Awakened by Grace

 

Issue No. 694 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 13, 2026) spotlights a new book just published today by Chuck Swindoll. Have some fun with it! Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of The Imperfect Board Member (20th Anniversary Updated & Expanded Edition), by Jim Brown. And check out these bite-sized book summaries (7- to 9-minute videos)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   For fun, read Chuck Swindoll's life story and then create a combination Jeopardy/True or False pop quiz for your next weekly staff meeting! "Ken, I'll take MISTAKES for $500—and I'm guessing it's FALSE!" Ten Minutes for Lifelong Learning question: "What's the value of reading autobiographies—and tell us about the last one you read?"   Chuck Swindoll’s Life Story: True or False Quiz! Pastor Chuck Swindoll will celebrate his 92nd birthday next week. And he's still writing books! Reluctantly, he just penned his autobiography. Why reluctantly? “First, I have never considered my life all that significant. And, second, I have always been very uncomfortable talking about myself.” Yet, I’m grateful that this prolific author of more than 100 books wrote one more book—and you’ll love the 30 short chapters with memorable titles, including Chapter 18, “The Whine of a Harmonica and the Smell of a Good Cigar.” He acknowledges God’s grace in every chapter. It's a master class on the power of mentoring, mistake-making, and ministerial transitions. Enjoy: Awakened by Grace: The Life Story of Chuck Swindoll by Charles R. Swindoll (Oct. 13, 2026)   POP QUIZ! I’m guessing that the majority of my eNews readers have heard Chuck Swindoll speak at a conference, or listened occasionally to his daily radio program—or have a Swindoll book or two (or 10) on their bookshelves. Ditto! So let’s have fun with this review—since Swindoll is a master of fun stuff (read on!).  #1. BACK OFF! (True or False?) If you're tired of reading AI slop advice from anyone under 40, Swindoll's new book is a refreshing change. He writes: "I've learned that it's unwise to talk someone into or out of a big decision." He adds, "Some who read these words are looking at a big decision. Don't count on me to talk you into it or out of it. That's God's job. I used to be real good at that, or real bad at that. But I've learned to back off and leave people alone to wrestle through it." (See Chapter 30.) #2. PROBATION! (True or False?) After receiving an honorary discharge from the United States Marine Corps in 1959, and mentored by a Navigators staff member while serving in Okinawa for 16 months, Chuck Swindoll applied for admission to Dallas Theological Seminary. During the interview, he was asked: “Would you be happy doing anything else for the rest of your life other than ministry?”    • He was accepted—but was “on probation” (he never graduated from college).    • Living in campus housing with his wife, Cynthia, Chuck became the “seminary lawn boy” to work his way through school. (Coulda been a career track—read this!)    • He graduated in 1963—and was honored with the “Harry A. Ironside Award for Expository Preaching.” #3. PRESIDENT? (True or False?) Really? The same young man that began seminary on probationary status was invited to become the fourth president of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1994 at age 59. Swindoll resisted the invitation—telling the search committee that then in his 23rd year as pastor of the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton (California), life was good. “I’ve got everything going for me here and we’ve really got it made.”    • A committee member pushed back, “Is ministry about ‘having it made’?” (Oops!)    • Chuck’s wife, Cynthia, encouraged him to accept the invitation. #4. DISCERNMENT (True or False?) Faced with the life-changing decision of saying “yes” or “no” to the seminary’s invitation, Swindoll invited eight of his “very best friends" (some from long distances) to meet on a Saturday. After briefing them on his inclination (still) to say "no," he asked each person to take 90 minutes—alone—to discern God's voice. The result: all eight friend urged him to say "yes." He did. (This reminded me of the time Parker Palmer met with a "Clearness Committee" to discern direction—also for the presidency of a school. Read my review of Let Your Life Speak.) #5. CRACK! (True or False?) Swindoll writes that one Sunday, while delivering his sermon at the Fullerton church, he “heard a CRACK in the sanctuary that sounded like a hammer landing solidly on a steel beam. It was the sound of a man’s head pounding down on the pew in front of him." It was Swindoll’s father—a regular worshiper in Row 17.    • The ushers called the paramedics, yet Swindoll writes that he “continued to preach as my father was wheeled out of the sanctuary on a gurney.”    • The doctors later explained that his dad "had suffered a stroke and a mild heart attack simultaneously that morning…” #6. MISFIT? (True or False?) Earlier in his pastoral career, Swindoll accepted his first senior pastor position at an Evangelical Free church near Boston in 1965. (Both he and Cynthia were born in Texas.) With a rich Norwegian heritage, the congregation of just under 200 people had “only recently traded in hymnals that had English lyrics on one side and Norwegian lyrics on the other.” He adds, “It was just so clear from the start that we weren’t New Englanders. We were Texans, and the difference was as vast as Tex Mex is from clam chowder.”    • Oops! Cynthia was not invited to the interview. She saw the parsonage for the first time when they moved in.    • Oops! After two years, they returned to serve a church in Texas. View the conversation between Chuck Swindoll (right) and Bill Butterworth at Insight for Living's "An Evening With Pastor Chuck" on October 4. #7. LOL! (True or False?) There’s a hilarious laugh-out-loud theme that runs through Swindoll’s life story. (No surprise: Bill Butterworth was his editor for this book!) At the New England church: “Our deacons were all really good men, but there wasn’t much laughter in our meetings.” At Dallas Theological Seminary, Swindoll considered himself more of a shepherd than president—and immediately asked his assistant, "Where is the fun? Where's the laughter?"    • "Dr. Swindoll," she said, "this is a seminary."    • He responded, "The questions are still the same. Where's the laughter? Where's the fun?" There's more!    • The student dress code went from coats and ties to business casual.    • Reserved parking spots for administrators were removed—even the “Keep Off the Grass” signs were sacked!  #8. LIFE LESSONS? (True or False?) I counted 10 ministry transitions that Swindoll endured during and after seminary. I use the word "endured" because of various critics he encountered on his ministry journey:    • "The Guy" (an elder, not named) at one church that threatened him with a revolver!    • The time five of nine elders walked out of an elder meeting—and resigned!    • The "contrarian" faculty member who... (read the story!). Pastors and ministry leaders (of any age or decade) will learn much from Swindoll's transparent life lessons (and mistakes). When should you move on...or retire? Swindoll "retired from the pulpit" at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, at age 90 in 2024. He was the church's founder and served over 26 years. He continues as chairman of the board of Insight for Living ("The Bible-Teaching Ministry of Pastor Chuck Swindoll").  Looking for more wisdom on ministry transitions and successions? Read my review of The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire, and my review (plus 13 resources) of Lost in Transition. Plus, listen to Curt Swindoll's wisdom on this "Life After Ministry" podcast. (Curt is the oldest of the Swindoll's four adult children.) #9. INSIGHTS ON INSIGHT. (True or False?) When the Swindolls moved from California back to Texas, they also relocated the international offices of their broadcast ministry, Insight for Living, to Texas. And...yikes! Only two percent of the California employees made the move. (Leaders of other ministries that are thinking of moving and/or merging would benefit from reading this case study.) Cynthia Swindoll served as IFL's first president and CEO. Today, Chuck and Cynthia's daughter, Charissa Swindoll Gaither, is the president and CEO.  #10. OLDER CHUCK! (True or False?) "I'm still on a learning curve," writes Swindoll and he saves the final chapter for a nine-page benediction, "What Older Chuck Would Tell Younger Chuck." Interesting—because as the third of three children in his family, he longed for a better relationship with his parents. He writes: "Most of us are too hard on our kids. Take it from one who was. If I regret anything in my life, it's that I was as not as gracious a dad as I could've been and should've been. I was too busy. I was, at times, too demanding, and I was too rigid." #11. CRITICS! (True or False?) Hmmm. As early as 1978, Swindoll was writing to leaders: "Expect the Critics." In his classic book, Hand Me Another Brick (see my review), Swindoll notes that Nehemiah had hardly started rebuilding the wall before Sanballat and Tobiah showed up. (Of course they did. Critics have excellent timing.) #12. SAXOPHONES & STUTTERING. (True or False?) Young Chuck stuttered...but an insightful teacher invited him to join the debate class and the drama team. Problem solved. Did I mention? Swindoll played five instruments (clarinet, saxophone, oboe, flute, and piccolo) and in Okinawa, played in the Marine Corps Band and the Dance Band (think Gershwin, Goodman, and Dorsey!). WHICH ONES ARE TRUE OR FALSE? Read the book! TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Awakened by Grace: The Life Story of Chuck Swindoll, by Charles R. Swindoll. Listen on Libro (9 hours, 10 minutes). And thanks to Insight for Living for sending me a review copy. MORE LOL! On Dec. 3, 1986 (not a typo—almost 40 years ago!), Chuck Swindoll was the morning and evening speaker at the national convention for Christian Camping International/USA (now CCCA), in San Diego. In one memorable keynote, he talked about how to handle criticism and quoted a hilarious line (attributed to either composer Max Reger or the Earl of Sandwich). Read the rebuke here!   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Chuck Swindoll credits key mentors in his journey, and God’s grace. Today, at almost 92, he is mentoring two grandsons every Saturday morning. What did you learn from your mentors? Who are you mentoring? 2) Whatever your age, and whether you’re a leader or a manager, you will have at least one more major transition in your life. Are you prepared? Suggestion: read Finish Line, by Robert Wolgemuth (1948-2026).          SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #61 of 99: Leadership Secrets of The Salvation Army For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #61 of 99 in our series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books (and articles) still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. The Most Effective Organization in the U.S. Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army by Robert A. Watson and Ben Brown (Nov. 6, 2001) I know…you’re already saying, “But we’re just a small organization. What can we learn from one of the largest charities in the U.S.?” (Read my tongue-in-cheek thoughts on “Think Shrink!”) And see the Forbes list: “America’s Top 100 Charities” for 2025.    • Read my review (Issue No. 167, Dec. 11, 2009).    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #1 of 20: The Results Bucket Read this classic and discover why Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, called The Salvation Army “the most effective organization in the U.S.” He added, “No one even comes close to it with respect to clarity of mission, ability to innovate, measurable results, dedication, and putting money to maximum use.”   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN     View the video summary (7 minutes) of “Mistake #5: Thinking Leadership Is Learned by Magic. I missed the memo about focusing on results and SMART Goals.” See the workbook, Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. 8 Church Shifts View the summary video (7 minutes) of John’s review of Becoming a Future-Ready Church: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird. Read the review. BONUS! As of today, 41 video podcasts (7 to 9 minutes each) are posted here. Perfect lifelong-learning snippets for your weekly staff meeting. 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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  The Singing Bible Oh, my! You must visit this website and/or download the app for this amazing new resource. Every chapter of the Bible (1,189) is sung. Listen to one of 20+ musical styles: Country, Jazz, Latin, Choir of Angels to Hip-Hop—also Gregorian Echoes, Gospel, Rap, Contemporary Pop, Reggae, African Dance, Hard Rock, R&B/Soul—and my favorite, Barbershop Quartet. Read my review at the Pails in Comparison Blog. Here’s a taste: Psalm 23.

The Hero’s Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire

 

Issue No. 212 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 22, 2011) highlights a fascinating look at four types of CEO retirement transitions: monarchs, generals, ambassadors and governors. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

4 Types of CEO Retirement Transitions

In my Management Buckets workshops, I talk about the four levels of mastering the 20 critical competencies (buckets):
   --Level 1: I don’t know what I don’t know.
   --Level 2: I know what I don’t know.
   --Level 3: I have an action plan to address what I know I don’t know.
   --Level 4: I can coach and mentor others. I can teach the course!

So feeling pretty smug that I’ve been around the block once or twice, I was startled to realize that I was back at Level 1 regarding what happens when CEOs retire. Wow. I learned a lot from this book—and, like all great books, I found immediate value in attaching a memorable label to four kinds of CEO retirement. Recommended to me by Paul McKaughan (a “retired/ambassador” CEO), I’ve already recommended this book to more than 20 other CEOs.

First published in 1988 by Harvard prof Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the book is part history, part expose and part therapy.  “This is a book,” he begins, “about how the management succession process involving chief executive officers of major corporations is affected by the heroic view that CEOs have of themselves.  Some plan carefully and choose wisely who will succeed them. Others fight the process and must be forced out in what can be traumatic episodes for the CEOs and the organizations.”

Painstakingly researched (five years and 50 personal interviews), the book describes four types of CEO retirement transitions:
   --The Monarch’s Departure. “Monarchs leave their thrones only through their death, ill health, or as with [Boston Consulting Group’s Bruce] Henderson, a palace revolt.”
   --The General’s Departure. “Although as with monarchs, the leader’s heroic mission is important to generals, it is not as important as are their needs for a heroic identity.  The generals’ greatest barrier to exit is their identification with heroic stature.  They treasure the respect and recognition they have earned, and in leaving high office, they leave behind a great deal of their self-worth.”
   --The Ambassador’s Departure. “Ambassadors, like generals, also remain within their firms after retirement. Unlike the generals, however, the ambassadors do not seek to return to top office positions. They work to support rather than to subvert their successors. Guided by an inner sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, the ambassadors are not searching for more battles to further prove their heroic valor.”
   --The Governor’s Departure. “In contrast to the open-ended reign of the monarch, the general’s eager return to office, or the ambassador’s maintaining of advisory status, the retiring governor-like business leader usually leaves office for a completely new activity.  The governors have long had extensive interests outside their firms.  Retirement for them is often merely a career change as they turn to purse outside interests. After they disengage from their firms, their careers do not fade into the sunset.  Any new activities tend to be leadership roles and not solely board memberships.”

There’s more. All interesting, even fascinating, at this insider’s glimpse into decades of boardroom transitions—not all pretty!  Along the journey, Sonnenfeld’s color commentary informs and teaches.  What does it take for CEOs to give up the “psychological perks” of the office? He quotes another Harvard prof’s advice to an incoming CEO: “The first step in a mess like this is to reduce chaos to disorder.” A brilliant one-liner.

While the ambassador style seems the most God-honoring, the author points out that some of his ambassador subjects weren’t exactly humble.  Another insight: Withthrop Knowlton, Harper & Row, “cautioned that the chief executive’s natural tendency to close his or her administration in a ‘blaze of glory often leads them to become increasingly drawn inward…to work harder on corporate problems in the last year or two.’ He suggested that chief executives should instead be encouraged to join other boards for exposure to other exit patterns and to broaden their interests and identities.”

Here’s my surprising recommendation: read this in your 40s and 50s—don’t wait until you’re in your 60s.  There is great insight on both the way up and the way out of the organization.   

To order this book from Amazon, click on this title: The Hero’s Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 
........................................................................
1) According to Irving Shapiro of Du Pont, “The first function of a new CEO is to provide for his succession.”  Why might it be important for a brand new CEO, or for that matter, any leader or manager, to plan for his or her succession?

2) CEOs who stayed on as ambassadors and wise elder statesmen, according to the author, often were safe havens for conversations with other corporate officers.  They also encouraged the new CEO because the CEO job can be a lonely one.  What might be some of the up-sides and down-sides of a retiring CEO becoming an ambassador?

BONUS! For 12 more resources on succession planning, see my review of Lost in Transition.
........................................................................

14 Questions Board Members Must Ask
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Board Bucket, Chapter 14, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to get the right board members on the board bus—and then ensure they ask themselves tough questions.

I’ve worked with boards that use Ram Charan’s excellent book, Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask.  Effective boards will want to use this book at an annual board retreat—or address one or two questions per board meeting over the next year or more.  The book can also be read topically, based on your current hot issues. I started with Question 13: How Do We Stop From Micromanaging?  All 14 have zinger qualities to them. My favorites, based on my board consulting work, include:
   --Question 11: How Can Executive Sessions Help the Board Own Up?
   --Question 12: How Can Our Board Self-Evaluation Improve Our Functioning and Our Output?
   --Question 2: Are We Addressing the Risks That Could Send Our Company Over the Cliff?
   --Question 4: Are We Well Prepared to Name Our Next CEO?
   --Question 5: Does Our Board Really Own the Company’s Strategy?

Check out this book and other resources in the Board Bucket.

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
• PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts 

NOTICE! Issues No. 1 to 657 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (2006 to 2025), previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite you are on now (John Pearson's Buckets Blog).

15 Minutes Including Q&A

  

Issue No. 216 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (May 15, 2011) features a very, very simple method for making memorable presentations: “Problem—Solution. Challenge—Response. Question—Answer.”  Oh…and do all of that in just 15 minutes! Plus, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Take Your Face Out of Park! Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State, once asked reporters at a press conference, “Does anyone have any questions for the answers I’ve prepared?” Q&A is often the easiest part of making presentations—but even that can drone on and on unless you read this week’s book. Most leaders and managers must regularly give interesting talks, inspire the team in staff meetings, deliver visionary board reports, represent the organization to groups and churches—and often with audiences more interested in their iPhones than in the boring presentation. Truth be told—our presentations stink. Sunday morning at eleven isn’t much better. So when is the last time you worked on your presentation skills and when is the last time a book changed your mind—and your behavior? How about last month?  I read 15 Minutes Including Q&A on my flight to Dallas—and immediately changed my approach to a workshop I led the next day at the Christian Leadership Alliance national conference.  Subtitled, “A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations,” author Joey Asher has struck gold with his Golden Rule of Presenting, “Present unto others as you would have them present unto you.” Asher recommends you build every talk with this formula: 15 minutes max, with seven minutes for content and eight minutes for Q&A.  And…if some inconsiderate jerk in your audience asks a question, don’t you dare respond, “Let’s put that question in the parking lot and I’ll get to it later.”  Answer the question when it’s asked! Why? It’s about the audience—it’s not about you. (Now there’s a new thought!) That’s pretty much it: five steps in seven minutes including the hook (30 seconds), the preview (30 seconds), the body (three points and a story in five minutes) the recap (30 seconds) and a call to action (30 seconds).  Then allow the natural flow of Q&A during your presentation—and wrap it all up in 15 minutes. Impossible you say? “…it’s not that hard if you keep a simple principle in mind. Your goal isn’t to tell everything you did [or know]. It’s to help your listeners with their lives.” Begin with “the hook.” Asher writes, “Start by putting your finger on the business issue that your audience cares most about. A good way to arrive at your hook is to think, ‘If I were to ask my audience what worried them most about the topic I’m going to talk about, what would they say?’” “The hook often starts with the following phrase, ‘I understand that you are concerned about…’” Your three points should be like bumper stickers: short and memorable, supported by stories. “Great speakers use lots of stories.” Q&A is “presentation duct tape.” says Asher, “It fixes everything.” Twenty-five short chapters.  Twenty-five “I can do that!” insights, including chapter 19, “Facial Energy That Connects.” Did you know that you’re capable of making 3,000 different and meaningful facial expressions? (Do 10 right now!)  “Take your face out of park,” Asher admonishers.  And while you’re at it, exaggerate your gestures. “The gesture bone is connected to the voice bone.” This is a brilliant book for brushing up your boring talks. Use it to coach and mentor your team, your kids and your grandkids—and your pastor! To order from Amazon, click on the title for 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations, by Joey Asher. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Asher says “great speakers use lots of stories.” Share a story you still remember from a speaker you heard more than a year ago. 2) An even simpler method for a talk, says the author, is to begin, “If I were you, I would ask three questions about this topic.” He adds, “Then write the three questions on a flip chart. Answer the questions. Then stop.” Why might this method work? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Payroll Systems Thinking Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in the Systems Bucket, Chapter 18, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to train your team in tickler tracking. Payroll is one of those repeating tasks that must be flawless.  The same devotion to details that you require for on-time paychecks can also be routine throughout your organization. Creating a systematic process for repeating tasks is part of systems thinking. To train your team in tickler tracking, begin by urging them to think about their daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually repeating tasks. Getting tasks down on paper is the first step. For more help—and a simple format—visit the Systems Buckets webpage for more resources, including The "D.W.M.Q.A.T. Form" for Repeatable Tasks.    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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  ECFA Blog on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”   Read John's blog post, "The Cardinal Sin Is Dullness." NOTICE! Issues No. 1 to 657 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (2006 to 2025), previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite you are on now (John Pearson's Buckets Blog).

The Talent Masters

 

Issue No. 209 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 22, 2011) highlights a new book on what it takes to be a talent manager. It’s a fascinating look inside GE.  Plus, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Talent With No Buzzwords The first sentence of this week’s book sets the pace for perpetual gut checks on almost every other page: “If businesses managed their money as carelessly as they manage their people, most would be bankrupt.” Bill Conaty, former senior vice president of General Electric, and Ram Charan, co-author of Execution (and other books I’ve reviewed here), have delivered a highly helpful book, packed with practicality far beyond the no-brainer subtitle, “Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers.” I’ve never met CEOs and senior leaders who dispute the priority and importance of people in their organizations. But I do find serious people-related dysfunction in many organizations. There are ample strategic plans, but few people plans—intentionality about growing people and succession. It’s hard, but rewarding work. The Talent Masters describes the GE system of people development:    --“Only one competency lasts. It is the ability to create a steady, self-renewing stream of leaders.”    --“One reason hardheaded managers disdain the ‘soft stuff’ is that it so often reflects soft thinking.”    --“An exercise in a course at Wharton’s advanced management program exposes the futility of buzzword descriptors. The instructor at a recent session asked the participants to explain Steve Job’s distinguishing talent.” Just one caveat: do it without using buzzwords. (The six pages on “Calibrating Steve Jobs” is, literally, worth the price of the book—it will change your thinking forever on what the co-authors call “searching for the specifics” in talent.)    --“Talent masters assess and express what each person is in reality, not against some predetermined checklist.”    --Addressing the seven principles of the talent masters, they write, “The HR function will only be as strong as the CEO wants it to be, and if the CEO doesn’t have high expectations for it, HR will remain second tier.”    --“In a fast-changing business, the person who is right for a job today may be wrong in a year or even six months.”    --“…being a talent master is a total leadership job, rather than the sole province of human resources.” Here’s another gut check: “At the top [of GE], especially, there are no strangers. The CEO and senior vice president of HR know the top six hundred people in the company intimately—their families, their hobbies, their likes and dislikes, their skills, strengths, psychological tendencies, and development needs.  These six hundred executives have become almost a family.” This under-the-covers look at GE’s annual planning process is revealing. From January to June they’re looking at people.  From July to October, they address strategy, and in November it’s all wrapped together into operations and budget.  Core values (like a culture of forthrightness and candor) ooze out continuously. Really…there are just too many highlights in this jam-packed toolbox.  You’ll learn about their foundational “Session C” approach, including this: “They’re not afraid to confront the reality that everyone makes mistakes; the worst mistake is the failure to remedy those already made.” Another insight: the balance between “hammers” and “softies.” Every leadership team needs both. One more: GE regularly categorizes their top people talent into three groups: Top Talent, Highly Valued, and Less Effective. I gotta stop—and I haven’t even mentioned the Talent Mastery Tool Kit, more than 40 pages of resources, including:    --12 critical true or false questions on “Does your company have the culture of a talent master?”    --The how-to’s of mastering talent (selecting, developing, assessing, and recognizing and retaining leaders)    --A 9-box grid (3 boxes across, 3 down) to categorize your people. The 3 across the top: High Potential, Moderate Potential, Topped Out    --“Guidelines for Your Next Talent Review” and much, much more To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for The Talent Masters: Why Smart Leaders Put People Before Numbers, by Bill Conaty and Ram Charan. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) On the “Lessons Learned” summary page, the authors write, “Think of shortcomings first as development needs rather than fatal flaws.”  How does our organization think about shortcomings? 2) Under the 12 “Leadership Pitfalls,” they list “not developing your own succession plan.”  How effective are we—at all levels—at seamless succession?  ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Extravagantly Generous Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas for nonprofit Christian organizations and churches in the Donor Bucket, Chapter 11, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to challenge donors to be “extravagantly generous.” So how does your organization’s fundraising practices measure up against this imperative from the Apostle Paul? “Tell those rich in this world's wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.” (I Timothy 6:17-19, The Message) For more ideas and resources on giving and generosity, visit the Donor Bucket.     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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  ECFA Blog on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”   Read John's blog post, "Board Member Giving Commitments That Stick." NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog.

Nonprofit Sustainability

 

Issue No. 257 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 30, 2012) introduces a brilliant matrix on nonprofit sustainability—and I predict you will use it at your next staff or board meeting. BONUS! View the video summary (8 min.) at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit the Results Bucket to download Worksheet #1.2 (LOL!). Money Trees, Stars, Hearts, and Stop Signs I was privileged to serve 30 years as a nonprofit CEO.  Over those years, I’ve collected my favorite one-liners on nonprofit sustainability: --One of my favorite profs, especially gifted in one-liners (and magic tricks), often chuckled, “We’re nonprofit, but we didn’t plan it that way.” --“Nonprofit is a tax designation, not a management philosophy.” --I’ve listened to thousands of staff members whine: “Yeah, but are we a ministry or a business?” (Their answer is in their question and the way they intone that nasty B-word.) My response: that’s the wrong question. Scripture doesn’t create the negative dichotomy between business and ministry. The better question is: “Whatever tax code we use to serve others, will we be sustainable and God-honoring over the long-term?”  --Jesus taught us in Luke 14:28-30, “Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’” (The Message) So with that introduction, it brings us today to a resource-rich book, Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability. The three co-authors deliver the perfect PowerPoint slide on page 25—and then build their case across all 173 pages. It’s part Nonprofit 101 and part Harvard Business School. Getting to nonprofit sustainability involves three steps:    --The Matrix Map Analysis    --Decision Making    --The Sustainable Nonprofit Business Model Here’s the Matrix Map: “The Dual Bottom Line” matrix map addresses mission impact and financial sustainability—with four easy-to-remember icons: Stars: High Mission Impact, High Profitability Hearts: High Mission Impact, Low Profitability Money Tree: Low Mission Impact, High Profitability Stop Sign: Low Mission Impact, Low Profitability Pop Quiz! Assemble your team and draw the Dual Bottom Line Matrix Map on your flipchart or whiteboard—and then plot every program, service and product you provide into one of the four quadrants. Your Results: Stars: If you have an abundance of stars, way to go! Hearts: Here you’re leading with your heart—and that may be appropriate—but if you’re too heavy here, you’ll need more oomph in the Money Tree quadrant. Money Tree: If you have some “cash cows” (to mix metaphors), terrific. Maybe you can make adjustments and increase mission impact. Stop Sign: This is a no-brainer. Fix these programs or stop doing them. As I often prod you, delegate your reading. Several people on your staff and your board must read this book—and review it at your next staff or board meeting. It will be on my year-end Top-10 list. To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability, by Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka and Steve Zimmerman.    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Many organizations put inappropriate time and budget into lagging programs and services, rather than using the authors’ “invest and grow” strategy for “Stars.” Are we investing and growing in our Stars—or trying to resuscitate one or more dead horses?  2) When is the last time we held up a “Stop Sign” to a program, product or service. If it were up to you, what would we stop doing immediately—and cut our mounting losses? (Resource: share the “Dismount” worksheet from my Results Bucket webpage: “Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Start Your Don’t-Do List Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in Chapter 16, The Delegation Bucket, in my book, Mastering the Management Buckets, is start your Don’t-Do List.   The first president of the United States Steel Corporation was Charles Schwab (not the stock guy).  He asked a consultant, Ivy Lee, for help on becoming a more effective executive. “Show me a way to get more things done.  If it works, I’ll pay anything within reason.”   Lee introduced Schwab to the To-Do list and suggested that Schwab limit each day’s list to no more than six tasks.  He should start with the most important task and then not go to the second priority until the first one is done.   This remarkably simple—almost obvious—management tool revolutionized Schwab’s work.  So he sent Lee a check for $10,000.    The Don't-Do List will prove to be just as revolutionary. It's very simple: For 90 days, keep a list on your desk or computer of what you will STOP doing. (My friend Tony Danhelka calls this "selective neglect.") You must rigorously prune your To-Do List every day, every week and every month. You can't keep up—the conveyor belt is hurling work at you faster than the famous chocolate factory scene on I Love Lucy.   For help, click here to download the template, "My Don't-Do List," from the Delegation Bucket webpage.      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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Read Lesson 23, "Focus on Impact and Sustainability," from the book Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Peason. Read this blog at ECFA Governance of Christ-centered organizations.