Founders Keepers

 

Issue No. 649 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (June 19, 2025) has this warning about founders: “When it comes to founder weaknesses, you’re not trying to get from good to great. You’re trying to get from terrible to average.” Plus, click here for recent eNews issues posted at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And, check out the 20 management buckets (core competencies). The authors of Founders, Keepers describe a startup founder: “Whereas the regular employee can detach and go home and focus on their family…they get to leave it behind. That’s not the case for him. He has no off button.” 46 Competencies of Successful Founders! Are you a founder? Do you work for a founder? Serve on a founder’s board of directors? Got fired by a founder? Wanna be a founder? I’ve got a book for you!   FOUNDERS, KEEPERS:  Why Founders Are Built to Fail,  and What It Takes to Succeed  by Richard Hagberg, PhD, and Tien Tzuo,  with Gabe Weisert (June 17, 2025)   Author Rich Hagberg confesses: “I’m a recovering founder. I fit the classic profile: high on vision, medium on relationships, and abysmal at execution. In other words, I’m part of the problem.” Fifteen years ago, Hagberg (a psychologist often referred to as Silicon Valley’s “CEO Whisperer”), began focusing his leadership coaching practice on founders, “because I found that I could personally relate to my clients. I resemble the people I am seeking to help.” Along with co-author Tien Tzuo (the guy who invented the phrase "Subscription Economy"), they conducted deep research on founders—those who failed and those who succeeded. They concluded: “Founders are ticking time bombs.” (But it gets worse—and don’t ever say I didn’t warn you!)  Analyzing Hagberg’s database (with personality tests and 360 feedback) on 122 founders, the authors landed on what they call “The Three Pillars of Leadership.” (Warning: trouble ahead!) THE VISIONARY EVANGELIST “A great thinker and visionary. But could not get s*** done to save his own life.” (anonymous 360 feedback on a founder) THE RELATIONSHIP BUILDER “Wanting to please everyone all the time sometimes just isn’t possible.” (anonymous 360 feedback on a founder) THE MANAGER OF EXECUTION “There are days when I’m glad that I work with him, not for him.” (anonymous 360 feedback on a founder) You’ll hit paydirt on pages 25-27: “The Visionary Evangelist, the Relationship Builder, and the Manager of Execution are all essential to the success of any organization, but each brings unique strengths and corresponding weaknesses. Founders gifted in just one leg of this three-legged stool create a dangerous imbalance. The message is clear: “…to be an effective founder, you have to be good at lots of things.” If you work for a founder, or serve on a founder’s board—you could probably fill in the blanks on founder weaknesses. The authors quote a founder’s colleague:   “The startup is an extension of his being, and so he is amped all the time,” says a colleague. “Whereas the regular employee can detach and go home and focus on their family or whatever. They get to leave it behind. That’s not the case for him.  He has no off button.” FOUNDER WEAKNESSES:    • The Visionary Evangelist: “drive-by delegation,” “tend to get distracted by shiny objects,” “quickly bored by routine.” And, “They are inspirational speakers who are frequently disasters at small talk.”    • The Relationship Builder: “They are conflict resolvers who hate conflict.” “…driven by a need to be liked by everyone, they don’t like to deliver bad news…” And this: “Their deep empathy and desire to avoid conflict can make them indecisive and overly accommodating.” In short, “they can be too nice for their own good.”    • The Manager of Execution: While this type of founder’s favorite phrase is “Vision without execution is hallucination,” they elevate micromanagement to an art form. They like to be in control. “They often suffer from ‘engineer’s disease’—because they are experts in a certain financial or technical discipline, they are therefore experts in everything.” (Yikes!) HAGBERG’S 46 COMPETENCIES! You’ll likely skip to pages 233-239 for the results of the 360 assessments of leadership capabilities “of almost 2,000 executives from multiple industries and in multiple countries.” Most were rated by an average of 12 people, including: their direct manager, their direct reports, board members, advisors, and other employees.  The authors remind us that scaling precedes success. (See my 2018 book-of-the-year, Scaling Up.) “These are the competencies that are required to grow a large organization, as exhibited by leaders who have successfully accomplished that monumental task.” Each of the 46 competencies include a two- to three-line definition. Examples:  • “Agent of Change—Challenges the status quo, supports fresh perspectives, tries out new approaches, and enlists support for change initiatives.” • “Creating Buy-In—Effectively builds commitment and wins support for initiatives through personal and professional credibility, trustworthiness, persuasive communication, stakeholder involvement, and by aligning expectations.” • “Decisiveness—Makes clear-cut decisions without unnecessary delay, even in tough situations.” If you’re already an expert at the above three competencies, don’t become a founder yet—see the other 43 critical competencies. Ask your direct reports to rate you at: Coaching, Listening, Culture Management, Delegation and Empowerment, Finding and Attracting Talent, Emphasizing Excellence, Information Sharing, Negotiation, Social Astuteness, Strategic Focus, and 33 more! (Must read and master: all 46 competencies!) What Makes a Founder a Founder? Chapter 2 explores three types of founders: The Good, The Bad, and The Worse!  • GOOD. “Almost all founders are strong Visionary Evangelists.” (Note: They read books and articles.) “Founders work incredibly hard. Running a startup was once memorably compared to ‘crawling across broken glass.’” • BAD. Founders generally score lower than average on “360 ratings of sensitivity, consideration, and empathy.” • WORSE. “Founders are terrible at giving praise and recognition. They’re equally abysmal at coaching. They tend to throw people into the deep end and expect them to figure out how to swim.” Hagberg and Tzuo add, “When it comes to founder weaknesses, you’re not trying to get from good to great. You’re trying to get from terrible to average.” MORE MUST-READ CHAPTERS. If you’re a founder, a founder wanna-be, or married to a founder, you will read every page of this book. With a pen. Twice. You’ll learn the differences between successful and unsuccessful founders—and how to develop the skills required to scale. (Buy this book for your founder friends.) Must-read chapters include:    • The Myth of the Genius Jerk    • Working Through Others: From Loners to Leaders    • From Dictator to Facilitator: How to Implement Strategy    • The Bridge Between Strategy and Execution: Planning, Prioritizing, and Maintaining Focus MORE SUCCESS INSIGHTS:    • “10 Questions: Focus, Prioritizing, and Planning” (Example: “How disciplined are you about following through on plans, ensuring that projects reach completion rather than losing momentum?”)    • The Team Assessment Quiz (15 poke-in-the-ribs statements)    • “10 Questions: Facilitating Conflict Resolution” (Example: “When there’s a disagreement, are you quick to assert your solution without truly understanding all sides?”) Note: see my recent book review. Chapter 14, “Mastering the Execution Triangle: Delegation, Accountability, and Coaching,” may surprise you. The authors believe that the execution triangle works “differently for founders than professional managers. It’s a trickier balance.”  They note Paul Graham’s insights and the answer to “founder mode” when founders hire bright people, but somehow feel they’ve given up control. Hagberg and Tzuo mention Airbnb’s founder, Brian Chesky, who had to get back “in the details and get very, very hands-on.” Interesting: read Ben Cohen’s WSJ interview with Chesky, May 13, 2025, or listen to the interview (19 minutes). What’s the point of this book?  “Dear Founders, It’s a difficult truth: to grow your startup,  you have to grow as a person.” TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Founders, Keepers: Why Founders Are Built to Fail, and What It Takes to Succeed, by Richard Hagberg, PhD, and Tien Tzuo, with Gabe Weisert. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) In March when everything was going swimmingly, the WSJ ran a fascinating article, “Trump and Musk Share the Founder’s Mindset.” The article mentioned the HBR Press book, The Founder's Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth. Have you ever read a book about founders? Describe three strengths and three weaknesses that you’ve observed about founders. 2) Yikes! In Chapter 3, “The Myth of the Genius Jerk,” Hagberg and Tzuo ask, “Aren’t all founders a bit narcissistic?” They answer their own question: “Of course they are. A heightened sense of self-worth is fundamental to their identify.” Yikes, again! But…wait. According to Darrell Puls, “Narcissism is a spectrum condition meaning that it goes from the least inclination to full-blown Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD).” So…maybe before you throw the first stone, read my review of Let Us Prey, Revised Edition: The Plague of Narcissist Pastors and What We Can Do About It. Question: You’re on a founder’s board. How would you coach your founder who tilts high on the spectrum?        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #19 of 99: Yours Truly For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #19 of 99 in our new series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. Yours Truly:  An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story by James R. Hagerty   The author inspires: “Don’t let anyone tell you that sharing your story is selfish, a sign of conceit or vanity. It’s an act of generosity.” He quotes poet Jim Harrison, “Death steals everything except our stories.”    • Read my review (Issue No. 564, June 14, 2023).    • Order from Amazon.    • Listen on Libro (6 hours, 16 minutes).    • Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka The Communications Bucket) “No, telling your story is not another irksome task, like making a will or clearing out the attic. Telling your story is less difficult than you may imagine. Telling your story can be amusing. It can pay off in unexpected ways.” As the only fulltime obituary writer for The Wall Street Journal, Haggerty suggests you ask yourself three questions:     • What were you trying to do with your life?     • Why?     • And how did it work out?   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      See Lesson #8, “Design Your Succession Plan—NOW! What if your CEO is hit by a bus?” Read: More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Read the blog. Read the chapter.  Podcast via AI Oh God, I’m Dying! Click here to listen to the 14-minute AI-generated podcast, featuring two “AI podcasters” who “review” John’s review of Oh God, I’m Dying! How God Redeems Pain for Our Good and for His Glory, by Terry Powell and Mark Smith. (Read John’s review here.) Visit here for more AI-generated podcasts. (You'll need a Google account.) IMPORTANT NOTICE! Some of the above links may not work. (Sorry!) Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Pie-Eating Contest Prize: More Pie! The authors of Founders, Keepers reference another book on start-ups, Zero to IPO: Over $1 Trillion of Actionable Advice from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs (read my review). Frederic Kerrest offers another metaphor for founders: “Some people say leading a fast-growing startup is like winning a pie-eating contest: the grand prize is that you get to eat even more pie.” For more book reviews, visit Pails in Comparison Blog.

Time to Stand Up

 

Issue No. 662 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Nov. 18, 2025) invites you to join Connor White and me over lunch, to discuss an extraordinary book. Plus, click here for recent issues posted at the NEW site for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including Delivering the WOW: Culture as Catalyst for Lasting Success. Also, check out the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Author Bill Hull “invites” 10 people to argue for or against the proposition of “The Great Debate.” I invite one friend to discuss this extraordinary book over lunch.   Elon, Oprah, Chesterton, and More! I should do this more often! My question: “Is this book as extraordinary as I think it is?” So I invited a friend (an out-of-the-box thinker who also makes me laugh) to join me for fish and chips overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Capistrano Beach, California. Connor White also read this book before our lunch appointment: Time To Stand Up by Bill Hull (Feb. 4, 2025)   JOHN: Tell me if I’m off-base, but I think I could pick a page—any page—in Bill Hull’s book and find fresh insights about God and reasons to believe. Plus: LOL humor! I’ve never read a book quite like it. CONNOR: You’re right. (How’s your lunch?) Bill Hull, obviously, is incredibly well-read. He’s super insightful—and amazingly self-deprecating. JOHN: Totally! (And the fish and chips are great.) In the “debate” section of Time to Stand Up, he channels David Mamet, the playwright, director, and screenwriter. Hull’s hilarious back-and-forth with Mamet has the playwright responding, “Mr. Hull, you give satire a bad name. There is no business like no business, and looking at your social media numbers, I’d suggest retirement.” CONNOR: I loved this book. As a Christian leader, pastor, and author (and a fan of Bonhoeffer and Dallas Willard)—the author dares to allow himself to be misunderstood. No dumbing down of his content. The debate chapters in his book spotlight his incredible creativity. And—he is so, so funny! JOHN: I agree. The debate section—11 short chapters and just 95 pages of this 388-page book—amazingly imaginative. I’m wondering who were your favorite debaters—and how did they fare? You’ll recall he “invited” five to speak in favor of the proposition and five who opposed it. CONNOR: Right. And all 10 “guests” at the debate had to be living—except immediately Hull violates his own rules (hilarious!) and brings two debaters back from the grave for this pretty serious topic: “Jesus is God come to earth in human flesh. Yes or No?” JOHN: I was intrigued by his line-up:    • For the Proposition: Andrew Klavan, Larry Alex Taunton, Dr. Scot McKnight, Nancy Pearcy, and G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936).    • Against the Proposition: David Mamet, Don Henley, Jordan Peterson, Oprah Winfrey, and Hannah Arendt (1906-1975). CONNOR: I’m still amazed at his deep research and the book's unique format. Here’s this imaginary lecture hall for “The Great Debate,” and Hull pulls it off so well, you feel like you’re right there. His color commentary during the breaks—between debaters—is often very funny. He has guts: taking on a life-changing topic, but with irreverent one-liners! JOHN: Exactly. He notes the fork-in-the-road observation by C.S. Lewis: “If Christianity is false it is of no importance. If it is true it is of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” Then, in describing debater Nancy Pearcy, Hull writes: “You know how hard it is to find a woman who likes to argue? Nancy is a great apologist and wins most of the time, just ask her husband.” CONNOR: Ha, ha! I had to laugh at why he didn’t include C.S. Lewis as one of the debaters: “I would need to say he would be much too smart for our debate and he smoked constantly. Plus, I have it on good authority, an apocryphal rumor, that he and brother, Warnie, cut out of church a bit early each week because the local Pub opened at 11:00 and they wanted to get a good seat. Sounds awfully fleshy to me.” JOHN: So…getting back to my question—“Who were your favorite debaters—and how did they fare?” CONNOR: Wow. Tough to pick just one or two. Hull’s “on-stage” introduction of Larry Alex Taunton is classic. Taunton speaks for the proposition and, in real life, has debated Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and others. In 2007, he organized "The God Delusion Debate.” I laughed at this:    “I would like to tell you that Larry is an internationally known figure of great renown, but the truth is he is internationally known by people who are internationally known.” Hull describes Taunton’s stunning travel adventures (“He makes Rick Steves look like a piker…”) so I’m tempted to read at least one of Taunton's books, maybe Around the World in (More Than) 80 Days. JOHN: Ditto! This jab by Taunton during the debate jumped off the page: “Atheists claim that God doesn’t exist because evil exists. How do they know to call it evil? Because they have a God-given knowledge of what is good.” (See Romans 1:18-32.) CONNOR: I was also intrigued that Bill Hull included Oprah Winfrey in the group of naysayers. I don’t think her fans would appreciate that. JOHN: Bingo! Hull writes: “Oprah loves Jesus, but not the one in the Bible. Jesus claimed he was sent to judge. Oprah wants justice, but she doesn’t want Jesus as her judge.” CONNOR: One more. No spoiler alert needed here, but your readers will also find out why Hull positioned Jordan Peterson as a "NO" and why Hull thinks “…not long from now he will be switching teams.” JOHN: Right…no spoiler alerts, although readers might guess who wins the debate in the end. But before lunch is over—and you have to go back to work, we should talk about the rest of the book. (By the way, great family photo on your White & White Construction website!) John recruited Connor White to add color commentary to this review of Time to Stand Up. (Pictured: Connor and his family.) I counted 46 short chapters (and 46 striking illustrations by Kris Hull)—perfect for your next 46 weekends: a chapter every Saturday or Sunday! Major sections:    • The Age of Anxiety (6)    • Elon Musk Wouldn’t Mind Being Saved (10)    • The Great Debate (11)    • Seven Deadly Sins (7)    • The Church That Came in From the Cold (3)    • Salvation by… (9) CONNOR: You mentioned you first read the three chapters in “The Church That Came in From the Cold." JOHN: Yes. I love books that don’t require a sequential reading. Hull describes a four-day seminar he attended and comments, “I don’t like being put into situations where I am asked to do silly things, where there is great pressure to conform. An odd hang-up for a pastor, but I have found that is not rare.” Yet…during one exercise, a “somewhat manipulative, even childish activity” he was subjected to, the experience actually prompted a spiritual wake-up call.  CONNOR: Wow! Along with Hull’s deep insights, we also see his deep transparency. This was unbelievable! He admits: “I returned to the church, confessed my sin to the entire congregation, and I began my quest to love from a satisfied soul.” JOHN: After reading that, I felt I could trust Bill Hull’s work—and enjoy his insights and humor even more. As I told you, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like this one. And by the way, Hull blogs regularly on Substack and is a prolific author. I have two of his books on my “Library of Candidates” book shelf—yet to read. CONNOR: And…how brilliant to include those 10 chapters on “Elon Musk Wouldn’t Mind Being Saved.” As Hull points out Musk’s successes and sins (and there are many on both sides of the ledger), he weaves in thoughts from Dallas Willard: “Few people stop to ask themselves if they deserve to live in paradise. They just want to. And when they don’t get what they want, they feel insulted.” JOHN: Hey, we’ve barely scratched the surface of this extraordinary book. Any last comments or questions? CONNOR: Yeah. Are you going to eat all those fries? TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Time to Stand Up, by Bill Hull.  YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Bill Hull writes, “The gospel begins to penetrate when one day you realize, ‘I’m the schmuck,’ ‘I’m the idiot,’ ‘I’m the jerk,’ ‘I’m the sinner.’ G.K. Chesterton entered the London Times inquiry contest to the general public, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ Chesterton answered, ‘I am.’ One day it was a revelation to me, ‘What is wrong with this congregation?’ The answer came to me, ‘I am.’ This revelation started a journey for me to have a satisfied soul.” QUESTION: What is wrong with our organization? 2) After you journey through Time to Stand Up (one week or 46 weekends), let me recommend your next book: the just-published international bestseller, God, the Science, the Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution, by Michel-Yves Bollore and Olivier Bonnassies. (Warning! 562 pages!) ASSIGNMENT: In less than 562 pages (!), describe the evidence for the proposition, “Jesus is God come to earth in human flesh.”       SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #32 of 99: Simply Strategic Volunteers For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #32 of 99 in our series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. Simply Strategic Volunteers:  Empowering People for Ministry by Tony Morgan and Tim Stevens (Sept. 15, 2005) “It is easy to get lost in the micro-purpose of the ministry and forget the macro-vision of the organization," write Morgan and Stevens in their incredibly practical book (99 quick ideas for working with volunteers).    • Reviewed in Issue No. No. 83, April 7, 2008.    • Read my review on Amazon.    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #12 of 20: The Volunteer Bucket. Is your volunteer program in alignment with your organization's mission? Do you have a run-away program (led by volunteers, perhaps) that is no longer aligned with the macro-vision of your organization? Do your programs flow out of your mission statement and your Big Holy Audacious Goal? Remember: your unpaid volunteers and paid volunteers are on the same team!   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      Mistake #1 of 8: “Governing by Opinion, Not Policy.” Read more in the new workbook, The 8 Big Mistakes to Avoid With Your Nonprofit Board—and take the pop quiz on page seven. Shroud of Turin Museum Opens Nov. 19 Orange County, CA “The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience,” a $5-million, 10,000-square-foot museum dedicated to the world’s most studied artifact, opens to the public on Nov. 19, 2025, in Garden Grove, Calif. This landmark museum—the largest of its kind—will immerse guests into the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth, presenting compelling evidence on the purported burial cloth He left behind. More info here. (Watch for my review.) IMPORTANT NOTICE!  Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.   Coming! Watch for my review of the international bestseller,  God, the Science, the Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution, by Michel-Yves Bollore and Olivier Bonnassies. (Warning! 562 pages!) Or listen on Libro (15 hours, 6 minutes). Listen to the two-minute purpose of the book.

Superhabits

 

Issue No. 639 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 28, 2025)  spotlights a phenomenal book—Superhabits—and a colorful diagram based on the virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. And if your boss is now asking for a weekly progress report—and where did that idea come from? (LOL!), use my two-page template, “Weekly Update to My Supervisor.” Plus, click here for recent eNews issues posted at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my two-part review of Dan Heath’s new book, Reset. DILIGENCE! In 1909, R. G. LeTourneau (1888-1969) took an automobile correspondence course and granted himself a BM Degree, "Bachelor of Motorcycles,” after he learned how to take apart and put back together his newly acquired motorcycle. He did this feat in ONE day! The rest is earth-moving history!     Exercising Your Virtues Muscles! The author of Superhabits warns us: “A mid-air crisis is not the time to be learning many new things.” Hopefully, you’re not in crisis mode today. So it’s the perfect time to be learning from the founding dean of Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. (Dr. Abela was also a brand manager at Procter & Gamble, and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.) You’ll love this book! Superhabits:  The Universal System for a Successful Life by Andrew V. Abela (Oct. 15, 2024)   But yikes! Our granddaughter, Annika, a high school senior, gave me this special book for my birthday almost four months ago—and I’m finally reviewing it! Why the delay? I read it slowly. I made over 50 notes. It’s that good. Meaty. Thought-provoking. And systematic. (I love systems, but I can’t decide if I’ll slot this in the Systems Bucket, the Culture Bucket, the Results Bucket, the Crisis Bucket, or maybe the Hoopla! Bucket!) In this joyful book, Andrew Abela generously shares the results of his diligent deep dive into the Treatise on Virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. He calls his project, “Anatomy of Virtue: The System of ‘Superhabits’ for Making Life Easier, Happier, and Healthier.” And get this! The hardcover copy of Superhabits comes shrink-wrapped with a stunning 16” x 21” full-color poster, plus access to the Busch Virtue Diagnostic. (Bonus: Visit Dr. Abela’s Substack blog and you can download a PDF of the “Anatomy of Virtue” diagram.) ANATOMY OF VIRTUE. v. 13.0 - Based on the Treatise on the Virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. For further information, go to https://superhabit.substack.com.  Email questions and comments to Dr. Abela at abela@cua.edu. © 2024. A. V. Abela, Ph.D. Used by permission. This business school dean is not the first to systematize virtues and/or write practical commentaries on the power of habits. (See Charles Duhigg’s bestseller.) But, if you do any coaching, teaching, preaching, or mentoring—I’m thinking your content (and your system) may be sadly incomplete without this book. And here’s another bonus: it’s a delight to read—and you’ll be sharing the dozens of stories and concepts for years to come. Promise! Abela notes, “For thousands of years, philosophers have written about what I’m calling superhabits.” But how many “superhabits” are there? Apparently no one can agree!    • Epictetus (4)    • William Bennett (10)    • Benjamin Franklin (13)    • Romano Guardini (17)    • Positive psychology (it depends: 6 or 24)    • John Garvey (29) St. Thomas Aquinas to the rescue! Superhabits shines a light on the system used by this 13th century philosopher monk “by offering a system of virtues, not just a list.” As you’ll discover, the book spotlights four cardinal superhabits: Practical Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Self-Discipline. I counted 39 superhabits that are integral to the cardinal habits. (Trust me—you will enjoy this deep dive.) LOL! “Aquinas’ approach was much like the children’s game ‘Twenty Questions.’” (Read more about this simple explanation in Chapter 9, “The Superhabits System.”) Aquinas “presented the superhabits—the virtues—systematically in a way that demonstrates completeness, and that illustrates how the superhabits all work together.” (And don’t skip the math problem—calculators allowed—on page 102.) To explain further, Abela references “one of the most crushing criticisms you can receive” as a junior consultant at McKinsey: “Your analysis isn’t MECE” means “that you haven’t adequately separated the business problem you’re working on into its component parts.” He adds, “There had to be no overlaps among the parts, and no gaps between them: they had to be Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive, or ‘MECE.’” (Go ahead—crush someone at your next weekly staff meeting!) And this is key: you already have the superhabit “muscles”—they just need to be exercised. Abela promises, “Whatever challenge you’re facing in life, there’s a superhabit for that.” That’s a bold claim, right? But after reading and reflecting on this powerful system, I’m a convert. The spiritual life (faith, hope, and love from 1 Corinthians 13) is not neglected in this system. Pastors and priests may also want to align the “fruits of the Spirit” from Galatians 5 into this system.  There’s no need to pick my favorite chapter (they’re all very helpful)—but if you insist—I’ve already told two granddaughters about Chapter 12, “Practical Wisdom.” Abela skillfully leverages the heart-pounding events of Jan. 15, 2009, when Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in New York City. All 155 passengers and crew survived! “Practical Wisdom,” writes the author, “is the superhabit of making and implementing wise decisions, whether well-deliberated, strategic decisions over extended periods of time, or near-instantaneous ones like the ones Flight 1549 faced.” He adds, “Practical Wisdom recognizes that a decision is not properly made until it is implemented.” Practical Wisdom has eight component superhabits. Per Aquinas, there are “four for gathering the relevant information, one for reasoning, and three for implementing.” So using a minute-by-minute (actually second-by-second) view from the cockpit with Captain “Sully,” the author illustrates how each of these superhabits—learned well in advance of a crisis—enabled “Sully” and his crew to land the plane. Absolutely fascinating! The eight superhabits that back up Practical Wisdom include: Memory, Judgment, Teachability, Creativity, Reasoning, Alertness, Foresight, and Preparedness. Abela adds, “Aquinas was writing 750 years ago; but it is remarkable how closely his framework matches, and yet goes deeper than, many contemporary decision-making processes.” (I agree. Stunning!) For an old guy like me (“…why did I just come into the kitchen?”), the four pages with practical insights on memory include four suggestions from Aquinas for “how to remember things reliably.” So Abela suggests you make a “funny or unusual image in your mind of what you want to remember…” (So now when I need a pair of scissors, I’m picturing those scissors riding a Harley!)   Listen to Dr. Andrew Abela’s talk, “The Virtues as Super Habits,” presented at the 2024 Summer Conference of the Napa Institute (33 minutes.) And/or view this interview with Dr. Abela on the “This Is the Day” podcast (6 minutes, 24 seconds.) Practical Wisdom includes the superhabit of Teachability. Abela appreciates Jordan Peterson’s rule nine, “Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.” You get this, right? Imagine if everyone on your team (or in your family) devoted themselves to lifelong learning and growing in these superhabits—before the next crisis. (Yikes!) Why? “One important way Sully demonstrated the superhabit of Teachability was his determination to learn from others’ mistakes.” (See my recent blog on 16 mistake-making books.)   And talk about contrarian! While many people claim, “I’m just not creative,” Abela guarantees that the creativity muscle can be developed. At the end of those frightening four minutes and 17 seconds since takeoff, Captain Sully made an announcement to his passengers, “This is the Captain. Brace for impact.” The plane landed on the Hudson River (a very creative choice) at five minutes and 49 seconds after takeoff. Imagine! LOL! “After reaching shore, there was a humorous moment when Sullenberger called the U.S. Airways Operations Control Center to check in with them. The duty operations manager picked up the phone and in a rushed voice said, ‘I can’t talk right now. There’s a plane down in the Hudson!’” Is your team well-prepared for your next crisis? As Peter Drucker counseled leaders, “Fortunately or unfortunately, the one predictable thing in any organization is the crisis. That  always comes.” How much exercise do you and your team members get with the Alertness muscle and the Preparedness muscle? TEASERS #1:    • Humility: read what C.S. Lewis said about designing the best cathedral in the world.    • Diligence: learn why R. G. LeTourneau gave himself a one-man graduation ceremony for earning his B.M. degree for Bachelor of Motorcycles!    • Courage (“…like every superhabit, is the mean between two extremes”): the stunning WW2 story of the American oil tanker, SS Ohio, miraculously arriving in Grand Harbor at Malta to the cheers of 100,000 citizens! (See also my recent review of The Courage Gap.) TEASERS #2:    • Justice: learn about the slave trader, John Newton, and his re-conversion to Christianity in 1748. Abela ties that into Newton’s hymn, “Amazing Grace,” and learn what Mahalia Jackson said to Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.    • Perseverance: “…Donald Rumsfeld used to say, ‘Once you quit one thing, then you can quit something else, and pretty soon you’ll get good at being a quitter.’”    • Read. The. Conclusion! Don’t skip the magnificent summary. Do. Not. Skip. The. Conclusion! Abela promises, “Superhabits are contagious! Patrick Lencioni said that Superhabits is going to be a classic. I agree. Arthur C. Brooks called it a “must-read.” I agree. And—oh, my—this book deserves at least two reviews. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life, by Andrew V. Abela.    YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) What “system” have you used to enrich your life—and those around you? Steve Macchia (see “Second Reads” below) is also the author of Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way. (Read my review.) Macchia appreciates the first century Italian monk, St. Benedict (480-547) and his classic, Little Rule for Beginners. 2) Staying on the superhighway of saints (or perhaps the Camino de Santiago), let me also recommend the wonderful book, 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God, by Father Darrin Merlino, CMF. You’ll learn about the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). Gutsy! (Read my review.) Could you unplug for 30 days? (How ‘bout one day?)        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #9 of 99: Becoming a Healthy Team For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #9 of 99 in our new series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books and niche chapters still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. Becoming a Healthy Team:  5 Traits of Vital Leadership  by Stephen A. Macchia (LTI Publications, Feb. 7, 2014, 188 pages) Raise your hand if your team is humming along with no hiccups. (I thought so!) You can never have enough help when inspiring your team members—day after day, after day. (Just ask Elon Musk if it’s easy to keep team members focused on priority tasks!) This book will help.    • Read my original review (Issue No. 15, Dec. 4, 2006).    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant companion resource. When scanning this book again, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Steve Macchia and Justin Schell wrote a companion tool, Becoming a Healthy Team: Workbook and Exercises. This 100-page resource guides your team through collaborative exercises which reinforce the book’s themes: Trust, Empowerment, Assimilation, Management, and Service (T.E.A.M.S.). Utilizing creative team building experiences, the exercises include: Bible study, reflection, confession, lectio divina, shared practices, and fun activities. Fun? Yes! For the “Healthy Teams Empower” exercise, group members need new names! “…make up one of the most outlandish names for yourself. Create nametags using these names and call one another by these names for the rest of your time together.” (I’d start a new study group—just to have fun with this exercise!) For more resources, including a 30-question team assessment, visit Leadership Transformations. (Note: Macchia's book, The Discerning Life, was my 2022 book-of-the-year.)   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: The Best Leaders!  Welcome back to our new mini-feature, “BucketCast.” Click here to listen to the AI-generated podcasters (14 minutes, 6 seconds) who comment on my book review of Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest, by William Vanderbloemen. (Read my review.) For more podcasts, click here. IMPORTANT NOTICE! Some of the above links may not work. (Sorry!) Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. 16 Books on Mistake-Making! Really! At least once a year, you should read a book on mistake-making! So, here’s my latest blog with 16 books—one for every mistake flavor. Patrick Lencioni suggests you keep Mistakes Leaders Make on your desk all year—and read it once a year! Click here for mini-reviews of 16 books. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

Reset: How to Change What's Not Working (Part 2 of 2)

 

Issue No. 637 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 13, 2025) features the second review of a brilliant book on how to change what’s not working. Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Click here for Part 1 of 2 of the two-part review of Reset: How to Change What's Not Working. FOR YOUR NEXT WEEKLY STAFF MEETING! In Chapter 9, “Tap Motivation,” of Dan Heath’s new book, Reset, he describes a staff retreat assignment. Using sticky notes, “write down one task that's on your plate today that you would pay someone to take over for you. Then…on a second sticky note, write down one task you'd be so excited to do that you'd pay for the privilege.”      The Twin Mistakes! “They undercoddle their best customers and overcoddle their worst.” (Part 2 of 2) Since writing my Part 1 of 2 reviews of Reset, I’ve done another deep dive into this phenomenal book. I urge you—and your team and board—to read or listen to:   Reset:  How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath (Jan. 21, 2025)   This bestselling author is often hilarious (see his footnotes)—yet insightful. With practical and pragmatic examples, the book also delivers contrarian counsel. Don’t skip Chapter 8, “Do Less AND More.” In that chapter, Dan Heath spotlights a consulting firm—zealots for the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule)—that helps clients change their operational approaches based on the 20 percent that yield 80 percent of the revenue. One problem though: The firm had “found that his clients make twin mistakes: They undercoddle their best customers and overcoddle their worst. Often those mistakes derive from a noble desire: These companies aspire to treat customers the same.” Heath adds, “But to treat a $1 million customer the same as a $100 customer? It’s like treating your hamster the same as your daughter because they’re both mammals.” The consultant discovered that “paradoxically, the biggest customers are often treated worse than the smallest.”   Personal example! A colleague told me years ago about a nonprofit organization that invited every donor to give an extra $15—over and above their regular giving—to meet a special need. Sounds reasonable, right? “Dear John…Last month you gave $25. This month, please consider giving $25 + $15 = $40.” Except…a major donor received the same ill-conceived generic one-size-fits-all appeal: “Dear Jane…Last month you gave $1 million. This month, please consider giving $1 million + $15 = $1,000,015.” Oops! LOL! I recently had my car serviced. When reading Chapter 2, “Consider the Goal of the Goal,” I couldn’t stop laughing! Similar to the story of Ryan, who was inundated with customer satisfaction surveys from his car dealership (Heath labels the looney practice, “the customer shakedown”), I was also the victim of way too many texts and emails—begging me to respond to their incessant surveys. I did not complete the surveys. But I'm thinking about bringing a copy of the book (and my two reviews) over to the dealership and presenting them to the General Manager! (Too cheeky, perhaps? I think not. It’s a great dealership, but reading “How to Change What’s Not Working” will be helpful to the leader and her team.) LISTEN TO CHAPTER 2. Dan Heath’s entertaining podcast, “What’s It Like to Be…” featured a bonus podcast last month on his new book, Reset, with the full audio of Chapter 2, “Consider the Goal of the Goal.” Listen here. (He begins with the "customer shakedown" story.) CHAPTER 8 WILL SHOCK YOU. You may find, like one organization did, that 80 percent of their customers were costing them money! Have you applied the 80/20 test to your customers, clients, or donors? The wisdom in “Do Less AND More” is jam-packed: • Family and Relationships: “What if we are undercoddling the most important people and overcoddling the least?” (Gut check!) • Why a consultant skipped a client dinner to play ping-pong with his son. • The value of a 2x2 quadrant (Stop, Start, Less, More). See also Mark Matlock’s three headers in Faith for the Curious. • Read why—before he said yes to being CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, the candidate volunteered for the organization and made a $25 donation “to experience the organization from the outside.” (See also Chapter 1, “Go and See the Work.”) He got the job and “within a month, a third of the board and a quarter of the staff were gone.” (Sound familiar to today’s news?) WAIT…WHAT? Are you telling me that after reading my Part 1 of 2 review of Reset, you still haven’t visited DanHeath.com for a one-page summary of the book? And you still haven’t listened to Heath’s 10-minute video summary of his book? (Do it now. I’ll wait.) REFRESHER! Reset has two parts: • Part 1: Find Leverage Points. (Go and see the work. Consider the goal of the goal. Study the bright spots. Target the constraint. Map the system.) • Part 2: Restack Resources. (Start with a burst. Recycle waste. Do less AND more. Tap motivation. Let people drive. Accelerate learning.) Don’t ask me for my favorite chapter—because every one of the 11 chapters are seminar-worthy. (Your consultant is reading this now and will be poking-you-in-the-ribs yet this quarter!) And get this: every chapter includes a "Whirlwind Review." There's even more at the author's website: end-of-chapter resource recommendations, with live links to articles and value-added resources. Brilliant! MORE INSIGHTS: LET PEOPLE DRIVE. When Guy Krueger was not selected for the US Olympic archery team, he switched to coaching. He wasn’t a great coach and after a humiliating experience, he enrolled in a training program for coaches. Finally—he stopped “bossing” his athletes. “Because the coach can’t shoot the arrows for them. The coach should let the athletes drive.”  My suggestion: read Chapter 10 and then post the book cover on your office wall—to remind yourself that you can’t shoot the arrows or throw the darts. “Let People Drive.” ZINGERS: • Cool Cats! Read about the dangerously overpopulated animal shelter in Jacksonville, Fla., and the question that the new director asked—that started a national movement. “He didn’t know what he didn’t know. But that ignorance would turn out to be genius.” • Church “Deadtime.” In Chapter 7, “Recycle Waste,” learn how one pastor cut out “watching” and trimmed 5 to 10 minutes from the service time without cutting any of the actual worship.” (Just one of many examples of early wins—“putting points on the board in weeks or months, not quarters or years.” Plus eliminating “deadtime” gave church members “a precious head start in beating other congregations to local restaurants for Sunday lunch.” LOL!) • “Nitpicked Every Decision!” Heath pulls a few punches from Ed Catmull’s book, Creativity, Inc. The co-founder of Pixar could see that the “oversight group” (re: budget and deadlines) was basically at war with the creative team. Solution: “They eliminated the oversight group.” Yikes! (The brilliant explanation will give you courage. Heath also recommends the “Type 1” and “Type 2” decisions at Amazon.) FINALLY… (Finally? This is pure torture—because I still have dozens of teasers that I can’t squeeze into this review. A third review maybe?) • In Chapter 4, “Target the Restraint,” Heath discusses the “constraints” (aka “bottlenecks”) at Chick-fil-A. Fascinating and timely. See the recent WSJ article on Chick-fil-A*. • For more on constraints, Heath recommends the novel, The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Or read my review of The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel  (2017, 129 pages). *And speaking of Chick-fil-A, congrats to Orange County Rescue Mission for receiving the company's very generous "True Inspiration Award" in 2024. Bryan Crain leads the executive team at OCRM. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Reset: How to Change What's Not Working, by Dan Heath. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 17 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Lifelong learning advice: never skip a book’s concluding chapter. Dan Heath’s last chapter spotlights “Joy at Work” and how to move an enormous boulder uphill (one of Heath’s themes). A gutsy hospital nurse and director in Brazil asked team members to post “What matters to you?” and “What are the impediments to what matters?” SHOCKER: The public bulletin board was crammed with 300 Post-Its! Brilliant: the leaders focused first on “quick wins” (fix the coffee maker!) and “stone in the shoe” issues. QUESTION: Are you gutsy enough to ask this question at work? 2) “You get what you celebrate,” preached Frank Blake, the former CEO of Home Depot. His view: no one cares what your memos say! At your next weekly staff meeting, read the story in Chapter 9, “Tap Motivation,” about the Home Depot cashier who was ringing up the lumber purchases of an elderly gentleman—and then asked him about his project. He replied that “his grandson had passed away, and he had decided to build the coffin with his own hands.” QUESTION: If you were the cashier, what would you say and do next?        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #7 of 99: How to Deal with Annoying People For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #7 of 99 in our new series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books and niche chapters still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. How to Deal with Annoying People: What to Do When You Can't Avoid Them by Bob Phillips and Kimberly Alyn (Harvest House Publishers, March 1, 2005, 320 pages) While this book's title is humorous, the content is extremely serious.    • Read my review (Issue No. 67, Dec. 17, 2007)    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #7 of 20: The People Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant idea the first time I read this. From the first hour of the first of many all-day social styles training sessions led by Don German—I would be hard-pressed to name anything that has been more helpful to me (personally and professionally), except my Christian faith. I’ve read and recommended numerous books about the four social styles (Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables, and Expressives)—yet I’m always looking to learn more. When I picked up Bob Phillips’ book again, I was shocked that I had not underlined anything in Chapter 15, “Dispelling Ten Stereotypical Gender Myths.” (Excellent reminders!) I’m a Driver (see the charts on the People Bucket website), so perhaps I rushed through this book unwittingly. I also missed Chapter 16, “Mottos and Sayings of Annoying People,” especially the two pages of “Conflicted Sayings.” (Two styles affirm, “Look before you leap” and two styles believe, “He who hesitates is lost.”) And how did I miss the page, “Quotes of Famous Leaders”—including their social styles? You’ll love the quotes from Dale Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Norman Vincent Peale, Golda Meir, and others, and this from Winston Churchill: “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” BONUS! View this 10-minute video, “The 4 Social Styles in the Boardroom,” I presented at the 2020 virtual conference of Christian Ministry Advancement (formerly Christian Management Australia).   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: BucketCast  Welcome back to our new mini-feature, “BucketCast.” Click on this link to listen to the AI-generated podcasters who comment on my book review of A Comedian’s Prayer Book, by Frank Skinner, plus 2 additional LOL books (7 minutes). For more podcasts, click here. IMPORTANT NOTICE! Some of the above links may not work. (Sorry!) Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Someone on Your Team Should Read This! Is DeepSeek for real? While this book was published just 12 months ago, someone on your team and/or your board should digest Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet. The book’s not for everyone. In fact, I’m surprised I read it—I’m hardly a tech guy. Yet the author, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, hooks you into the history, the promise, and potential of the Internet and AI. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.