Leaders - Myth and Reality

 

Issue No. 410 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 6, 2019) 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).  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 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 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?   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.                 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).    Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, is now available on Amazon. Read the short posts by 40 guest bloggers here.  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Astronauts and Your Board Click here to find out what astronauts, Tour de France cyclists, and great board members have in common. Read John's latest post on the "Governance of Christ-centered Organizations Blog."  MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  •WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations

Managing Your Boss

 

Issue No. 201 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Nov. 8, 2010) asks you how much time you’ve invested in becoming a student of your boss? And this reminder, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

According to the HBR article, "Managing Your Boss," he or she is either a reader or a listener. Are you communicating in your leader's preferred style?






Boss Talk

One hundred percent of the time in my workshops and consulting, I have hallway conversations with really smart people who say something like, “I just don’t get my boss (or board chair). We’re rarely on the same page. Help!”

So I go down the boss talk path: “How many hours have you worked so far this year? How many hours have you invested in studying and understanding your boss this year?”

“Is your boss a reader or a listener? What are your boss’s Top-5 strengths on the Gallup StrengthsFinder system? What is your boss’s social style (driver, analytical, amiable or expressive)?  If your boss is a Christ-follower, do you know his or her spiritual gifts (leadership, mercy, teaching, etc.)?”

I explain that everyone must be a student of their boss and I urge them to read the Harvard Business Review classic article, “Managing Your Boss.”  In addition to leading your direct reports, you must own and navigate the relationship with your boss—not in a manipulative way—but in a mutual respect way.

Authors John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter write, “At a minimum, you need to appreciate your boss’s goals and pressures, his or her strengths and weaknesses. What are you boss’s organizational and personal objectives, and what are his or her pressures, especially from his or her own boss and others at the same level? What are your boss’s long suits and blind spots?

"What is the preferred style of working? Does your boss like to get information through memos, formal meetings, or phone calls? Does he or she thrive on conflict or try to minimize it? Without this information, a manager is flying blind when dealing with the boss, and unnecessary conflicts, misunderstandings, and problems are inevitable.”

In addition to a 12-point “Checklist for Managing Your Boss,” the article addresses that critical question: “Is my boss a reader or a listener?”

“Subordinates can adjust their styles in response to their bosses’ preferred method for receiving information. Peter Drucker divides bosses into ‘listeners’ and ‘readers.' Some bosses like to get information in report form so they can read and study it. Others work better with information and reports presented in person so they can ask questions. As Drucker points out, the implications are obvious. If your boss is a listener, you brief him or her in person, then follow it up with a memo. If your boss is a reader, you cover important items or proposals in a memo or report, then discuss them.”

ARTICLE. No surprise. This HBR article is a classic because the boss challenge is a classic. If your key people have given little thought to managing up, invest a few bucks and download the article, "Managing Your Boss," from the Harvard Business Review (this 1980 article was reprinted in the January 2005 magazine).

BOOK. Or…read the expanded treatment of this subject (from Harvard Business Review Press, 2008). To order the 55-page book from Amazon, click on the title for Managing Your Boss, by John J. Gabarro and John P. Kotter 

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:

1) Is your boss (or board chair) a reader or a listener?  Do you communicate in his or her preferred style?

2) What are your boss’s Top-5 “S.M.A.R.T. Goals” for the year? S.M.A.R.T. goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related.

Drucker Centennial (2009-2010)
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Drucker Bucket, Chapter 4, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to become disciplined students of the great management thinkers, especially Peter Drucker, the father of modern management. He was born in Vienna on Nov. 19, 1909, and so The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Calif., has been celebrating the Drucker Centennial this year.

According to the school’s website, “The Drucker Centennial is a time of commemoration, celebration, and renewal, which was crowned by a week of special events at Claremont Graduate University in November 2009 and supplemented by other activities from Fall 2008-2010. It marks the 100th birthday of Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management; author of 39 books on organizational behavior, innovation, economy, and society; and winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.”

To get a taste of Drucker’s savvy insight, download “Peter Drucker on Goal Alignment” from the Results Buckets on my website.  Along with 29 other CEOs, I heard Drucker tell this classic story at a week-long retreat in the Colorado mountains. 

MORE RESOURCES:

• BLOG: Pails in Comparison
• SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
• JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon 
•WEBSITE: Management Buckets
• BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations

 NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon.

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Turning the Flywheel

 

Issue No. 404 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 19, 2019) notes this from Jim Collins: “Look closely at any truly sustained great enterprise and you’ll likely find a flywheel at work, though it might be hard to discern at first.”  And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2018 Book-of-the-Year and my Top-10 books of 2018.   2019 Wisdom From Jim Collins ...in Just  29 Pages! In his 2019 hot-off-the-press mini-book, Jim Collins reminds us: • “When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. • When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. • When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls. • When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you create a powerful mixture that correlates with great performance.” Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great is the latest gem from over 25 years of research from Jim Collins (just 29 pages plus eight pages of helpful summaries in the appendix). The subtitle describes this must-read content: “Why Some Companies Build Momentum and Others Don’t.” So think about this: You’ve written five powerful business books between 1994 and 2011 (plus a lesser known book in 1992). You’ve sold over 10 million copies worldwide. The assignment in 2019: boil it all down and deliver the key thought—the Big Idea—of what leaders and managers are missing. Pick from this list:    • Level 5 Leadership    • Genius of the And    • Confront the Brutal Facts    • The Hedgehog Concept    • The Flywheel    • 20 Mile March    • Fire Bullets, Then Cannonballs    • Productive Paranoia    • Clock Building, Not Time Telling    • Preserve the Core/Stimulate Progress    • Return on Luck    • Superior Results    • Distinctive Impact    • Lasting Endurance What one concept would you pick—that rises above everything else—and is your critical message for organizations today? Jim Collins picked the flywheel. I’ve reviewed Collins’ books over the years and found leadership wisdom in every one—but even if you’re already a Jim Collins zealot—Turning the Flywheel will re-energize you. Here’s why: “No matter what your walk of life, no matter how big or small your enterprise, no matter whether it’s for-profit or nonprofit, no matter whether you’re CEO or a unit leader, the question stands, How does your flywheel turn?” What’s a flywheel? Read Chapter 8 of Good to Great, “The Flywheel and the Doom Loop,” or read the nine-line summary in the appendix of Turning the Flywheel, including this: “…the process resembles relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough, and beyond.” (By the way, Collins includes more than a dozen succinct summaries of his amazing body of work in just eight pages. Perfect snippets for your next 14 weekly staff meetings!) THE BIG IDEA: “To maximize the flywheel you need to understand how your specific flywheel turns.” Collins illustrates the uniqueness of the flywheel approach with flywheel diagrams from seven companies and nonprofits, including Ware Elementary School, located on the Fort Riley army base in Kansas. Deb Gustafson, the principal, first read the Good to Great and the Social Sectors monograph and was absolutely giddy! “When I got to the part about turning the flywheel, I was bouncing up and down out of my seat,” she said. And note this: Jeff Bezos “…considered Amazon’s application of the flywheel concept ‘the secret sauce.’” But this caution: you need to understand how your organization’s specific flywheel turns—and the sequence of the components. Collins notes seven key steps for capturing your unique flywheel approach—plus this warning: don’t feature more than four to six components. He includes flywheel diagrams from Amazon, Vanguard, Intel, Giro, Ware Elementary School, Ojai Music Festival, and the Cleveland Clinic. (Wow—Collins must have a love affair with Cleveland. In his first monograph, he highlights “Greatness at the Cleveland Orchestra”—one of my favorite examples for nonprofits.)  He packs all of this—and more—into just 29 pages, plus the appendix. But this is all you’re getting in this review, otherwise you wouldn’t need to buy the book. But I’ll close with this motivational pop quiz: STAFF MEETING POP QUIZ: 1) If you’re a millennial and you’ve read a book by Jim Collins, please stand. I have a Starbucks card for you. 2) What books/insights by Jim Collins have made the greatest impact on our department or organization? 3) If you have a marked-up/heavily-read copy of any book by Jim Collins (see his six books listed in the article below), please stand: I have an Amazon gift card for you. 4) If you have NOT read a book by Jim Collins, but would volunteer to read and review Turning the Flywheel at our next staff meeting, please stand. I have a Chick-fil-A card for you! 5) True or False? Using the flywheel concept at Ware Elementary School, the principal and her team saw satisfactory reading levels of just 35% mushroom to 99% in just seven years. (Answer: True!) Collins concludes on page 37 in the appendix: “Finally, I caution against ever believing that your organization has achieved ultimate greatness. Good to great is never done.” To order from Amazon, click on the title for Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great (Why Some Companies Build Momentum and Others Don’t), by Jim Collins    If you’re a listener (not a reader), visit Libro.fm and download the audio book, Turning the Flywheel. Listening time: just one hour and 47 minutes.   Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Pop Quiz--2nd Round: In groups of two, invest 15 minutes right now and nominate four to six (no more than six) components that might uniquely describe our organization’s flywheel. 2) Pick another bestselling business author (Drucker, Blanchard, Lencioni, Maxwell, or your favorite). If he or she summarized the most critical insight for leaders and managers in 2019—what would your author title the mini-book?   You're Fired! You're Hired! Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook  According to Jim Collins in Turning the Flywheel, in the mid-1980s, Andy Grove, president at Intel said to his CEO, “If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?”  Gordon Moore gave his answer and Grove responded, “Why shouldn’t you and I walk out the door, come back and do it ourselves?” So Grove and Moore pointed at each other and they both said, “You’re fired.” Then out in the hallway, they pointed at each other again with “You’re hired.” They returned to their offices and launched Intel on a whole new direction. Brilliant! Have you ever fired and re-hired yourself? The Strategy Bucket includes wisdom and insights to help you re-think your outdated strategies with innovative new approaches. If you haven’t read a book by Jim Collins, delegate your reading today to a team member or board member. Here are his six books in the Good to Great Series (click here for all six on Amazon). #1. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t (2001) #2. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (1994) - Order from Amazon.   #3. Good to Great and the Social Sectors (2005) - Note: This was my first review in the first issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting, on Aug. 28, 2006. #4. How the Mighty Fall and Why Some Companies Never Give In (2009). #5. Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (2011) - Read my review. #6. Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great - Why Some Companies Build Momentum and Others Don’t  (2019) - Order from Amazon.                  JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. In How the Mighty Fall, Jim Collins identifies five stages of decline. Stage 2 is “Undisciplined Pursuit of More.” You may need outside eyes and expertise to help you avoid the cliff. Check out the innovative ideas from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video). Click here. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  •WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. BEST BOARD BOOKS Great boards delegate their reading with a "10 Minutes for Governance" segment at every board meeting. Here's an index to 18 governance books I've recently reviewed for ECFA's Governance of Christ-centered Organizations blog. Click here.

Knight of the Holy Ghost - G. K. Chesterton

 

Issue No. 403 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 1, 2019) is important and confessional. Read my review of the new book on G.K. Chesterton. It’s witty, wise, and worth your time. I promise!  And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2018 Book-of-the-Year and my Top-10 books of 2018.   Who Is This Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him? G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936) “was once asked what advice he would give to a young journalist. He said he would tell him to write one article for the Sporting Times and one for the Religious Times and then put them in the wrong envelopes.” Oh, my. You must read this book—because the envelope story is a brilliant summary of the person John Ortberg called “one of the most erudite and creative Christian writers in the first half of the twentieth Christian century.”  Author Dale Ahlquist, who leads the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, adds to the envelope story: “This was essentially the advice he followed himself his whole journalistic career. He wrote about religion for the secular papers. But he didn’t write about religion per se. He wrote about religion when he was writing about everything else.” Hot-off-the-press this year, Knight of the Holy Ghost: A Short History of G. K. Chesterton, is just 170 pages, and I can’t stop talking about it. (Ask my wife, Joanne!) But first…a confession. For years, I’ve dropped witty G.K. Chesterton quotes into conversations, articles, books, and blogs—but with some guilt. Who was this guy? Well, I knew he was from England. Writer. Thinker. (Oh, look…there’s another perfect quotation. Thanks, G.K.!) I’ve borrowed John Ortberg’s tribute to Chesterton (in The Life You’ve Always Wanted) many times: “If you were marooned on a desert island and could have only a single book with you, what would you choose? Somebody once asked this question of G. K. Chesterton. Given his reputation as one of the most erudite and creative Christian writers in the first half of the twentieth Christian century, one would naturally expect his response to be the Bible. It was not. Chesterton chose Thomas' Guide to Practical Shipbuilding.” I’ve also recycled these Chesterton favorites: • “I’ve searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees.” • “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” • “The Bible tells us to love our neighbor and to love our enemy, generally because they are the same people.” Some book reviews write themselves. Not this one—because Chesterton’s depth and breadth (he weighed 300 pounds) are stunning. Writer. Speaker. Wit. Christ-follower. (You can thank me now for not writing a 5,000-word review.) Amazingly, Ahlquist’s “short history” is comprehensive, inspiring, and breath-taking. After listing a dozen favorite Chesterton quotes including, “Satire has weakened in our epoch for several reasons, but chiefly, I think, because the world has become too absurd to be satirized” (Take that—Babylon Bee! Take that—Lark News!), the author respects Chesterton’s humor with his own playful style—punctuated with truth. Ahlquist: “I could go on and on. I often do. Chesterton is delicious. His words provide exquisite flavor and enormous satisfaction. But what do we especially notice in the above quotations besides how clearly and crisply the truth bursts out of them? They are utterly timely. They describe today. Yet they were written a hundred years ago.” On the jam-packed website of the Society of Gilbert Keith Chesterton, you must read “Who Is This Guy and Why Haven’t I Heard of Him?” by Dale Ahlquist: “Born in London, G.K. Chesterton was educated at St. Paul’s, but never went to college. He went to art school. In 1900, he was asked to contribute a few magazine articles on art criticism, and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of all time. He wrote a hundred books, contributions to 200 more, hundreds of poems, including the epic Ballad of the White Horse, five plays, five novels, and some 200 short stories, including a popular series featuring the priest-detective, Father Brown.  “In spite of his literary accomplishments, he considered himself primarily a journalist. He wrote over 4,000 newspaper essays, including 30 years’ worth of weekly columns for the Illustrated London News, and 13 years of weekly columns for the Daily News. He also edited his own newspaper, G.K.’s Weekly.”  The author adds, “To put it into perspective, 4,000 essays is the equivalent of writing an essay a day, every day, for 11 years. If you’re not impressed, try it some time. But they have to be good essays—all of them—as funny as they are serious, and as readable and rewarding a century after you’ve written them.” Stunning! And I agree with Ahlquist. Chesterton is timely—2019 timely: • He writes on the utter failure of socialism, but also the warped values of capitalism. (“Capitalism does not care about marriage.”) He championed distributism. (Learn more here.) • “Modern materialism is solemn about sports because it has no other rites to solemnize.” • Abortion: “He said it should be called by its real name: ‘murder at its worst; not only the brand of Cain but the brand of Herod.’” • The politician: “His whole career has only two stages: first, as quickly as possible to represent his town; then as quickly as possible to misrepresent it.” • “Every political question is a religious question.” •  Alhquist summarizing Chesterton: “Progress has become an ideal, even though its goal is not defined, which makes the word meaningless.” The author notes that “a better title for Chesterton may be the General of Generalizations.” And “…if Chesterton had a specialty, it was everything. Everything was the thing he was always writing about, everything involved in being human.” Yet—as you’ll read in this heart-probing book, Chesterton’s entire being pointed to God. (Always a believer, he became Catholic just 12 years before his death. He was 62 when he died.) The book has just three sections: The Man, The Writer, and The Saint? The author shares Fr. Vincent McNabb’s sweet memory of G.K.’s head and heart: “It was hard to speak with Gilbert Chesterton and not to think—and to think of God. Even the atheist who spoke with him, and who would have despised the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, felt he would like to know about the God of Gilbert Chesterton—this God whom the very laughter of Gilbert Chesterton seemed to prove was such a lovably human, though transcendent being…” That reminded me of King David’s charge: “Solomon, my son, get to know the God of your fathers.” (1 Chron. 28:9, TLB) Enjoy this intellectual and inspirational feast and see why the author honors Chesterton with the title, “Knight of the Holy Ghost.” This just might be my 2019 book-of-the-year. I can’t stop talking about it. To order from Amazon, click on the title for Knight of the Holy Ghost: A Short History of G. K. Chesterton, by Dale Ahlquist. (And thanks to Carmel Communications and Ignatius Press for the review copy.) If you’re a listener (not a reader), check out other books by Chesterton at Libro.fm.   Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Joanne and I are faithful fans of the Father Brown series on PBS. Ahlquist notes that Chesterton’s new genre of the “priest sleuth” and the “underdog detective” changed the course of detective fiction. “Everyone thinks he’s naïve. It doesn’t occur to them that a guy who listens to confessions might know something about how the criminal mind works.” Discuss: what other wisdom advantages do priests and pastors have over many of us? 2) Reading about Chesterton prompted me to imagine a roundtable discussion with Chesterton (1874-1936), C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), Peter Drucker (1909-2005), Andrew Murray (1828-1917), and Mother Teresa (1910-1997). Who would you add to the panel?   The Culture Bucket: Counterfeit Holiness Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook  Because Chesterton’s specialty was “everything,” I’m inclined to list his book in all 20 management buckets. But if I had to choose just one today, it would be The Culture Bucket. This week I recommended Humility, by Andrew Murray, on the Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations blog. Murray and Chesterton align:    • Murray: “The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility.”    • Chesterton: “The best kind of giving is thanksgiving.”    • Murray: “Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure.”    • “The Donkey,” by Chesterton, “is a sweet and simple poem about how the humble shall be exalted.” As you focus on results, customers, strategy, and more—don’t neglect culture. For more resources visit The Culture Bucket webpage here.                 JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Chesterton wrote, “We are putting all the best things to all the worst uses.” To position your message against the grain—and to thrive—check out the innovative ideas from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video). Click here. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  •WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. JUST PUBLISHED! Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, is now available on Amazon. Read the short posts by 40 guest bloggers here. AMUSING... Over the years, I’ve collected hundreds of mission statements, vision statements, and BHAGs. I’ve helped boards and senior teams craft these important written aspirations. Some are stunning in their brevity and clarity. Others are…well…amusing. Read more.

Postcards from PopPop - Life Lessons

 

Issue No. 678 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (May 6, 2026) presents a pop quiz about Bill Butterworth’s road trip through 50 U.S. states! It’s a page-turner, filled with wit and wisdom. Plus, read my recent review of Lessons From the Bench. Also, listen to the Life After Ministry Podcast's latest episode, "Missing Links in Ministry Successions," where Matt Davis and I have a conversation about my many leadership mistakes! (Just released on May 5, 2026.) Read why Bill Butterworth was "speaking slowly in Rhode Island," after a CPA firm asked him to stretch his 75-minute presentation on “Balancing Work and Life” into eight hours!   50 Gigs in 50 States! Wait! What? Bill Butterworth, the top-rated speaker, author, and ghostwriter, has just written a book about “life lessons from the road.” Should you read it? For a quick taste—take my “True or False” pop quiz for: Postcards from PopPop:  Life Lessons from the Road by Bill Butterworth (April 29, 2026) POP QUIZ! TRUE OR FALSE? What’s this book about? [  ] True or False? Bill Butterworth’s new book, Postcards from PopPop, is a master class for wanna-be speakers on how to work with speaker bureaus. (The result: 50 speaking gigs in 50 states!) Or maybe…Bill Butterworth’s new book is the perfect template for writing your own memoirs. (See four other memoirs in my blog, “You Should Write a Book.”) Which is it? [  ] True or False? The author actually mailed 50 postcards (one per state) to his grandson, Hudson—helping him with a fifth grade U.S. geography assignment. [  ] True or False? The book features 51 short “life lessons” (one from each U.S. state, plus Washington, D.C.). Example: Chapter 37, “A Late Night Recalled in New Hampshire,” details the “most expensive speech” Butterworth ever gave. (Hilarious!) [  ] True or False? The author has also ghostwritten dozens of books—and invites you into his interviewing and writing process. Butterworth says he’s “collaborated with CEOs, pastors, motivational speakers, therapists, speech teachers, broadcasters, physicians, missionaries, professional athletes, daughters describing their fathers, grandmothers describing their grandkids, and even a pro wrestler!” [  ] True or False? No way this is true, right? Butterworth claims he has spoken at the Sunday morning chapel services for 29 of the 32 NFL pro football teams. Chapter 49, “Wisconsin Cheesehead,” mentions one team (not the Packers) that was at zero wins and 11 losses when he spoke! (Hmmm. What Bible verse would you pick to bless that team?) [  ] True or False? (Hint: This is true!) At my home church last Sunday, Jared Powell, our co-pastor, happened to mention that to learn the names of all 50 U.S. states, he memorized a song! Read Butterworth’s book while you sing along to “Fifty Nifty United States.” Sing along to the short video, “Fifty Nifty United States,” featuring all 50 U.S. states in alphabetical order. (View here.) [  ] True or False? The book is practical—and doesn’t pontificate. The author has endured his fair share of bad food in many states and on airplanes. Example: In Chapter 17, “A Nice Piece of Fish in Nebraska,” Butterworth describes the aha! moment after he ordered beef in Boston and swordfish in Omaha! (LOL!) [  ] True or False? Oh, my! Imagine being the keynote speaker for “The Medical Meeting in Montana” (Chapter 8), and following a less-than-riveting physician’s talk on “Red Rash Update.” Or giving his “Balancing Work and Life” presentation to a group of veterinarians in Mississippi (Chapter 13), and not understanding the humorous punch lines of the other speakers—all vets. (Must-read chapter! And learn why even veterinarians need work/life balance.) [  ] True or False? Once the author discovered that certain professional groups needed continuing education (“no two words are sweeter to a professional public speaker”), he found a profitable niche: speaking to local, state, and national CPA groups. One firm asked him to stretch his 75-minute presentation on “Balancing Work and Life” into eight hours. He did it—often. (See Chapter 16, “Speaking Slowly in Rhode Island.”) [  ] True or False? Every chapter begins with “Dear Hudson,” a note to his grandson—and every chapter concludes with a “life lesson” note to “Huddy.” Did I mention? This is a brilliant format for sharing your own story with family and friends. Butterworth notes several reasons why he wrote this gem, including “… to offer up a model for other parents and grandparents to follow. Giving your family the story of your life is one of the most treasured gifts you could pass along. Be creative in how you tell your story—whether it’s postcards or slices of life using other symbols—get it on paper.” [  ] True or False? Early in his speaking/traveling career—and also the father of five children (and now "PopPop" to 12)—he realized he was not walking-the-talk of his “balancing work and life” message. Read Butterworth’s transparent and poignant account—and why a friend FedExed him a round-trip plane ticket to Phoenix. (Read Chapter 18, “The Arizona Cadillac.”) [  ] True or False? (Trick question?) Butterworth claims, in addition to speaking at the chapel services for 29 NFL teams, he’s also been the chapel speaker for 14 Major League Baseball teams. On August 18, 1984, after speaking in L.A. at the Miami Dolphins’ chapel service before a Raiders game, he drove across town to speak to the visiting Philadelphia Phillies MLB team before their game with the Dodgers. “The NFL and MLB all on the same day. I guess you could call it a Double Header.” [  ] True or False? Besides corporate gigs for Microsoft, Ford Motor Company, Walt Disney Company, Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and others, Butterworth would often be the guest speaker at many churches across the country. Another ongoing gig was to “teach an audience the entire Old Testament in one day” at Walk Thru the Bible Seminars on Saturdays. But imagine this: Chapter 5, “The Dark Side of New Mexico,” chronicles the day the lights went out—“the sanctuary was pitch black.” Yet…Butterworth soldiered on all day—in the dark! [  ] True or False? He had 50 states, plus Washington, D.C., to choose from—but he selected Oregon for his finale chapter. Why? Butterworth calls Cannon Beach Conference Center as the perfect place (and one of his favorite places). This quaint Oregon coast town, Haystack Rock, and the conference center are all very special. (I agree. I was there last fall.) [  ] True or False? Fifty-one fun postcards (one per state, plus D.C.) populate the pages of Butterworth’s “memoir from the road.” When you read Postcards from PopPop, I’m betting you’ll read the chapter about your home state first, right? TRUE OR FALSE ANSWERS: You guessed it. All true! But there's so much more, including 41 more memorable states: sharing the platform with a former U.S. president, a church seminar during the Super Bowl (really!), a CEO's grand entrance on a Harley in Vegas, how Butterworth outlines each new book (Chapter 47 in Georgia), and what he said to a corporate group on 9/11. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Postcards from PopPop: Life Lessons from the Road, by Bill Butterworth. (Note: Thanks to the author for sending me an advance manuscript. I could have written a review about every gig in every state. You'll love it!) More Wit & Wisdom! Read my reviews of: [  ] Building Successful Teams, by Bill Butterworth [  ] The Short List, by Bill Butterworth [  ] Everyday Influence, by Bill Butterworth   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) How many U.S. states have you visited? Have you been the speaker or workshop leader in five or more states? What’s your home state? What’s your favorite state? Can you sing “Fifty Nifty United States” by memory? 2) Bill Butterworth’s very creative memoir reminded me of the book, Yours Truly: An Obituary Writer's Guide to Telling Your Story, by James R. Hagerty of The Wall Street Journal. (Read my review.) So are you inspired and ready now to write your own memoir, obituary, or life story (short or long)? Hagerty warns, “Don’t leave it to family members, who are almost certain to make a hash of it.”        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #46 of 99: Outrageous For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #46 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. Outrageous:  Awake to the Unexpected Adventures  of Everyday Faith   by Aaron Tredway (Oct. 18, 2016)   Aaron Tredway has played and coached soccer on six continents and traveled to more than 100 countries. (Maybe he’ll ask Bill Butterworth to ghostwrite his next book, "Postcards from 100 Nations.") As a pastor and vice president of global advancement for Ambassadors Football International, Tredway’s book, Outrageous, is...well…outrageous.    • Read my review in Issue No. 351 (Oct. 27, 2016).    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #6 of 20: The Program Bucket The mark of great leaders and managers is the ability to spot and recruit great talent—especially people who align with the program. In Sierra Leone, Tredway joined a pick-up soccer game behind a dump and met 18-year-old Bang-Bang. Impressed with the young man's soccer skills, Aaron signed Bang-Bang, on-the-spot, to a professional contract with the Cleveland City Stars (the “contract” was written on a crumpled Kentucky Fried Chicken napkin awaiting history in the dirt). Did I mention Aaron and friends launched a U.S. pro soccer club from scratch? Read Chapter 5 to learn more about their mascot, a crocodile, and their best player, a Nigerian named “Harry Toe.”   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      On page 68 in the Program Bucket chapter of the Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook, you'll find the “Top 10 Questions to Ask About Program Capacity and Sustainability.” Question #9 asks if you’ve agreed on when to “pull the plug” on a loser program.   NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Free Download: 20 BUCKETS & 82 BALLS! Just posted last month, “Master List of 20 Buckets and 82 Balls” is a 14-page PDF—perfect for your weekly staff meetings. Remind your team about the 20 core competencies and the 82 actions steps featured in the book and workbook, Mastering the Management Buckets. Download the list here. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  •WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Pearson on Podcast! Listen to the "Life After Ministry" podcast from Ministry Transitions. Matt Davis interviews John Pearson about "Missing Links in Ministry Successions." John also shares a few leadership mistakes from his CEO years. And check out the 85 episodes about ministry transitions and succession planning. (Listen also on Apple Podcasts.)