John Pearson's Buckets Blog

Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are

Issue No. 471 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting delivers (no extra charge) a cut-and-paste memo ready to send to your remote-working team members. No question: Remote, Inc. is the most practical book you’ll read in 2021.And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my review of Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School. (See also the Brain Rules videos here.)

The authors of Remote, Inc. note that when you manage remote workers, you're like Ginger Rogers—doing everything Fred Astaire is doing, “except backward in high heels!” Enjoy this 2 ½-minute video.
 
Work From Home:
Good News and Bad News!

Raise your hand if…when you began working from home a year ago, you immediately read a book on how to work from home.

Raise your hand if…you’re much smarter and more clever than your colleagues (and your competition), so there’s no need to read a book about working remotely.

Raise your hand if…the next person you hire or supervise will be magically gifted with all the skillsets needed for the hybrid future (working remotely and at the office).

Hmmm. I thought so. No worries because I’ve got just the book (or audio book) for you. Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are, by Robert C. Pozen and Alexandra Samuel, is already the Most Practical Book You’ll Read in 2021, maybe even the decade.

As a public service to my faithful readers, just cut-and-paste this memo and send to your work-from-home (WFH) team members today!
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MEMO TO: All Remote Team Members

#1. Good News! You can continue to work in your PJs! It looks like remote working will be here for a while, according to the hot-off-the-press book from Harper Business, Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are. (Your new best friend, the Amazon driver, will deliver the book to you this week.)

#2. Bad News! A year ago, none of us were prepared to work at home, or at Starbucks, and (how shall I say this graciously?), many of our remote working skillsets need improvement—especially our meetings. (I’ve already picked up a dozen practical pointers on improving my competencies.)

#3. Good News! You’ve been promoted! Robert Pozen and Alexandra Samuel, the authors of Remote, Inc., recommend you launch your “Business of One.” It’s a brilliant concept and I’d like your help to rethink our “notion of productivity so that it’s no longer defined by the dated concept of a workday.” You’ll love it! (See Chapter 1: “Your Business of One.”) I’m asking ______ to give us a 10-minute summary of Chapter 1 at our next weekly staff meeting. (Who would like to volunteer to review Chapter 2 the following week? Sixteen weekly staff meetings—16 chapter reviews!)

#4. Bad News! You’ve read the surveys. Micro-managing bosses (not me!) and our ill-suited remote workspaces created instant burnout for team members. (One survey found that “45 percent of employees were feeling burned out”—after just one month of remote working.) Couple that with what the authors call our “obsession with the eight-hour workday…an obsolete leftover from a previous era,” and it’s no wonder that ______, ______, and ______ exited our organization during COVID. (Yikes!)

#5. Good News! Fewer and better meetings ahead! (Did I mention “good news?”) I skipped right to Chapter 10: “Making the Most of Meetings” and you’ll see some new features—already—in our next weekly staff meeting. This 20-page chapter is a must-read. Start with the 10 “Takeways” on pages 161-162 (the takeaways are a brilliant feature of every chapter), then read the “From a Remote Worker” testimonial (the book has 16 windows into real life remote workers), and note what they call “The Three Stages of a Meeting” (appetizer, main course, and dessert). Important! Please skip the section, “Three Ways to Avoid a Meeting.” (LOL!)

#6. Bad News! Let’s face it, our PowerPoints go on…and on…and on. As ______ recently observed, “Death by PowerPoint!” So…please also read “Five Alternatives to a Slide Deck” and to go deeper, read Chapter 15, “Presentations: Making an Impact,” including “Three Slide Mistakes—and How to Avoid Them.” Be honest now—have any of us ever read even one chapter on slide decks or PowerPoints? The summary has nine takeaways and there’s a short recipe for creating a universal deck. Plus this breaking news: “Not every presentation needs slides!”

#7. Good News! Based on my last 360 feedback, you’ll be ecstatic to learn that I’ve already read Chapter 3, “Managing a Remote Team.” My goodness! I could have used this practical wisdom a year ago. (I can hear the “Amens” already!) This might be my favorite blurb:

“There’s a reason people talk about the ‘art’ of management. It’s never easy, but managing a remote team makes it even more complicated. Being an effective manager means knowing how to delegate, how to foster team collaboration, and how to motivate individual employees.”

The authors add, “Managing all of that for a distributed team makes you Ginger Rogers to the conventional workplace’s Fred Astaire: you’re doing everything he does, except backward in high heels.”

#8. Bad News. Chapter 3 was convicting—and I need to apologize (which, I guess, is good news!). The authors suggest we leverage four tools/expectations. So, a year late (did I mention I’m sorry?), let’s talk about:
   • Ground Rules (pages 49-50)
   • Hours and Contacts (see Chapter 7)
   • Meetings (see Chapter 10)
   • Email and Messaging (see Chapter 13)

Note: I’m asking ______ to be our champion for “Onboarding a Remote Team Member” (per pages 51-52). I love the suggestion to “give your newbie a digital welcome pack.” No whining, ______, the book says I should delegate more!

#9. Good News. Whew! This book is absolutely jam-packed with just-in-time wisdom, practical ideas, and dozens of productivity apps I’d like us to try. The street cred of the co-authors is impressive! Robert Pozen taught law and economics at NYU Law School and then rose to the president’s role at Fidelity Investments (where he helped grow assets under management to almost $1 trillion). He’s also the author of the bestseller, Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours. I’m asking ______ to read and report on his book, and especially his insights (mentioned in both books) on “OHIO” (Only Handle It Once) and how to focus on results, and “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.”

Alexandra Samuel, author of Work Smarter with Social Media (HBR Press), has worked remotely for most of her career, juggling work, marriage, and two sons. She describes herself as “a passionate technologist who has worked with some of the world’s biggest tech companies.” With a Ph.D. from Harvard, her writing on digital productivity appears frequently in Harvard Business Review and The Wall Street Journal (see “How to Manage the Hybrid Workplace,” March 22, 2021). More than 7,000 have taken her Skillshare course, “Email Productivity: Work Smarter with Your Inbox,” and I’ll pay the course fee for the first person who implements one new idea from Remote, Inc.


Does email drive you nuts? View this 90-second video (and therapy!) from Alexandra Samuel on her Skillshare course on email productivity.

#10. Bad News. Oh…if only our team had read Remote, Inc. sooner! We would have made better decisions about what the authors call the “Goldilocks Plan.” Some surveys document that 65 to 77 percent of workers expressed a preference for the hybrid model—"not too much time at home, and not too little.” (Read the “Ten Reasons to Go to the Office” and the “Ten Reasons to Work Remotely.”) And don’t skip the conclusion with “Seven Quick Wins for Remote Workers” and “Seven Big Wins for Organizations.”

Warmly,

Your New-and-Improved Boss!

P.S. When Amazon delivers your copy of Remote, Inc.—please take a photo of yourself, and your dog, while reading this book in your favorite WFH setting—and text the photo to all of us! (Warning: Do not read page 113!)

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Attn: All Bosses! To order this book for your team members from Amazon, click on the title for Remote, Inc.: How to Thrive at Work . . . Wherever You Are, by Robert C. Pozen and Alexandra Samuel. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (8 hours, 32 minutes). And thanks to Harper Business for sending a review copy.



YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
1) After you read Chapters 10, 11, 12 in Remote, Inc. (essential skills for remote workers: Meetings, Reading, and Writing), re-read 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations, by Joey Asher. Maybe—we’d have less “Zoom fatigue” if our presentations included the author’s “three bumper sticker points” and all of us would “take our faces out of park,” as Asher admonishes!
2) In the extremely practical chapter, “Email and Messaging,” the authors of Remote, Inc. suggest you “unsubscribe from at least one email list every day. It will keep your email volume in check, and it’s incredibly satisfying.” (But do NOT subscribe from Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews!) Who will volunteer to read and report on Chapter 13 (email) and Chapter 14 (social media)?
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MEMO TO: Neighbors, Dog Walkers, & Cell Phone Talkers!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook


LOL! The co-author of Remote, Inc. commissioned this cartoon for John’s front yard sign! (Read why below.)

This is funny! Last December, I read Alexandra Samuel’s insightful WSJ article, “How to Protect Your Privacy When Working From Home.” It suggested you walk around the neighborhood and make your office calls then. I couldn’t resist—so I submitted a letter to the editor with a tongue-in-check mention about listening in on my neighbors’ calls when they walked by my WFH office!

The author emailed a hilarious response to me and she commissioned her husband/cartoonist to create a cartoon! LOL! (So, naturally, I erected a sign in my front yard—to needle my neighbors!) That prompted several more laughs—and I met more neighbors, including Harsh and his friendly dog, Rufus!

Click here to read my “Bonus Blog.”

SOCIAL STYLES REMINDER! Each of the four social styles likely view remote working from different perspectives. Analyticals and Drivers (more task-oriented) might be thriving at home. Amiables and Expressives, likely, are missing the day-to-day relationships. To download two social styles cheat sheets, click here for these resources in the People Bucket.

BREAKING NEWS! On April 20, 2021, Tracom announced the release of SOCIAL STYLE® v3, “The Best Behavioral Skills Model Updated for the Virtual Workplace.” Click here to view the five-minute video.


View the new 5-minute video on the four social styles assessment, “The Best Behavioral Skills Model Updated for the Virtual Workplace.”
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Pearpod’s creative descriptions for the four social styles include: Info-Sponges, Just-the-Facts, Heartfelts, and Share-Meisters. Do your communication and online strategies address all four styles? Need help? Check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. 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. 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.

Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers

Issue No. 470 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting reports that “advertising (as we know it) is dead!” New in February and already a Wall Street Journal bestseller—trust me—Quantum Marketing is a must-read for your marketing team and senior leaders. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my recent review of Fast Times: How Digital Winners Set Direction, Learn, and Adapt and learn why the founder of Spotify says, “We aim to make mistakes faster than anyone else.”

Quantum Marketing predicts 5G in the Fifth Paradigm will be "the difference between a tricycle and a motorcycle!"

Quantum Marketing: AI Writes My eNews!

Mind-Blowing! I can’t stop talking about Quantum Marketing, the new bestseller from the global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Mastercard. Raja Rajamannar warns that “65% of CEOs have some or no confidence in their marketing teams.” But help is here as the author guides us in “Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers” (the subtitle).

“The world is changing with such unprecedented speed and disruption that classical marketing theories, strategies, and practices are failing. Quantum Marketing is the new framework for that brave new world of tomorrow. Here, every aspect of classical marketing is challenged and frontline strategies are outlined for marketers to thrive.”

Hype or reality? It’s reality, folks. The author documents three dynamics that have fueled “the crisis of confidence in marketing.”
#1. Huge technology transformation—“tremendous advancement in data analytics, and changes in consumer behavior driven by mobile and social media. Collectively, these have shocked business models and upended traditional strategies.”
#2. Little connection between business outcomes and marketing investments and actions—“their contribution and value became increasingly dubious.”
#3. Marketing execs are stuck in a narrow view of marketing—most are at either ends of a continuum (“obsessed with A-B testing” and those with “no clue about business models, digital technologies, or data analytics”).

While the book is not a puff piece at all for Mastercard, I couldn’t resist doing my own research on how Mastercard’s “quantum” marketing leverages all the senses (see chapter 9). After discussing “How Our Brain Functions” (primal brain and cognitive brain—marketing appeals to just one), the author adds, “Today, marketers need to go way beyond jingles.” He references Mastercard’s case study of its “sonic brand creation.” It will blow your mind! (Must-read: Fast Company’s Feb. 13, 2019 article, “Mastercard Just Launched a Sonic Logo. Here’s What It Sounds Like.” Must-listen: the two-minute “audio press release.”)

For more, check out the short videos on Muse by Clio, “Hear Mastercard's New Brand Melody in Various Apps, Styles and Places.” And did you know that in 2019, Mastercard dropped its name from their logo?

To test the author’s claims, I selected—at random—this 30-second video from Mastercard. Listen for the “sonic logo” and enjoy:


Dance along with this 30-second video, “Tap & Go with Your Mastercard.”

But let me back up now for some context. The author says organizations are unprepared for what’s coming: the Fifth Paradigm. You’ll remember the first four:
• First and Second Paradigms—Product Marketing and Emotional Marketing: print, radio, and TV, commoditization, (and doctors endorsing Lucky Strikes!), attitudinal metrics, celebrity testimonials, etc.
• Third and Fourth Paradigms—Data-Driven Marketing and Digital & Social Marketing: World Wide Web (Aug. 6, 1991), Big Data, mobile, social media, “the segment of one,” Facebook, iPhone (June 29, 2007), “average human attention span is less than eight seconds,” average time on digital devices: six hours/day, “no time for prime time,” and “social media heaven and hell.” And more: the “trust” problem!

What’s coming in the Fifth Paradigm? Fasten your seatbelts! Take my Pop Quiz to see if you’re prepared. Can you define these Fifth Paradigm terms—and does your marketing team understand them?

POP QUIZ! Define the following:
1. The 3 types of AI (Chapter 5—“the ultimate propellant of Quantum Marketing”)
2. Blockchain (Chapter 7: immutable and smart contracts)
3. 5G (“the difference between a tricycle and a motorcycle”)
4. AR and VPS (p. 67)
5. VR trade shows (p. 71)
6. 3-D printing and product prototyping (p. 77)
7. IoT (p. 74)
8. The Hierarchy of Loyalty (see Chapter 10)
9. The 4 Ps
10. The Fourfold Mission of Marketing (p. 27)
11. “Case studies…used in many MBA schools are outdated.” Why? (p. 28)
12. FMCG (p. 30)
13. The 3 buckets of data (p. 35)
14. The Slew of Sensors (p. 37)
15. CCPA (p. 45)
C'mon, man! Do the Pop Quiz. Don't skip it!
16. OTM (non-annoying, p. 57)
17. “In the Fifth Paradigm, digital IDs will be the equivalent of holograms.” (p. 85)
18. BE—“the way individuals process, think, feel, and then decide.” Which works best? Two $100 jackets for $150, or the first jacket for $100 and the second for only $50? (p. 89)
19. Neuroscience: “Ninety percent of decision-making takes place in the subconscious.” (p. 91)
20. Merry Go Round (p. 103)
21. QEM: 8 key points (p. 125-126)
22. Chapter 12: “We Are Not Consumers, We Are People”—BAU, CX, UX, “holistic people research,” kids as “R&D managers of the family”
23. Purpose Washing: 2 reasons to pursue purpose
24. Ethics creep
25. Coronacrisis: The Risk Heat Map Template; use humor cautiously in a crisis: “Humor can be mistaken for mockery or tone deafness.” (Chapter 17 is must-read: “Marketing through Crisis”)

For a gut check, read page 38, “A Day in the Data Life.” Early on, the author raises the ethics flag on consumer privacy and a company’s “quasi-unethical or exploitative tendency” when asking you to accept the “reams of terms and conditions.” And this: “Honestly, who thinks that anyone reads them, other than the lawyers and geeks?”

Why does Marriott use “signature scents?” How high did Nike increase sales when they added scents to their stores? (See page 106.) Chapter 9, “All the Senses,” made me wonder if churches and faith-based organizations are delivering adequate sensory experiences? See Psalms 34:8 (MSG), “Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.”

By the way, Rajamannar notes that Artificial Intelligence (AI) “is also writing articles in very authentic styles of various journalists and writers. It studies the works of an author, and when given a topic, it researches on the internet for relevant content and writes, in a matter of a few seconds, an article that mostly makes sense, in a style that seems authentic.”

I’ve asked Anders (18), my favorite grandson, to harness AI to write future issues of Your Weekly Staff Meeting. I’m expecting a generous use of “Yikes,” plus “Must-read,” plus “Delegate your reading,”—coupled with frequent car chases from the other John Pearson’s bestseller, James Bond: The Authorised Biography.

You’ll remember, of course, the 4 Ps of marketing (price, place, products, and promotion). The author alerts blue chip companies that they are “fragmenting the 4 Ps…and distributing them across multiple areas outside of marketing.” The result: “Currently, marketing is in a crisis.”

Highly readable (as a good marketing book should be!), the author sold me in the preface. By page 100, I had more than 20 critical notes to include in this review. When the book concluded on page 198, I was fired up—and searching LinkedIn for Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) positions!

THE QUANTUM CMO. The 10 pages in chapter 18 are worth gold. Raja Rajamannar warns again: “Marketing is at a point of inflection, and the opportunity ahead is truly once in a lifetime. If embraced, it can take off from here brilliantly. Or it can totally implode. Here is where the Quantum CMO comes in. And here are what characterize Quantum CMOs…” So the author includes 21 short paragraphs of the ideal CMO (really, a narrative position description).

If I were a CEO again, I would turn those pages into a quarterly checklist—and use it to coach and inspire my CMO. What are we doing well? What are we missing? Examples:
#1. “Quantum CMOs are like Leonardo Da Vinci.” They are “both right brained and left brained, creative and analytical.”
#2. “Quantum CMOs are primarily business leaders who understand business.”
#4. “Quantum CMOs understand the basics of human psychology, sociology, and anthropology. They grasp every one of the 4 Ps of marketing.”
#9. “Quantum CMOs are strong, empathetic leaders, because they are literally driving teams through this transformational phase, which is not easy.”
#10. “Quantum CMOs are evangelists for marketing, particularly if they are in companies that are not marketing driven.” And, “they speak the language of the CEOs and the CFOs…”
#11. “Quantum CMOs have tremendous curiosity and agility. Many of us have gone to management schools, many moons ago. Life has changed a lot since then.”

Read the book to leverage all 21 insights—what the CMO in your organization needs to be and to do in this Fifth Paradigm. Don’t forget that agencies “are not our servants, but our equal partners.” And learn why your Quantum CMO must have a good mix of IQ, EQ, CQ, and DQ. (See page 197.)

There’s so much more, but I gotta navigate a way out of this review! Finally, while I’m not a marketing genius, I’ve considered myself to be above average—fairly savvy in the Customer Bucket. Yikes. I’ve been depending on old school paradigms—helpful, yet way behind the curve. Examples:

I’ve often quoted Ogilvyisms from The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertising, such as my favorite: “You can’t save souls in an empty church.” (Read my 2009 review.) But now, after reading Quantum Marketing—it’s time to move on to post-graduate level marketing.

Ditto the book I co-authored 30 years ago (Yikes!) with Bob Hisrich, a true marketing/entrepreneurial genius, Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles. While many of these “Hisrichian Principles” are still valid (even if the examples are pre-Internet!), it’s time to go deeper. However, the 10 axioms are still fresh, including:
• “Don’t be the 8th lemonade stand in a row of 9.”
• “If you have $10,000 to spend, invest $5,000 in researching and understanding your market.”

You get the picture (and the sound): Quantum Marketing is a must-read. Who on your team should read this first?

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers, by Raja Rajamannar. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (6 hours, 12 minutes). And thanks to Fortier PR for sending a review copy.



YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
1) In the “Loyalty Transformed” chapter, Rajamannar writes, “Give me affinity. Give me chemistry. Give me context. Give me relevance. Give me experience.” He says those things can “move a brand in the right direction in the quantum future.” On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 is high), rank those five factors in your organization’s top loyalty program. What needs fixing?
2) Quantum Marketing reports: “Today, it is estimated that the average human’s attention span is slightly less than that of a goldfish, at under eight seconds!” Is your organization’s marketing ready for the Fifth Paradigm—or are you still back in the First Paradigm? How do you cut through the noise and the clutter?
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Year 2040 Pop Quiz!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook


POP QUIZ SPOILER ALERT! Listed above: the 2035 population
projections for the five largest cities in Latin America.

Yikes! Need another mind-blowing resource? Download the FREE report, GLOBAL TRENDS 2040: A More Contested World, a publication of the National Intelligence Council (here in the U.S.). Click here to download the 156-page PDF or click here to visit the online report.

And thanks to trends spotter and consultant David Schmidt at Wise Planning for alerting us to this gem—a full week before it was covered by The Wall Street Journal. Schmidt suggests, “at 156 pages, it’s best to brew a full pot of coffee if you plan to read it cover to cover.” Implications for your organization? Contact David Schmidt via his website.

POP QUIZ! In 2040, according to Global Trends 2040, will the percentage of Christians be UP or DOWN from 2020 in each of these nine regions?
• Latin America and Caribbean
• Europe
• Russia and Eurasia
• Middle East and North Africa
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• South Asia
• Northeast Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Oceania

EXTRA CREDIT: List the five largest cities, by population in 2035, in each region. (Answers: pages 120 to 140)

According to the website, this is the “7th edition of the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends report. Published every four years since 1997, Global Trends assesses the key trends and uncertainties that will shape the strategic environment for the United States during the next two decades.”

For more resources in the Strategy Bucket, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Pearpod helped the Roe v. Wade movie team create fundraising opportunities for organizations and churches. If you need creative add-ons to your projects—to build loyalty—check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. 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. 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.

L.A. Cop: Peacemaker in Blue

Issue No. 469 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a new book by Bob Vernon, Former L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police. L.A. Cop is a page-turner—with gutsy lessons in every chapter. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2019 review of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and learn why “CEOs, on average, have the lowest EQ scores in the workplace.”



“The More You Sweat Here, the Less You’ll Bleed on the Streets”

Dum - - - de - DUM – DUM. Ladies and gentlemen: the book review you are about to read is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

If you remember “Dragnet,” the radio, TV, and motion-picture series featuring the dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday (played by Jack Webb, 1920-1982), then you’ll definitely appreciate the true stories in L.A. Cop: Peacemaker in Blue, by Bob Vernon.

But first, click here and listen to the “Dragnet” theme (or find your old 78 record):

Listen to the iconic theme music from “Dragnet”
which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Oh, my. Read Bob Vernon’s first person narrative of being a peacemaker in the streets, alleys, and drug busts of Los Angeles—and you will think differently about law enforcement.

Just published last month, I read several pages of L.A. Cop to my grandchildren (four teenagers and an 11-year-old) at our Easter gathering. Zuzu, the serious reader in our family (she read 175 books in 2020) plans to read L.A. Cop this month.

Why should you read Bob Vernon’s book? The news for peacemakers has not been good lately: riots, the denigration of good cops, the misguided “defund the police” movement, and who knows what will happen…when the verdict is announced in the Derek Chauvin trial regarding George Floyd's death.

Bob Vernon retired in 1992 as L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police, after serving 38 years with the department. His pastor, John MacArthur, notes that Vernon “was really a combination of cop and preacher.” Think it’s easy addressing crime and violence every day—and being a Christ follower? Try combining the rough and tumble Policy Academy training with the regimen Eugene Peterson delineates in his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. Peterson describes disciples as “people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ.”

Originally, with a passion to be a pilot, and between semesters at Biola, Vernon passed the preliminary cadet screening tests and joined a group of 30 for an intense week of exams. He qualified for the final five, but a young psychiatrist pushed back on Vernon’s convictions. “Do you believe that Jesus was born without an earthly father—all that stuff?” The shrink, after a three-minute conversation, concluded that Vernon’s “hyper-religiousness” would not be a good fit in Korea. Sadly, Vernon was disqualified and his piloting career never took off.

So God redirected his path to the L.A.P.D. and while enduring the battery of tests to become an L.A. cop, Vernon interviewed with another psychiatrist. I’m always looking for the meat of a book by page 25—and I was not disappointed. Vernon shared his angst over his disqualification by the first psychiatrist. So in this interview, “I decided to be totally honest and let the chips fall where they would. I answered the questions openly and fully; I even volunteered that I knew Jesus personally. If this doesn’t do it, nothing will,” Vernon thought!

In response, the L.A.P.D. psychiatrist was elated. “I’m glad to see a young man who knows what he believes in. I was especially impressed when I tried to get you to back down and you wouldn’t.” He said that during the Korean War, the government had learned that those U.S. servicemen in enemy camps who had strong religious faith were faring better. (Read the encouraging insights on page 25.)

I’ve never been a crime writer or beat reporter, so I will not attempt to describe the powerful drama (and surprising humor!) in L.A. Cop. (Once, however, for a sixth grade school assignment, I wrote that I aspired to work for the FBI. I came close when I played an FBI agent—actually just one scene—in the 2008 movie, The Genius Club, starring Stephen Baldwin.) But let me tease you with nine Bob Vernon stories and some insights for your weekly staff meeting:

• What was she wearing? Vernon is the son of a cop and now the grandfather of four cops. His dad prepped him for the interview exam—to be ready for the classic observation question, “Describe the secretary who brought you into the interview room.” Oops! It backfired on Vernon—to much laughter—but he passed. (What’s your best interview question?)

• L.A. Policy Academy. Vernon learned this: “The more you sweat here, the less you’ll bleed on the streets.” (What’s the most memorable saying at your organization—and does it involve blood?)

• Rigorous Training. “Many of us were ‘killed’ by an instructor playing the role of a bandit. The instructor would fire a blank from his gun when we were careless during a vehicle pull-over or body search.” Read more about “pursuit syndrome” and why police behavioral patterns are so critical during those 90-mph car chases through residential areas. (How do you assess and address job-related stress?)

• Sobering. “The ‘Officer Survival’ and ‘When to Shoot’ lectures were among the most sobering experiences.” Vernon adds, “Those sessions shook me.” (Does your new employee orientation touch hearts and guts?)

• Pick One. Vernon learned rapidly from partners and other veterans. When a “belligerent and bull-strong arrestee didn’t want to go,” Vernon noted, “They knew how to choose from psychology, humor, and physical persuasion.” (What’s your go-to competency in your persuasion toolbox?)

• No GPS! Imagine—try doing effective police work without GPS, iPhones, and other modern resources. Vernon consulted his Thomas Street Guide to locate his assigned trouble spots. (Raise your hand if you still have a Thomas Street Guide in your car!)

• Timing Is Everything. “Those days of car patrol taught me the importance of being in the right place at the right time.” On one occasion, before the dispatcher had radioed a robbery alert, Vernon had the suspect in custody! The foot race ended with a serious whack on the suspect’s head—just one of dozens of scary, sometimes hilarious, cop stories. (Share a story when God put you in the right place at the right time.)

• The Incredulous Judge. One of Vernon’s early partners, Nick, “had an uncanny sixth sense.” Nick had even more than that. As the arresting office, Nick asked a judge to give him custody of a young man. “The judge was incredulous.” Caseworkers approved and “York” moved in with Nick and his wife. “York” eventually got a job and married. Redemption! (That’s what Max De Pree called a “tribal story.”)

• Pattern of Prayer. During Vernon’s 45-minute oral exam for deputy chief, he was asked how he had turned around a difficult environment when he was captain in the Venice neighborhood. His answer, “Well, I prayed a lot.” He then explained how his pattern of prayer gave him new insights and ideas for that challenging situation. (Read this book and you’ll pray differently every time you see a law enforcement officer—and perhaps how you approach your current job.)

You’ll be blessed and encouraged when you read L.A. Cop and your street-smart vocabulary will also be enriched: D.B. (dead body), u.o.’s (unusual occurrences), rat’s alarms, and righteous busts. You’ll appreciate even more: law enforcement chaplains, preventive media relationships, and split-second life or death decision-making competencies.

Though retirement would have been well-deserved after 38 years, Bob Vernon’s next assignment from the Lord was to launch Pointman Leadership Institute with a mission “to provide ethics training worldwide in character-based, principled leadership.” To date, more than 70 certified instructors have served more than 100,000 leaders in 75 countries with seminars on the power of character and preventing corruption. 

“This is the city. Los Angeles, California. I work here.” After you read L.A. Cop, check out the classic “Dragnet” TV dramas posted on YouTube.

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for L.A. Cop: Peacemaker in Blue, by Bob Vernon, Former L.A.P.D. Assistant Chief of Police. And thanks to Three Sixteen Publishing for sending a review copy.



YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
1) When working with the L.A.P.D.’s gang task force, Vernon and the team created a strategy to focus on one gang’s hardcore leadership—about 15 percent of the gang. It was very effective. Does your organization’s strategy include a laser-like focus on key leaders and influencers?
2) Are you prepared for the next crisis? It’s not if, but when. Bob Vernon had been lieutenant in the L.A.P.D. accident division for about two weeks in 1965 when the Watts riots hit the nation’s front pages. (Read his chapter, “Shoot?”) Is it time, again, to update our crisis plans?
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John Grisham meets Tim Keller
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook



Here’s the core competency in the Crisis Bucket: “We are prepared for most crises. We have plans in place and a crisis facilitator trained, and we drill our team members frequently and spontaneously. Yet we trust in God, who is our Protector, Comforter and Sustainer.”

If my review of L.A. Cop has you searching for more books in the crime genre, you would enjoy The Ambition, Lee Strobel’s first novel in 2011. I called it “John Grisham meets Tim Keller.” Set in Chicago (where I survived 21 winters), the novel has it all and doesn’t disappoint. Murder. Mayhem. Megachurch. The mob. And Chicago politics! How I’ve missed Chicago politics! (Read my review of The Ambition.)

What’s the most important competency to bring to a crisis? Many would answer “JUDGMENT.” Read my 2017 mini-review of the book, Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, by Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis.

Judgment, preach the authors, is “the essence of effective leadership.” It involves three domains: people, strategy, and crisis. (Interestingly, those are three of the 20 management buckets: the People Bucket, the Strategy Bucket, and the Crisis Bucket.) They call judgment the proverbial elephant on the table—because it’s rarely addressed.

For more resources in all 20 buckets, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Pearpod helped the Roe v. Wade movie team create fundraising opportunities for organizations and churches. If you need creative add-ons to your projects, check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. 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. 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.

Roe v. Wade Movie

Issue No. 468 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a powerful movie that left me speechless—and a very comforting song. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my review of 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God.



What Can One Person Do?

Exactly one year ago today, I spotlighted eight “leadership flicks” that you and your work-from-home team members could profitably view. (Click here.) I quoted Cecil B. DeMille: “Give me any two pages of the Bible, and I'll give you a picture.” Aristotle said, “The soul never thinks without a picture.”

I asked, “Why do you think the right film, at the right time, for the right reason—can be so powerful?” Today, April 2, 2021, I’m urging you to view another film—the online premiere of Roe v. Wade. I viewed the final full cut earlier this week and as the credits rolled…I was speechless. Oh, my.

Whether you’re “pro-choice” or “pro-life,” I’m wondering if what you believe could pass a FACT CHECK? The U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade landmark decision made history on Jan. 22, 1973. If you’re a regular reader, you won’t be surprised to know that I’m an advocate for the unborn. I believe the unborn are precious souls—made in the image of God. Please view the movie trailer (two minutes) here:

Click here to view the Roe v. Wade movie trailer (2 minutes).

Nick Loeb, the co-director, recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “What we tried to do is really just lay out the facts of how Roe v. Wade came to be and how it was decided. People can take one view or another. I've had a lot of people who think it's in the middle. We tell it from the pro-choice perspective because the story is told through the eyes of Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who was the biggest abortionist of all time. He did more than 70,000 abortions.

“Why some folks may think it's a conservative film or why it aligns with those views is because the protagonist actually converts. He starts off pro-choice and becomes pro-life through his journey. It's a true story.”

POP QUIZ: FACT OR NOT?
Here are just five of the 11 claims noted on the Roe v. Wade website. Fact or not?

[ ] #1. “Supreme Court justices switched their votes in favor of ‘Jane Roe’ by striking down laws that restricted abortion.”

[ ] #2. “At the time the Supreme Court was hearing and deciding on Roe v. Wade, family members of some Supreme Court justices were volunteering for Planned Parenthood, the abortion provider and advocate for full legalization of abortion, or pushing to legalize abortion.”

[ ] #3. “Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is shown speaking at a meeting of the Ku Klux Klan with a burning cross nearby, and making racist statements.”

[ ] #4. “Dr. Bernard Nathanson and Lawrence Lader, on a trip to the Caribbean island of St. Croix, discussed strategy to target the Catholic Church and use fabricated statistics on abortion.”

[ ] #5. Note: In that decade, some Americans were willing to speak up for the rights of the unborn. Dr. Mildred Jefferson, the first African American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, is featured prominently in the film.
Fact or Not? “Dr. Mildred Jefferson mentions that the producers of the TV series, Maude, were paid by activists $10,000 for an episode favorable to abortion.”

POP QUIZ ANSWERS:
Click here to visit “Fact Check” on the Roe v. Wade movie website.

WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO? After viewing this powerful film, I’d suggest you discuss these questions:
   • What did you learn?
   • You cannot have passion for every cause—for every issue—so how do you discern if/when you should harness your energies and resources on this issue?
   • What is God calling you to do now?
   • What can one person do?

HOST A VIRTUAL MOVIE FUNDRAISING EVENT. The producers of Roe v. Wade have an innovative way for your organization or church to view the movie online—and also inspire viewers to give to your organization. Click here for more information and to learn about the three simple steps. You can schedule your event anytime until April 26, 2021. (Note: If an official representative of your organization would like to view an online screener, before you reserve your online event, click here.)

VIEW ROE V. WADE: DIGITAL AND ON-DEMAND (available now)
(1 hour, 51 minutes, PG-13). “Dr. Bernard Nathanson and Dr. Mildred Jefferson square off in a national battle in this untold conspiracy that led to the most famous and controversial court case in history.” Click here to view online.



VIEW ROE V. WADE: DVD (available May 4, 2021)
1 hour, 51 minutes, PG-13, Jon Voight (Actor), Nick Loeb (Actor). Click here to pre-order the DVD from Amazon.



YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS
Do you know someone who needs encouragement? Has COVID (and now a very heavy topic like Roe v. Wade) affected a friend or family member deeply? There is hope. Listen to this blessed song by The Issacs, “Does Jesus Care?” They sing, “When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.”

Click here to listen: “Does Jesus Care?”
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What Can One Person Do?
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook



In The 5 Book, Dan Zadra asks a convicting question: “Where will you be five years from now?” (Read my review.) He notes:
   • “In just under five years, Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.”
   • “At age 30, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was living in a 500-square foot apartment. Five years later his net worth was $10 billion.” (Today: $182 billion!)
   • “In 1961, Julia Child graduated from cooking school with a quirky idea for a TV show. Four years later she won an Emmy as America’s favorite TV chef.”

So…what can one person do? Think about a five-year plan. And think about Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood leader. Read her story here.

• Click here to read my review of Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line, by Abby Johnson.

• Click here to view Unplanned, the movie, on Amazon Prime.

What can one person do? John Baillie prayed, “What I desire for myself I cannot attain, but what Thou desirest in me Thou canst attain for me.” He also prayed, “I would hold myself in readiness today for Thy least word of command. Give me the spirit, I pray Thee, to keep myself in continual training for the punctual fulfillment of Thy most holy will.”

Click here to order A Diary of Private Prayer from Amazon, featuring Baillie’s 31 morning prayers and 31 evening prayers. For more resources in the Strategy Bucket, click here. And for more on prayer, visit the blog I wrote one year ago for ECFA. Click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Pearpod helped the Roe v. Wade movie team create fundraising opportunities for organizations and churches. If you need creative add-ons to your projects, check in with Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
___________________________________________________________________________________

Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. 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. 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.