepers. Give this book to your pastor!)

SILENCE! Maybe my favorite short chapter was “Interview with a Man Who Lost His Phone on the First Day of Vacation.” (True story! He interviews himself. Hilarious.) Learnings:
• No iPhone camera? No problem. “Not every parenting moment needs to be exhaustively chronicled.”
• Instead of nonstop listening to podcasts, “I had to retrain myself to do chores in silence. Make the bed, put away clothes, clean the bathroom—these things had to happen in silence, like I was in trouble at a monastery.”
• “Also, I read a book.” On the plane ride home, he read another book. The interviewer notes, “Never see that anymore.” Jason: “The passenger next to me called for a flight attendant. She was concerned.”

OR MAYBE… my favorite chapters (three!) were about Baxter, his cat—and I’m not even a cat guy. (LOL: Must-read!) Or maybe the chapter, “Sitting Still”—the poignant tribute to a friend who died a year ago. Can you get teary-eyed reading a humor book? Yes.

NOT ACTUALLY FAIR. Is it fair for one author (a sports writer, even) to be gifted with such exuberant creativity and humor? Not really, but bravo to Jason Gay!

“A cheerful heart is good medicine.” I will read this wonderful book again.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders), by Jason Gay. Listen on Libro.fm (4 hours, 28 minutes, read by the author). And thanks to the publisher for sending a review copy.

P.S. When I read Jason Gay’s 2015 book, Little Victories: Perfect Rules for Imperfect Living, I wrote, “I can hardly wait for Little Victories 2.” Now…I can hardly wait for his next book.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) To enjoy Jason Gay’s hilarious sports (and more) insights, read the Wall Street Journal columns on his 2023 resolutions, his “22 More Rules for Thanksgiving Family Touch Football,” and this Jan. 4, 2023, poignant piece, “Football Can Wait for Damar Hamlin”). Do you have the right balance of humor and hoopla! to spark your team’s creative juices?
2) I reviewed three “humor” books in 2021, including A Comedian’s Prayer Book, by Frank Skinner. In 2022, I reviewed Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And how anyone can harness it. Even you.) The authors describe four styles of humor. What’s your style? What’s the upside (and LOL side) of studying humorists, cartoonists, and funny sports writers? How do you exercise your creativity muscles?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #13 of 100:
Leadership Briefs

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #13 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Xenophon's Cyrus the Great:
The Arts of Leadership and War, by Xenophon
(Larry Hedrick, Editor)

Books #6 through #21 feature 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. When Peter Drucker was asked for the best book on leadership, he responded: “The first systematic book on leadership—the Kyropaidaia by Xenophon, himself no mean leader of men—is still the best book on the subject.”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Xenophon's Cyrus the Great
• Listen on Libro (6 hours, 31 minutes)
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Many of my reading colleagues tilt towards the skinny management books, not 295-page tomes. But this is neither. This is readable. This is exciting. Leadership, coaching, mentoring, innovation, psychology, motivation, crisis management, social styles, cultural hiccups. Plus: stunning acts of kindness. And generosity—AMAZING generosity. The case studies in generosity (on and off the battlefield) will shock you. Wow.

SCRAPPY ORGANIZATIONS!
Watch for my “Zoom Review,” March 7, of The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems, by Paulo Savaget (Pub. Date: March 7, 2023, 304 pages). Pre-order from Amazon. David Schmidt and Jason Pearson will join me on Zoom with their color commentaries. Visit the Pails in Comparison blog for a short list of books on my 2023 review list.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Even serious work can be communicated with humor. (We buy insurance from a gecko!) As you position your story in 2023, consider how the four social styles and the four humor styles will respond to your communication strategies and tactics. Check-out our book, ReBrand: Workbook + Coloring Sheets For Ministry Branding. We can help you. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Tags: cats, humor, Mars, pickleball

December 31, 2022

2022 Book-of-the-Year and Top-10 Books

Issue No. 541 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting delivers my Top-10 book picks from 2022 and my Book-of-the-Year. Also, Happy New Year! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for the table of contents to Mastering 100 Must-Read Books. And if you’re behind on your reading, click here for my top picks from 2021.

Help! My wife thinks I may have too many books. But I don’t think so, do you?

TOP-10 BOOKS FOR 2022
This issue features selected books I reviewed in Issues No. 501 to 540. To read other 2022 book reviews from Your Weekly Staffing Meeting eNews, visit the archives at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog.

In 2022, I published 40 issues. (But I thought Your Weekly Staff Meeting was published weekly? Fake news?) Certainly not all 10 books will have popular appeal—because all of us are at different levels of competencies and curiosity across the 20 management buckets.

In 2022, I also launched the Pails in Comparison blog, with shorter book reviews—comparing and contrasting new titles to other books and buckets (buckets, pails…get it?). I published 27 “PIC” issues. Some issues in both blogs included more than one book, so I reviewed about 75 books in 2022.

As author Steve Leveen reminds us in The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life (Book #1 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books), “Do not set out to live a well-read life but rather your well-read life. No one can be well-read using someone else’s reading list.” What were your Top-10 books in 2022?

2022 BOOK-OF-THE-YEAR

#1. THE DISCERNING LIFE: AN INVITATION TO NOTICE GOD IN EVERYTHING, by Stephen Macchia. Listen to the book on Libro.fm (8 hours, 7 minutes). Read my review. In recent years, I’ve slowly munched on one book for up to six months (just on weekends)—seeking to go slow and deep. Examples: Packer’s Knowing God and Blackaby’s Experiencing God. But…the deep end of the pool can be threatening. Nevertheless, The Discerning Life was my weekend book for half of 2022.

Favorite Quote: “Far too often, spiritual discernment has been pigeon-holed,” Steve writes, “into the exclusive realm of decision-making, learning how to make good choices and know God’s will methodically and predictably. We want a simple system to follow: set up the room, put people in place, consider the right options, add a prayer, and then press the button of discernment.”

2022 TOP-10 BOOK LIST: The Other 9
(With brief excerpts from my reviews, these nine books are listed in alphabetical order by author.)

#2. ONE DAMN THING AFTER ANOTHER: MEMOIRS OF AN ATTORNEY GENERAL, by William P. Barr. Listen on Libro.fm (22 hours, 1 minute). Read my review. When Ed Levi, Dean of the University of Chicago Law School (and then president of the university), was asked to describe his stint as Attorney General under President Gerald Ford, he responded, “It’s just one damn thing after another.”

Favorite Quote: The metaphors are enlightening and memorable. “Getting [Trump] to accept good advice was like wrestling an alligator.” And when asked how he felt beginning his first term as the AG, Barr commented, “Like I’m about to run across a river on the backs of alligators.”

#3. BEFORE AND AFTER JACKIE ROBINSON, A STORY OF THE BROOKLYN DODGERS TOLD THROUGH THE LENS OF TICKETS AND PASSES, by Dan Busby. Read my review. Note: Amazingly, Dan Busby (1941-2022) was able to complete this book before his homegoing. Click here to read the tribute to my good friend and his legacy of books.

Favorite Factoid: “Number 42 is now the most celebrated number in baseball. Each year on April 15, every player in the Major Leagues wears 42 and no one wears it the rest of the year.” (That’s just one of 22 “Quotable Quotes” in the book’s introductory appetizers.)

#4. MAKING NUMBERS COUNT: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF COMMUNICATING NUMBERS, by Chip Heath and Karla Starr. Read my review. Listen on Libro (4 hours, 35 min.). This bestselling author says that “our brains process stories better than statistics.”

I know. Why read a book about numbers? First—the authors are hilarious! Rather than giving a meaningless number like $1 billion, they break it down to spending $50,000 per year, for fun, for 55 years...adding, it would take you about two generations to spend $1 billion. They add further, “Almost 14 presidential terms” or “one wait to hear your name called at the DMV.” Lol.

150 Fast-Reading Pages: The genius of this book (less than 150 fast-reading pages, plus almost 50 pages of fascinating notes) is in the mouth-watering examples of stats versus stories. (Oh, my. I could have used this during my CEO years. Just brilliant.)

#5. LEADERSHIP: SIX STUDIES IN WORLD STRATEGY, by Henry Kissinger. Listen on Libro (19 hours, 9 minutes). Read my review. Invest just five minutes and listen to the first two pages of Leadership, by Henry Kissinger, and then discern: Have you ever heard a more eloquent description of leadership? (Click here for the 5½-minute audio on Libro.fm.)

Favorite Review: Kissinger writes that leaders are either prophets or statesmen. (Did I mention he wrote this book at age 99?) Just this week, Walter Russell Mead’s column in The Wall Street Journal features his recent interview with Henry Kissinger. Click here to read “Kissinger Sees a Global Leadership Vacuum. A dearth of statesmen has left the world misruled by populists and technocrats.” (Dec. 26, 2022)

#6. THE 6 TYPES OF WORKING GENIUS: A BETTER WAY TO UNDERSTAND YOUR GIFTS, YOUR FRUSTRATIONS, AND YOUR TEAM, by Patrick M. Lencioni. Listen on Libro (4 hours, 11 minutes). Read my review. You will love this hilarious story, told in the classic Lencioni business fable format. (Really, it’s hilarious!) And it’s extremely helpful—three stages of work and six types of working genius. (Yes! Look in the mirror and repeat after me, “I’m a genius! But…I’m not a genius in all six types.”)

Favorite Frustrations! The book is eye-opening—you will quickly understand why you and your team members are often frustrated with work projects. And it’s transformational—when you learn what brings you joy and when you should say “no.” And…the Working Genius model is applicable to work, home, and church. (See my review for the link to the online assessment.)

#7. ROAD TO FLOURISHING: EIGHT KEYS TO BOOST EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND WELL-BEING, by Al Lopus with Cory Hartman. Listen on Libro.fm (6 hours, 52 minutes). Read my review. The authors ask you to pick one:
[ ] Life-giving work.
[ ] Life-sucking work.

Eight Favorite Keys: Using the helpful “FLOURISH Model,” the book goes deep on “Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being.” So…how would your team members rate these eight factors—and have you ever discerned an objective, quantifiable way to measure overall engagement at your shop? The eight: Fantastic Teams, Life-Giving Work, Outstanding Talent, Uplifting Growth, Rewarding Compensation, Inspirational Leadership, Sustainable Strategy, and Healthy Communication.

#8. PARADISE FOUND: A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM'S RISE FROM THE ASHES, by Bill Plaschke. Listen on Libro.fm (8 hours, 2 minutes). Read my review. I couldn’t put it down. Literally. Even though I’m “retired” (whatever that means), I took the day “off”—and read the book in one day. Never done that before.

Favorite Overcomer Story! On Nov. 8, 2018, the friendly folks in Paradise, California, watched their town burn to the ground at the rate of 80 acres per minute. The devasting toll:
• 84 lives lost!
• In a day, the population dropped from 26,800 to 2,034!
• 20,000 burned-out cars, 19,000 homes lost!

Of the 104 football players, 95 of the Paradise High School Bobcats had lost their homes. A playoff game for the next night was cancelled. Coaches, athletes, faculty, students, and parents—lives and futures in total disarray. Could the town and the team recover? No way.

#9. IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE: THE GRAND AND TERRIBLE POLAR VOYAGE OF THE USS JEANNETTE, by Hampton Sides. Listen on Libro.fm (17 hours, 28 minutes). Read my review. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Recruit a crew of 32 outstanding men—and set sail from San Francisco to explore the North Pole—one of the few unmapped areas on the globe (as of 1879).

Favorite Quote: Stuck! Marooned! Incapacitated! Yet… “[Captain] Delong appeared to accept that he was locked in for the winter. He seemed, indeed, to embrace adversity—and to hunt for its possible meanings. ‘This is a glorious country to learn patience in,’” he wrote in his journal. “My disappointment is great, how great no one else will probably know. There seemed nothing left but making a virtue of necessity and staying where we were.” Imagine! For 21 months, the ship—stuck in ice—just drifted.

#10. DON’T MISS YOUR LIFE: THE SECRET TO SIGNIFICANCE, by Aaron Tredway. Read my review. This former professional soccer player (now pastor and ministry leader) quotes D.L. Moody: “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.”

Favorite Gut-check: “Have you ever noticed, Jesus doesn’t say we should aspire to hear God say,
• ‘Well done, good and successful servant!’
• ‘There’s no mention of a good and famous servant or a good and wealthy servant.’
• ‘Jesus doesn’t say we should seek to hear the words, good and powerful servant either.’”

Bonus Book: Special Mention!

THE GIFT OF DISILLUSIONMENT: ENDURING HOPE FOR LEADERS AFTER IDEALISM FADES, by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, with Brianna Lapp and Jill Heisey. Listen on Libro.fm (6 hours, 7 minutes). Read my review. Of course—you’ll agree—idealism is always inadequate, so do we really need this book? But then why am I so drawn to the stories? So captivated by the big idea—and the practical (not preachy) way that the Old Testament words of Jeremiah are fleshed out in this book?

Favorite Quote: “And no amount of positive thinking or inspirational Christian wall art promising a hope and a future would change their circumstances. Yet Jeremiah remained faithful and hopeful throughout his journey.”

BOOK BUCKET LISTS!
I love lists and the core competency in the Book Bucket, Chapter 5, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to create your own Top-100 Books List. I’ve curated my list using the 20 management buckets categories. Download the template from the Book Bucket and start your list this week!

For more Books-in-Your-Bunker ideas, check out these lists:
• Spiritual Growth Books – click here
• Leadership Growth Books – click here
• Best Board Governance Books – click here
• 30 Books to Delegate During a Crisis (a 12-page PDF with links to 30 book reviews) – click here
• 8 Leadership Flicks – click here
• New in 2022: Mastering 100 Must-Read Books – click here

COMING IN 2023. I'm reviewing some fascinating books in 2023 (click here), including a hilarious book by The Wall Street Journal’s sports writer: I Wouldn't Do That If I Were Me: Modern Blunders and Modest Triumphs (but Mostly Blunders), by Jason Gay (2022, 208 pages) - Order from Amazon. Listen on Libro.fm (4 hours, 28 min. - read by the author)

Visit the Book Bucket webpage to download four lists of books (updated through 12/31/2022) that I’ve reviewed since 2006, including my just updated Top-100 books list.

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #12 of 100:
Leadership Briefs

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #12 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Leadership Briefs:
Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity
by Dick Daniels

Books #6 through #21 feature 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. I could have used this book 30 years ago—and saved myself and my team members from unnecessary leadership pain!
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Leadership Briefs
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

In my review, I included Daniels’ gut check on employee disengagement: “When the problem is organizational,” says the author, leaders fix it. “When the problem is a team member’s personal baggage, they find a way to help. At last resort, leaders will carefully calculate if it is necessary to release and replace the disengaged. How this transition is handled impacts the attitude and engagement of every other team member who is watching.”

Breaking News! Watch for my review of Dick Daniels’ latest book (available in February), Hardwiring New Leadership Habits: Does Development Develop? Also, see Book #99, by Daniels, Leadership Core: Character, Competence, Capacity (Leadership Multipliers).

SPOTLIGHT ON 2023!
Watch for my review in 2023 of You're the Leader. Now What? Leadership Lessons from Mayo Clinic, by Dr. Richard Winters (2022, 320 pages). Visit the Pails in Comparison blog for a short list of books on my 2023 review list.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. This new year, 2023, will bring new trends, new fads, new colors, new “take-it-to-the-bank” social media and communication strategies and tactics. But before your newly-appointed committee gets carried away with the 2023 Pantone color (it’s “Viva Magenta”) and all the new media gimmicks—take a breath! This new year is a good time to invest a day or two in discerning what’s enduring versus what’s old, boring, and inadequate. What aligns with your mission? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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Tags: 2022 Book-of-the-Year, Top-10 Books

December 29, 2022

The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything

This issue was originally published on March 15, 2022.

2022 Book-of-the-Year!
See Issue 541 (12/31/2022) for the Top-10 Books of 2022.

Issue No. 509 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a book (published on March 15, 2022) by Steve Macchia, who confesses, “The older I get, the harder it is to pray.” (I love his authenticity—and the book!) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for my new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of my latest “PICs.”

Steve Macchia on discernment: “We want a simple system to follow: set up the room, put people in place, consider the right options, add a prayer, and then press the button of discernment.”

“God, what fabric softener do you want me to buy at the store this week?”

Wait! Is this a book on discernment—or an entire PBS season of This Old House? With delightful humor and humility, Steve Macchia’s troubles and travails with his 75-year-old house create the stage for learning and listening—and noticing God’s heart for us.

Don’t skip Steve’s true stories (and memorable old house metaphors). “Apparently, tomato sauce can expire, and when it does, it explodes.” The porch of heaven (beautiful). Low water pressure issues. Ice dams on the roof from a long winter (dubbed “snowmageddon” and “snowpocalypse”). It gets worse, of course! (The poor guy!)

But, really, this is a hopeful book. The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything emits the same respectful tone that oozes out of Macchia’s other books (see Crafting a Rule of Life and others). Steve writes with high regard and aspirations for readers and leaders—fellow pilgrims. He confesses, “The older I get, the harder it is to pray.” Steve admits he’s “just a beginner” in this discernment journey, and so with that honest humility, he invites me in. I love this book.

TAP. TAP. TAP. I’ll never forget the moment when Steve Macchia, speaking to several hundred ministry leaders, asked us to “Tap, Tap, Tap” on a colleague’s shoulder. We faithfully followed his directions, chuckled, and then stopped. And then this classic response from Steve: “Wait! I didn’t tell you to stop tapping!” (More chuckles.) And with that, Steve gifted us with a lifelong metaphor of God as a loving initiator.

BONUS! Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast for Steve Macchia's interview with John Pearson (Episode 4, April 21, 2022).

Macchia asks, “But are we aware of his presence? He’s tapping on the shoulder of our hearts all the time: tap, tap, tap . . . tap, tap, tap. As Christ- followers, it’s incumbent upon us to notice the tap and not brush it aside, shun God’s presence, or be so numbed or hardened or oblivious as to miss it altogether.” This book rekindled that moment. I’m so grateful.

“FAR TOO OFTEN, SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT HAS BEEN PIGEON-HOLED,” Steve writes, “into the exclusive realm of decision-making, learning how to make good choices and know God’s will methodically and predictably. We want a simple system to follow: set up the room, put people in place, consider the right options, add a prayer, and then press the button of discernment.”

He adds, “For some people, spiritual discernment is reserved for major ministry or organizational decisions, like calling the right pastor or determining where to plant a church. For others, it’s a tool used to spiritualize every single decision: God, what fabric softener do you want me to buy at the store this week?”

Why a book on discernment? “There is no more important topic for the church to wrestle with today than to know God, notice him at work in, through, and all around us, and to aid others in embracing and fulfilling the discerning life.”

With several helpful definitions and commentaries on “discernment,” I especially appreciated this one: “Perceiving and noticing the present, attentive to the now, and in anticipation of the next—like holding hands and looking both ways before safely crossing the street.”

Tall order? Yes! “All of this will take a lifetime to rehearse,” promises Macchia.

LOL! “On a spiritual retreat a handful of years ago, I was sitting with a spiritual mentor, detoxing my hurting soul. I was sharing about feelings of abandonment from those I thought had my best interests in mind but had turned against me. I was not in a good place. After listening to my story, this godly man encouraged me to do one of the strangest things ever suggested to me:

“Wink at myself in the mirror. At least once a day. For the foreseeable future. That sounded so bizarre! But his point was to do this as a reminder of God’s unconditional love for me each day. This spiritual leader shared that our lives will be filled with disappointment, heartache, suffering, and sorrow. That reality we cannot change. But the inner reservoir of our soul can indeed be opened to receive love once more, over and over and over again. That’s the way of God, and if we’re to live a discerning life, it’s to become our way too.”

ALLERGIC TO SPIRITUAL DEPTH. Macchia is just warming up when he reminds us that “Without a prayer closet, we are destined to live an inch deep and a mile wide. For any number of reasons, we are highly allergic to spiritual depth. We’re guilty of a self-ordained, self-empowered, self-absorbed life. And although we value the priority of prayer and believe in the importance of a prayer closet, we are far too busy for such a notion to be fully realized in our lives. It reeks of weakness. It smacks of ritual. It sounds boring. I used to need it, but it’s no longer necessary. Been there, done that, moving on.

“DEPTH IS SUBTRACTIVE. IT IS NOT ADDITIVE. We don’t dig a hole high; we dig it deep,” writes Macchia. “Similarly, in the spiritual life, depth relates to what’s going on underneath the surface. A deeper life isn’t measured by accumulation, unless what’s gained is more of God. Depth is hidden and mysterious. Depth is experienced most abundantly in relation to what we lose or sacrifice or release. Even depth of knowledge, depth of compassion, depth of character, depth of insight, and depth of contentment require some form of letting go in order to fully receive.”

Macchia continues, “Preconceived notions need to be released in order for greater knowledge to be received. Creature comforts need to be released in order for compassion to be offered. Humility creates character. Wisdom forms insight. Contentment comes from letting go of that which previously defined you. In spiritual depth, we find life at its fullest by letting go. In so many profound ways, the spiritual life is all about letting go—not always complete detachment (as in the love of our spouse or child), but by holding people and things with a much looser grip, in order to mature as God desires.”

In recent years, I’ve slowly munched on one book for up to six months (just on weekends)—seeking to go slow and deep. Examples: Packer’s Knowing God and Blackaby’s Experiencing God. But…the deep end of the pool can be threatening. Nevertheless, The Discerning Life is my weekend book for the next six months.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Discerning Life: An Invitation to Notice God in Everything, by Stephen Macchia. Listen to the book on Libro.fm (8 hours, 7 minutes).

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Here’s an idea—go deep on this book with your team members. The stories are page-turners (think This Old House—the perfect discernment metaphor). The “Practicing a Preference for God” succinct summaries (see “Tap, Tap, Tap”) are so helpful. And the lists…oh, my…the lists! Steve Macchia resists formulaic pious claptrap—and instead—delivers deep and soul-challenging content: discernment definitions (5), discernment postures (12), soul-neglect causes (10), stumbling blocks to listening (10), poignant discernment questions (11), Jesus’ favorite topics (17)—you’ll love the lists! And this reminder: “All of this will take a lifetime to rehearse.” OK team—who will summarize the first chapter at our next staff meeting?

2) Steve Macchia writes, “A consistent visit to your prayer closet fulfills your soul’s deepest longings. A prayer closet can be as simple as a dedicated time and space where you go with Bible, journal, and pen in hand to meet with God, as unhurried, unhindered, and uncluttered as possible. That’s all that’s needed—nothing more; nothing less.” Is “closet” a metaphor here—or does Steve Macchia expect us to actually find a closet for prayer times?

Communicate your annual S.M.A.R.T. Goals for volunteers using the one-page G.N.O.M.E. Chart. Read the Volunteer Bucket chapter in Mastering the Management Buckets.

The 20 Buckets Countdown:
The Volunteer Bucket (#12) Insights 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.

The Volunteer Bucket Core Competency: “We reject the notion of a two-tiered Kingdom workforce. Instead, we seek to treat our paid volunteers (staff) and our unpaid volunteers with equal passion and intentionality. We will never have enough paid staff to accomplish our Kingdom assignments, so we continually hone our skills in volunteer cultivation, recruitment, orientation and engagement.”

Tap! Tap! Tap!—Discernment for Volunteers (i.e. Board Members). Steve Macchia’s “Tap, Tap, Tap” theme is featured in two books by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Read Macchia’s blog commentary on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom (Lesson 11), and read Peter F. Clements’ blog commentary on Lessons From the Church Boardroom (Lesson 11). And click here for the five-minute video conversation with Busby and Pearson, “Tap! Tap! Tap!”

Enhance Volunteer Satisfaction and Mission Results! Visit the Volunteer Bucket webpage and download Worksheet #12.1, “The G.N.O.M.E Chart: Annual Volunteer Goals.” In just one page, you and your volunteer team can establish Annual S.M.A.R.T. Goals for your volunteers in four key areas: Cultivation, Recruitment, Orientation, and Engagement. Click here.

The 20 management buckets are perfect content for the lifelong learning segment in your weekly staff meetings (you do have weekly staff meetings, right?). Visit the 20 buckets webpage here.

Check out John’s new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with with additional book reviews including this fascinating read:
• PIC #5: Inside Marine One: Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World’s Most Amazing Helicopter, by Col. Ray L'Heureux and Lee Kelley - (read review)

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Need help discerning next steps in your communication strategies? Is prayer and discernment an integral part of your team’s process? It can be! Contact Pearpod Media (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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: discernment

December 20, 2022

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

Issue No. 540 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features eight leadership case studies from an 1879 expedition to the unmapped North Pole. True survival story! Oh, my. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for the table of contents to Mastering 100 Must-Read Books (a perfect Christmas gift for a leader/reader).

The foremost cartographers in the 1880s believed that the unmapped North Pole featured warm currents that “sustained a verdant island at the top of the world.” So in 1879, a crew of 33 men sailed from San Francisco to claim the area for the U.S.A. Read more about “The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette.”

“This Is a Glorious Country to Learn Patience In”

YOUR MISSION, SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:
• Recruit: a crew of 32 outstanding men—and set sail from San Francisco on the newly commissioned USS Jeannette.
• Explore: the North Pole—one of the few unmapped areas on the globe.
• Verify: if Germany’s August Petermann, the world’s savviest mapmaker, is correct. True or false? There really are warm waters that feed into a vast Open Polar Sea at the top of the world.
• Rescue: Oh, and along the way, look for other “Artic Fever” explorers and sailors who are still missing (or long gone) in the land of snow blindness, polar bears, ferocious storms, and frigid temperatures (Brrr!).

Did we mention…your sailing date is July 8, 1879? (No iPhones or GPS available!) Oh, my. Do you still need a Christmas gift for the leaders and readers in your family or on your team? Here it is!

In the Kingdom of Ice:
The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette,
by Hampton Sides
Listen on Libro.fm (17 hours, 28 minutes)

This phenomenal true story reads like a page-turning novel. The writing—superb. The suspense—breathtaking. The visionary hopes—stunning. The suffering—unimaginable. The leadership lessons—remarkable. If I were teaching a graduate school course on leadership, I’d use these case studies from In the Kingdom of Ice.

CASE STUDY #1. Recruit Your Team. Lt. Commander George Washington De Long, a young officer and graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, had led a successful rescue operation off the coast of Greenland—and was captivated by the beauty and adventure of the Artic. Now as the USS Jeannette’s captain, he needed 32 men (the best of the best) for a harrowing journey to the North Pole in 1879.
• You’re the captain. Describe the process you would use to recruit the best talent (sailors, navigators, chefs, naturalists, a journalist, a doctor, and more).
• List 10 friends and colleagues that you might invite to join you—and how you’ll persuade them to be away from families for up to two years perhaps.

CASE STUDY #2. Be Prepared! Captain De Long, of course, had not heard of Eisenhower’s belief that “plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” Intuitively, De Long assembled an unbelievable inventory of provisions, scientific equipment, and more.

“He ordered 54,000 pounds of pemmican (a jerky-like mixture of dried meat, berries, and fat) and assorted canned goods.” He wanted the crew to “lack nothing in the way of comfort and equipment. The ship would have a well-stocked library, a first-class infirmary, an arsenal of modern rifles and revolvers, a choice collection of games and entertainments, even a small organ for musical concerts.” De Long’s wife noted, “His watchfulness was comprehensive and minute; no detail escaped him.” (This reminded me of the WW2 book and the movie, Operation Mincemeat.)
• Make a list of everything you will need for your two-year voyage to the Artic. (Reminder: you may get stuck in ice for prolonged periods.)
• Note: Leave room for 40 dogs and their two handlers, plus three dog sleds (to be purchased in Alaska). What will the dogs eat?

CASE STUDY #3. Funding. Amazingly, the over-the-top owner and editor-in-chief of the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett, promised De Long and the U.S. Navy an almost unlimited budget. He bought the ship, paid for the substantial reinforcements of the ship (for the Artic ice), the crew’s wages, and all the supplies. His quid pro quo: his newspaper would get the breaking news on this heroic and dangerous voyage. (Bennett was the third richest man in America—and a character.)
• Describe how you will communicate regularly with your benefactor (no email in 1879). When challenges overwhelm you—will you share the unvarnished truth or sugar coat the news to your one and only major donor?
• Oh, did we mention…that a reporter for the NY Herald is one of your crew members? What's your policy on fake news?

CASE STUDY #4. Elevator Speech! Doubleday, the publisher of In the Kingdom of Ice, summarized De Long’s entire expedition in 60 seconds. Click here to view the one-minute video.

View the 60-second “elevator speech” from the publisher of In the Kingdom of Ice.

• It’s 1879 and you’re the guest speaker at The Explorers Club in NYC (not yet founded!). What’s your one-minute elevator speech? (Or as Duct Tape Marketing calls it, your “Talking Logo.")

CASE STUDY #5. Crunch! Yikes! On Sept. 7, 1879, the USS Jeannette was entrapped by polar ice—“cocked at a queer angle, so that the men could not stand straight, or sit normally, or lie in their bunks without fear of rolling out.” The ice “was turning into cement,” according to the detailed journals kept by the captain and others.

Stuck! Marooned! Incapacitated! Yet… “Delong appeared to accept that he was locked in for the winter. He seemed, indeed, to embrace adversity—and to hunt for its possible meanings. ‘This is a glorious country to learn patience in,’” he wrote in his journal. “My disappointment is great, how great no one else will probably know. There seemed nothing left but making a virtue of necessity and staying where we were.” Imagine! For 21 months, the ship—stuck in ice—just drifted.
• Good luck, Captain! What will you do, day after dark day, night after night, to keep morale high and every crew member healthy?
• What’s your leadership style? A) Plan for this eventuality, or B) Be nimble and adapt to the every-changing and horrific circumstances?

CASE STUDY #6. Love Letters. De Long wrote frequently to his wife, Emma, and their young daughter back in the States. And Emma wrote frequently and patiently to her husband. Yet, most of the letters were never delivered. Years later, the letters were found and the author includes a selection of these poignant messages in his book.
• You’re Captain De Long. What do you write to your wife, week after week?
• You’re Emma De Long. Are you an encourager or a complainer?

CASE STUDY #7. Abandon Ship! Oops! The USS Jeannette sinks, but no problem. The crew was prepared with emergency knapsacks, three small boats, and minimal provisions—just 1,000 miles north of Siberia. Click here to view “Hampton Sides Talks at Google” (52 minutes) and ponder the life-and-death decisions that Captain De Long was required to make. Oh, my.

View the author’s fascinating color commentary on In the Kingdom of Ice, “Hampton Sides Talks at Google” (52 minutes).

• You announce “Abandon ship!” You have just an hour or two. Your ship is laden with journals, maps, and scientific botanical finds, and food. What do you take with you?
• It’s 2022 and you need to immediately evacuate your home due to a natural disaster. Read what The Wall Street Journal noted about what others are packing in a crisis. What's on your short list?

CASE STUDY #8. Top Down or Decentralized? When the crew abandoned their sinking ship, Captain De Long made an excruciating decision. Plan A: Keep all three boats under his command (about 11 crew members and 10+ dogs in each boat). Plan B: Delegate the survival responsibilities to one officer per boat. (Let’s try to stay together—but you’re the captain of your own ship.)
• Mutiny had raised its ugly head on previous polar expeditions—so maybe you should keep everyone close to keep morale high? What are the pros and cons of Plan A?
• You’re the Captain: Top-down leadership or delegate survival to three capable officers? (Note: Read why one officer selected this slogan for his small boat: Nil desperandum—"Never despair.")

Caution! Don’t read this book when you’re hungry or cold!

To order from Amazon, click on the title for In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette, by Hampton Sides. Listen on Libro.fm (17 hours, 28 minutes). And thanks to Jim West for recommending this stunning book!

P.S. If you prefer the South Pole to the North Pole, perhaps someone on your team should read and report on the 10th Anniversary edition of the bestseller/business fable, Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions, by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber. Listen on Libro.fm (2 hours, 9 minutes). It’s a classic by the Harvard Business School author of Leading Change. And thanks to Dick Bahruth for reminding me of this “iceberg” fable on change management.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Character and courage are not formed in the Crisis Bucket, but they are revealed. For another case study in leadership-under-fire, view the classic 1949 film, Twelve O’clock High. Gregory Peck plays an Air Force general tasked with rejuvenating an exhausted and demoralized bomber group in World War II. Click here to read my review of this and seven other leadership flicks. Recommend another film or book in the Crisis Bucket genre. What did you learn?
2) If page-turning 400-page historical adventures are not your thing right now—but you need another case study in teamwork—read The Boats in the Boat (Book #61 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books). What’s your leadership style when you’re in stress mode? What have you learned about yourself during tough times?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #11 of 100:
The ONE Thing

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #11 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

The ONE Thing:
The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan

Books #6 through #21 feature 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Gary Keller’s big idea (perhaps practiced by the crew of the USS Jeannette): "What's the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?"
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The ONE Thing
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

LOL! In my review, I promised to deliver 10 tweetable quotations. (Yet…it’s somewhat ironic that I included 20 quotations in a book review about The ONE Thing.) Some of my favorites:
• "If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one." (Russian proverb)
• "...it turns out that high multitaskers are suckers for irrelevancy."
• "A 'balanced life' is a myth—a misleading concept most accept as a worthy and attainable goal without ever stopping to truly consider it."
• "'Don't put all your eggs in one basket is all wrong.' I tell you ‘put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.'" (Dale Carnegie)
• "When Arthur Guinness set up his first brewery, he signed a 9,000-year lease."

• “Someone once told me that one ‘yes’ must be defended over time by 1,000 no’s.”
• In the two years after Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, “he took the company from 350 products to ten. That’s 340 no’s, not counting anything else proposed during that period.”
• "Build a bunker. Turn off your phone, shut down your email, and exit your Internet browser. Your most important work deserves 100 percent of your attention."
• "To experience extraordinary results, be a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon. Your goal is 'ONE and done.’ But if you don't block each day to do your ONE Thing, your ONE Thing won't become a done thing."

GIVE BOOKS THIS CHRISTMAS! Give niche books to the team members and family members you’re mentoring. They’ll learn contrarian insights like this from Harold Geneen, “In the business world, everyone is paid in two coins: cash and experience. Take the experience first; the cash will come later.” Visit the Pails in Comparison blog for a short list of books John is reviewing in 2023.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. This Christmas, are you inspiring your team to creatively THANK the key marketing and communications people who help you tell your story? Here’s a creative idea: check out the Saints and Sneakers website and custom order a pair of sneakers for your favorite vendors or team members. Pearpod created the website to add fun and significance to gift-giving. Visit Saints and Sneakers. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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: Hampton Sides, ice, North Pole expedition, survival

December 14, 2022

Don’t Miss Your Life: The Secret to Significance

Issue No. 539 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting includes a Pop Quiz and recommends the perfect book for your Christmas gift-giving from Aaron Tredway. He asks: Is your target success or significance? And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for the table of contents to Mastering 100 Must-Read Books (a perfect Christmas gift for a leader/reader).

How might your day be different if every step reminded you of Mother Teresa and Johann Sebastian Bach’s “S.D.G.” signature, Soli Deo Gloria? Order the shoes from Saints and Sneakers! Men's shoe. Women's shoe.

Tredway’s Treadmills or S.D.G.?

Several years ago, when I reviewed Aaron Tredway’s book, Outrageous, I thought, “Aaron’s outdone himself. He couldn’t possibly write a book better than this one. The stories are…well, so outrageous. Stunning, really.”

Example: Read the eyebrow-raising account in Outrageous of Aaron’s professional basketball career debut as the only American on the Tajikistan National Basketball Association team. (It’s scary hilarious!) Aaron notes: “As it turned out, I also got paid to play in that basketball game. The payment? One live goat. Apparently that made me one of the highest paid players in the league!” (Read more here.)

So when I read Aaron’s latest book—I was amazed. More outrageous stories. More insights. And deep. (Few authors score multiple must-read books.) My suggestion: order several copies as very special Christmas gifts for staff members, emerging leaders, family members, and others. You’ll resonate with the truths and the stories in Don’t Miss Your Life: The Secret to Significance.

Aaron Tredway warns that it’s way too easy to aim for the wrong target in life. His new book is so, so timely. The FIFA World Cup final game is Dec. 18, 2022. (Oops. The U.S. didn’t make it.) While Tredway is now a pastor and ministry leader, he also invested 20 years as a player, coach, and executive in professional soccer on six continents. He is also the founder of the Cleveland City Stars soccer team. His first book, To Who, was written for players and fans at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Weary of the “success” treadmill, Tredway’s personal target evolved towards God-honoring significance. His goal became this Scripture: “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” He adds,

“I used to write that Scripture verse on my cleats when I played soccer. Sometimes I’d write in Latin—Soli Deo Gloria—it means the same thing. I stole the idea from the seventeenth-century composer Johann Sebastian Bach. He would never sign his name on any musical score, he’d simply write the initials S.D.G. in the bottom right corner when he was satisfied with his work.”

S.D.G.

“I started writing it on my cleats long before I lived it as my purpose.”

So Tredway asks us, “Do you live for the significance of God or the significance of yourself?” (Do you see why his book is the perfect Christmas gift?) For more on Bach and S.D.G., click here to listen to “5 Minutes in Church History.” (LOL!)

Tredway writes about the time he flew from Africa to Singapore. “The Singaporean Professional Soccer League isn’t one of the best in the world, but they pay well.” Yet on his first day on the practice field, he heard God’s voice.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“That’s what God said,” admits Aaron, but… “I didn’t pay attention.” God spoke to him again, “You don’t have to do this.”

“I’ve noticed God doesn’t use a microphone, but he does speak,” adds Aaron. “It wasn’t audible. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t condemning. But only God could know my greatest goal was approval.” (Aaron explains.) The result?

“‘Thanks for having me, Coach.’ That’s what I said as I walked onto the field for my first practice in Singapore. I never actually touched the ball. I flew back to Africa that night.”

I’ve rarely read a book that is both convicting and fun with both poignant stories and pregnant pauses—occasional moments to drink deeply from a diversity of authors and notables such as Mother Teresa, Homer, C.S. Lewis, 50 Cent, Deion Sanders, Kobe, and many others. Reflect on this from D.L. Moody:

“Our greatest fear should not be of failure,
but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.”

And speaking of treadmills (hmmm…Tredway’s Treadmills?), Aaron invests several pages in “The Hedonic Treadmill.” The two charts are memorable. He quotes Shakespeare: “Happy thou art not, for what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get, and what thou hast, forget’st.” Aaron summarizes:
• “Thou striv’st.
• Thou get’st.
• Thou like’st.
• Thou forget’st.”

That’s the hedonic treadmill (Desire, Strive, Obtain, Enjoy—then repeat). Read more here. The treadmill reminded me of a recent Wall Street Journal article that asked, “How would you feel if an anonymous benefactor gave you $10,000 to spend within the next three months, no strings attached? Would suddenly being flush with cash fill you with joy?” (Read more.)

In the book, Tredway describes his visit to Mother Teresa’s home for terminally ill women. The home radiated joy! He notes Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s “calling card” and mantra: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

Order these Mother Teresa/S.D.G. shoes from Saints and Sneakers. Women's shoe. Men's shoe.

So what’s your calling card? What’s your target—success or significance? Tredway points us to Matthew 6:21, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” He continues, “I don’t know if Jesus ever did archery in high school, but I’m pretty sure he’s saying that whatever you aim at, what you most pursue, that’s where the majority of your attention, affection, and effort will be.”

“Have you ever noticed, Jesus doesn’t say we should aspire to hear God say,
• ‘Well done, good and successful servant!’
• ‘There’s no mention of a good and famous servant or a good and wealthy servant.’
• ‘Jesus doesn’t say we should seek to hear the words, good and powerful servant either.’”

“It makes me wonder,” writes Tredway, “will anyone arrive in heaven and say to God,
• ‘I wish I had kept my house cleaner!’
• Or, ‘I wish I had mowed my lawn more.’
• Or, ‘I wish I had a more prestigious title.’
• Or, ‘I wish I had been more consumed by my job.’”

Not you? Not convicted yet? No problem. Tredway has a pop quiz for you. He asks: how addicted to success are you? He lists 10 symptoms of “Success Sickness.” They include: Insecurity, Insomnia, Loneliness, Dissatisfaction, Workaholism, Perfectionism, Burnout (see the new book below), Addiction, Risk-Taking, and Imposter Syndrome.

His color commentary for each symptom is…well, convicting. How many symptoms did you check? Tredway surmises, “I’m guessing the over-under on this little assessment is six or seven. Maybe you got eight?” He adds:

“The point here isn’t to shame you but to show you that success as the target of life is woefully inadequate. In a recent study, over 60 percent of American adults said they are too busy to enjoy life. Parents, it’s worse for you. Seventy-four percent of American parents say they are too busy to enjoy life.”

As you consider who on your Christmas gift list would appreciate this book, include yourself. Don’t Miss Your Life is well worth the read. Twice. Aaron Tredway is the real deal (and he’s also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro—all 19,341 feet! Oh, my. You must read that story!). To learn more about Ambassadors Football International, where Tredway also serves as vice president, click here. To view his message, “Don’t Miss Your Life,” click here. And to listen to the unSeminary podcast interview with Aaron, click here.

If you still need a push, Tredway offers this from D.A. Carson:

“People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Don’t Miss Your Life: The Secret to Significance, by Aaron Tredway. And thanks to Jon Ortlip of Ambassadors Football for hand-delivering a review copy! Click here for the creative World Cup 2022 resources available from Ambassadors Football.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Is your target success or significance? Pick one of the 10 “Success Sickness” symptoms and describe how that one might be an obstacle to focusing on God-honoring significance.
2) In Chapter 9, “Give Your Life Away,” Aaron Tredway shares the story of Mahatma Gandhi when he was in law school in London. In those days (circa 1888), the British Rail Company had a policy to stop at rail stations only “if there were white passengers waiting at the station.” When the train didn’t stop for Gandhi, he sprinted after the train, losing one shoe in the process—before successfully jumping on board. “Gandhi immediately reached down, grabbed his other shoe, and threw that shoe onto the train track as well.” Why? Gandhi’s response: “The one who finds my shoe shall now have a pair.” What was Gandhi’s target? Why?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #10 of 100:
The Power of Moments

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

The Power of Moments:
Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Books #6 through #21 feature 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. Reading Book #10, I wondered how pastors could best inspire a congregation—weekend after weekend, 52 weeks a year. (Is that even possible?) You’ll learn that creative teams can create extraordinary experiences along the way—by defying “the forgettable flatness of everyday work and life by creating a few precious moments.” (p. 265).
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: The Power of Moments
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

Don’t skip the insights about a weeklong program, the Course Design Institute (CDI). “The dirty secret of higher education [and maybe seminaries?] is that the faculty aren’t taught how to teach,” says Michael Palmer, a chemistry prof at the University of Virginia. So Palmer invites groups of 25 to 30 profs, per course, to meet the ugly truth in the mirror. Read how he does this!

THE BURNOUT CHALLENGE. This new Harvard University Press book cautions that there are six “mismatches” that create hazards in the “Burnout Shop” (your office!). They include: Workload, Control, Rewards, Community, Fairness, and Values. Inspire your team members to read The Burnout Challenge: Managing People’s Relationships With Their Jobs. Read more on the Pails in Comparison blog.

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Tags: purpose, significance, Soli Deo Gloria, success

December 6, 2022

3 New Books on the WHY of Outdoor Ministry

Issue No. 538 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights "the power of camp" and three new books on growing emerging leaders. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), click here for over 500 book reviews, and click here for the table of contents to Mastering 100 Must-Read Books (a perfect Christmas gift for a leader/reader).

Inspire your family members and friends to WORK AT CAMP next summer (or year-round)! CCCA’s Venn Diagram (used by permission) spotlights “Work at Camp” at the center of who you are, your dreams, what you love, and making a difference. Visit FindACampJob.com.

3 Books: Growing Leaders

Oh, my. It was 53 years ago in the fall of 1969, as a very young camp director in Illinois, that I attended the fourth Christian Camping International Convention at Ridgecrest in North Carolina. Christianity Today reported on that gathering and quoted a camping leader: “You can accomplish more with a kid in one week of camp than in a whole year of Sunday school.”

Now today, the U.S. expression of CCI, Christian Camp & Conference Association, is back at Ridgecrest Conference Center for their National Conference, “Together ’22.” With pent-up demand to leave COVID in the rear view mirror, camping leaders have swarmed the place and the Dec. 5-8 conference is sold out! And still today, “the power of camp” continues to pack a punch. Visit CCCA’s website.

Little did I know during that 1969 conference what God was planning. CCI’s executive director, Ed Oulund, happened to sit across from me in the dining room—and oh, my! Ten years later, I was privileged to build on Oulund’s legacy and serve as CCI/USA’s executive director from 1979 to 1990. (CCI/USA is now called CCCA and Christian camping worldwide is thriving.)

So…in this issue, I’m fanning the flame for this amazing global ministry blessed by God—and urge you and all parents, pastors, educators, business leaders, and college students in search of spouses (I’ll explain below!)…to consider the powerful impact of Christian camps and conference centers.

Three new books/workbooks were published this year that effectively articulate the why and how of outdoor ministry and leadership development. Do your pastors and church leaders leverage the power of camp? Consider giving your church leaders one or all three of these new books:

[ ] Blueprints: Biblical Designs for Christian Camping—Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, by Dan Bolin

Dan Bolin served 11 years as the International Director of Christian Camping International, plus 25 years at Pine Cove Christian Camps in Texas—so he’s the perfect person to write this treatise on the why of the Christian camping movement. Bolin has inspired and encouraged camping leaders in more than 30 countries and speaks with authority on why “Christian camping is mushrooming around the globe.”

Bolin notes that “the casual observer wonders, what does it take to be a camp director besides a whistle and a clipboard?” (Yikes! Was I supposed to own a whistle?) Using a thoroughly biblical approach to his thoughtful book, he quotes Henrietta Mears, the founder of Forest Home, who said “Camp is where people make up their minds.” (Watch for my review of Mother of Modern Evangelicalism: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears.)

Bolin's book also addresses “the elephant in the room.” He writes that “sympathetic yet patronizing friends from the business world often wonder (sometimes to themselves and sometimes aloud) why can’t this camp be run like a business?” (If I had the proverbial $10 every time I was asked that question…well, you know the rest.) Bolin’s answer is excellent and he quotes Peter Drucker’s response to that question. And LOL...later on in the book, Dan mentions elephants again—but this time camping leaders in Kenya are teaching him!

[ ] Latin American Voices on Leadership: Their Emergence and Growth, by Lisa Marie Anderson-Umaña

In this must-read resource by Lisa Marie Anderson-Umaña—written for all Christian leaders and pastors (and camping leaders especially)—James Plueddemann doesn’t mince words in the foreword. He writes:

“Thousands of organizations and schools around the world claim to be ‘producing’ leaders. Huge amounts of money are being spent on training leaders, and when students demonstrate mastering of the content, they are certified as leaders. Dr. Anderson-Umaña undercuts this dangerous assumption. None of the outstanding leaders she interviewed identified a training course as having a significant effect on their growth as a leader.” Yikes!

Plueddemann, the author of Leading Across Cultures, adds, “Toxic self-centered leadership is a curse in the worldwide Church. Dr. Anderson-Umaña’s research demonstrates that healthy servant leaders grow as they learn to serve in the company of other servant leaders.”

Lisa Marie Anderson-Umaña is the Director of Leadership Development for Christian Camping International, Latin America. A missionary for 40 years, Lisa says she “married the culture” (her Honduran husband, Alfredo). A teacher and writer, her curriculum projects have been used by thousands of leaders in 12 Latin American countries.

As part of her research for this workbook, she asked Latin American leaders to share their leadership growth experiences. Anderson-Umaña’s research identified “four specific ways you can co-participate with God to help leaders emerge and grow.” They include:
• Accompany them
• Open up spaces for them to serve
• Create developmental experiences
• Promote self-leadership from the start of their journey

Research-based, but immensely practical, this workbook features 58 (not a typo!) exercises/questions to help leaders flesh out her findings and the practical next steps. And this warning: “If you’re someone who thinks that leaders can be formed through training courses, you’re in for a surprise!”

The voices of Latin American leaders: remarkable! Example: Adriana, “a pastor of a congregation of almost six-thousand members.” In the section on how to open up spaces for emerging leaders, the author describes the journey of Marcos, who inspired a Catholic priest and a Presbyterian minister to form soccer clubs in “hot” (gang-influenced) barrios.

“Marcos established strict discipline with the teams, charging one dollar if a player committed a foul, five dollars if a player said a bad word, and fifty dollars if a player attacked a referee.” (“We made a lot of money,” he joked!) But the bigger point: Marcos found a way into leadership through a side door, since his denomination insisted, “You must prove yourself first. You are young.”

Preferring direct communication and “giving more weight to the exact words” of others, Lisa learned that her “low-context” culture, as a North American, didn’t always align with the high-context culture of Latin America. One time in Mexico City, at the end of a camp counselor training session, she asked if everyone would be returning for the next session in a week. “Without exception, every single person said yes.” Yet… “No one showed up for the next meeting.” Must-read: Chapter 2, “The Role Culture Plays in Leadership.”

[ ] Leaders Yet Discovered: Experiential Development for Emerging Leaders, by Greg Robinson and Rob Ribbe

Lisa Marie Anderson-Umaña (see above) writes a generous recommendation for Leaders Yet Discovered, noting that “the streams of literature the authors have consulted stretch farther and wider than most of us have time to study and form applicable concepts.” I agree—and I’m grateful for these two leaders who have the intellectual and academic chops to deliver a concise, but comprehensive, leadership book on both the theory and the practice of growing authentic Christian leaders.

You’re probably not leadership material yourself if you can scan these pages and not be drawn deeper into these critical topics. Check out:
• Pages 21-29: Chapter 3, “Who Am I as a Leader?” details the book’s “leadership identity formation” model—and the progression it follows: Observer (“Leadership is a thing”), Explorer, Performer, Delegator, Developer, and Sage. (This will preach!)
• Pages 124-125: Two charts on the “Vicious Life Cycle” and the “Virtuous Life Cycle.” Vicious: “Staffing and Operating Budget Cuts: Program offerings cut; remaining staff must work harder to support existing programs.” Virtuous: “Program offerings are supported with the right level of infrastructure.”

Plus...see page 134 for the four quadrants chart assessing impact and viability:
• High Mission Impact/Low Viability: Keep but contain costs
• High Mission Impact/High Viability: Invest in continuance and growth
• Low Mission Impact/High Viability: Enhance impact
• Low Mission Impact/Low Viability: Discontinue or give away
Note: See my related review of Nonprofit Sustainability.

While this book is targeted to Christian camp ministries (with dozens of examples), the authors also suggest a new paradigm for all those working with emerging adults. Greg Robinson is the Associate Professor of Outdoor Leadership Ministries at John Brown University. Rob Ribbe has served at Wheaton College as Executive Director of HoneyRock, Center for Leadership Development since 2000. He’s also a faculty member of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership.

ABOUT THAT MEET-YOUR-SPOUSE-AT-CAMP IDEA! Parents and grandparents: while helping your future leaders pay for college—it can be expensive. If one of your goals is to help them find a future spouse, you may be surprised to learn that serving on the summer staff of a Christian camp or conference center—often leads to special relationships and, sometimes, matrimony! (Just ask any camp director how many wedding gifts he or she purchased in the last five years!) Think about it! For more, visit: FindACampJob.com.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Is it time to rethink how emerging leaders become authentic, servant leaders? What’s our plan?
2) Lisa Marie Anderson-Umaña, on opening up spaces for emerging leaders, asks, “Are the voices of those who are crying out to serve, or those whose voices are soft and tentative, being listened to? Does each department or ministry have a system in place to listen to these voices?” What’s our plan?
3) Read the chapter, "The Trucker Driver Was No Match for the Faith-filled Board Chair," about the board chair at SAMBICA in Bellevue, Wash. (from Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom). What's our prayer plan?

Mastering 100 Must-Read Books - Part 2: Books-of-the-Year

Book #9 of 100:
Scaling Up

For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by spotlighting Book #9 in Mastering 100 Must-Read Books.

Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It…and Why the Rest Don’t
Mastering the Rockefeller Habits 2.0
by Verne Harnish

Books #6 through #21 feature 16 books that I named the Book-of-the-Year from 2006 to 2020. The best quote in Book #9 is this one: “Senior leaders know they have succeeded in building an organization that can scale—and is fun to run—when they are the dumbest people in the room!”
• Read my review.
• Order from Amazon: Scaling Up
• Download the 100 Must-Read Books list (from John and Jason Pearson)

My review listed 12 reasons this book is a must-read, including Reason #12: Sloppy Execution! Verne Harnish says if you don’t execute the Rockefeller Habits, “It just means you’ve been leaving massive amounts of money and time on the table. And if you have a killer strategy and/or heroic people willing to work 18-hour days, eight days a week, these will make up for the messes created by sloppy execution and lack of discipline.”

A WELL-PLANTED FAITH. What are you growing in the next 30 days? How about your own personal growth? Read Ed McDowell’s devotional guide, A Well-Planted Faith in an Uprooted Culture: A 30-Day Devotional with Guided Journal Entries. Read more on the Pails in Comparison blog.

PEARPOD | TELLING YOUR STORY. Ready to scale up? What's the right-size staffing for your 2023 communications and marketing projects? Full-time staff, part-time staff, or contract help? We can help you think this through. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod (Design, Digital, Marketing, Social).

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