Issue No. 413 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting highlights a just-in-time resource for parents at their wit’s end in today’s screen-saturated culture. (“Put your iPhone away!”) And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this page for recent book reviews including Leaders: Myth and Reality, by General Stanley McChrystal (US Army, Retired).
Summer Reading List #6:
Parenting in a Screen Saturated Culture
Imagine if your kids and grandkids (and maybe you!) would read this powerful prayer every morning:
“Leave me not, O gracious Presence, in such hours as I may today devote to the reading of books or of newspapers. Guide my mind to choose the right books and, having chosen them, to read them in the right way. When I read for profit, grant that all I read may lead me nearer to Yourself. When I read for recreation, grant that what I read may not lead away from You. As with books, so also for the music and entertainment I choose. Let all my reading so refresh my mind that I may the more eagerly seek after whatsoever things are pure and fair and true.”
John Baillie (1886-1960), the Scottish theologian, wrote that prayer before Apple Computer, Inc. was founded. Had John Baillie and Steve Jobs been contemporaries, would the iPhone, YouTube, and more been included in this morning prayer?
Youth culture gurus Doug Fields and Jonathan McKee have some thoughts about this—and just in time for the back-to-school routines. (“Young man! Get off your phone! Girls—stop texting and pay attention!”)
Here’s your next must-read:
Parenting in a Screen Saturated Culture: Teaching Healthy Decision-Making to the Smartphone, YouTube, Instagram, Gaming Generation.
Doug Fields has authored more than 50 books and was the youth and teaching pastor for 18 years at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Jonathan McKee serves parents and youth with a mountain of resources through two websites: TheSource4YM.com and TheSource4Parents.com. Bottom line: Fields and McKee have both the credentials and the calling. When they speak or write—people listen.
Here are seven reasons you should immediately order and read this short (63 pages) workbook—if you’re a parent, pastor, youth leader, teacher, or grandparent:
[ ] REASON NO. 1: Phone Contract. Wow! The phone contract template for families on page 59 is worth the price of the book and will reduce the hollering, the anxiety, and prevent serious harm. Example: “You are not allowed to delete any texts, downloads or your browsing history. No exceptions. Come to Dad/Mom, and we will delete this for you if your phone requires it.”
[ ] REASON NO. 2: One Word—“Guardrails.” Brilliant! Chapter 4 is subtitled, “What Rules Are Actually Helpful?” and the authors have invested three chapters in building the foundation for identifying guardrails that actually work with children and youth. They tilt towards the concept of “guardrails” vs. “rules,” noting “Establishing a balanced approach to guardrails is an act of love.” The workbook format journeys families toward a destination of writing up to 10 guardrails.
[ ] REASON NO. 3: In-Your-Face. Honest! So you just told your daughter that her curfew is 11 p.m. Her response: “Why 11? Is there something magical about 11? Does the Bible say ‘Make sure your kids are home at 11?’ How come the McCains don’t make their kids come home at 11—aren’t they good parents? Why not midnight like all my other friends?”
[ ] REASON NO. 4: What If the Rules Are Broken? Hilarious! Chapter 6, “Real World Application,” is both hilarious and helpful. In the very creative “Honest Thoughts” fill-in-the-blanks sections, Fields and McKee ask, “What would you prefer to use to destroy your kids’ phones and other screens—a sledgehammer or a wood chipper?”
[ ] REASON NO. 5: Meandering With Moses. Convicting! The authors ask convicting questions: “Are you one of the 54% of parents who have never had the conversation with your kids about their online profile?” But…they don’t leave you hanging with gut-wrenching anxiety. These modern day prophets also challenge the media’s typecasting of “clueless” parents and remind readers what Proverbs says about God-honoring family values—and the “talk as you walk” wisdom from Moses in Deuteronomy 6.
[ ] REASON NO. 6: Practical, Not Preachy. Surprising! Parents, teachers, pastors, youth leaders, and grandparents already know the dangers of the worldwide web. The authors don’t waste our time dwelling on those evils or listing convent locations for rambunctious daughters. They just deliver really, really thoughtful approaches to this modern day dilemma. The workbook is amazing.
[ ] REASON NO. 7: The Doug & Jonathan Dialogue. Refreshing! The book is actually a conversation between Doug and Jonathan—and each own their opinions and approaches (and they don’t always agree). You’ll read a few lines from Doug and then a few lines from Jonathan—punctuated with many laughs and very savvy counsel.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Parenting in a Screen Saturated Culture: Teaching Healthy Decision-Making to the Smartphone, YouTube, Instagram, Gaming Generation, by Doug Fields and Jonathan McKee.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Doug Fields and Jonathan McKee suggest: “List some of the values you hope to pass on to your kids.” What values do you live by at home? What core values guide the work in our organization? (How are we living biblically in this “screen-saturated culture?”)
2) Appendix C of the Fields and McKee book includes “A Teenager’s Social Media Rules for Her Parents,” featuring Ashley McKee’s “Social Media Rules for Creepy Parents.” (It’s hilarious.) What are the implied social media rules in our organization? Should we put them in writing?
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Coach John Wooden’s 6 Values
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Culture Bucket, Chapter 8, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to preach and live your values.
John Wooden (1910 – 2010), the esteemed UCLA basketball coach, had an easy-to-remember formula for success. It was part of the corporate culture he created on the practice court, in the locker room and on Bruin game days. According to his book, co-authored with Jay Carty, Coach Wooden: One-on-One, Wooden’s dad gave him two sets of threes when young John was in grade school:
John Wooden’s 2 Sets of 3
Don’t lie.
Don’t cheat.
Don’t steal.
Don’t whine.
Don’t complain.
Don’t make excuses.
We have all experienced corporate cultures that could use a hefty dose of Wooden’s two sets of threes. While some companies and organizations might re-phrase their core value statements on the positive side (truthfulness, integrity, accountability, etc.), the coach’s six “do not” statements are memorable and crystal clear.
Click here for more resources from the Culture Bucket, including links to more than 10 books and other resources on creating a healthy culture. (See especially my 2015 book-of-the-year, Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels.)
BONUS LINK! If you appreciated the brief paragraph from John Baillie’s morning prayer (see above), click here to read the entire prayer for the 21st morning of the month. You can also order his book, A Diary of Private Prayer, with 31 morning and 31 evening prayers—and blank pages facing each prayer (for journaling). I’ve given dozens of these books to friends over the years—one of my all-time favorite books.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? Check out the innovative work from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video). Jason has his own focus group of screen-focused triplet teenagers at home—so he knows what works when communicating to the diversity of generations you serve.
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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 412 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a laugh-out-loud Kindle book on how to find lost golf balls—and why “golf hawkers” are so passionate. LOL! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this page for recent book reviews including StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad (another must-read!).
Summer Reading List #5:
Anything for a Golf Ball: The Art of Finding Lost Golf Balls
Before summer evaporates here in the Northern Hemisphere and you’re overwhelmed with strategic plan deadlines, carpool juggling, and reattaching those winter storm windows, let’s squeeze in some golf.
There are three ways to have fun with golf:
#1. Q SCHOOL. Invest several thousand dollars in fees and enter the Professional Golf Association’s qualifying school. A few years back, I reviewed a fascinating book about the agony and the ecstasy of “Q School.” Read: Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major, by John Feinstein.
#2. WIN THE PGA FEDEX CUP. If you’re one of the Top-30 golfers on this planet this weekend, you have a shot at pocketing the first place prize money of $15 million. Imagine! More info here.
#3. OR…BECOME A GOLF BALL HAWKER. What could be more fun and fulfilling than finding lost golf balls—and being officially declared a “Professional Golf Ball Hawker”? John Vawter shows you how in his laugh-out-loud Kindle book, Anything for a Golf Ball: The Art of Finding Lost Golf Balls.
In introducing the “Fine Art of Golf Ball Hawking,” Vawter (author, pastor, coach to pastors, and very funny guy) reports that American golfers lose 300 million golf balls per year. And noting that 75 percent of those balls are found, he asks, “Do you know how many that means are yet to be found? So why is there any question about why hawkers hawk?”
He begins with important definitions:
Nomenclature: “Hawking, ball hawking, fishing, golf ball hawking, retrieving… all these words are interchangeable. Rawker is the person who rides in the cart but does not golf; but they hawk. Rider plus hawker = rawker.”
Ball hawking: “The fine art of finding a golf ball that the normal person cannot find or has no interest in finding. The Hawker Litmus Test: If you have bought a golf ball in the last two years you are not a real hawker.”
Hawker Logic: “A form of logic known only to hawkers. It does not have to be consistent with other forms of logic. It is a logic known only to hawkers… but it is clear and it makes sense to the hawker.”
Captain Ball Hawk: “The highest compliment a hawker can be paid is to be called, ‘Captain Ball Hawk.’ The hawker is motivated by these words: Anything for a golf ball.”
John Vawter is no armchair hawker. He’s the real deal and finds about 2,000 balls a year as he, apparently, also golfs. (Read this Oregon newspaper’s interview with Vawter.)
His short book is a joy to read—whether you golf or just know someone who golfs. Examples:
• “A gentleman hawker does not pick up a ball until it stops rolling.”
• “A gentleman hawker—after slicing a ball into the living room of a house on the course—will always ring the doorbell and remove his shoes before entering the house to get the ball.”
• “The same person who would criticize the ball hawker probably does not like professional wrestling.”
Vawter even invokes psychiatry to prove his point: “There is a certain amount of joy the hawker experiences when he sees a friend who used to ridicule his hawking but is now out in the rough looking for balls and yelling, ‘I found one’ when he makes the discovery of a ball in the wild.
“Ball hawking is the tonic for physical and mental deficiencies that preclude the ball from going straight down the fairway. The confident ball hawker is doing what all other golfers secretly want to do but are too shy, weak or cowardly to do. Any golfing psychiatrist knows this to be true.”
Dare one hawk at exclusive golf courses? “New private clubs—still open to the public until membership is closed—are great places to find balls. Rich guys do not slow down to look for golf balls. If you are playing a public course and a guy from the exclusive private course you want to play happens to be put in your foursome, it is okay to downplay your hawking skills that day so as not to hurt your chances of his inviting you to his course.”
Green golfers. “The ball hawker stands secure in the smug awareness that he is environmentally correct since the retrieval and reuse of lost golf balls is one of the planet's highest forms of recycling.”
Brotherhood and sisterhood! “Turning off the highway to drive the road next to a fairway where you find lots of balls and seeing someone else already making the ‘hawking’ drive does not make the genuine hawker angry. He thinks to himself with great pride, ‘He ain't stealing, he's my brother.’”
Nostalgia. “Great hawkers will fly home from a golf vacation in Hawaii and remember the great hawking holes more than their first time back-to-back birdies."
Umm…who is demented? “Golf course designers who design the ponds with steep slopes so that balls hit into the water go to the deep bottom in the middle only to be found by scuba divers are a special breed of the demented.”
Vawter (the Rev. Vawter) could not resist the temptation to justify his hawking ways—with fresh theological commentary:
• “Pope John Paul the Second was not a ball hawker. This is not due, however, to Catholic theology. It has to do with the limitations and lack of versatility of the Popemobile on golf course terrain.”
• “Billy Graham [was] a ball hawker. He says it is a direct practical carryover from his life's spiritual mission ‘to seek and save that which is lost.’”
• “Those who believe in reincarnation actually make the best ball hawkers because they are not just looking for lost balls... they are looking for their lost uncle.”
• “New Agers do not make good ball hawkers because once they get in tall grass they lose sight of their mission of finding lost balls and start communing with the tall grass.”
• “If Jesus were walking the earth today, He would add the parable of the golfer searching for his lost golf ball to the story of the poor widow searching for her lost coin, since both parables contain profound spiritual lessons.”
“Hawkers are like priests... they know golfers' sins,” adds Vawter. “The golfing/hawking preacher is a fisher of men and of golf balls. Billy Graham told the story of a man with whom he golfed. The man had not had a good day hitting the ball or finding any balls in the weeds. At the end of the round Billy Graham asked if he could comment on the man’s golfing and hawking game. The man said yes. Billy Graham said, ‘All day long you have been asking God to damn your ball and all day long He has been answering your prayer.’”
Conversion: “When a golfer who used to make fun of you for hawking says, ‘This course has so many places to find balls, I would walk it without clubs just to find balls,’ you know you have made a convert.”
This is the perfect book when you need a break from your serious summer reading. Enjoy!
To order from Amazon Kindle, click on the title for Anything for a Golf Ball: The Art of Finding Lost Golf Balls, by John Vawter.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) What avocation are you so passionate about that—someday perhaps—you might write a book about it?
2) You are the PGA’s FedEx Cup 2019 winner and they just handed you a check for $15 million. After taxes are deducted, what will you do with the remaining funds?
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Spontaneous Soaking!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Hoopla! Bucket, Chapter 10, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to create spontaneous hoopla! for your team.
One year I set up an 8-foot golf putting green in my office and invited team members to drop by anytime to practice their putting skills. The big idea: take a break to reduce the stress. Then at our next weekly staff meeting, I gave every team member $5.00 to buy their own stress-reduction devices for their own cubicles. "So when we drop by, you've got something whimsical or fun to distract us for a moment."
The creativity was mind-boggling! One guy installed a Nerf basketball hoop. Others featured twirly gizmos on their desks and dart boards on their walls. Someone else had a Slinky®. (When was the last time you chased a Slinky down the stairs?)
The hoopla! prize went to Jimmy Mellado, now president of Compassion International. Feigning disinterest and procrastination, he waited for two weeks and then at the end of a staff meeting, asked people to remain for one more agenda item. "I completed my assignment," he smiled, and then sprayed every surprised team member in the room with his bright orange Super Soaker® squirt gun!
For more resources from the Hoopla! Bucket, including links to more books and resources on team spontaneity and affirmation ideas, visit the Hoopla! Bucket webpage here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? And are you working with a partner that adds Hoopla! to the mix? Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 411 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a fantastic book on strategy—cleverly disguised as a graphic novel! Is your team tactical or strategic? And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this page for recent book reviews including Jim Collin’s short classic, Turning Goals Into Results.
Summer Reading List #4:
StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad
“Be strategic or be gone” is the tagline of the Strategic Thinking Institute. STI launched when a struggling manager asked Rich Horwath, “I had my performance review and my boss said I’m too tactical. How can I become more strategic?”
But get this! Instead of creating solutions with more talking head blah-blah-blah blue sky “imperatives,” Horwath noted the Stanford University study that says you’ll retain six to seven times more information when it’s presented in a story format.
Thus...”Fwumpfh!”…”B-Zapp!”…and “Bwa Ha Ha!” (Yes, I’m quoting directly from this must-must read graphic novel, StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan.)
But…you’d miss the texture, color, hilarity, and brilliance of this unique business book—if I reviewed it solo. I needed help!
In June, I invited our 16-year-old granddaughter, Zuzana (“Zuzu”), a voracious reader, to share her thoughts on Scott Rodin’s novel, The Four Gifts of the King. The feedback from readers was over-the-top (thank you!)—so let’s do it again with StrategyMan!
Grandpa John: OK, Zuzu—your junior year in high school starts next week—so how many books have you read so far this year?
Zuzu: StrategyMan was my 81st book.
Grandpa John: Yikes! Really…81? That’s amazing! (I better up my game!) So…what did you think of StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan?
Zuzu: Amazing! I’ve read many graphic novels, but this is the first business book/graphic novel I’m read. It features three heroes, 21 villains, and 10 weapons—for fighting off those anti-strategy villains!
Grandpa John: So this business story finds a company in search of a business strategy—but they’re kind of clueless! Did that surprise you?
Zuzu: Not really! When not fighting off the Anti-Strategy Squad villains, the characters in this fun story reported that “a survey of 400 managers found that only 44.3% of organizations have a universal definition of strategy, and less than half (46%) have a common language for strategy.”
Grandpa John: Speaking of the colorful villains…my three favorites were Miss-Alignment, Jargon Goblin, and Meeting Menace (“Teleconferences or meetings that are consistently unproductive, inefficient and a drain on morale.”)
Zuzu: I’ll go with the Multi-Taskinators. That’s a huge problem, isn’t it? The book gives ways to defeat the villains—such as “Keep your mobile phone out of sight and out of reach during meetings.” I don’t know anyone who does that! I’m also guessing that the Dr. Yes villain is a big problem in organizations.
Grandpa John: You nailed it, Zuzu. The Dr. Yes villain is about “the inability to say no to things that don’t contribute value to the business and directly support one’s goals.”
Zuzu: What was your favorite weapon?
Grandpa John: Hey! I’m running this interview—but since you asked, all 10 weapons are succinct, memorable, and immediately useful. The heroine Innovatara—who’s great at “generating insights that lead to innovation”—introduces the Differentiation Detector weapon.
Zuzu: Right—and three cheers for the heroine! The Differentiation Detector, I’m thinking, is the best defense against The Same villain. I’d suggest that every store manager at the mall should read this book. There’s very little differentiation today.
Grandpa John: Great insight. Nonprofits, churches, and businesses all need help from the other two heroes, StrategyMan and Purposeidon (the mission, vision, values elements—and why many organizations get it wrong).
Zuzu: Before you give away the ending, Grandpa, do we need a spoiler alert? I’d also like to mention that I plan to loan the book to a friend whose family runs a business. The book is easy to understand, enjoyable to read, educational, and also entertaining. (I also laughed at the nerdy references!)
Grandpa John: Wow—four “E’s” right off the top of your head. Nicely done, Zuzu. I’ve never read a graphic novel. Why do you enjoy them so much?
Zuzu: Duh! I am the daughter of a graphic designer!
Grandpa John: You told me that you did skip the “meatier parts” (your words) of the book and I’m not surprised, but—good news—for leaders and managers, the graphics include call-outs and sidebars with serious strategy (or lack of strategy) insights: Example:
• “A recent study of more than 8,000 new, nationally distributed products found that only 40% were still on the market three years later.”
• “A survey of nearly 5,000 senior executives showed that more than 50% didn’t think they had a winning strategy in place.”
Zuzu: You mentioned the Jargon Goblin villain—why?
Grandpa John: Whew! My experience, especially with nonprofit clients, is that if they do have a written strategy—it’s packed with meaningless rhetoric and a mash-up of business terms. (Example: never, ever use “Strategic Imperatives!”) The book blasts away on this theme. Leaders will find it personally painful, but funny. The first chapter, “Strategy Defined,” is worth the price of the book.
Zuzu: Is it really this bad out there, Grandpa, in the real world of business? Is strategy so ill-conceived? (Are there really villains, like Megalo-Plan, who sneak 115 slides into a VP’s sales presentation?)
Grandpa John: It’s bad. Check out the villain, Status Quo-Lock. He ingeniously inspires teams to allocate 90% of resources to the same projects year-after-year! Or, read the chapter, “Strategy and Culture,” and leaders will quickly delete one of their favorite axioms from their vocabulary: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” (Not true!) But there is hope and there are weapons—like the “StrategyPrint” template, a two-page blueprint of a business highlighting four keys: Goals, Objectives, Strategy, and Tactics.
Zuzu: But you’ve always preached five keys, right? The GNOME Chart: Goals, Needs, Objectives, Methods, and Evaluation.
Grandpa John: You remember! I’m good with letting leaders pick what works for them—as long as they understand and implement the whole system.
Zuzu: Well…if I needed to read a book on strategy, I’d pick StrategyMan. Will this be your 2019 book-of-the-year?
Grandpa John: Stay tuned!
To order from Amazon, click on the title for StrategyMan vs. the Anti-Strategy Squad: Using Strategic Thinking to Defeat Bad Strategy and Save Your Plan, by Rich Horwath.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) StrategyMan notes a survey that said “only 44.3% have a universal definition of strategy.” Pop Quiz! What is your definition of strategy?
2) “Are the different functional groups in your company (marketing, sales, HR, IT, R&D, etc.) all aware of each other’s strategies and how they align?” That’s question 19 of 20 questions in the free quiz, “Is Your Team Tactical or Strategic?” Click here to take the Strategic Thinking Institute’s quiz.
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Is Your Team Tactical or Strategic?
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Strategy Bucket, Chapter 3, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to be strategic about strategic planning.
Rich Horwath’s StrategyMan book defines strategy as “The intelligent allocation of resources through a unique system of activities to achieve a goal.” He says you must answer two questions:
1. What are you trying to achieve? (Goals and Objectives)
2. How are you going to achieve it? (Strategies and Tactics)
“Strategy is generally how to achieve a goal and tactics are how specifically.”
For more resources from the Strategy Bucket, including links to more books and resources on strategy, visit the Strategy Bucket webpage here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? Reminder: a Stanford University study says you’ll retain six to seven times more information when it’s presented in a story format. Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 410 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features profiles of 13 leaders (some with warts) and some deep thinking on the myths and realities of true leadership. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this page for recent book reviews including Scott Rodin’s novel, The Four Gifts of the King.
Summer Reading List #3:
Leaders: Myth and Reality
“While leaders are generally intelligent, exceptionally intelligent people are actually less likely to emerge as leaders.”
That zinger (or perhaps comforting insight) is from “The Geniuses” section of Leaders: Myth and Reality, by General Stanley McChrystal (US Army, Retired). In reflecting on geniuses, McChrystal and his co-authors profile Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein.
The book’s approach is fascinating, disturbing, and thought-provoking. McChrystal’s compare-and-contrast model was Plutarch’s Lives—and, trust me, you’ll need a pen if you’re still reading books the old-fashioned way. Oh…and schedule a long vacation this month—this gem is over 400 pages, plus notes.
In the news recently was an observation that only three prime ministers—across the pond—have been known by their first names: Winston, Maggie, and Boris.
Between 1979 and 1990, Margaret Thatcher served as the U.K. Prime Minister. McChrystal describes her early leadership style as a cabinet minister in 1970:
“Within a week, she took her abrasive tongue to the page, writing a minute at the bottom of an interim departmental report of a flagship research program. ‘This is one of the most disappointing and frustrating documents I have read. Not a penny [in funding] after 1971.’ She had a disparaging habit of refusing to send out substandard documents given to her for signature, instead ripping the tops off those pages she thought inferior.”
There are more fireworks as the authors exegete leadership myth and reality in “The Power Brokers” section—contrasting Thatcher (1925-2013) with New York City’s infamous “Boss” Tweed (1823-1878).
Tweed, the corrupt politician, was nevertheless a leader. “…he increased the size of Tammany Hall’s general committee from 21 to 150 members, making the group more unwieldly and less able to make decisions.”
“The Zealots” commentary positions the French Revolution’s Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794) against the jihadist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi (1966-2006). (Note to budding revolutionaries: both men died in their 30s.)
A leader—yet a confirmed introvert, “…the Revolution took Robespierre out of his room and placed him front and center. That this deeply private man both had to and tried to play an increasingly public role would become his undoing.” (For more, read Peggy Noonan’s Wall Street Journal timely July 25, 2019, column, “What Were Robespierre’s Pronouns?”)
And for another take on never-done-this-before leadership in-the-trenches, read my review of McChrystal’s Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World. It was a runner-up for my 2016 book-of-the-year.
The authors of Leaders also list book recommendations for each of the 13 leaders profiled—a generous bonus. After reflecting on leadership styles for each leader—I couldn’t stop discussing the strengths and the foibles of each leader. (Ask my wife, Joanne!) I urge you to dive into these troubling portraits of leadership. No one survives unscathed.
• The Marble Man: Robert E. Lee
• The Founders: Walt Disney and Coco Chanel
• The Geniuses: Albert Einstein and Leonard Bernstein
• The Zealots: Maximilien Robespierre and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi
• The Heroes: Zheng He and Harriet Tubman
• The Power Brokers: William Magear “Boss” Tweed and Margaret Thatcher
• The Reformers: Martin Luther and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I confess—I skipped the 13 profiles and read the authors’ conclusions first. “Three Myths” (the Formulaic Myth, the Attribution Myth, and the Results Myth) challenged my leadership assumptions. In the final chapter, “Redefining Leadership,” the authors include a helpful chart on page 397 calling for an improved definition of leadership.
After reading the back end of the book, I then I returned to the first profile on General Robert E. Lee and was stunned to read what McChrystal wrote:
“On a Sunday morning in 2017 I took down [Lee’s] picture, and by afternoon it was in the alley with the other rubbish awaiting transport to the local landfill for final burial. Hardly a hero’s end.”
Oh, my. You must read “The Marble Man” chapter. Leaders is jam-packed with insights and surprises. So consider these ideas for staff meetings:
• Pick four team members and inspire them to each “compare-and-contrast” two leaders at future staff meetings.
• Or…zero in on the authors’ insights summarizing each section—such as “Entrepreneurialism and Ego,” or “The Cyclic Lure of Conviction,” or the follow-up to Harriet Tubman, “A Human Need for Heroes.”
• With Hong Kong and China in the news—don’t skip the chapter on Zheng He (1371-1433). Prepare for “aha!” moments—as you learn about China’s motivations for today and the future.
To order from Amazon, click on the title for Leaders: Myth and Reality, by General Stanley McChrystal (US Army, Retired), Jeff Eggers, and Jason Mangone.
To listen to this book on Libro.FM audiobooks (17 hours, 2 minutes), click here.
BONUS BOOK! For faith-based teams, couple Leaders with Steve Moore’s brilliant analysis, The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible: Practical Insights From Extensive Research on Over 1,000 Biblical Leaders (read my review here).
In his chapter on “Failures,” Moore notes, “There are qualifying failures, and disqualifying failures. They can be further subdivided into character-based failure, and competency-based failure. Disqualifying, character-based failure can be partial or complete. Competency-based failure can be direct or indirect.” (Another must-read!)
To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible, by Steve Moore.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Leaders reports that Margaret Thatcher had a “distinct style of written command” with quick Yes, No, or Agreed notes on memos. “But a prime minister does not lead by force of memo alone.” Peter Drucker often wrote about understanding your supervisor’s learning style: is she a reader or a listener? So…what is your leader’s style?
2) In the chapter on Martin Luther, the authors share a “Table Talk” recollection: “When Luther’s puppy happened to be at the table, looked for a morsel from his master, and watched with open mouth and motionless eyes, he [Martin Luther] said, ‘Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat!’” So…how’s your prayer life?
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Delegate Your Reading!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Book Bucket, Chapter 5, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to delegate your reading. When someone recommends a great book, buy it—even if you don’t have time to read it. Delegate some of your reading to the management zealots on your team.
But…if you do delegate the reading of Leaders to someone else, don’t skip the chapter on Harriett Tubman. As our nation revisits our racial history, you’ll appreciate Tubman’s heart and style. “She never intended to lead, and that turns out not to matter—she became a hero, and a leader, all the same.”
For more resources from the Book Bucket, including a link to “20 Books to Get You Started” on your lifelong learning journey, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 409 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting features a change of pace for your summer reading: an extraordinary DVD documentary to inspire you about your BHAG. Enjoy! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out this page for recent book reviews, including Jim Collins’ 29-pager on momentum, Turning the Flywheel.
Summer Reading List #2:
In the Shadow of the Moon (DVD)
Where were you on July 20, 1969? If you’re 50 or older, you were alive when the Apollo 11 spaceflight landed the first two people on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969.
If your learning style is more listener than reader, you’ll appreciate this issue’s recommendation. This documentary is perfect for a staff retreat, a staff training day, a department Hoopla! Bucket event, or even a Friday night at the movies family celebration at home. Enjoy, learn and be inspired! (Note: I recommended this back in 2010—but it’s time to highlight this gem again. See you at the 50th anniversary party next month!)
BHAG Documentary
Perhaps the best example of a BHAG (the term, “Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” was popularized by Jim Collins) is President John F. Kennedy’s famous address to the U.S. Congress on May 25, 1961. He inspired the nation with these words, “First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”
Kennedy didn’t live to see that audacious dream realized, but on July 20, 1969, the whole world watched as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. Since then “put a man on the moon by 1970” has inspired thousands of leaders to put a short-term target on the wall—and, in bold faith, blast off. For faith-based organizations, I prefer the term “Big Holy Audacious Goal.”
So I was energized once again with that profound BHAG while at a client’s senior leaders retreat in the Colorado mountains in 2010. One evening, we sat mesmerized by the stunning DVD, In the Shadow of the Moon, Ron Howard’s documentary of the 12 American astronauts who walked on the moon between 1968 and 1972.
This extraordinary 100-minute film has teachable moments in almost every one of my 20 management buckets. The Results Bucket: check. The Strategy Bucket: bull’s-eye. The Systems Bucket: 15 astronauts owned 15 segments of the mission. The Crisis Bucket: “Houston, we have a problem.”
The film is absolutely rich in memorable moments in the Team Bucket. Then there’s the People Bucket with often hilarious and poignant illustrations of the four social styles, including analyticals (Armstrong) and expressives (James Lovell). This massive, visionary expedition would have failed miserably without monumental achievements in the Delegation Bucket. There’s a lot more.
Besides the exquisite cinematography and the dramatic explosions (they had lots of failures enroute to the BHAG), the insights shared by the aging and straight-talking astronauts (it was filmed in 2007) were remarkable, often funny and frequently breath-taking.
Download or order from Amazon:
• Amazon Prime (free): In the Shadow of the Moon
• DVD: In the Shadow of the Moon
P.S. If you missed my review of The Four Gifts of the King: A Novel, by R. Scott Rodin, click here.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) What were the risks for President Kennedy of “going public” to the whole world with such a daring BHAG?
2) Do we have an equally daring Big Holy Audacious Goal (a measurable target on the wall three to 10 years out)—that inspires our staff, board, donors and volunteers?
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Hire Healthy People
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
One of the big ideas in the Culture Bucket, Chapter 8, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to hire for attitude, not aptitude.
• Max De Pree: “The corporation can never be something we are not.”
• John Maxwell on servant leadership: “The secure are into towels, and the insecure are into titles.”
• Miles McPherson: “One way to get a healthy culture is to hire healthy people.”
• Laurie Sudbrink: “The softer characteristics of GRIT—generosity, respect, integrity and truth—create a healthy toughness and perseverance in leadership that involves the team rather than leaving them in the dust.”
For another staff movie event, screen the 1949 classic, Twelve O’Clock High, featuring Gregory Peck—and then discuss the two leadership styles in the film. And note the difference between quantity (number of bombing raids) and quality (the one strategic target). Read my review here.
For more resources from the Culture Bucket, including a link to Max De Pree’s book, Leadership Is an Art, click here.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you leveraging the extraordinary power of visual media to inspire your members, clients, or customers? Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 408 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting begins with a summer reading recommendation: Scott Rodin’s first novel (a page-turner), The Four Gifts of the King. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for the HBR article, “Why Your Meetings Stink and What to Do About It.”
Summer Reading List #1:
The Four Gifts of the King: A Novel
As summer looms for leaders and readers in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m launching a summer reading series. Whether you read on the beach, in the backyard, or at a B&B, Scott Rodin’s first novel, The Four Gifts of the King, is a must-read. (And to my loyal Southern Hemisphere readers in Australia and South Africa and other nations—you’ll also appreciate this unique page-turner!)
You might think that I’m the reader in my family—but that would be incorrect. Our 16-year-old granddaughter, Zuzana (“Zuzu”), is the voracious reader, so she happily accepted my invitation to read this novel and share her feedback.
Grandpa John: OK, Zuzu—it’s only June and you’re a busy high school student—so how many books have you read so far this year?
Zuzu: I just finished my 68th book.
Grandpa John: Yikes! Really…68? That’s amazing! (I better up my game!) So…what did you think of The Four Gifts of the King, by Scott Rodin?
Zuzu: Before I answer…is Scott Rodin a friend of yours?
Grandpa John: Actually, he is. But don’t hold back!
Zuzu: Thanks. I loved it. I enjoy reading fiction and spiritual warfare books—and The Four Gifts of the King reminded me of C.S. Lewis. Rodin’s writing flows nice and easy—and his writing style adds to the story; it didn’t distract. I appreciated that.
Editor’s Note: I interviewed Zuzu over lunch this week at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Zuzu had the lemon chicken; I had sweet and sour pork. Grammy Joanne also got in on the fun and the food because we were celebrating Zuzu’s birthday—howbeit a few months late.
G. John: As you know, a good friend encouraged me to read this book—because the setting was so relevant: four adult children gathering for their father’s memorial service—and then two days with an attorney (a family friend) to go over the details of the will. Could you relate to the story?
Zuzu: Well, as you certainly know, I have four siblings. Hopefully, such a gathering is a long way off for us. But I did feel that the characters in this novel were real people—with real emotions.
G. John: Right. All four adults had careers, but none were married yet. And wow, plenty of sibling pokes and stabs. Hurt feelings. The four social styles (analyticals, drivers, amiables, and expressives) popped right out. What did you think about the unique approach the author took?
Zuzu: It was unique. The attorney had arranged for this two-day gathering at their parents’ home (the mother had died previously) and the will required everyone to read a book together—out loud! So the kids took turns reading the story their father had written for them. (Their dad, by the way, was a retired rescue mission CEO.)
G. John: And… (sorry to interrupt!)…at the end of each chapter in their father’s story (set a few centuries back), we were then back in the living room in real time with the four family members and the attorney—as they debriefed each chapter. I remember this paragraph at the end of Chapter 18:
“…Anna read the last words and set the book down. Anna stretched.
‘Well, that explains a lot of things. Now we know what the Quash was for.’
“Alex stood and joined her in a stretch.
‘Four gifts, four lands, and four distortions. It’s all coming together.’
“‘And four of us.’ Meredith leaned back.
‘I think Dad has us right where he wants us.’”
Zuzu: Yes. So there are actually two stories going on. The family members learning about their father’s will—and then the fictional story of Steward, the teenager, on a journey through four lands. The metaphors were intriguing…
G. John: ...and convicting! Those four distortions. Oh my and yikes! We can’t do a spoiler alert here—but of the four lands, were you gripped by any one setting in particular?
Zuzu: The “ramps” metaphor. I know your eNews readers won’t have a clue what that means—but they’ll get it when they read the book. I thought all four lands described our culture today—sadly—but the “ramps” imagery was especially shocking. It reminded me, a bit, of The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis.
G. John: Do I dare mention here that you’ve read The Great Divorce, but I haven’t? (I just ordered it.) And since your dad (our amazing son, Jason) is a listener, not a reader, you might remind him that if he hasn’t read this C.S. Lewis classic either, he can download the audio of this allegorical “bus ride from hell to heaven” at Libro.fm (length: three hours and 22 minutes).
Zuzu: I will! All of the metaphors were thought-provoking and…
Grammy Joanne: …can I jump in here, Zuzu? Grandpa John says I should read The Four Gifts of the King and it’s on my summer reading list also. But I like to ask people if a book has made them think differently about something. Did it change your thinking about a key issue or concept?
G. John: Grammy always asks the best (and often the most convicting) questions.
Zuzu: That’s a great question, Grammy. Let me read you my fortune cookie: “You will enjoy another delicious meal here soon!” So…my answer will cost you another lunch!
G. John: Brilliant, Zuzu! But let me ask you one last question. Donald Rumsfeld, one of my favorite management authors, notes: “Many people have the ability to review something and make it better. Few are able to identify what is missing.” So, what was missing from this book? Would you have added anything?
Zuzu: In the allegory, there were certainly glimpses of women with spiritual backbones. But I would have appreciated the storyline featuring a woman who demonstrated the character and strength of Mary. If I added anything else for your review, I might spoil the plot!
G. John: Wow. Great insight. And thank you for reading this book. I’m intrigued that you think millennials will also enjoy this book. Parents and grandparents should read it too. And we should do this again! Of our triplet grandkids, you win the prize for being the reader. Maybe you can inspire Emelia and Anders to read at least a book-a-month? (That might be worthy of an In-N-Out Burger lunch!)
To order the book from Amazon, click on the title for The Four Gifts of the King: A Novel, by R. Scott Rodin.
P.S. If you missed Turning Goals Into Results, by Jim Collins, read my May review here.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read,” wrote Charlie “Tremendous” Jones. As you select your summer reading list, tell us about a book you’ve already read that changed you!
2) Scott Rodin’s The Four Gifts of the King uses allegory to get four big points across. In our work here, how might we better leverage the art of storytelling?
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Staff Training or Staff Storytelling? Yes!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
If you’re getting those “ho hum” looks when you announce a staff training opportunity, convert those dreary hours into a staff storytelling experience. Examples:
• Training for fundraisers: Inspire the team to read Scott Rodin’s novelette (just 90 pages), The Third Conversion, and then tell stories to get your big points across.
• Training in Delegation 101: There is no better storytelling book on the art of delegation than the classic by Ken Blanchard, William Oncken, Jr., and Hal Burrows, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey.
• Training the trainers: If your senior leaders are still hosting uninspiring training sessions, introduce them to my 2017 book-of-the-year, The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.
For more ideas, visit the Delegation Bucket.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Are you still producing ho hum media that changes nothing? Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 407 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting recommends a very short read—with an organization-changing tool from Jim Collins. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for the HBR article, “Why Your Meetings Stink and What to Do About It.”
Fire Your Boss!
At W.L. Gore & Associates, “employees have the authority to fire their bosses.”
Now that I have your attention—read more about this in the Harvard Business Review article by Jim Collins, now available in mini-book form: Turning Goals into Results: The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms.
According to the company’s founder, Bill Gore, “You are a leader if and only if people choose to follow you.” So how do team members fire their bosses? “…they can’t fire the person from the company but, if they feel their boss isn’t leading them effectively, they can simply bypass him or her and follow a different leader.”
That’s one of the five examples of a catalytic mechanism—and in just 78 pages of this HBR mini-book (fast reading), you’re hooked. Here’s another one:
At Granite Rock, the company launched “a radical new policy called ‘short pay,’” because their BHAG aspirations were high. “Granite Rock would provide total customer satisfaction and achieve a reputation for service that met or exceeded that of Nordstrom, the upscale department store that is world famous for delighting its customers.”
Imagine—a 99-year old company that sells crushed gravel, concrete, sand and asphalt—thinking they could “delight” their customers. Their short pay concept, says Collins, was revolutionary.
“The bottom of every Granite Rock invoice reads, ‘If you are not satisfied for any reason, don’t pay us for it. Simply scratch out the line item, write a brief note about the problem, and return a copy of this invoice along with your check for the balance.’”
Collins adds, “Let me be clear about short pay. It is not a refund policy. Customers do not need to return the product. They do not need to call and complain. They have complete discretionary power to decide whether and how much to pay based on their satisfaction level.”
Wow!
Do you have angst about the value of college—and the cost of tuition for yourself, your children, or grandchildren? How about this audacious idea from Jim Collins? “…suppose universities issued tuition invoices at the end of the semester, along with the statement, ‘If you are not satisfied with the dedication of the professor in any course, simply scratch out that course and send us a tuition check for the balance.”
The big idea? Short pay “impels managers to relentlessly track down the root causes of problems in order to prevent repeated short payments. It signals to employees and customers alike that Granite Rock is serious about customer satisfaction in a way that goes far beyond slogans.”
In my experience, only a small percentage of organizations and companies are appropriately focused on goals, especially “S.M.A.R.T.” goals (download The Results Bucket chapter from Mastering the Management Buckets). Or read about “SMARTER” goals in Michael Hyatt’s book, Your Best Year Ever: A 5-Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goals.
Collins defines catalytic mechanisms as “the crucial link between objectives and performance; they are a galvanizing, nonbureaucratic means to turn one into the other. Put another way, catalytic mechanisms are to visions what the central elements of the U.S. Constitution are to the Declaration of Independence—devices that translate lofty aspirations into concrete reality. They make big, hairy, audacious goals reachable.”
He adds, “My research indicates that few companies—perhaps only 5% or 10% currently employ catalytic mechanisms, and some of them aren’t even aware that they do. I have also found that catalytic mechanisms are relatively easy to create and implement. Given their effectiveness, they are perhaps the most underutilized—and most promising—devices that executives can use to achieve their big, hairy [or holy], audacious goals, or BHAGs.”
Catalytic mechanisms have five characteristics:
1) “A catalytic mechanism produces desired results in unpredictable ways.”
2) It “distributes power for the benefit of the overall system, often to the discomfort of those who traditionally hold power.”
3) “A catalytic mechanism has teeth.” (Example: “If you are five minutes late, you lose your bonus for the day. If you are 30 minutes late, you lose your bonus for the week. If a product is returned for poor quality, bonus pay declines accordingly.”)
4) “A catalytic mechanism ejects viruses.” (Example: fire your boss.)
5) “A catalytic mechanism produces an ongoing effect.”
Attn: Nonprofit Fundraisers!
The blurb on #5 is a must-read. “The lack of catalytic mechanisms is one reason many organizations rally in a crisis but languish once the crisis has passed. Leaders who feign a crisis—those who create a burning platform without simultaneously building catalytic mechanisms—do more long-term harm than good by creating a syndrome of crisis addiction.”
“How,” you ask, “did I miss this HBR classic by Jim Collins?" Published first in July-August 1999, the mini-book debuted in 2017. It popped out on page 116 of Scaling Up (my 2018 book-of-the-year by Verne Harnish). The catalytic mechanism (or Brand Promise Guarantee) is one of Harnish’s “7 Strata of Strategy.”
NEXT STEPS: 5x5x5x5x5. Buy five copies of this Collins gem and recruit five team members to each share a 10-minute report on one of the five catalytic mechanisms—over the next five weekly staff meetings. (Suggest they share five minutes of content and five minutes of discussion.) Enjoy!
To order the book from Amazon, click on the title for Turning Goals Into Results (Harvard Business Review Classics): The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms, by Jim Collins.
P.S. If you missed Turning the Flywheel, also by Jim Collins, read my March review here. The book is brilliant.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Collins, noting an insight from Henry David Thoreau, writes that “BHAGs are a company’s wildest dreams. Catalytic mechanisms are their foundations. Build them both.” Does our organization have either? What’s our next step?
2) Collins says when pursuing BHAGs, “our natural inclination is to add—new initiatives, new systems, new strategies, new priorities, and now, new catalytic mechanisms.” Don’t! “Don’t just add, remove,” warns Collins. What should we STOP doing—so we can re-focus on a catalytic mechanism?
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Get Off the Insane To-Do Assembly Line!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
Do you have a “DON’T-DO LIST?” It’s very simple: For 90 days, keep a list on your desk or computer of what you will STOP doing. (My friend Tony Danhelka calls this “selective neglect.”) You must rigorously prune your To-Do List every day, every week, and every month. You can’t keep up—the conveyor belt is hurling work at you faster than the famous chocolate factory scene on I Love Lucy.
Visit The Delegation Bucket and download Worksheet #16.4: "My Don't-Do List." If you're ready to bless your team members and add more balance to your life, start using this one-pager every day to rigorously prune your To-Do List by adding items to your Don't-Do List.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Tired of assembly line graphics and uninspiring media that doesn't produce results? Check out the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 406 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks what you would have said to a reporter—when the Notre-Dame cathedral was burning. J.I. Packer has answers from his book, Knowing God. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here to read about the fork-in-the-road movie, Unplanned.
Feeble Faith and Flabby Worship
The world shuddered this week as Notre-Dame de Paris burned on live TV. The incredible French Gothic cathedral, completed in 1345, evoked heartfelt responses—and questions. Why now?—people in the street asked reporters. Why now—just days before Good Friday and Easter?
Had reporters been more helpful, they would have quoted the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), who noted: “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each [person] which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made know through Jesus Christ.”
Had I reported on the story, I would have called J.I. Packer—to glean his insights on why a secular world was stopped in its tracks.
Perhaps Packer, the imminent theologian, would have said this: “When the person in the church, let alone the person in the street, uses the word God, the thought is rarely of divine majesty.” Packer, in fact did say this—and much, much more about Knowing God (or the lack of knowing God):
“But this is knowledge which Christians today largely lack: and that is one reason why our faith is so feeble and our worship so flabby. We are modern people, and modern people, though they cherish great thoughts of themselves, have as a rule small thoughts of God.”
Over the last three years on dozens of weekends, I’ve enjoyed re-reading Knowing God, the classic morsel by J.I. Packer. Now 92, this English-born Canadian evangelical is still considered one of the most influential evangelicals in North America. Knowing God has sold over one million copies.
So for this issue—and perhaps to give you content for your next staff meeting, sermon, talk, or tweet—I’m sharing some satisfying morsels and snippets from this treasured book, Knowing God. I’ve waited for the right timing before writing this review——and so today it is, I pray.
Published in 1973, my well-worn copy is from the 13th printing in 1978, and Chapter 2, “The People Who Know Their God,” grabbed me by the throat back then—and still does:
“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ,” wrote Paul. “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. . . .I want to know Christ” (Phil 3: 7-10).
“When Paul says he counts the things he lost rubbish, or dung (KJV), he means not merely that he does not think of them as having any value, but also that he does not live with them constantly in his mind: what normal person spends his time nostalgically dreaming of manure? Yet this, in effect, is what many of us do. It shows how little we have in the way of true knowledge of God.”
BAMBOOZLED?
I’m guessing—if Packer were a guest on the Sunday morning news shows to help us make sense of the Notre-Dame fire—he might mention God’s work in Jacob’s life (a must-read snippet from Chapter 9, “God Only Wise”).
“But God in his wisdom had also resolved to instill true religion into Jacob himself. Jacob’s whole attitude to life was ungodly and needed changing; Jacob must be weaned away from trust in his own cleverness to dependence upon God, and he must be made to abhor the unscrupulous double-dealing which came so naturally to him.
“When Jacob had filched Esau’s birthright and blessing (Gen. 25:29-34; 27:1-40), Esau turned against him (naturally!) and Jacob had to leave home in a hurry. He went to his uncle Laban, who proved to be as tricky a customer as Jacob himself. Laban exploited Jacob’s position and bamboozled him into marrying not only his pretty daughter, whom Jacob wanted, but also the plain one with bad eyes, for whom he would otherwise have found it hard to get a good husband (Gen 29:15-30).
“We may be frankly bewildered at things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs. Always, and in everything, he is wise: we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here. (Job in heaven knows the full reason why he was afflicted, though he never knew it in this life.)
“Meanwhile, we ought not to hesitate to trust his wisdom, even when he leaves us in the dark. But how are we to meet these baffling and trying situations, if we cannot for the moment see God’s purpose in them? First, by taking them as from God, and asking ourselves what reactions to them, and in them, the gospel of God requires of us, second, by seeking God’s face specifically about them.”
THE 1, 2 PUNCH!
Why trust God? Packer gives us this one, two punch! “Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.”
MORSELS…
In seeking to know God and God’s will (Chapter 20), Packer warns of six pitfalls:
• “Unwillingness to think
• Unwillingness to think ahead
• Unwillingness to take advice
• Unwillingness to suspect oneself
• Unwillingness to discount personal magnetism
• Unwillingness to wait.”
The Mount Everest of Scripture: Romans
“Paul’s letter to Rome is the high peak of Scripture…” Packer reminds us. Luther labeled Romans “the clearest gospel of all.”
“Not every Christian, however, appreciates the magnificence of Romans, and there is a reason for this. Someone who touched down on the top of Everest in a helicopter (could such a thing be) would not at that moment feel anything like what Hillary and Tensing felt when they stood on the same spot after climbing the mountain. Similarly, the impact of Romans upon you will depend on what has gone before. The law that operates is that the more you have dug into the rest of the Bible, the more you are exercised with the intellectual and moral problems of being a Christian, and the more you have felt the burden of weakness and the strain of faithfulness in your Christian life, the more you will find Romans saying to you.”
And get this! “John Chrysostom [349-407] had it read aloud to him once a week; you and I could do a lot worse than that. Now, as Romans is the high peak of the Bible, so chapter 8 is the high peak of Romans.”
But wait! Packer’s promo for Romans 8 is exceeded only by Alexander Whyte (1836-1921) who told his Scottish congregation, “You’ll not get out of the seventh of Romans while I’m your minister!” Yikes!
MORE MORSELS…
• “There are two sorts of sick consciences, those that are not aware enough of sin and those that are not aware enough of pardon, and it is to the second sort that Paul is ministering now. He knows how easily the conscience of a Christian under pressure can grow morbid, particularly when that Christian’s nose is rubbed as Romans 7:24-25 would rub it in the reality of continued sin and failure.”
• “God makes not only the wrath of man to turn to his praise but the misadventures of Christians too.”
• “Is your trouble a sense of failure? The knowledge of having made some ghastly mistake? Go back to God; his restoring grace waits for you.”
• “Is it not a hollow fraud to say that we honor Christ when we ignore, and by ignoring dishonor, the One whom Christ has sent to us as his deputy, to take his place and care for us on his behalf? Ought we not to concern ourselves more about the Holy Spirit than we do?”
I ASKED THE LORD THAT I MIGHT GROW (Big Mistake!)
The great hymn, “Amazing Grace,” penned by converted slave trader John Newton (1725-1807), is familiar to all. But…have you sung or read Newton’s other, more deeply convicting hymn?
Packer wraps up Chapter 21, “These Inward Trials,” with Newton’s remarkable lyrics: six convicting verses of “I Asked the Lord That I Might Grow.” I’ve listened to, sung, and meditated on the words for half-a-year now. “Alexa, repeat!” Yet every repeat stings. (Read the lyrics here. Listen here.)
SNIPPETS…
In Chapter 20, “Thou Our Guide,” the author shares deep wisdom on discerning God’s will. He writes, “Wisdom in Scripture always means knowledge of the course of action that will please God and secure life, so that the promise of James 1:5—“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him” (RSV)—is in effect a promise of guidance.
“Only within the limits of this guidance does God prompt us inwardly in matters of ‘vocational’ decision. So never expect to be aided to marry an unbeliever, or elope with a married person, as long as 1 Corinthians 7:39 and the seventh commandment stand!”
Tweet this! “The Spirit leads within the limits which the Word sets, not beyond them. ‘He guides me in paths of righteousness’ (Psalm 23:3)—but not anywhere else.”
THE QUEST FOR COMFORT
“Comfort is, of course, used here in the old, strong sense of that which encourages and nerves, not in the modern sense of that which tranquilizes and enervates. The quest for ‘comfort’ in the modern sense is self-indulgent, sentimental and unreal, and the modern ‘I-go-to-church-for-comfort’ religion is not Christianity; but [Edward] Elton is talking of Christian assurance, which is a different thing. Here again, however, the Everest principle operates.” (Don’t skip Chapter 20. Oh, my.)
Finally…I hope this Easter eNews was edifying. My second read-through of Knowing God was on Kindle, but I just ordered a fresh new copy (without underlined pages) for my third read. I hope you’ll read (or re-read) this powerful book…slowly.
To order the book from Amazon, click on the title for Knowing God, by J.I. Packer.
If you’re a listener (not a reader), visit Libro.fm and download the audio book, Knowing God. Listening time: 10 hours. (Enjoy the three-minute clip from Chapter 2.)
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) J.I. Packer notes: “When you start reading Luther, or Edwards, or Whitefield, though your doctrine may be theirs, you soon find yourself wondering whether you have any acquaintance at all with the mighty God whom they knew so intimately.” So…who do you read to know God more deeply?
#2. Has God ever “bamboozled” you? How did you respond? How should you respond? Read J. I. Packer’s list of “6 Things You Should Tell Yourself Every Day.”
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Have You Served on Your Church Board in the Last 3 Years? Take This ECFA Survey!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
The Customer Bucket in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook reminds you to “Listen! Listen! Listen” as you conduct research on what your customer values. Ditto your supporting customers (staff, board members, givers, volunteers, etc.).
So…if you (or your colleagues) are current church board members and/or have served on your church board anytime in the last three years, you are eligible to participate in a ground-breaking Church Board Survey from ECFA. Help ECFA identify and share best practices and you’ll be entered to win one of three Amazon gift cards. CLICK HERE.
How does your church board compare to others? According to ECFA's survey in progress, only 21% of church boards set or review measurable goals related to the church's mission/vision "at almost every meeting." And only 42% of church boards have an annual retreat. Help ECFA discover best practices by adding YOUR church's experience. CLICK HERE.
When you participate, ECFA will also give you a free summary of the survey results. So thanks for participating—or forwarding the survey link to your current or past church board members. CLICK HERE.
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. If you read my review of the film, Unplanned—thank you! Visit the Unplanned website here and their Facebook page here to see the innovative work created for Unplanned from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video). The film is now going international.
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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.
Issue No. 405 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting asks a fork-in-the road question and urges you to see a fork-in-the-road movie opening on March 29. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and visit Issue No. 397 for my 2018 Book-of-the-Year and my Top-10 books of 2018.
What Can One Person Do?
Have you ever let-yourself-off-the-hook with this excuse: “I’m just one person. What can one person do?”
UNPLANNED, the book and the movie (opening Friday, March 29), will change your mind about what one person can do.
BREAKING NEWS: This is likely the most potentially impactful issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting I’ve ever written—and you’ve ever read. Don’t let the routine of reading my latest eNews distract you. Please pause…pray…and then act:
Step 1: View the movie trailers below. (The 27-minute video is gripping.)
Step 2: Visit the UNPLANNED movie website here—and help spread the word.
Step 3: Take family members and friends to see UNPLANNED, opening on Friday, March 29.
In theaters everywhere March 29, UNPLANNED is the inspiring true story of one woman’s journey of transformation. All Abby Johnson ever wanted to do was help women. As one of the youngest Planned Parenthood clinic directors in the nation, she was involved in upwards of 22,000 abortions and counseled countless women about their reproductive choices. Until the day she saw something that changed everything. Watch the two-minute video:
I was at a private screening of UNPLANNED. I have no words…no words…other than—you-must-see-this.
Others are more eloquent:
• “This movie will shake this country to its core on the abortion issue. It’s about time.”
• “If you are pro woman, come see this film.”
• “If you see one movie this year, see the movie UNPLANNED. I warn you, UNPLANNED is graphic and painful and, at the same time, inspiring.”
VIEWER WARNING. Last week, CBN News, discussing the “R” rating for the film, noted that 13-year-old teens can get abortions in America—but the Movie Picture Association of America (MPAA) thinks 13-year-olds shouldn’t see a film about abortion. “What’s the deal?” the writer asked.
The producers label the MPAA’s “R” rating as a political move. In response, numerous leaders are urging parents to take their teens to see this fork-in-the-road film.
In “An Open Letter to the Faith Community,” signed by Tony Perkins, Mike Huckabee, and more than 30 leaders, the signers urged the nation to view this dramatic film—saying “that R stands for Recommended and while we don’t think this film is for young children, we strongly recommend that this film be seen by as many Americans as possible, including older children.”
I agree and I also urge you to see this movie—and to support it on March 29, Friday, when it opens. If you cannot attend, I urge you to read the book, Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line, by Abby Johnson. The expanded edition of the book was published just this month by Tyndale Momentum.
Here’s the book’s synopsis from the movie’s website: “Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. That simple act became a national news story because Abby was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who, after participating in an actual abortion procedure for the first time, walked down the street to join the Coalition for Life.
“Unplanned is a heart-stopping personal drama of life-and-death encounters, a courtroom battle, and spiritual transformation that speaks hope and compassion into the political controversy that surrounds this issue. Telling Abby’s story from both sides of the abortion clinic property line, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the life versus rights debate and helping women who face crisis pregnancies.”
More links:
• Unplanned film website and official trailer (click here)
• Free downloads and memes (click here)
• Tickets and locations (click here)
• 27-minute preview video (click here)
What can one person do? One person—with God’s help—can save lives.
To order the book from Amazon, click on the title for Unplanned: The Dramatic True Story of a Former Planned Parenthood Leader's Eye-Opening Journey Across the Life Line, by Abby Johnson.
If you’re a listener (not a reader), visit Libro.fm and download the audio book, Unplanned. Listening time: 7 hours and 38 minutes.
YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
1) Think about the people who helped launch our organization. What did one person (with the help of many others) actually do? What can one person do? What can you do?
2) What’s the most impactful movie you ever viewed? Why? What could be the impact of the UNPLANNED movie?
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The Power of Story
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook
How do you “move mountains” when marketing a movement? What can one person do—as a warrior in your organization’s movement? The UNPLANNED movie (before, during, and after)—I predict—will be a case study. (I’m praying for impact.)
For the record—my son, Jason Pearson, through his company, Pearpod Media, is on the team for UNPLANNED. I had the privilege of praying for the team at their weekly staff meeting earlier this month. Trust me—the producers and the entire team are the real deal.
I’m an unofficial, non-compensated, volunteer—and I’ve had the humbling privilege of assisting Pearpod Media with numerous projects for UNPLANNED. I cannot think of a more powerful movement—told with a more powerful story (Abby Johnson’s life) than UNPLANNED. I pray you will support this fork-in-the-road movement. This touches so many buckets...but the Program Bucket is especially relevant.
"We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”
Joan Didion
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JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Visit the UNPLANNED website here and their Facebook page here to see the innovative work from 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, frequent flyer miles, and client deadlines. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. 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.