John Pearson's Buckets Blog

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

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



2021 Calendar Mocks My Meetings Bucket

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

P.S. And if you’re a big Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fan during this World Series (like John Lynch), you’ll appreciate another Trueface resource. Read my review of On My Worst Day: Cheesecake, Evil, Sandy Koufax and Jesus, by John Lynch.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. If your staff or customers are faking it in meetings—to appear interested in your products, programs, and services—you need communication tools with substance (not whiteboard trickery). Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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

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

Trey Gowdy’s Persuasion Mistakes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. In his chapter on “Repetition, Repetition, Repetition,” Trey Gowdy writes about advertising’s “Rule of Seven” and the power of “effective frequency.” For help on crafting a communication plan that leverages repetition, contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

Amazon Blocked My Review! Yikes!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No response!

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

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

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

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

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

No response!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello Ms. [sic] John,

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

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

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

We hope to see you again soon.

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

Hello,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello,

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

Please write back to us with the following information:

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

We look forward to hearing from you.

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

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

No response.

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

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

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

Hello John W. Pearson,

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

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

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

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

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

Huh?

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

No response.

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

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

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

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

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

I add:

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

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

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

Thank you for reading this!

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

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

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

Hello John,

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

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

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

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

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

John

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

 _________________________________



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My vote goes to Robert Orlando!
___________________________________________________________________________________

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

2 Books: Maximizing Board Effectiveness & From the Inside Out

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

10 Minutes for Management and Governance

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

SUMMER SHORTS NO. 5 (two books):

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

Change. Is. Hard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel

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



I Finally Read the #1 Business Book!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update! Citizen Trump is now available on Amazon Prime.

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

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

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

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


Click here to view the Citizen Trump trailer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

To view Citizen Trump on Vimeo, by filmmaker Robert Orlando:
CLICK HERE.
___________________________________________________________

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the power of the small screen to tell your story? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
___________________________________________________________________________________

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

The Vision Driven Leader: 10 Questions

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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


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

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

 

JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Is your creative team doing “fake work” or work that aligns with your vision and mission? Need help? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
___________________________________________________________________________________

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

The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life

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

“Give Yourself the Gift of Empty Shelves”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CFO PODCAST: John was interviewed by CFO David Beroth for the July podcast, Christian Nonprofit CFO. The topic: “7 Critical Financial Insights the Board Needs from the CFO.” Click here to listen.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Read any good books lately on branding and persuasion? Pearpod Media has the top titles. Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

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

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


31 Persuasion Tips From Scott Adams

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

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

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

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

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

My favorite snippets:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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CFO PODCAST: John was interviewed by CFO David Beroth for the July podcast, Christian Nonprofit CFO. The topic: “7 Critical Financial Insights the Board Needs from the CFO.” Click here to listen.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. How persuasive is your branding? Do your written and spoken words sound good? Do they have a “percussion rhythm?” Need persuasive inspiration? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
___________________________________________________________________________________

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

How Will You Measure Your Life?

Issue No. 443 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a 2012 bestseller with three profound questions. (Sorry I’m eight years late on this!) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here to read my recent review of Leighton Ford’s book, A Life of Listening: Discerning God's Voice and Discovering Our Own.



How to Stay Out of Jail!
Clayton Christensen’s 3 Big Questions

While locked down here in the Pearson Bunker, we’ve been talking about writing another book. No title yet, but here’s the big idea—If I’d Only Read This Book EARLIER in My Career, I Could Have Avoided This BIG Leadership Mistake!

But should I write about my Top-10, Top-50, or Top-100 big leadership mistakes? (Yikes. I have an abundance of examples.) Much too late, I’ve often read a book that would have given me greater clarity—and sooner.

Today’s book would certainly be on the list. Had I read this book in 2013, I would have given much better counsel to younger (and some older) leaders over the last eight years. I would have given less advice and simply said, “Just read this book!”

LOL! On Jan. 15, 2013, Chasz Parker, a faithful leader and reader, emailed me with this book recommendation:

HOW WILL YOU MEASURE YOUR LIFE?
by Clayton M. Christensen,
James Allworth, and Karen Dillon

Good News. I immediately ordered the book back in 2013 (as Chasz instructed!).

Bad News. I set this gem aside and didn’t read it until this year during lockdown. Yikes. I wasted eight years! (Sorry, Chasz!)

Good News. I still have the two-page email from Chasz Parker—and, yes, he was right. This New York Times bestseller is amazing. I can’t stop talking about it. And gratefully, Chasz’s 2013 email included his review!

Note: On Jan. 24, 2020, an obituary in The Wall Street Journal reported that Clayton Christensen had died the day before. He had leukemia. They noted that Christensen was “a Harvard Business School professor and management guru…an authority on what he called disruptive technologies who became more widely known for offering his life as a case study.”

So here’s a summary of How Will You Measure Your Life? from Parker and Pearson. In the book and in his MBA classes, Christensen asked three big questions:

“How can I be sure that...
1. I will be successful and happy in my career?
2. My relationships with my spouse, my children, and my extended family and close friends becomes an enduring source of happiness?
3. I live a life of integrity—and stay out of jail?”

On the last day of class each year, Prof. Christensen discussed these three questions with his Harvard Business School students. Word got around and he was then invited to give the talk to the entire study body at the 2010 graduation ceremonies. Next, Karen Dillon, then editor of Harvard Business Review, asked him to write the article, “How Will You Measure Your Life?” for HBR. (Click here to read.) The book was released in 2012 (and yes, I finally read it in 2020!).

Chasz notes that when Christensen, also a HBS grad, attended his own class reunions—it concerned him that some classmates were experiencing personal and/or work traumas. Some stopped attending reunions out of embarrassment.

I appreciate bullet point book reviews and Chasz didn’t disappoint in his 2013 email to me. He wrote:

• We often find our life’s direction by following an “emergent” path. We make our plans and start out in what we believe is the way to go, but to be successful (like most businesses) we deviate from the plan to the opportunity. Christensen’s career aim was to be the editor of The Wall Street Journal! But he ended up as a prof at Harvard Business School. (And perhaps he had greater influence there. See two more books below.)
• Integrity is holding the line on key commitments. Many people who cross the line naively think they will only cross it once, and will step over and come back “just this time.” But then having crossed that line (which was once a monumental decision), further line-crossing seems insignificant—and each subsequent “small” infraction eventually erodes a person’s integrity—compounding into major losses (family, career, etc.).
• Read why Christensen says, “100 Percent of the Time Is Easier Than 98 Percent of the Time.”
• Must-read: Christensen’s insights on why “outsourcing” may undermine your family’s values (and your organization’s values)—and why you must keep certain competencies in-house, even if difficult.
• You must pursue your life purpose by determining what it is you are going to reflect in your character (whose image will be seen in you?), then commit to what it will take for this to happen, and create a means to track how you are doing in becoming more like your desired image.

Chasz suggested that this would be a great CEO book study—especially for young leaders. Interestingly, Christensen himself didn’t sense that his last-day-of-class talks to MBA students were getting much traction—until he announced he had been diagnosed with the same cancer that had taken his father. Then students engaged—and this book is the result.

Christensen quotes C.S. Lewis:
“The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

In addition to the powerful life lessons (poke-in-rib quotes on mistake-mistaking), every leader and manager will find delightful sidebars and rabbit trails on growing people and businesses in complex environments.

Example: Noting “the problem with principal-agent, or incentives, theory…” (why some managers still think money motivates), Christensen discusses Frederick Herzberg’s work on the psychology of motivation—another topic I wish I had known about years ago. Read “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?” in the January 2003 issue of HBR. (In the book, Christensen also gives a nice compliment to nonprofit managers.)

Click here to view Clay Christensen on YouTube at a TEDx Boston presentation in 2012:


View Clay Christensen: “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

Picture this on your business card! Clayton Christensen was twice “Ranked #1 in the Thinkers50,” the global ranking of business leaders. He was inducted into the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame in 2019. You’ll appreciate his wisdom throughout the book. He writes, “There are no quick fixes for the fundamental problems of life. But I can offer you tools that I’ll call theories in this book, which will help you make good choices, appropriate to the circumstances of your life.”

Christensen writes that instead of telling Intel’s Andy Grove what to think during a consultation, “I taught him how to think. He then reached a bold decision about what to do, on his own.”

The co-authors add richness to this remarkable book. In the Acknowledgments section (who reads that?) I got teary-eyed reading the warmth expressed between the three authors (pages 207-221). James Allworth writes to Christensen, “Short of my parents, you have done more to change the way I think about the world than anyone.”

After meeting Christensen and learning about his three questions, co-author Karen Dillon recalls, “I stood in the parking lot of HBS a few hours later and knew I didn’t like my answers to those questions. Since then, I have changed almost everything about my life with the goal of refocusing around my family.”

Trust us—you will not stop talking about this book and it will cost you! I just ordered another copy for a younger leader today.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon. Are you a listener? Listen to the book on Libro.fm (5 hours, 34 minutes).



Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions:
1) When coaching and mentoring others (including family members), Christensen notes “…there is no one-size-fits-all approach that anyone can offer you. The hot water that softens a carrot will harden an egg.” What carefully selected books are you recommending this month to younger leaders (and other lifelong learners)?
2) Let’s be blunt here: How will you measure your life—and stay out of jail?
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Clayton Christensen on “Hiring a Milkshake to Do the Job”
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Customer Bucket affirms, “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.”

Clayton Christensen’s work on “What job did you hire that product to do?” disrupted the way organizations think about their customers. Enjoy these resources:

[ ] 7-MINUTE VIDEO: Clayton Christensen’s work on disruptive innovation opened doors to a wide array of businesses and organizations, including McDonald’s. Invest seven minutes and view this fascinating YouTube video, “Hiring a Milkshake to Do the Job.” (Nov. 2019)


View on YouTube: “Hiring a Milkshake to Do the Job”

[ ] BOOK: The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business, by Clayton M. Christensen (2002). (Order from Amazon.) “It is in disruptive innovations, where we know least about the market, that there are such strong first-mover advantages. This is the innovator’s dilemma.”

[ ] BOOK: Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice, by Clayton M. Christensen, Karen Dillon, Taddy Hall, and David S. Duncan (2016). (Order from Amazon.) The introduction, “Why You Should Hire This Book,” notes the importance of asking the right question: “What job did you hire that product to do?” (View the milkshake video.) And how about this on co-author David Duncan? “The clients he’s worked with tell me they’ve completely changed the way they think about their business and transformed their culture to be truly focused on customer jobs. (One client even named a conference room after him!)”

[ ] CLAYTON CHRISTENSEN (1952-2020) WEBSITE. In 2011, in a poll of thousands of executives, consultants and business school professors, Christensen was named as the most influential business thinker in the world. Click here to visit his website.

For more resources and books, visit the Customer Bucket.

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CFO PODCAST: John was interviewed by CFO David Beroth for the July podcast, Christian Nonprofit CFO. The topic: “7 Critical Financial Insights the Board Needs from the CFO.” Click here to listen.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. When you ask, “What job did you hire that product to do?”—your marketing and communication plans must also align with your answers. Need someone to coach you in how to think about this? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.

David Schmidt on 3 Paths Ahead

Issue No. 442 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting  (originally posted on July 9, 2020) was updated on Sept. 30, 2020. The book review was deleted. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here to read my review of the just-in-time book, Fearless Innovation: A No-Nonsense Guide.
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3 Paths Ahead: Check Only 1
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook

The core competency in the Strategy Bucket affirms: “We’re systematic—never negligent—in our strategic planning. We know our mission statement by memory, and our programs, products and services are in alignment with the mission.”

J. David Schmidt of Wise Planning writes: “A social disaster within a financial disaster within a health disaster has suddenly reframed our work as leaders in the months ahead.” In his thoughtful style, Schmidt writes about “Embracing Redemptive Disruption.” He outlines three possible paths as you look ahead, and offers practical next steps for guiding your organization into the future.

CHECK ONE:
[  ] Path #1: The Path Back to the Land Called Familiar. Safe. Comforting. And No Difficult Conversations.
[  ] Path #2: The Path to Thoughtful, Organizational Decluttering. Getting Free From Some Stuff.
[  ] Path #3: The Path to a Fresh Start. Rich Rewards but Not for the Faint of Heart.

Click here to download the nine-page PDF. And let me add this note—three times in my CEO leadership days, I invited Schmidt to facilitate a strategic planning process. The results—and spiritual breakthroughs—were stunning, by God’s grace. Contact J. David Schmidt via email at David@wiseplanning.net

Schmidt asks: “What are we not doing that if we did—it would fundamentally change the trajectory of our mission results?”

For more resources and books, visit the Strategy Bucket

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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Measure your communication strategy against the three paths above. Safe? Some uncluttering? Or…ready for a fresh start with rich rewards? Contact Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).
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Your Weekly Staff Meeting is emailed free one to three times a month to subscribers, the frequency of which is based on an algorithm of book length, nap duration, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. PRIVACY POLICY: Typepad, Inc. hosts John Pearson's Buckets Blog. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform for Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews. By clicking (above) to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy policy here.