John Pearson's Buckets Blog: Your Weekly Staff Meeting

June 24, 2022

Next Sunday: An Honest Dialogue About the Future of the Church

Issue No. 521 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a gutsy new book, by Nancy Beach and Samantha Beach Kiley, on the future of the local church. Must-read! 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of his latest “PICs.”

Nancy Beach (a boomer) and Samantha Beach Kiley (a millennial) have a gutsy and honest dialogue about the future of the church. (Next Sunday is must-read!)

A Gutsy Dialogue on the Future of the Church

Gutsy! That’s my one-word description for the mother/daughter (boomer/millennial) conversation in the new book, Next Sunday: An Honest Dialogue About the Future of the Church, by Nancy Beach and Samantha Beach Kiley. Published last week in the InterVarsity Press Praxis series (“equipping leaders for ministry”), I’m guessing the authors’ thoughtful views will generate cheers and jeers. But good for them—these two gutsy women!

The authors bring significant street cred (“church cred?”) to the table. Nancy Beach served as the programming director at Willow Creek Community Church and is now on the teaching team at Soul City Church in Chicago. She’s also a leadership coach with the Slingshot Group and is a frequent conference speaker. Samantha Beach Kiley is the creative arts pastor at Austin New Church and is a “writer and performer at the intersection of art and faith.” Her writing is superb. I read her poem, “The Little Red Chair” (pages 33-36), to our grandchildren at our Father’s Day gathering last Sunday.

They wrestle with seven distinctives that the church should address. Each chapter includes Nancy’s perspectives, followed by Samantha’s insights. (If you’re a boomer with nailed-down convictions about most everything, it might be dangerous to read this millennial’s informed affirmations about the church. Yikes.) But you’ll appreciate their humility:

“Together we asked, What will be most important for local churches going forward if they hope to thrive and not merely survive? Others will no doubt point out distinctives that are not on the list (prayer!), and we offer our perspective as humble learners who care deeply about the church and, like so many others, are just trying to figure it out.”

They add, “We do not come at these questions with an audacious sense of confidence or think we possess the answers or the magic ticket for churches to reach their full potential for the next generation.” They describe themselves not as historians or academics, but “storytellers” and suggest that “this book is for every person who wants to believe that church still matters, even though so many of us have been disappointed, even wounded along the way.” (See Chapter 5, “When Harry Works With Sally.”)

Why read this dialogue about the future of the church?

#1. Boot Camp for the Church's Future. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another book, published in 2022 by a fairly conservative Christian publisher, that aggressively (yet humbly) takes on big and thorny issues. It’s a boot camp immersion experience for new recruits and burned-out vets. The seven distinctives: Creating Genuine Community, Being Kidcentric (must-read!), Having an External Focus, Concerning the Hour on Sunday, Men and Women Leading Well Together, The Church’s History of Exclusion and Oppression, and Creating a Healthy Culture. (For more on flourishing cultures, read this review.)

#2. External Focus: Yes or No? A church founded in 1980 (“with a very long name”—LOL!) honestly answered a penetrating question: “If our church suddenly disappeared, would anyone in the surrounding society even notice?” Their response: no. (So…yes…Chapter 3 is also must-read.)

#3. Doing Good…Without Sacrifice. Reflecting on the commitment levels required of seven-days-a-week Jesus followers, Samantha confesses, “I would like to do good and feel good. I would like to do good on my schedule. I would like to do good without sacrifice. I would like to look good while doing good. I would like to change someone’s life in one hour or twenty-five dollars a month. I would like it if afterward someone could show me what I fixed. I would like to imagine myself a fixer.”

#4. Easter: Hamburgers for the Homeless. Samantha and her husband landed at a church in Austin, Texas, because “…we saw on social media that instead of an Easter service, they grilled hamburgers for the homeless. This sounded like a church community that my justice-driven husband might feel at home in and that my megachurch-high-production-value self might need to recover in. (I thought you did twelve services on Easter, not zero!)"

#5. COVID Recovery. Nancy looks in the rear view mirror in the chapter, “Concerning the Hour on Sunday,” and reflects on Willow Creek’s seven-step strategy and suggests a wider range of strategies for this decade. She wonders how the church will authentically articulate the case for in-person worship on Sunday (and why in-person is a mandate) when online streaming during COVID (sweatpants with coffee) became so “…comfortable and easy, playing into the worst of our consumer tendences.”

#6. Managing Pendulum Swings. Nancy suggests, “While I have no crystal ball to forecast the future, I do believe that the gathering as we know it will die if it’s only about the delivery of content. Now that all of us can listen to a message from any pastor around the world on our little screens or even worship with a team of our choosing even if they are far, far away, why would we be motivated to physically show up at a specific time and place if only to hear a message and maybe sing a few songs? I don’t believe content will drive anyone to make the effort.”

The book provides solutions and offers a very thoughtful discussion on five tensions churches must address (“pendulum swings”), noting, “We often look at values or strategies as all-or-nothing rather than as tensions to be delicately managed." The tensions include: 1) attractional versus missional, 2) performance versus participation, 3) authenticity versus excellence, 4) unpredictable versus template, and 5) topical teaching versus biblical exegesis. (Did I mention: must-read chapter?)

NOTE: One of my bucket list projects is to wait until I’m about 85 (at that age, who cares what critics post on Facebook?) and then write a book titled, “If You’ve Only Got One Hour a Week to Give to God, Come and Hear Me Preach.” Thanks to Nancy and Samantha, I don’t need to write that book. Just read Next Sunday.

#7. “More Sales-y Than Soul-sized.” The writing and the practical ideas are memorable:
• How to leverage the question, “So what?”
• Samantha’s five core principles for next Sunday (she tags herself, “a recovering daughter of the megachurch movement”)
• The language of metaphor—and a parade of suitcases that punctuated a “forgiveness” theme one Sunday morning.
• Note to Christian camping leaders—you’re mentioned frequently. (Must-read!)
• Samantha: “And I think churches have overestimated the extent to which my generation would prefer to engage online, creating snack-sized content and a social media presence that feels more sales-y than soul-sized.”

When I read Chapters 5 and 6, “When Harry Works With Sally: Men and Women Leading Well Together” and “The Mess We’ve Made: The Church’s History of Exclusion and Oppression,” I was saddened once again. As Nancy writes about visiting a liturgical church, “We spoke beautiful prayers and were led in a time of confession. My only complaint was that the time of silence to confess our sins was way too brief for my list!”

Oh, my. These two gutsy women want you to take a big gulp and reconsider why Christ died and rose again. They want you to remember what Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16, “You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.”

To order from Amazon, click on title for Next Sunday: An Honest Dialogue About the Future of the Church, by Nancy Beach and Samantha Beach Kiley. Listen on Libro.fm (5 hours, 19 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In A Diary of Private of Prayer, by John Baillie, the morning prayer for the 22nd day of the month reads in part, “Lord Jesus Christ, who bid Your disciples to shine as lights in a dark world, in shame and contrition of heart do I acknowledge before You the many faults and weaknesses of which we are guilty who in this generation represent Your Church before the world; and especially do I acknowledge my own part in the same.” So how can you and we, the church, “shine as lights in a dark world?”
2) Listen to the hymn, “I Run to Christ,” and then share a line from the lyrics that touched your soul.

The Results Bucket reminds you to abandon dead horses and sacred cows and focus on outside results.

Buckets Countdown:
The Results Bucket (#1) 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 Results Bucket Core Competency: “We focus on results. We are not activity-driven, we are results-driven. We measure what we value, so we celebrate both the writing and the achieving of team-blessed standards of performance for every staff member, board member, and volunteer. We also abandon dead horses and sacred cows.”

“Having an external focus” is one of seven distinctives in Next Sunday. Peter Drucker described this distinction as “outside results versus inside results.” Visit the Results Bucket and download Worksheet #1.1, "Where Are Your Priorities?" on the "Five Signs You Might Be More Focused on Inside Results Than on Outside Results" (Figure 1.1 from Chapter 1).

Bonus LOL! “Arrange to visit other churches to see how they ride dead horses,” is just one of 21 hilarious ways that teams often deal with “dead horses.” Visit the Results Bucket and download Worksheet #1.2, "When the Horse Is Dead, Dismount."

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.

BONUS! Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast for Steve Macchia's interview with John Pearson (Episode 4, April 21, 2022). And click here to read John's review of Steve's new book, The Discerning Life.

EVANGELICAL EXODUS! A theologian/trend spotter writes, “Baptists are learning to love Mary” in the fascinating book, Evangelical Exodus: Evangelical Seminarians and Their Paths to Rome, by Douglas M. Beaumont (Editor). Click here to read John’s review on the Pails in Comparison blog.

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Is your organization plagued with dead horses and sacred cows? Is it time for an experienced outsider’s view to help you regain your external focus and prioritize your attention on outside results? We can help! 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: church, Nancy Beach

June 14, 2022

Diplomatic Gifts: A History in Fifty Presents

Issue No. 520 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features an amazing book on gift-giving. Caution! Re-gifting might backfire! 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of his latest “PICs.”

“Dear Abby: More ambassadors are visiting next week. What gifts would be appropriate?”

Dear Abby:

Dear Abby...Our country will be hosting some rather important guests from abroad. When our king visited their king last year, we miscalculated and presented several expensive, but inappropriate gifts. (We were embarrassed!) Meanwhile, their king showered us with stunning gifts—including an elephant! (Did I mention we were really embarrassed?) Any ideas for this year’s visit and gift exchange? Thank you,

The 5th Ambassador in 5 Years!

POP QUIZ! If you were “Dear Abby,” How would you answer this anxious ambassador’s cry for help?

[ ] OPTION #1. Read Diplomatic Gifts: A History in Fifty Presents, by Paul Brummell.

[ ] OPTION #2. Recommend that the ambassador resign immediately!

[ ] OPTION #3. Suggest the ambassador read Chapter 10 in Diplomatic Gifts about the gift exchanges in the 14th century between two sultans. “…the latter was so incensed that he ordered the waterboarding of the unfortunate Timurid envoy.” (And then suggest the ambassador resign immediately!)

How often have you been perplexed over what gift to give a friend, a business colleague, a host or hostess—or if you’re a king, prime minister, president, or an ambassador—what’s the perfect gift for each unique person/country/culture?

Fortunately, you don’t need to wait for “Dear Abby’s” answer. Ambassador Paul Brummell has written a masterpiece on gift-giving. And he admits, it’s a perilous path sometimes. The waterboarding incident? The damage was done because “a gift of a robe of honour to a Mamluk sultan” was taken as an insult.

The author’s capacity for research is remarkable (incredible and memorable detail)—but the short chapters (just four to six pages each) ensure that each profiled gift, with an economy of words, is still wondrously described. Brummell’s wordcrafting is a delight. His British wit (often subtle) is present in every chapter, and frequently elicits satisfying chuckles. Example:

“Our next story concerns another pachyderm gifted in the year 1514, in this case not an elephant but a rhinoceros. It was to be gifted, regifted and then regifted again, although (spoiler alert) tragically dying in the course of its transportation to the final intended recipient. Its stuffed carcass then served as a less impressive replacement diplomatic gift.”

Who is this impressive author/researcher? Paul Brummell is a British career diplomat and currently the UK ambassador to Latvia. He’s served previously as ambassador to Romania, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Brummel was also the UK’s high commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean. He also writes travel guides. (Imagine his frequent flier mileage!)

Who Should Read This Book?

• Corporate Gift-Givers. Caution! Chapter 9 highlights the expensive and rare silks given by higher-ups of the Byzantine Empire to popes and other rulers over several centuries. The author documents the gift of an embroidered silk in 1261 (specifically a silk now known as “The Pallium of St. Lawrence”). Fascinating. Yet…fast-forward a few years and we learn that not every silk was treasured by all. “…the Mongol ruler Nogai Khan was decidedly unimpressed by gifted silks, complaining that they had no practical value and offered no protection from the elements.”

• Nonprofit Gift-Givers. My nonprofit CEO and fundraising friends will glean new insights about the subtle levels of gifting—and what happens when Gift Recipient A learns that Gift Recipient B received a more favored gift. (Time to rethink the recognition levels and donor gifts for your next capital campaign—before your major donor invites you to a waterboarding reception!)

• Re-Gifters! OK, admit it—sometimes you “regift” a gift, hoping the original giver won’t find out! In Chapter 6, the author reveals the genesis of “white elephant” gifts—in this case, actual white elephants. “Exotic animals were gifts guaranteed to impress,” he writes. And “the impracticality of the gift of a wild beast ensured its exclusivity and added to its prestige.”

Brummell adds, “There are many examples of the regifting by monarchs of exotic animals received as presents, perhaps after the initial wonderment generated by the creature had started to pale, and the expense had started to bite.” (Ask Charlemagne about the cost of feeding and housing an elephant!)

• History Buffs. Oh, my. If you enjoy BBC World News, but maybe feel a tad guilty for skipping much of your World History required reading in high school or college, then Diplomatic Gifts will be your redemption. Brummell serves up 50 fascinating and short chapters that sweep history from c. 4 BCE (“Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, a Gift from the Wise Men from the East to Jesus Christ”) to more recent gifts:
--1973 - How a gift of diamonds from an African president in 1973 scuttled a politician's run for president of France in 1981
--2004 - Cuban cigars
--2007 - a stadium!
--2008 - a pair of R.M. Williams Boots

There’s much more. Don’t skip the conclusion (it will be on the test!). Enjoy this: “We started our journey with the story of the baby camel gifted to the French President Francois Hollande, a diplomatic gift whose fate was to be treated over-casually. It was a gift not intended to be consumed, but which was eaten by its custodians. We will end with a gift that reverses this tale: a diplomatic gift that was intended to be consumed, but was not. It was instead treated with far more reverence than was intended by the giver, becoming the object of veneration.” (See the section, “Chairman Mao’s mangoes.” LOL!)

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 19. Diplomatic Gifts is the perfect gift for your father, your mother, your grandparents, or the voracious lifelong learners in your family or organization. Enjoy!

To order from Amazon, click on title for Diplomatic Gifts: A History in Fifty Presents, by Paul Brummell.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Yikes! In 1948, according to Paul Brummell, a local radio station telephoned the British Ambassador to Washington and asked what he would like for Christmas. Sir Oliver Franks, “a man of frugal tastes, thought long and hard before replying.” That Christmas Eve, the radio station’s special holiday broadcast listed the gift requests from several ambassadors stationed in D.C. “The French ambassador had asked for world peace. The Soviet ambassador had requested freedom for those enslaved by imperialism. The British ambassador had asked for a small box of crystallised fruit.” So…what would you like for Christmas? (Careful!)

2) Diplomatic Gifts describes a 1571 faux pas. “Mehmed’s delegation left after a fortnight, and he was given a parting gift of 8,000 gold coins by Istvan, a present that reportedly reduced him to tears, though not in a good way. He had been expecting more.” Describe a gift you gave or received that brought you to tears! Share some insights from Diplomatic Gifts or read my review of Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries.

The Customer Bucket reminds nonprofit fundraisers to listen to and understand the four types of givers. Not all givers are alike!

Buckets Countdown:
The Customer Bucket (#2) 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 Customer Bucket Core Competency: “We know our primary and supporting customers. We segment our customers to more effectively meet their unique needs. We listen to our customers. We are zealots for researching and understanding our markets.”

Nonprofit leaders who are serious about listening to and understanding their customers will also hyper-focus on the art and science of giving and gifting. According to R. Mark Dillon, in his helpful book, Giving & Getting in the Kingdom: A Field Guide, there are four broad segments of givers:

• THE GIFTED GIVER (2-5% of givers) will show up at the dedication of a new building and ask, “What’s next?” Dillon says “the gifted giver seldom needs to be asked.”
• THE THOUGHTFUL GIVER (15-25% of givers) tends to calibrate giving to current income “and rarely involves lowering their net worth to fund what they care about.”
• THE CASUAL GIVER (35-50% of givers) “possesses a vague understanding of their obligation to be faithful and generous stewards of their resources, but rarely seek out opportunities to give. They usually give in response to a specific request.”
• THE RELUCTANT GIVER (perhaps 33% of givers) may be “an overly generous description, because many in this category give very little of their resources for any charitable purpose.” Easy to offend, they’ve had few, if any generosity mentors in their lives. Their parents were unlikely to be kingdom stewards either.

Check out the books and resources in the Customer Bucket and the Donor Bucket. Do your newest staff members have a biblical theology of fundraising? Who is coaching them?

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.

SYNERGY! The The Synergy Solution: How Companies Win the Mergers and Acquisitions Game.
Read just one line in this new book on mergers and acquisitions—and you’re hooked: “In most organizations, PMI is not a core skill.” PMI (post-merger integration) torpedoes many, many mergers. (Read the review at John's new blog, Pails in Comparison.)

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Breaking News! When you incentivize donors with gift premiums, here’s a reminder: All Donors Are Not Alike! They fall into four buckets: Task-Oriented (Info-Sponges and Just-the-Facts) and Relationship-Oriented (Heartfelts and Share-Meisters). Each type might not appreciate the same vanilla-tasting gift. Learn more in our book, ReBrand: Workbook + Coloring Sheets For Ministry Branding. For more help, 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: diplomatic gifts

June 9, 2022

Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy

Issue No. 519 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a can’t-put-it-down, nonfiction, page-turner from two investigative reporters. The subtitle: “A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy.” 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of his latest “PICs.”

Read Dead in the Water. It’s a page-turning mix of Captain Phillips meets Midsomer Murders meets The Wall Street Journal meets Lloyds of London meets Tom Clancy!

Lloyds of London Just Called! Yikes!

Quick! Add Dead in the Water to your summer reading list. (Or, if you’re in the Southern Hemisphere—Quick! Add Dead in the Water to your winter reading list!)

Two investigative journalists make bold promises in the subtitle of Dead in the Water: “A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy.” Hype or not?
• True. (Check!) But it reads like a Tom Clancy novel.
• Story. (Check!) So fast-moving, I couldn’t put it down.
• Hijacking. (Check!) Remember Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips?
• Murder. (Check!) Sadly, you’ll have to read this page-turner.
• Global. (Check!) Cyprus, London, Yemen, Manila, and more.
• Maritime. (Check!) Plan A: Transport $100 million of oil from Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula to China—and avoid Somali pirates.
• Conspiracy. (Check!) Lloyd’s of London called. They’re on the hook for a serious insurance payout. What really happened on the Brillante Virtuoso—and who really owns this oil tanker and the oil?

There’s no spoiler alert here, but Dead in the Water delivers as promised. Imagine navigating a ship—almost three football fields long—and staying clear of 11,000 other tankers chugging through the sea-lanes—outrunning those vicious pirates. Did I mention the maritime traffic also includes 5,300 container ships worldwide?

Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, both award-winning business reporters for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine (and more) have serious credentials—and even more serious guts. This book is “the product of more than four years of reporting, drawing on tens of thousands of pages of court filings, witness testimonies, police records, military documents, emails, memos, and audio transcripts, as well as interviews with more than seventy-five people…” They add, “No scenes or dialogue have been invented or embellished…”

“More than once during our research, we were warned of risks to our safety if we continued to investigate,” they write. Whew! Did I mention guts? They caution readers about the “lawless seas” and weave our imaginations into this dangerous world where “the most audacious crimes can occur”—where “there are certainly no police, and often no consequences.”

Why does it exist? Maritime crimes are “enabled by the complexities of twenty-first century finance and, perhaps most of all, the collective indifference of a global population that wants what it wants, wants it now, and doesn’t want to know the human cost.” (You may need a gut check also.)

You will love this book—and on your reading journey, you’ll be intrigued with the intricacies of Lloyds of London (I had no idea!); you’ll learn who shows up when a distressed ship sends up the flares and why; and you’ll follow two ex-detectives from London’s Metropolitan Police as they try to unravel this complicated mess of a crime.

If Hollywood stays true to the true story and makes Dead in the Water into a movie, I’ll see it twice!

To order from Amazon, click on title for Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy, by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel. Listen on Libro.fm (9 hours, 22 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) What’s the value of reading nonfiction books that transport you outside your own culture and country—and into the abundant global leadership and management messes? (Example: click here to read my review of Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire, by Hans Greimel and William Sposato.)

2) Recommend a book your colleagues should read that is based outside of our country. Why should they read it? (Need suggestions? Here are two below.)
• Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea's Most Iconic Bank, by Weijian Shan (read my review)
• The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un, by Anna Fifield (read my review)

What’s your coaching style? Word salads? Or five-word insights or questions—then silence? Watch the poignant scene in Top Gun Maverick and then re-read The Advice Trap. (Convicting!)

Top Gun Maverick:
Five Words. Then Generous Silence.

Stunning! That’s my one-word review of Top Gun Maverick, the long-awaited “Top Gun 2” that picks up from the original 1986 movie. I was captivated by this 2022 box office record-breaker on an IMAX screen (PG-13). And no surprise—numerous leadership and management moments popped out.

For fun, watch the Top Gun Maverick trailer:

Leadership Moment: Admiral Kazansky (Val Kilmer) shares five powerful words with “Maverick” (Tom Cruise) in the action-packed 2022 movie, Top Gun Maverick. View trailer.

My favorite scene: “Maverick” (Tom Cruise) visits his ailing friend, Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Val Kilmer). “Iceman” has lost his voice (sadly, also true in real life) and must type his comments onto a computer screen. His responses are few and brief. (Try that in your coaching!)

A big issue is holding Maverick back. Yet Iceman’s thoughtful response doesn’t require an essay or five jargon-filled paragraphs. Just five words:

“It’s time to let go.”

Then silence. No more typing. No meandering word salad. Just this poignant, wisdom-filled one liner: “It’s time to let go.” The IMAX moment of silence is powerful. (Try that in your coaching!)

The scene reminded me of the powerful page, “Generous silence,” in The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever, by Michael Bungay Stanier (my 2020 book-of-the-year). He notes, “Generous silence can allow the delicate insights of a conversation to blossom and bloom.” (Read more wisdom on pages 181-182.)

GOD LOVES YOUR WORK! What if…God isn’t calling you to address poverty in Haiti, or dig wells in Africa? What if God is just asking you to love your nine-to-five work—and affirm your holy calling to your day job? Read my short review of God Loves Your Work: Discover Why He Sends You to Do What You Do, by Larry Peabody. Visit the new blog, Pails in Comparison.)

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. The Coaching Habit recommends you “Cut the Intro and Ask the Question” in the same style that James Bond action-packed movies begin with “Pow!”—within the first 10 seconds of the movie. The author urges coaches to, “Cut the preliminary flim-flam. You don’t need a runway to pick up speed—you can just take off.” Whether you need help in your coaching or in creating action-packed, attention-getting media, we can help. 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: nonfiction thriller

May 25, 2022

Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs

Issue No. 518 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a book jammed with management and leadership insights—such as why the grand prize for winning the entrepreneurial pie-eating contest is (wait for it…) more pie! Plus listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast (bottom left) for Steve Macchia's interview with John. 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of his latest “PICs.”

“Some people say leading a fast-growing startup is like winning a pie-eating contest: the grand prize is that you get to eat even more pie.”

A Mandatory Must-Read!

I love this book—but I almost didn’t read it. What could I, a nonprofit guy, learn from this new Wall Street Journal bestseller, Zero to IPO? On the other hand, I do enjoy watching and learning from those Shark Tank episodes. Maybe this book is similar—plus helpful and entertaining like the TV shows.

But…who would actually believe the hype in Frederic Kerrest’s subtitle? The author promises “Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs.”

Wow. Was I wrong! The entrepreneurial advice and counsel is stunning! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a page—any page—in this extraordinary book that doesn’t deliver practical, practical leadership and management insights. While the author, cofounder and COO of Okta, takes us on his journey from startup to IPO (the book’s framework), it is much, much more than that. Zero to IPO could just as easily have been titled:
• The Only Unforgiveable Sin in Business
• Your CEO’s 20 Most Important Meetings Each Year
• The Grand Prize of the Pie-Eating Contest
• Crashing and Burning (4 Crashing Chronicles)
• Why You Need a Stupidly Expensive Espresso Machine

I swiped those titles from the snippets in this fun-to-read book that delivers powerful management axioms (yet with humility) and so, so strategic counsel on building your organization or company. The author—clearly—is a lifelong learner and he generously shares his platform with dozens of entrepreneurs who have helped him and his companies along the way. I listed 40 favorite insights in my notes—but I have room for just 10. Enjoy!

#1. CHECKLIST FOR FOUNDERS: Broken Glass! While all founders are unique, the author lists 15 qualities that founders need, including “Resilience.” He quotes Sean Parker, Napster founder and early Facebook president who “famously said running a startup is like chewing broken glass—to succeed, you need to fall in love with the taste of your own blood.”

“You’re going to get punched in the mouth every day,” writes Kerrest. “Are you the kind of person who’ll just keep getting up? Or will it eventually flatten you?”

#2. PIE-EATING CONTEST! Founders report that life never, ever slows down—especially after the IPO. The author remembers one trip to Europe: “Over eight days, I went to five countries and somehow passed through London’s Heathrow Airport eight times. I remember thinking, Well isn’t this glamorous.”

Growth is pressure-packed. “Some people say leading a fast-growing startup is like winning a pie-eating contest: the grand prize is that you get to eat even more pie.”

#3. FIGHTING FIVE FIRES! Kerrest cautions team members at startups that “You’ll never stop racing.” (Yet…his insights on family life are helpful and memorable.) He notes, “Don’t let the jovial demeanor of the founders you see on stage at conferences deceive you. They might look calm and relaxed, but offstage, five different fires are raging.” (Solution: read how the most effective leaders prioritize and stay focused on the critical few—not the growing dozens of issues.)

#4. A STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE ESPRESSO MACHINE! The author devotes two pages to “You’re Flush, Now What?” After your company or organization is funded, what are your most strategic purchases? He lists five essentials including “A really good, full-time, in-house recruiter. Your company is only as good as the people you have in it. A top in-house recruiter…will repay their cost many times over.”

What else? “A stupidly expensive espresso machine—seriously. No more productivity lost on staff trips to the local coffee shop. Plus, break areas often spark conversations, which lead to closer relationships and breakthrough ideas.”

#5. FIRING BEST PRACTICES. “…firing somebody is really hard to do. We’re human.” In one wisdom-packed page, the author delivers six best practices, including: “Always fire on a Monday and never on a Friday.” (Read why.)

#6. NO “HEAD OF…” TITLES. In startups, warns Kerrest, the tendency is to award prestigious, but unmerited, titles to early hires like “Head of Marketing,” or “Head of Sales.” DON’T! Later, when you bring in a more senior person—with years and years of relevant experience—you’ll be forced to have an uncomfortable conversation with your “Head of…” who will no longer be the “head of…”

#7. FOUR FUNDRAISING DOCS. By the way, almost every two-page spread of this creatively-designed book delivers succinct action steps on fascinating niche topics. Example: The two pages on the four fundraising pieces of collateral you’ll need for approaching investors (or in the nonprofit world—donor prospects) are memorable. They include: 1) The Elevator Pitch, 2) The Executive Summary, 3) The Business Model, and 4) The Pitch Deck. (Helpful Hints for the elevator pitch: “Be specific. Avoid jargon. Say it so an eighth grader could understand.” Note: I use Microsoft’s tools to measure readability. This eNews weighs in at an eighth grade level.)

#8. DEATH BY POWERPOINT! In your “Pitch Deck,” limit your presentation to just 12 slides. “No one will sit through a 30-slide deck” and “learn to tell your story without your deck.” This reminded me of Suneel Gupta’s storytelling insights on startups in Backable: The Surprising Truth Behind What Makes People Take a Chance on You. (Read my review.)

#9. THE ONLY UNFORGIVEABLE SIN. “As a founder,” the author admonishes, “…you have one job above all. One job that, if you fail at it, nothing else matters. And that job is: don’t run out of money.” Interestingly, that’s the exact counsel that Bob Buford (1939-2018) gave Dan Bolin many years ago, when Buford was a board member at Pine Cove Christian Camps. (Read this true story in the Budget Bucket chapter of Mastering the Management Buckets.)

#10. “GET USED TO GIVING STUFF UP: Especially, and most painfully, the stuff you like.” As I mentioned above, while this is a book tracking the pathway to an IPO, it’s really much more—and you’ll urge your colleagues to read this book. Example: “Early on, develop the ability to anticipate when some part of your work is going to get so big that you’ll need to peel it off and give it to someone else. Start the hunt for your replacement six to nine months ahead of that handoff.”

I gotta stop at these 10 favorite best practices—but you’ll be rewarded tenfold when you read and apply the street-smart principles. The 13 crisp chapters cover the journey from “Should You Be an Entrepreneur?” to Ideas, Teams, Fundraising, Sales, Culture, Leadership, Growth, Crashing and Burning, Managing Yourself, and Boards—plus a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the IPO process and what comes next. Dozens of helpful book titles are recommended and the quotable quotes are a feast, including:
• We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ MBAs (Yet)
• You’re going to be buried under a tsunami of tough decisions…
• Thinking of going it alone? Think again.
• Prioritization 101: The Eisenhower Decision Matrix
• Be stingy with your calendar—very stingy.
• [Contrarian counsel!]: Ditch Your 1:1s

Don’t make another mistake by skipping this book. It’s another must-read. If you’re too busy to read this—then it’s a mandatory must-read!

To order from Amazon, click on title for Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs, by Frederic Kerrest. Listen on Libro.fm (8 hours, 3 minutes). And thanks to Fortier PR and the publisher for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In Frederic Kerrest’s enlightening two pages on “How to Push Past the No: A little chutzpah goes a long way,” he shares the true story of the startup team that asked for a meeting at an investor’s office. After hearing the pitch, the investors said “No!” and exited their conference room. “Let’s just sit here,” suggested the startup CEO! Then after multiple inquiries from the potential investors, “Are you guys going to leave?”—they, amazingly, were able to reengage with the investors—and got a deal! (LOL!) QUESTION: When should you NOT take “no” for an answer?

2) Zero to IPO suggests you “Max Out on Mini Teams: To get big, you might have to start small.” One company noted grows by constantly building small teams. Each mini-company “contains no more than the number of people who could fit in a van or a bus.” (Note: Amazon uses a “two-pizza” standard for cross-functional teams. See my review of The Amazon Management System. QUESTION: What is our business model for growth? Are our teams right-sized?

The Drucker Bucket affirms “We don’t just give lip service to management—we are disciplined students of great leadership and management thinkers like Peter Drucker, Ken Blanchard and others.”

Buckets Countdown:
The Drucker Bucket (#4) 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 Drucker Bucket Core Competency: “We are privileged to be leaders and managers and we steward that privilege by being lifelong learners and practitioners in the art of management. We don’t just give lip service to management—we are disciplined students of great leadership and management thinkers like Peter Drucker, Ken Blanchard and others.”

Zero to IPO features a very strong focus on the customer, much like Peter Drucker’s five most important questions, including: Who is our customer? and What does our customer value? And speaking of quotable quotes, click here to enjoy a few “Druckerisms” including these:
• “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him [or her] and sells itself.”
• “People who don't take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”

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. For more, visit the Drucker Bucket.

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. The author of Zero to IPO quotes a founder: “Only 1 percent of interesting things have been invented yet. Ninety-nine percent have not.” If you agree—call us and we’ll work on the 99 percent with you! 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: growth, leadership, management

May 17, 2022

Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

Issue No. 517 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting trumpets a Laugh-Out-Loud book that promises humor can be a secret weapon in business and life—even for you! Plus listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast (see below) for Steve Macchia's interview with John. 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of his latest “PICs.”

The “Global Humor Cliff” is featured in the LOL book, Humor, Seriously. For a taste, view “How to Make a Sense of Humor Your Superpower” in this “five lessons in five minutes” video from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The 4 Styles of Humor: What’s Your Style?

In their 2021 serious—but very humorous—book, Humor, Seriously, a Stanford Graduate School of Business prof and a business strategist/stand-up comedian describe how a business and board consultant puts his funny to work.

Using humor—instead of put-downs—to address organizational and boardroom dysfunction, this senior management consultant always packs a copy of the “CIA’s Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a set of guidelines devised by U.S. government officials to sabotage terrorist organizations from the inside.”

That 50-page quick-read resource for your leadership toolbox is noted in the wonderful book by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, subtitled, “Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And how anyone can harness it. Even you.)”

The authors laugh along with their readers: “Originally developed by the OSS during World War II, the Simple Sabotage Field Manual is a guide for, as the CIA puts it, ‘teaching people how to do their jobs badly.’” They add:

“Here’s a sample of some of the tactics our nation’s best intelligence officers recommend you use to undermine the operations and efficiency of a terrorist cell—or a typical American board meeting.”
• When possible, refer all matters to committees, for "further study and consideration." Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.
• Make "speeches." Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your "points" by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
• Haggle over the precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
• Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
• Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.

I’ve been in those board and staff meetings! LOL! But the sabotage resource is just one of dozens and dozens of creative ways to inject humor into our boring and lackluster workplaces (and Zoom calls!). The authors explain how the best leaders and managers use humor at work—and no surprise—the book has hilarious moments. But you’ll also discover that humor is very serious business. Start with the research.

Really—there’s research on humor? Of course—if you’re a Stanford prof, you survey more than 700 people to ask, “What’s holding you back from using humor at work?” Four myths popped out of the clown car (I mean...the research car):

MYTH #1: The Serious Business Myth. The authors bust this myth with research and insightful quotes—even from President Eisenhower (1953-1961), “the second-least naturally funny president after Franklin Pierce” (1853-1857). Bottom line: employees love humor.

MYTH #2: The Failure Myth. This erroneous belief often plagues team members who “express a deep, paralyzing fear that their humor will fail.” Aaker and Bagdonas come to the rescue again with a helpful four-quadrant chart (aka Boston Consulting Group Matrix)—positioning “appropriateness” on the vertical axis versus “laughter” on the horizontal axis. (See page 28, just three pages beyond my “Page 25” standard for charts that summarize great books.)

MYTH #3: The Being Funny Myth. Good news! You don’t have to be funny all the time—just look for “a moment of delight that leads to a smile, or an ‘aha’ rather than a ‘haha’ (or, if you work for a supervillain, a ‘mwahaha’).” And get this—Gallup has documented the “Humor Cliff,” when humor rises and falls. The authors note that “we tend to smile and laugh much more on the weekends than on weekdays.” They add, “So you’ve been practicing.” (That’s funny!) And more good news: my age group on the Gallup chart, “Humor Cliff, Weekend Edition,” documents that we laugh more on weekends than those stuffy 40- to 60-year-old people! But…then it's downhill until you’re in your 80s and 90s. Those folks, apparently, have more to chuckle about!

MYTH #4. The Born With It Myth. Even comedians “need both talent and training to succeed.” More good news—with training and exercise, you can learn how to use humor in your life and your workplace. Humor is a skill “…we can strengthen through training and use, much as we would strengthen our leg muscles by working out at the gym…and walking to and from the fridge during videoconferences when our ‘camera isn’t working.’” (See the “No One Is Born Funny” chart on page 31. It involves puppies!)

WHAT’S YOUR HUMOR STYLE? Of course, this business strategist/professor writing duo offer a “Humor Styles Questionnaire.” I completed the online assessment and received a three-page report (in color!). The book explains the four humor styles and begins with this: “First, like any good lumberjack, let’s understand our axes.” (Funny!)

Have you ever segmented your humorous friends and family members into four groups? (Not me!) The four styles:
• The Stand-up (Aggressive-Expressive)
• The Sweetheart (Affiliative-Subtle)
• The Magnet (Affiliative-Expressive)
• The Sniper (Aggressive-Subtle)

Sniper? Yes! “Snipers are edgy, sarcastic, and nuanced, unafraid to cross lines in pursuit of a laugh. They describe their humor as an 'acquired taste’—one that not everyone will acquire—with a delivery that tends to be dry and under their breath.”

Me? They tag me as a Magnet—but you’ll need to read the book to see why I enjoy injecting humor into my book reviews, my meetings, and my wardrobe (says my wife!). So…put on your own clown clothes and take the free HUMOR TYPOLOGY QUIZ. You’ll receive your own “Custom Humor Typology Report” and you’ll be on your way to injecting appropriate humor into your workplace. (I’m serious! Take the quiz!)

What’s your Humor Style? Stand-up, Sweetheart, Magnet, or Sniper? Click here to take the Humor Typology Quiz featured in the seriously funny book, Humor, Seriously.

YOU WILL THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT HUMOR. There’s way too much in this book to mention here—but for the record—I made 45 notes in the front blank pages of my book. Very funny/serious stuff! You (yes, you!) and even your boss can learn how to leverage the power of humor in business (and life), based on the popular class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Here’s a taste from the book:

• LOL. The late night TV writers for Seth Myers deliver 100 jokes each day. Myers thins it down to just 12 of the best. (I’d like to read the left-overs!)
• LOL. Read about the prank that the White House senior advisors pulled on President George W. Bush (2001-2009) during a policy meeting. (Everyone wore tan socks.)
• LOL. Chapter 2, “Your Brain on Humor,” highlights a student-written underground newspaper at West Point that emerged after 9/11. (The purpose: “lift the collective spirits” of the cadets.) This chapter reminded me of the brain science in Brain Rules for Work (read my review).
• LOL. In “The Anatomy of Funny” chapter, they note the classic humor technique of exaggeration—with Sarah Cooper’s “Airline Seating Chart” on page 83. Hilarious! Cooper reveals the real truth about your airline experience: First Class, Economy Comfort, Economy Discomfort, Economy Agony…and worse!

MORE LAUGHS COMING...
• LOL. When Deloitte consultants “like so many of us, had stopped speaking like humans,” the team developed software that called out the objectionable jargon—“holding a contest to see who could provide the most egregious ‘bullwords.’” (They list the top bullwords, like “bleeding edge,” “robust,” and "synergize”!) The winner won a trip to bullfighting school. For real! This reminded me of the classic mission statement video by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
• LOL.The authors highlight a company that “created a wall of ‘quotes of the week,’ where they would document the funniest moments and phrases, encouraging all employees to be on the lookout for moments of humor and joy throughout the workday.”
• LOL. Another company created enormous signs highlighting their core values. One sign to spotlight “AGILITY” was misspelled and read “AGLITITY.” (The fun-loving team reports that the typo is still on the sign and prompts chuckles every day!)
• LOL. In the chapter, “Creating a Culture of Levity,” read why one company has a budget line item for chicken-themed socks!” (Hilarious!)
• LOL. Don’t skip the laugh-out-loud footnotes like this one on page 124 referencing your pet frog: “If you got this deep-reach callback [a humor technique] to the negotiations study in chapter 2, we are proud of you.”

3 OPTIONS! Want to cannoball deeper into the humor pool? Here are three options. Oops! Four options! (See what I did there?)
[ ] #1. Read Humor, Seriously.
[ ] #2. Listen to Humor, Seriously.
[ ] #3. View “Class Takeaways: Humor Is Serious Business” from Stanford Graduate School of Business. The video: “Five lessons in five minutes — learn how to make a sense of humor your superpower.”
[ ] #4. Take the free HUMOR TYPOLOGY QUIZ.

To order from Amazon, click on title for Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And how anyone can harness it. Even you.), by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas. Listen on Libro.fm (6 hours, 5 minutes). And thanks to Sydney Romanov for generously gifting this book to me and giving me many laughs (and insights). Note: The authors sometimes use what Trey Gowdy calls “non-church words”—so buyer beware!

Also, to order the 50-page declassified CIA resource from Amazon, click on title for Simple Sabotage Field Manual , by United States Office of Strategic Services. (Per above, consider bringing this book to every dysfunctional board meeting! LOL!)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Try a “Bad Idea Brainstorm” session with your team! Humor, Seriously suggests that “instead of just assuring your team that ‘there are no bad ideas,’ explicitly ask for the silliest, craziest, worst possible ideas they can think of—the ones they think have no chance of working.” Read the chapter, “Putting Your Funny to Work” and try this at your shop. DISCUSS: After taking the Humor Typology Quiz, discuss how the four humor styles might approach the “Bad Idea Brainstorm” session!

2) One of my many books of quotations includes this keeper, “Humor is God’s aspirin” (author unknown). Humor, Seriously notes that writing jokes can be a counter-intuitive way to create new ideas. In 2017, a global retailer asked a “pitch” company to write jokes on how brick and mortar stores should compete against e-commerce. One standout: “Amazon never lets you keep the hanger.” The authors noted, “But underlying each of these jokes was real insight.” ASSIGNMENT: Write some jokes your church could use to inspire members and attenders to exit online church and return to their favorite pew! (You might unearth some deeper insights with a few LOLs!)

The Book Bucket affirms that “leaders are readers” (and listeners). How about a pie-in-the-face award for managers who have read the LEAST number of books in the past 90 days?

Buckets Countdown:
The Book Bucket (#5) 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 Book Bucket Core Competency: “We believe leaders are readers! We create a culture that embraces a healthy appetite for leadership and management books, journals, articles and audio resources. We mentor team members with thoughtfully selected titles and chapters to help them leverage their strengths, grow in their faith and serve others with passion. We don’t just talk about books—we actually read them!”

LOL from the Book Bucket! We’ve chuckled over a few LOL books over the years, including these favorites that were featured in Issue No. 480 (click here):
• A Comedian’s Prayer Book, by Frank Skinner (order from Amazon)
• Laughter Therapy: Good Medicine to Make Your Heart Glad, by Jonny Hawkins and Bob Phillips (order from Amazon)
• Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward, by Paul Johnson (order from Amazon)

LOL! SIGN ON A PASTOR'S DESK:
“Don’t feel totally, personally, irrevocably responsible for everything;
that’s my job—God.”
(From Quotes for the Journey, compiled by Gordon S. Jackson)

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. For more, visit the Book Bucket.

THRIVE! “The Resiliency Diagnostic” in Arrive and Thrive is worth the price of the book. See the 20 statements on the “Effective Crisis Leadership Competency.” That’s just one of many helpful resources in this brilliant book by three women authors, subtitled, “7 Impactful Practices for Women Navigating Leadership.” (Read the review at my value-added, jargon-filled, synergistic blog, Pails in Comparison.)

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Know how to use appropriate humor in your marketing and communication pieces? Call us to learn why humor is a “secret weapon” in your storytelling. 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: business, humor, LOL

May 3, 2022

Crazy Ambulance Tales

Issue No. 516 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a fun book by Emmy award winning writer, Chris Treece. Love those EMTs! Plus listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast (bottom left) for Steve Macchia's interview with John. 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of my latest “PICs.”

What’s an ECNALUBMA? Crazy Ambulance Tales is a page-turner! Fun to read, well-written, plus there’s wit and wisdom in every colorful chapter!

Here Comes the ECNALUBMA!

“John, when are you going to read a book just for fun?” That was Joanne’s pointed question—and when your wife speaks, you should listen, right?

So “just for fun,” I read the new book, Crazy Ambulance Tales, by Chris Treece. This Emmy award winning writer reminisces about his college years in Vermont—learning and serving as an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) on the fire and rescue squad of St. Michael’s College. From first-year “probate” to the crew chief’s seat on the ambulance runs—following the author’s tales (both hilarious and poignant) was absolutely fun and the title is perfect—CRAZY!

But, I need to push back a bit on my wife’s assumptions. I do read lots of fun books. To date, this is Issue No. 516 with another book review (but who’s counting?). My reviews tilt toward leadership and management books (business and nonprofits) and faith-based books. I’m a lifelong learner—and, at least for me, reading and reviewing books is FUN!

So, you’ll understand (even if my wife doesn’t) that I can find leadership and management insights (and deep spiritual content) in almost any book. To be clear—Crazy Ambulance Tales was exceptionally fun to read, but the leadership learnings popped out frequently. (Sorry, Joanne. I can’t help myself!)

LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENT INSIGHTS: FUN!

SNOOPY! As part of the first-year training to be a certified EMT, the leadership softens the rigorous work by assigning nicknames to the probates. Chris Treece majored in journalism and so “Snoopy” (the Peanuts comics character—often on his doghouse roof with a typewriter) became the author’s new moniker. Fun! (How does your team balance critical training with light-hearted moments?)

ECNALUBMA. Huh? Yeah—"ECNALUBMA” was the in-house name for their rig. Get it? It’s AMBULANCE spelled backwards—per the large letters on the front of ambulances so it’s visible in your rear view windows—especially in emergencies. Fun! (What does your organization’s name read when spelled backwards?)

SAVED A CHICKEN’S LIFE! When interviewing to become an EMT, the panel asked Chris Treece, “Have you ever saved a life?” He thought through his Boy Scout years and came up empty, but then offered this: “Well…I saved a chicken.” (The panel almost convulsed in laughter!)

Treece added, “I got to be known in my neighborhood as a guy who was really good with bandages and iodine, mostly due to self-inflicted injuries via bicycles, go-karts and dog bites.” So a neighbor asked him to examine her chicken that had been attacked by a dog. He administered first aid on the left wing joint. A panelist asked, “And what was your level of success with the patient?”

“She lived,” Treece proudly said. “Still producing about two eggs at day, I’ve been told.” (More laughter by the interviewers!) Fun!

LEAD! Early on, his mentor (the crew chief) told Treece to take the crew chief command on a routine transport of a patient from a smaller hospital to a large medical center. Treece confesses the awkwardness of telling his chief what to do. He still remembers the valuable debrief: “You’re the chief. You’ve got to lead. Nothing is worse than a crew chief who won’t lead, and in fact you’ll never become the chief if you can’t lead.”

A.B.C. Reading this book, I thought back to the First Aid class in my college days (and the final exam in a live triage setting!) and many years of summer camp staff training with counselors and lifeguards. So I appreciated this refresher on the helpful memory devices employed by the St. Michael’s crew.
• A.B.C. – “What is most important in the patient’s care? Their A.B.C.: airway, breathing, and circulation.”
• O.P.Q.R.S.T.U. – “What are the questions for a patient exam? Onset, provokes, quality, region, severity, times, undoes.”
• And this: “What is your first job on the scene? To make sure it’s safe. A dead rescuer saves nobody.”

Plus, sometimes the author would wander into an EMT night class “…greet everyone cheerfully, then promptly flail about and keel over on the floor.” Every student remembered the instructor’s immediate response.

So…with that introduction and context—you'll dive deep into Crazy Ambulance Tales—and you won’t stop talking about this book. The chapter titles are way too tempting!
• The Double Forking
• God Smiles on Drunks and Babies
• The Patient Is Hiding in the Closet
• A Bit Too Much Creamed Corn with Lunch
• No Public Displays of Affection (PDA), Please!
• Transporting Buddha and John Lennon
• 25 Below at 5 a.m.

Whew! You’re right there in the ambulance (I mean the ECNALUBMA) on those 2 a.m. calls to horrific traffic accidents, fires, and dangerous encounters. My appreciation for first responders just skyrocketed. Oh, my. I’m so, so grateful that women and men are called to serve on the front lines. This book also reminded me of the courageous officers profiled in L.A. Cop, by Bob Vernon.

Somehow, though, the author’s masterful storytelling blends unbelievable danger with (almost) a stand-up comedy narrative tucked cleverly into those pages when you wonder out loud—“How do they deal with these challenges, day after day, and often at night and working holidays?” Not fun! But…the author’s humor is refreshing—which is what we should expect from an ECNALUBMA crew chief named Snoopy! Fun!

CENSORED! Treece wrote a weekly column, “Fire & Rescue Blotter” for the college newspaper—detailing the crew’s “more colorful calls.” He admits the blotter was rather dull, so he tried to spice it up. “Monday, May 26, the rescue unit responded to a nearby home where a heavily bearded individual in a ruffled pink dress lay unconscious on the kitchen floor due to a diabetic coma.” While true, the editors and squad superiors wouldn’t accept his more colorful accounts! Fun!

RECRUITMENT SAVVY. The author was named “Membership Chairman” (the title “sounded like a frumpy, elderly woman in a gigantic, flowered straw hat”) so he changed the title to “Recruitment Officer” (without getting permission!).

His unique approach in recruiting other students to consider joining the rescue squad is textbook savvy. Like a Peter Drucker disciple, he analyzed his potential customers and zeroed in on them. “So we had to find these rare birds on campus, probably by looking at their scars, vehicles, or colorful hobbies, and share heart-pounding and bonding experiences with them, in between their signing up for the ECA class and trying out for the squad.” Each crew member took the ECA (Emergency Care Attendant) class—a semester course required to work on the ambulance.

Note: My camp and conference colleagues, members of CCCA, will find stunning parallels to their current challenges of recruiting college students for summer camp positions. Must-read!

MEMORABLE WRITING. You’d expect an Emmy award winning writer to turn a phrase or two—but every chapter surprises with eye-catching and soul-catching one liners.
• The elderly man—cheerful—but in need of help. Treece writes, “..he had an expression on his face, like he was seeing a beautiful place we could not. Like his spiritual luggage was packed and ready to go—right now.”
• The elderly patient when asked why she called for help, “I’m not sure what’s wrong. Maybe I just had a bit too much creamed corn with lunch.”
• The five myths of ambulances, sirens, and inattentive vehicles on the road. Treece colorfully describes The Guy in the Knit Hat, “driving an ancient coupe”—bopping along with earphones and a Walkman (illegal, by the way). Myth #4: “Everyone who hears a siren pulls to the right. Ha ha! Oh boy! I love this one. No.” The author’s perfect label for The Guy: “Oh boy. Future customer.”
• The chapter describing the love and care that EMTs often provide and how it is sometimes reciprocated—“Even EMTs need a little love.”
• And the lonely 80s-something woman who would call in on those dark Vermont winter evenings—and the crew would arrive, cheerfully, and just hold her hand. Treece notes, “What you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me.”
• Treece’s “theology of the ambulance”—important and insightful.
• Why the author needed “an upper room”—and why you need one also.

DEEP CAMARADERIE. Poignant! Up until now, you’d find the best example of teamwork in the bestseller, The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (read my review). However, I have a new winner! Read Chapter 25, “The Warm Hood of the Rig.” You’ll yearn for a team that embodies what Chris Treece reminisces about.

“I miss the camaraderie. That sounds cliché, but I mean deep camaraderie, the kind that is based on seeing the absolute worst that life has to offer and facing it together as a team.” He adds, “I miss being part of an organization of people who loved me, supported me and knew me better than anyone else on the planet—even my parents, who could never really bring themselves to ask me for details of what I did on the rig.”

The author also notes what he does not miss about those long nights, sleep deprivation, and more.

Who should read this book?
• My Christian camp and conference center colleagues and rescue mission team members. (Must-read!)
• Team leaders and train-the-trainers
• Thoughtful leaders and readers (you’ll have a new appreciation for first responders)
• Anyone who wants to be better prepared for emergencies (first aid, Heimlich maneuver, and more). Note: Treece was trained by, and worked alongside, Michael O'Keefe, the co-author of Emergency Care (the classic EMT textbook).

To be clear—this really was a FUN book to read—but the insights and wisdom were a special bonus. This is a spectacular book. I bought three copies of Crazy Ambulance Tales to give to first responders, including my local fire department team in San Clemente. They recently aided my neighbor who had fallen, sadly, on his 89th birthday. I was so impressed with our EMTs—and so grateful.

To order from Amazon, click on title for Crazy Ambulance Tales, by Chris Treece.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Here’s a great exercise for your team. Chris Treece chronicles two areas: What he learned going in to this opportunity—and what he learned going out (four years later). He writes, “I went on the rig believing in God. I came off the rig believing in God and the power of goodness, but also the power of evil.” (This reminded me of Daniel Henninger’s recent WSJ column when he writes, “Putin’s war is forcing a re-evaluation of evil in the world and our response to it.”) What did you learn in an earlier position—going in and going out?

2) Oh, my. Chapter 24, “Maple Farm Road,” describes—some years later—Treece bringing his wife back to Vermont and to the tragic scenes he experienced on Maple Farm Road—events which still plagued the author. At that sad location, his wife, Helen, took his hand and prayed—for the families who lost loved ones and for her husband, Chris—that the dark spirits and nightmares would vanish. And this is stunning: “…they never came back.” Have you had a spiritual encounter that took your breath away?

The Program Bucket standard: “We research and understand our customer before launching new programs.”

Buckets Countdown:
The Program Bucket (#6) 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 Program Bucket Core Competency: “We are zealots for program effectiveness and so we research and understand our customer before launching new programs, products or services. We measure program results. We feed our primary programs and drop the losers—all in the spirit of discerning where God is at work.”

Top 10 Questions to Ask About Program Capacity and Sustainability. Download this worksheet (PDF) from the Program Bucket and identify the three most important questions for your organization. (Suggestion: Read Luke 14:28-30 in The Message.)

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. For more, visit the Program Bucket here.

BONUS! Listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast for Steve Macchia's interview with John Pearson (Episode 4, April 21, 2022). And click here to read John's review of Steve's new book, The Discerning Life.

SELF-COACHING! “First and foremost,” write David Novak and Jason Goldsmith, “good managers are good coaches.” Click here to read my review of Take Charge of You: How Self-Coaching Can Transform Your Life and Career. Visit my new blog, Pails in Comparison, for more book reviews

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Knock! Knock! The media is here! Is your team prepared for PR emergencies? Have you conducted Crisis Bucket practice drills so you know what to say—and who can and cannot say it? We can help you practice. 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: ambulance stories

April 25, 2022

The Gift of Disillusionment: Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades

Issue No. 515 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting spotlights a new book from Peter Greer and Chris Horst on what leaders do after idealism fades. Stunning stories, plus listen to The Discerning Leader Podcast for Steve Macchia's interview with John. 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 John's new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with shorter book reviews of my latest “PICs.”

“Trite Jeremiah 29:11 memes assuring us our hardships are NBD (“no big deal”) because God has a plan aren’t helpful,” write Peter Greer and Chris Horst. “’It will all work out’ is not just untrue: It is hurtful.”

Bring Your Bible and a Wet Towel
(for the Tear Gas!)

NO WORDS. Really—no words. I don’t have an adequate vocabulary to persuade you to read The Gift of Disillusionment. But I’ll try.

First…there’s the title. The GIFT of disillusionment? No thanks! Then the sub-title, “Enduring Hope for Leaders After Idealism Fades.” 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?

Maybe…because trustworthy authors Peter Greer and Chris Horst have never disappointed. (Must-read: Rooting for Rivals.) Maybe…because the authors have diagnosed the current dilemma—there’s an epidemic of discouraged and disillusioned leaders. Burnout. Pain. Heartache. Quitting time!

So just in time, these two transparent leaders share their own vulnerabilities and stunning stories as they introduce us to more than a dozen heroes—in-the-trenches people who are beautifully positioned around the globe to meet needs. Their narratives (you guessed it) feature idealism, disillusionment, but finally—enduring hope.

The authors “sought leaders with a minimum of twenty years of service in their fields and interviewed those who demonstrated staying power, sticking around long enough to experience the thorniest and knottiest difficulties.” They add, “We intentionally sought leaders who had wounds and setbacks that could have forced them to give up—but who pressed on anyway.”

Are you discouraged—or know someone who’s burned out? Read this book and learn from these pioneers who lead organizations and demonstrate what Eugene Peterson terms “long obedience in the same direction.”

Greer and Horst issue this invitation to readers and leaders: “We want to be, as the book of Jeremiah puts it, ‘serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit in every season.’” With “The Weeping Prophet” (aka “The Persevering Prophet”) guiding and interpreting, these in-the-trenches stories of women and men ministering in oh-so-challenging settings…well, no words. Simply stunning! Memorable page-turners!

Noting Jeremiah’s prophetic challenge, the authors write: “Their leaders failed them. The city walls no longer protected them. Their security, safety, and certainty evaporated. Their hope ran very thin. Many gave up on God.”

OK. This is real life. I can relate. No Pollyanna here! They add, “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.”

The true leadership stories are incredible:

• Jo Anne Lyons—deep disappointment in her own denomination’s position on social justice, yet she became its leader!

• Farai Mutamiri—a pastor (now bishop) in Zimbabwe (harassed, jailed, and more). When his congregation was removed from their church building, they met outside for five years (as did other churches). “We became so strong. People would come to church with their Bibles and with wet towels, so they were prepared for tear gas.”

• Tita Evertsz—abandoned a life of drugs (living in the U.S.), left her abusive husband, and with three young children returned to Guatemala. God uses her to live and minister in a 60,000-person slum. Disillusioned? Yes—neighboring churches outside the slum rejected new converts. Hope? Read her story.

• Dr. Phil Thuma—gratefully stuck with his calling to do malaria research in Zambia and launched a nonprofit in his basement. He’s featured in the “Discernment” chapter—a prevailing theme across every narrative. (See my review of The Discerning Life and The Discerning Leader Podcast with Steve Macchia and yours truly.) The authors quote Henri Nouwen, “Discernment is a life of listening to a deeper sound and marching to a different beat, a life in which we become ‘all ears.’”

• Camille Melki—founder of Heart for Lebanon, one day realized he was demanding answers from God about his difficulties, but was asking the wrong question. “Most of the time when you ask the why question, God won’t give you an answer. Should you try the how question…you better have a notebook and a pen, because the answer is very, very long.”

Amazingly, in this compact book (but also deep book), you’ll thank God for the other dozen hope-filled leaders from Poland, Philippines, Palestine, Haiti, Oklahoma, India, Detroit (whew—what a story!), and other neighborhoods where leaders are Jesus-in-the-flesh.

You’ll be convicted also. When Camille Melki was earning his master’s degree in the U.S., he agreed to serve as a youth pastor—but only on one condition. “He made the hiring committee commit to firing him the day he graduated” so he could return to Lebanon where God had called him to minister.

The themes from Jeremiah and real life will touch your soul: False Hope, Faint Hope, Forgotten Hope, Suffering, Surrender, Commitment, Justice, Sacrifice, Forgiveness (powerful!), Discernment, Obedience, Perseverance, and Community.

The writing is superb and a delight—and helps soften the hard themes. A Haitian leader recommends, “If you don’t have patience, don’t go into ministry. Especially in this country, we need barrels of it.”

It’s impossible to read this book without a pen. The quotable quotes from Eugene Peterson, Tim Keller, and others jump off the page, like this one from C.S. Lewis: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” Or this from Oswald Chambers at the beginning of the “Discernment” chapter: “The purpose of God is not to answer our prayers, but by our prayers we come to discern the mind of God.”

If it’s been a while since you’ve read a gritty, honest book—read this one. It’s contrarian. “The sun will come out tomorrow”—not always true. And this: “We’ve all heard that ‘failure is never final.’ But for many, it is final.” But—there’s hope! (Read the powerful poke-in-the-ribs questions at the end of every chapter, like this one: “Is your tendency to live inwardly or outwardly? Why?")

Note: Kudos to Greer and Horst who had numerous opportunities to promote their organization, Hope International—but they didn’t. They shared the platform with other heroes. (So well done—and another shout-out for their book, Rooting for Rivals.)

If cynicism and lost hope have you by your ankles—read this book. (There is enduring hope.)

To order from Amazon, click on title for 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). And thanks to Bethany House Publishers for sending me a review copy.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Have you moved from being an idealist to a cynic? “Cynicism prompts us to slip back from the dance floor and move to a place of safe distance in the balcony, where we can smugly critique the moves of others. Look at those ridiculous dance moves, we criticize.” Where are you today? Idealist? Cynic? Disillusioned? Hopeful?

2) The authors remind us that we are in a grueling battle. “We don’t wear sandals to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and we don’t show up to push back darkness without the Light. While there are plenty of surprises in life, we know one thing for sure: This journey will be exceedingly difficult. We all have firsthand experience and the promise of Jesus to confirm it: ‘Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.’” Are you wearing sandals or combat boots as you battle evil?

ASSIGNMENT! Read The Gift of Disillusionment and identify each hero’s social style!

Buckets Countdown:
The People Bucket (#7) 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 People Bucket Core Competency: “We celebrate the God-designed uniqueness of our team members, our customers, our donors, and our volunteers. We are diligent about understanding the four social styles—Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables and Expressives—and helping our people find their comfort zones as they grow in their interpersonal versatility skills.”

ASSIGNMENT! Download the chart in the People Bucket, “General Overview of the Four Social Styles,” and then as you read about the heroes in The Gift of Disillusionment—discern each person’s social style: Analytical, Driver, Amiable, or Expressive?

And…as you lead and manage your team (or connect with family and friends), discern if you are leveraging your versatility in finding your comfort zone—and also adapting to others’ styles and comfort zones. (Example: I’m a Driver. My wife, Joanne, is an Analytical. Versatility required!) Read Mistake #16 in Mastering Mistake-Making.

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. For more, visit the People Bucket here.

Well…this is encouraging! Even inspirational! The author of ROAR says that he’s “fond of asking eighty-year olds, What is your favorite future?” He’s on the constant search for role models “who are doing extraordinary things in their seventies and eighties, ignoring self-imposed ageism or the refrain that ‘you are too old to do that!’” Visit John’s PIC blog to read Roar: Into the Second Half of Your Life (Before It's Too Late), by Michael Clinton.

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. We’ve “rebranded" the four social styles into these four descriptors: Info-Sponges, Just-the-Facts, Heartfelts, and Share-Meisters. (Read more.) To communicate effectively to all four social styles, 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: disillusionment, idealism, leadership

April 19, 2022

Road to Flourishing: Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being

Issue No. 514 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a new book (published today) that asks, “PICK ONE: Life-Giving Work or Life-Sucking Work?” 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.”

In one organization in Road to Flourishing, “…when compensation became the last remaining complaint and nothing was done about it, it stuck out like a sore thumb.”

PICK ONE: Life-Giving Work or Life-Sucking Work

Right now. Clear your calendar. (Really!)

Next, order multiple copies of Road to Flourishing and schedule a day—or an offsite retreat—with your team members. If “collaboration is the secret sauce of a high-performing culture” and “eating together is a sacred thing,” as Al Lopus notes, then use this powerful book to assess and enrich your organization’s culture.

Unlike any book you’ve ever read, this practical, practical roadmap oozes with both best practices and worst practices from the trenches—and you can learn from both!

EXAMPLE #1: “THE LAST 10 PERCENT.” Lopus writes, “One of the best conflict-resolution principles for teams that I’ve heard comes from Rock Point Church in Arizona. They call it ‘the last 10 percent.’

“As lead pastor Bill Bush explains, ‘When we’re in a tough meeting, we always ask around the room, ‘Hey, did everyone say the last 10 percent?’ Because I know there are a lot of people who will say 90 percent of what’s bothering them. And the problem is, that last 10 percent is usually the real problem. And so you keep having meetings that sound so good. We high-five each other—‘Hey, we got through. We communicated so clearly. That was great.’ And then everybody walked out of there with the real problem still tucked away.’”

As the CEO and Cofounder of Best Christian Workplaces Institute, Al Lopus has seen it all! (Oh, my!) BCWI launched in 2002 as an employee engagement ministry dedicated to helping Christian leaders and organizations achieve their full potential by creating flourishing staff workplaces. BCWI helps measure and improve the health of organizations through surveys, a unique 360 Leadership Review process, and consulting services. (Visit their website here.)

Road to Flourishing is no pie-in-the-sky, trendy book from academic idealists. On the contrary! Research-based, the book delivers what Lopus and the team at BCWI have learned from “the most widely used Christian-based engagement survey” across the globe. And get this! They have actually inspired more than 1,000 churches, ministries, and Christian-owned businesses to measure the health of their workplace cultures.

Using the helpful “FLOURISH Model,” Road to Flourishing goes deep on “Eight Keys to Boost Employee Engagement and Well-Being” (the book’s subtitle). 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?
• Fantastic Teams
• Life-Giving Work
• Outstanding Talent
• Uplifting Growth
• Rewarding Compensation
• Inspirational Leadership
• Sustainable Strategy
• Healthy Communication

EXAMPLE #2: COMPENSATION CONUNDRUMS. I don’t need to urge you to read the chapter, “Rewarding Compensation,” because you and your team members will skip to Chapter 6 first (like I did!). Lopus describes two Christian organizations that “committed the same classic error in opposite ways.”

• Classic Error #1: Sore Thumb! Seven of the eight “FLOURISH” factors improved in one organization—“but when compensation became the last remaining complaint and nothing was done about it, it stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite how far the organization had progressed, poor compensation yanked employee engagement back like a bungee cord around its waist.” (Memorable metaphor!)

• Classic Error #2: Bribed to Cause Mayhem! In another organization, employee pay and benefits did receive high marks—but the staff “gave their employer low marks on most keys to a flourishing culture.” The problem? “…there was a disturbing number of disengaged employees, people who weren’t just unenthusiastic at work but were actively pumping toxicity and dysfunction into the culture.” Lopus notes that “…they were being paid so well that they were sure never to leave on their own. They were being bribed to keep causing mayhem, and they were not about to kill the golden goose.”

EXAMPLE #3: “CULTURE IS A BUCKET OF PURE WATER.” The book shines well-deserved spotlights on healthy organizational cultures, including Joni & Friends, where Doug Mazza, the former president and CEO, used a “bucket” metaphor (nice!):

“Culture is a bucket of pure water,” says Mazza. “If it’s polluted, dropping in a great strategy is not going to clean it. Great strategies flourish in clean water. Get the culture right, point to it constantly, and new strategies will evolve and are invented in healthy cultures.” Lopus adds, “Put another way, while a sustainable strategy nourishes a flourishing culture, a flourishing culture irrigates a sustainable strategy.”

(Note: Chapter 8, “Sustainable Strategy” mentions why the Joni & Friends team followed Henry Blackaby’s approach in Experiencing God.)

BONUS PODCAST!
Click here to listen to Al Lopus interview Doug Mazza on The Flourishing Culture Podcast, “How Flourishing Workplace Culture Fosters a Thriving Mission,” (Season 7, Episode 16).

Lopus doesn’t mince words when writing about the toxic work cultures he’s observed. But Road to Flourishing is also upbeat—you can create “life-giving work” for every team member. You have two options: (1) continue to apply inappropriate Band-Aids to your sick workplace, or (2) go deeper and discover how your organization’s culture will flourish with God-honoring and intentional best practices. Reading this book with your team members is a no-brainer.

PICK ONE:
[ ] Life-giving work.
[ ] Life-sucking work.

To order from Amazon, click on title for 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). BULK PRICING: Use the discount code BCWI at ivpress.com to receive 40% off 10+ books or 50% off 25+ books.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In the foreword to Road to Flourishing, Peter Greer, president and CEO of Hope International, urges organizations to invite BCWI to assess and measure their organizational cultures. “You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken…” writes Greer. How are we measuring employee engagement and well-being? (Note: Watch for my next eNews with my review of The Gift of Disillusionment, by Peter Greer and Chris Horst.)

2) Of the eight factors in a flourishing culture, Al Lopus notes that “The strongest overall influence on workplace culture is inspirational leadership, closely followed by life-giving work.” List the eight factors (see above) in F.L.O.U.R.I.S.H. and discuss: What do we do well? What needs dramatic improvement? And…what’s our plan?

The Culture Bucket Core Competency includes this zinger: “We invite those who won’t live out our values to exit.”

Buckets Countdown:
The Culture Bucket (#8) 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 Culture Bucket Core Competency: “We strive to create a corporate culture with core values that are crystal clear. We yearn for a God-honoring workplace where grace and trust are alive and well. Because we are human we will always have relational conflicts, so we are zealots about resolving conflict early. We invite those who won’t live out our values to exit. We experience true joy at work.”

QUESTION: Why do you think that more than 1,000 churches, ministries, and Christian-owned businesses invested time in measuring the health of their workplace cultures? What would be the upside of achieving recognition as a Certified Best Christian Workplace? Check it out 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. For more, visit the Culture Bucket here.

10 BIGGEST TAX AND FINANCIAL MISTAKES! Do you know the “10 Biggest Tax and Financial Mistakes Made by Churches and Nonprofits?” Read the short reviews of the 2022 tax and financial guides from ECFA in John’s new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC).

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. “Outstanding Talent” is one of the eight factors on the “Road to Flourishing.” We can help you identify, recruit, train, and inspire the right people for the right spots on your communication and marketing teams. 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.

06:42 AM in Your Weekly Staff Meeting | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: culture, engagement

April 13, 2022

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

Issue No. 513 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting suggests a book for your soul—for Holy Week and every week. 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.”

Arthur Bennet’s spiritual classic, The Valley of Vision, is a stunning collection of almost 200 Puritan prayers. Balm for your soul!

“My mind is a bucket without a bottom…”

This Holy Week, I’m recommending a sobering book that has touched my soul. Over the last four months, I’ve read, prayed, and reflected on the one-page prayers in The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, by Arthur Bennett (Editor). Below is the last half of the prayer, “Paradoxes.”

Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,
for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.

My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord’s Day,
ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
with nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention,
so I forget easily the lessons learned,
and thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home
the water of grace.

Click here to read the entire prayer.

Oh, my. If you’re gutsy enough to read the 193 prayers, your soul will have some serious work to do. (Trust me.) Published by Banner of Truth in 1975, Arthur Bennett (1915-1994) wrote these original prayers, borrowing from the prayers and poems of Puritans (and others), including: John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, David Brainerd, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Augustus Toplady, and Isaac Watts.

For a spiritual taste, you’ll find numerous YouTube videos online, including this introduction from podcaster Tim Wildsmith with the title prayer, “The Valley of Vision.”

View the 3-minute prayer and introduction to “The Valley of Vision.”

Trust me—this is not a “one-and-done” devotional book. Those Puritans understood sin’s ugly hold. Whew.

“Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin
Lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed,
As in the greatness of the Person sinned against.”

But the Puritans were also enthralled with Grace (read the “Sleep” prayer here):

“Show thyself to me as the God of all grace, love and power;
Thou hast a balm for every wound,
a solace for all anguish,
a remedy for every pain,
a peace for all disquietude.
Permit me to commit myself to thee awake or asleep.”

If you’re a listener (not a reader), you might find some cassette recordings of The Valley of Vision (ask someone over 70 what a “cassette” is). Here’s a two-minute YouTube video, “Longings After God," read by Max McLean:

View the 2-minute prayer, “Longings After God.”

In this Easter Week, I’ll close with the final lines from the “Love Lustres at Calvary” prayer:

O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight, as I see my
enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.
Go forth, O conquering God, and show me
the cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

I will read this treasured book again and again and again. To order from Amazon, click on title for The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, by Arthur Bennett (Editor). Note: There are two editions available: Paperback and Bonded Leather. (And thanks to Jon Ortlip and the Ambassadors Football team for gifting this book to me. Forever grateful!)

PAPERBACK BONDED LEATHER

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) In the four-minute endorsement video on Amazon, Ligon Duncan, Chancellor & CEO at Reformed Theological Seminary, notes that “…the prayers of The Valley of Vision help get me praying when there’s nothing in my tank.” In his new book, The Discerning Life, Steve Macchia writes, “The older I get, the harder it is to pray.” So…what do you do—when there’s nothing in your prayer tank?
2) The prayer, “Penitence,” concludes with this: “My soul is often a chariot without wheels, clogged and hindered in sin’s miry clay; Mount it on eagle’s wings and cause it to soar upward to thyself.” How would you describe your soul today?

Like the above lifelong learners, the senior global leaders for Ambassadors Football meet on Zoom to study Experiencing God (2021 Edition). What is your team studying—so they experience more fulfillment and joy?

Buckets Countdown:
The Team Bucket (#9) 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 Team Bucket Core Competency: “We believe that a balanced life honors God, each other, our families and our friends, so we leverage the unique set of talents and strengths given to each person by God. Thus we serve with more fulfillment and joy. We also leave work on time, physically and mentally.”

How do you inspire your team members to honor God? Jon Ortlip, president of Ambassadors Football (soccer ministry in 28 countries), is leading his global team in studying the 2021 book-of-the-year, Experiencing God (2021 Edition)—every time they meet together online.

And (ironically), when I had the privilege of facilitating a leadership enrichment experience for Ambassadors Football’s senior global leaders in January 2015, Ortlip and the team presented me with The Valley of Vision book. (LOL! It only took me seven years to go deep on it, but I’m so, so grateful for their thoughtful gift!)

How will you “serve with more fulfillment and joy” in 2022? Gift your team members with a significant book study and—as Jon Ortlip does—rotate the leadership of the study every time you meet.

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. For more, visit the Team Bucket here.

10 FATAL FLAWS! Do you know the “10 Fatal Flaws That Consistently Lead to Failure in Leadership?” Read John’s short review of The New Extraordinary Leader in his new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC).

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Need a unique gift and study book for your team members and/or your customers? Consider going deep on this creative book, designed by Pearpod, 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God (Full Color Edition), by Father Darrin Merlino, CMF. 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: prayers, Puritans

April 5, 2022

Ending Human Trafficking: A Handbook of Strategies for the Church Today

Issue No. 512 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks you pray about who should read this handbook, Ending Human Trafficking. 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.”

I first read this poignant quote in Steve Macchia’s book, Crafting a Rule of Life.

“Without a plan, it is hard to put empathy and compassion into meaningful action.”

Do you resonate with Frederick Buechner’s inspiring insight? “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

I remember the first time I read Buechner’s quote in Steve Macchia’s book, Crafting a Rule of Life. Then that same year, I noticed it again in Parker Palmer’s short book, Let Your Life Speak. Buechner’s insight is convicting—yet liberating. He reminds us that we don’t have to be passionate about every need on the globe (Ukraine, poverty, homelessness, crime…the list is endless). Compassion fatigue and burnout will break us—if we foolishly try to care for every social need around us.

Within that context, I so appreciate the tone and helpful wisdom in the new book (just published today): Ending Human Trafficking: A Handbook of Strategies for the Church Today, by Shayne Moore, Sandra Morgan, and Kimberly McOwen Yim.

But before you say, “Not for me, please!”—please read further.

The authors have crafted a handbook so those in your church who are open to caring about ending human trafficking—have a clear roadmap for next steps. The book is a warm mix of compassion, education, inspiration, and toolbox.

Right now—stop and pray. Pray that our God of Compassion, Justice, and Love will bring to mind one, two, or three people in your church who should read this book. (And maybe you should read it also.)

Ambassador John Cotton Richmond, who served as the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons for the U.S. Department of State, writes in the foreword:

“Have you ever felt overwhelmed by an important task, perplexed about how to take action, or doubtful that your best efforts could make a difference?” He admits, “I have. It is a mixture of preemptive fatigue, profound confusion, and learned hopelessness.” He notes that people of faith understand “the unmistakable directive to care for the oppressed and to seek justice. But without a plan, it is hard to put empathy and compassion into meaningful action.”

THE PLAN! Shayne Moore, Sandra Morgan, and Kimberly McOwen Yim (all with impressive credentials) have thoughtfully packaged the problem, the context, and the solutions into a very readable book—using six P’s (five of which are universally used in fighting human trafficking; and three highlighted by the U.S. State Department):
• Partnership: Connect, Engage, Collaborate
• Prevention: Inform, Identify, Intervene
• Protection: Recover, Restore, Reintegrate
• Prosecution: Investigate, Litigate, Obligate
• Policy: Legislate, Governance, Capacity Build
• Prayer: Stand Firm (Ephesians 6:12)

All of the above is introduced on page five (most authors don’t get warmed up until page 25!). Each “P” has a goal in the “Enhanced collaborative model for human trafficking task forces.” (Figure 1.) The overall goal: “Prioritize people over process.” (Amen!)

After reading Ambassador Richmond’s succinct foreword and the “Build a Safety Fence” introduction (see the frequent safety fence "signposts" noted), I skipped to Chapter 7, “Policy,” to learn how churches and nonprofits can make their unique contributions. The authors clearly understand church leaders and offer this:

“Our hope for this book is not to overwhelm. Not every church has to have a separate ministry addressing human trafficking, but in providing information and language around the problem, we hope to help leaders see strategic ways their church may already be addressing this problem.”

Why a chapter on policies? “Policies that create opportunities for review will build dynamic change that may eliminate time-consuming or expensive programs in order to pour into another ministry that is more effective.”

The chapter on partnership is a short course—applicable to numerous causes—on how to create lasting change through collaboration. The authors reference a survey tool that will measure a task force’s partnership effectiveness in three arenas: value, trust, and density. (“Density is measured by how many lines there are between partners and how strong those connections are. If the density score is low, the trust and values lines may be strong but few.”)

Note: To go deeper on partnerships, I encourage leaders to read Phill Butler’s excellent work, Well Connected: Releasing Power, Restoring Hope Through Kingdom Partnerships (read my review). His “15 Critical Principles” of partnership are excellent, including #8: “Effective partnerships are even more challenging to maintain than to start.”

THE WACKO CHURCH PEOPLE!
I should mention that the book opens with an awkward moment when a Department of Justice official was moderating a conference for human trafficking task force leaders. The table topic: “Discuss one of your biggest task force challenges.” Dr. Sandie Morgan (co-author, ordained minister, and administrator of the Orange County, Calif., Human Trafficking Task Force) listened to a Texas police sergeant respond: “Easy! The wacko church people.”

When a conferee told the police officer that Dr. Morgan was “one of them,” Sandie quipped, “Yes, I can marry you and bury you.” What happened? “Everyone laughed and the awkward moment passed, but the point was made: in the public square, when it comes to issues of human trafficking, churches and people of faith are often viewed as a problem.” (The authors give examples. Oh, my.)

The “prayer” chapter is superb—and the confession page is convicting. There are also stunning resources in Appendix A, B, and C, including the “Faith and Freedom Policy Brief” and a helpful glossary. The authors also include the important role of “local faith actors.”

Who in your church will read this book, hear from God—and begin (or improve on) establishing partnerships to battle the horrific evil of human trafficking?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Ending Human Trafficking: A Handbook of Strategies for the Church Today, by Shayne Moore, Sandra Morgan, and Kimberly McOwen Yim. Foreword by Ambassador John Cotton Richmond. (And thanks to IVP Academic for sending a review copy.)

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) The authors of Ending Human Trafficking very effectively use the “safety fence” model and metaphor to paint a picture of the 6 P’s plan. What model or metaphor does our organization use to succinctly describe our mission and program outcomes?
2) Are egos and logos obstructing the Biblical mandate for unity in John 17? Could we more effectively partner together for Kingdom causes? Is it time to revisit our organization’s partnerships—and/or to launch more partnerships? Who will read Ending Human Trafficking? (Extra credit! Read Rooting for Rivals: How Collaboration and Generosity Increase the Impact of Leaders, Charities, and Churches, by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, with Jill Heisey.)

You likely need celebration and LOL-experiences even more to combat compassion fatigue and workplace stress—so plan some hoopla!

Buckets Countdown:
The Hoopla! Bucket (#10) 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 Hoopla! Bucket Core Competency: “We harness the power of hoopla! for celebration, recreation, intentional food and fellowship gatherings, and just plain fun. We thrive on knock-your-socks-off spontaneity. We believe hoopla! honors God. We budget funds for hoopla! to mitigate workplace stress and most importantly, to show our team members how much they are loved and appreciated!”

Really? Can you take on the evils of the world, like human trafficking, and still create a culture and environment where hoopla! is practiced? YES! You likely need celebration and LOL-experiences even more to combat compassion fatigue and workplace stress.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal highlighted innovative ways that companies and organizations are enriching workplace experiences with creative recognition practices. Click here to read, “Have You Praised a Colleague Today? Go On, Say Something Nice. Companies roll out new ways for workers to compliment one another; ‘Your empathy is like Kool-Aid, the way it adds flavor to a boring call.’”

Check out John’s new blog, Pails in Comparison (PIC), with book reviews on self-coaching, customers, team-building, the “second half” of life, and yes…a book about books!

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Is it time to revisit your strategic partnerships? We’ve also helped clients launch creative and meaningful campaigns to address human trafficking. 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.