David and Goliath

 

Issue No. 289 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 4, 2013) features Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book—currently on multiple bestseller lists, including the #1 spot on the Los Angeles Times list.  Plus, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Are Disadvantages Really Advantages?  Whew! Where do I start to convince you to read this thought-provoking, entertaining, page-turning gem?  On the title pages of the books I read for these reviews, I usually list 10 to 20 page numbers—with the best stuff I want to talk about. This book: 45 bullet points, all worthy of long paragraphs. It’s pure torture knowing I can’t mention most of them. You gotta read this bestselling book! Malcolm Gladwell is a master at his craft with bestsellers like Outliers: The Story of Success, Blink and The Tipping Point. His latest, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, is classic Gladwell.  He writes, “David and Goliath is a book about what happens when ordinary people confront giants. By ‘giants,’ I mean powerful opponents of all kinds—from armies and mighty warriors to disability, misfortune, and oppression.  Each chapter tells the story of a different person—famous or unknown, ordinary or brilliant, who has faced an outsize challenge and been forced to respond. Should I play by the rules or follow my own instincts? Shall I persevere or give up? Should I strike back or forgive?” In these memorable stories (I’ve already shared half-a-dozen relevant vignettes with colleagues in the last 10 days), Gladwell explores two ideas: 1) sometimes “the act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty,” and 2) we “consistently get these kinds of conflicts wrong. We misread them. We misinterpret them. Giants are not what we think they are.” So rather than a dozen spoiler alerts here…I’ll give you a True or False test. Mark “True” if you think the following notes are from David and Goliath. TRUE OR FALSE? #1. In the mid-1950s, Swedish furniture manufacturers boycotted IKEA, angry over their low prices. So in 1961, at the peak of the Cold War, IKEA’s founder did business with manufacturers in Poland—the equivalent today of “Walmart setting up shop in North Korea.” #2. Based on the statistical history of wars—the David vs. Goliath types—if Canada waged an unconventional war on the U.S., “history would suggest you ought to put your money on Canada.” #3. In discussing the relationship between parenting and wealth, “The scholars who research happiness suggest that more money stops making people happier at a family income of around $75,000 a year.” #4.  “The phenomenon of relative deprivation applied to education is called—appropriately enough—the ‘Big Fish—Little Pond Effect.’ The more elite an educational institution is, the worse students feel about their own academic abilities.” #5.  So…where should your kids attend college? Research on college grads concludes that “the best students from mediocre schools were almost always a better bet than good students from the very best schools.” Gladwell divides his stunning findings (told through page-turner true stories) into three parts: 1) “The Advantages of Disadvantages (and the Disadvantages of Advantages),” 2) “The Theory of Desirable Difficulty,” and 3) “The Limits of Power.” More True or False: #6. “We have a definition in our heads of what an advantage is—and the definition isn’t right. And what happens as a result? It means that we make mistakes. It means that we misread battles between underdogs and giants.” #7. In Gladwell’s up-close-and-personal interview with a world class attorney who has dyslexia, the lawyer talks about the advantages of his disadvantages. “Not being able to read a lot and learning by listening and asking questions means that I need to simplify issues to their basics. And that is very powerful, because in trial cases, judges and jurors—neither of them have the time or the ability to become experts in the subject. One of my strengths is presenting a case that they can understand.” #8. George Bernard Shaw once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” #9. In response to Birmingham police jailing hundreds of children who skipped school to march in the Civil Rights demonstrations, Martin Luther King responded, “Jail helps you to rise about the miasma of everyday life. If they want some books, we will get them. I catch up on my reading every time I go to jail.” #10. A California father, incensed at his daughter’s brutal murder, champions the Three Strikes Law, while a Canadian couple—Mennonites—forgive and move on; “a very practical strategy based on the belief that there are profound limits to what the formal mechanisms of retribution can accomplish.” I could go on, with another 35 or more mind-grabbing and soul-whacking notes, but I gotta stop. I hope you’ll read this book. Give it for Christmas and you’ll receive appreciative thank you notes. (By the way, all 10 statements above are “True.”) And speaking of appreciation, my thanks to David Curry and Dean Curry who both recommended this book. To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Business leaders will appreciate this book, but I’m guessing nonprofit and church leaders will love it.  They have “against all odds” challenges most days before breakfast.  So, have we been looking at “disadvantages/giants” incorrectly? Why might disadvantages actually be advantages? 2) During World War II, the Germans pretty much gave up on disassembling a safe haven for Jews in the French mountain community of Le Chambon.  Why? Gladwell says, “wiping out a town or a people or a movement is never as simple as it looks. The powerful are not as powerful as they seem—nor the weak as weak.”  Gladwell uses numerous Bible verses in his chapter headings. Why verses come to mind on this subject? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- No Time to Read? Think Again! One of the big ideas from Mastering the Management Buckets (Chapter 5, The Book Bucket)  is  that we don’t just talk about books—we actually read them! So think about a book reading contest in your organization in 2014. In 2006, U.S. President George W. Bush and Karl Rove, Former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President Bush, started an annual book-reading contest. That year, the President read 95 books, and Rove read 110. Bush also read through the Bible every year. “All of this,” Rove added, “while being the leader of the Free World!” For more reading insights and book recommendations, visit the Book 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 Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”   Add your thoughts to John's latest blog post for boards, "7 Reasons Why Strategic Plans Fail" and learn about "verbal draft purgatory!" PLUS! View the short video on the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series: No. 1: Recruiting Board Members and No. 2: Balancing Board Roles(DVD and Viewing Guides).

Entrepreneurial Leadership

 

Issue No. 279 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (June 10, 2013) includes a powerful book that addresses why entrepreneurs struggle with the church and vice versa. Plus, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Stop Squelching Entrepreneurs   Do you work with a serial entrepreneur, perhaps on your board or in your department—and you’re scratching your head wondering, “What makes this person tick and how can I leverage their gifts without going nuts myself?”—then have I got a book for you!   Rick Goossen and Paul Stevens have written a brilliant gift book to the church, Entrepreneurial Leadership: Finding Your Calling, Making a Difference. Two big issues jumped out immediately:    •Why entrepreneurs struggle in their relationship with the church.    •Why the church struggles with entrepreneurs.   “Let’s be frank,” Goossen and Stevens admit, “entrepreneurs are not always the easiest people to deal with. In fact entrepreneurs may be among the most challenging for any organization. They can be impatient, action-oriented and nonbureaucratic.”    They add, “The challenge for the church is to harness, rather than squelch, the energies and passions of entrepreneurs in their midst.”   Since 2004, Goossen has interviewed over 250 entrepreneurs, compiling massive data on the intersection of Christian faith and entrepreneurship. Probing entrepreneurs in Europe, Africa and North America, the “Entrepreneurial Leader Research Program” (ELRP) is unequaled in its depth and practical conclusions and is based on responses to the “Entrepreneurial Leader Questionnaire” (ELQ).  Note: the extensive 10-page ELQ is included in the appendix to the fifth in a series of books by Goossen, Entrepreneurial Leaders V: Reflections on Faith at Work (click here for a free download of this 132-page book).    Up front, the authors address the big question—is entrepreneurship inborn or can it be taught? They quote Peter Drucker (“Entrepreneurship is neither a science nor an art. It is a practice.”) and balance the sages with the practitioners (It can’t be taught. “You either have it in you or you don’t.”)   They land on five tenants of entrepreneurship:    • Innovation    • Seizing opportunities    • Gaining personal satisfaction through innovation    • Doing risk analysis    • Developing entrepreneurial habits   If you’re a long-time reader of Your Weekly Staff Meeting, perhaps you’ve noted the entrepreneurial theme in previous book reviews and articles such as:  Corporate Entrepreneurship: How to Create a Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit Throughout Your Company (Robert D. Hisrich and Claudine Kearney), Entrepreneurship (Hisrich, Peters and Shepherd), PastorPreneur: Pastors and Entrepreneurs Answer the Call (John Jackson), and my article, “Entrepreneurial Wisdom: 5 Career-Saving Principles for Ministry Entrepreneurs.”    But what does all of this have to do with Christ-followers who are blessed with entrepreneurial leadership gifts? Here’s where Goossen and Stevens deliver a mammoth gift to our theology of work and entrepreneurship. If you’re a Jesus person, your understanding of entrepreneurship will be skewed without their insight. Newly plowed ground includes:    • Why they do not use the term “Christian entrepreneur” and what they mean by the “Christian” work heresy.    • The difference between humanist and Christian models of entrepreneurship.    • In discussing what leaders do, they cite biblical examples of good and bad leaders. (The bad list: King Saul, Diotrephes, and King Solomon. The good list: Nehemiah, Daniel, David, Paul and Jesus.)    • On “Soul & Spirituality” they discuss “the marketplace as a location for spiritual formation” and why “marketplace spirituality” is not an oxymoron.    • On the much debated topic, “Meaning & Work Ethic,” they are provocative with an Old Testament case study in “meaningless work.”     • Why good theology is a foundation for good entrepreneurship.    • On the issues of “Risk and Reward,” taste these tidbits: The Risk-Taking God, Reframing the Pursuit of Rewards, and The Temptations of Reward-Seeking.   Amazingly jam-packed with resource-rich footnotes (almost every page) that support their fresh and concise thinking, every chapter delivers. Example: “Five Understandings of Calling.” One myth:  “Calling is a one-time event.”   In their very practical treatment on “Practicing Entrepreneurial Leadership,” they tackle seven principles including: Knowing to What You Are Called, Engaging in Spiritual Disciplines, and Managing Your Own Ego.  (Good news: “The most quoted verse among Entrepreneurial Leaders is Micah 6:8.”)   In the “Sustaining Entrepreneurial Leadership” chapter, there are seven more principles—all keepers: 1) Sharing Faith Responsibly, 2) Avoiding Hypocrisy, 3) Dealing with Betrayal, 4) Balancing the Serpent and the Dove, 5) Handling Both Financial Rewards and Losses, 6) Giving Effectively, and 7) Managing the Work-Life Tension.   “Along with an entrepreneur’s wallet,” warn the authors, “comes his entrepreneurial spirit.”  And if all the entrepreneur senses is criticism in the use of his or her gifts, this will lead from “disenchantment to disenfranchisement.”   How can you not order a case of these books? Give this book to your entrepreneurial colleagues, pastors and nonprofit leaders who must address this egregious entrepreneur-church gap. It’s a perfect group study book: each chapter includes questions for reflection and discussion, plus a mini Bible study.    The book concludes with a powerful 26-line “Entrepreneurial Commission” so your church or ministry can mark the beginning of a new era: leveraging entrepreneurial gifts out of the spectator-heavy pews and into the world. (“Take wise risks knowing that your gracious God is inviting you so to do…”)   To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for: Entrepreneurial Leadership: Finding Your Calling, Making a Difference, by Richard J. Goossen and R. Paul Stevens.   ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) The authors write that “without some risk there will be no innovation. But successful entrepreneurs are neither risk-averse nor risk-addicted.” Tell us about an entrepreneur who has effectively integrated the Christian faith and entrepreneurship. Was his or her church a cheerleader or naysayer? 2) The authors share a discernment principle that “the will of God is not like a detailed blueprint but more like an empowering vision.” Do you agree? 3) In the chapter on “Finding Your Calling,” the authors note “that there is also not a single instance in the New Testament of a person being called supernaturally to be a religious professional.” What do you think about that? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For more resources, visit the Budget Bucket webpage, including a resource for risk-averse or risk-addicted board members, Who's Minding the Money? An Investment Guide for Nonprofit Board Members, by Robert P. Fry Jr. 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 Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.        JOIN JOHN PEARSON: June 25, 2013 - ECFA WEBINAR: "Results from the 1st Annual Nonprofit Fundraising Survey" with John Pearson and Mark Dillon, Vice President of Advancement and Alumni Relations, Wheaton College, and author of Giving & Getting in the Kingdom.  . ECFA Blog on  “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations”   Add your thoughts to John's latest blog post for boards, "Graveyards and Succession Plans" and check out the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series: No. 1: Recruiting Board Members and No. 2: Balancing Board Roles(DVD and Viewing Guides).

Leadership Briefs - Revised 2nd Edition

  

2015 BOOK-OF-THE-YEAR Issue No. 318 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 21, 2015) spotlights a new leadership book with—trust me—at least a dozen chapters you’ve never read before. I’ve exhausted my inventory of affirming adjectives for this refreshing resource, Leadership Briefs. It’s amazing. [2026 Update! Read the latest edition!]   When Do You Stop Leading? Aw, heck.  Just when you think you can pontificate on all-things leadership, along comes a phenomenal book that hammers your ego. I still have much to learn. Case in point: Ask me how to build a healthy culture on your team—and I can give you three steps and three books.  Ask Dick Daniels the same question and he delivers eight core elements and seven steps. (Where does he get this good stuff? It’s off-the-chart insightful—and packaged brilliantly.) In the new, hot-off-the-press book, Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, Daniels says that “building a healthy culture requires a carefully crafted blueprint.” He starts with four foundational building blocks: vision, mission, values…and one more we often minimize: leadership. Then in less than a page, he outlines the four sides of organizational framing: strategy, structure, staffing, and systems. He notes, “Staffing follows structure. A change in strategy leads to a change in structure which impacts staffing.”  But…there’s more! His seven steps to building culture are short and crisp (three to five lines each), yet comprehensive. The outline:    1. Declare it.    2. Define it.    3. Model it.    4. Defend it.    5. Expect it.    6. Measure it.    7. Reward it. He elaborates: “Culture is evidenced in specific and measurable behaviors. People consistently perform according to what is measured.” That’s Chapter 3 on organizational culture—a feast in just four pages, plus an eye-catching “Leadership Debrief” three-line chapter summary on the fifth page. (Some chapters—with equal punch—are just two pages. My kind of book!) So imagine…40 very short chapters in nine major leadership categories with tempting subtitles:    • CULTURE: Leadership Friendly Places to Work    • FORMATION: Building Leaders from the Outside—In    • CHARACTER: Building Leaders from the Inside—Out    • STRATEGY: The Intuition of Leadership Judgment    • LEADING: The Daily Agenda    • TEAMS: Collaboration and Cross-Functional Alignment    • FOLLOWERS: Engaged and Growing    • COMMUNICATION: Everyone Knows Almost Everything    • ETCETERA: Behind the Scenes Honest.  Scan the table of contents—and you’re hooked. If you’ve got even a hint of leadership in your bones, you can’t resist cancelling your next meeting and digging deeper into these life-long learning leadership briefs.  There are gems in every chapter: • Chapter 9: The Trusted Leader • Chapter 10: Emotionally Smart Leaders • Chapter 11: The Social Graces of Memorable Leaders Yikes! Under six “Graceful Reminders” in Chapter 11 he warns about “the danger of the 15%. Some people can be right 85% of the time. It is a powerful gift. The danger is when they assume they are right 100% of the time. They become relationally dangerous 15% of the time when they are wrong but think they are correct.” How can you not read these chapters?    • Chapter 14: When Leaders Look for the Silver Bullet    • Chapter 18: The Point of Creativity in 31 Leadership Polarities    • Chapter 22: When Do You Stop Leading? In Chapter 22, Daniels cautions, “There is a disruption in leadership continuity when you stop doIng the critical exercises needed for sustainability.” Then his poke-in-the-ribs includes 12 “Don’t Stop” warnings, including: Don’t Stop Learning. Don’t Stop Listening. Don’t Stop Confronting. Don’t Stop Celebrating. Don’t Stop Studying the Competition. Don’t Stop Taking on the Next Challenge.  There’s more!    • Chapter 23: The Delicate Dance of Team Chemistry    • Chapter 25: Counterintuitive Conflict    • Chapter 30: Delegating Developmentally Gimme a break, Dick!  I’ve written a whole chapter on the Delegation Bucket, so how come I just learned a new insight that’s going right into my PowerPoint?  “Leaders have three options: (1) Not delegating, (2) Delegating prematurely, or (3) Delegating developmentally.” And more:    • Chapter 33: The Emotional Flow of Employee Disengagement    • Chapter 35: The Power of Thought-Provoking Questions    • Chapter 38: Formulas for Succession Planning Gut check on employee disengagement: “When the problem is organizational,” says the author, leaders fix it. “When the problem is a team member’s personal baggage, they find a way to help. At last resort, leaders will carefully calculate if it is necessary to release and replace the disengaged. How this transition is handled impacts the attitude and engagement of every other team member who is watching.” ‘Nuff said. Just buy the book. As I wrote in my endorsement, “I could have used this book 30 years ago—and saved myself and my team members from unnecessary leadership pain! Every chapter begs to be discussed and implemented in a weekly staff meeting. The chapter on delegation is worth the price of the book. I've already borrowed his memorable outline: Think, Talk, Act, and Ask. Brilliant!” To order the REVISED 2ND EDITION from Amazon, click on the book title for Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels. BONUS! View the podcast (8 minutes).   Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Dick Daniels peppers his book with stunning insights from leaders, like this from Tom Peters: “Leader’s don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” How effective is our team’s leader-creation plan? 2) BONUS! The 2026 2nd Edition describes six stages for developing and keeping your best talent: 1) Reality Check. 2) Development Game Plan. 3) Focused Learning. 4) Reflect Collaboratively. 5) Intentional Application. 6) Your Change Story. (See the value-added graphic also, "The Culture & Capacity Model.") Charles, You're Fired!   In my cycle through the 20 buckets, here’s a reminder from the Culture Bucket, Chapter 8, in Mastering the Management Buckets. In their book, Winning The Answers—Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today, Jack and Suzy Welch comment on “The Ultimate Values Test.” They warn not to get rid of value offenders with surreptitious excuses such as “Charles left for personal reasons to spend more time with his family.”  Instead, they say, inform your team publicly and “announce that Charles was asked to leave because he didn’t adhere to specific company values.” 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 Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.

Enough

 

Issue No. 690 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 10, 2026) highlights Scott Rodin's new book on holy contentment. It's gut-check time! Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of Beyond Church and Parachurch: From Competition to Missional Extension. And check out these bite-sized book summaries (7- to 9-minute videos)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   Scott Rodin writes, “For most of my adult life I have lived and worked pursuing a goal that is nowhere commanded in Scripture. It’s as if I was reading from the ASV, the Assumed Standard Version of the Bible.” (Graphic: ChatGPT)   Scott Rodin’s Second Conversion Back in 2014, when I reviewed The Choice, by Scott Rodin, Gary Hoag, and Wes Willmer, I began every paragraph with, “Don’t read this book.” I’m tempted to do that again—because Scott Rodin’s very transparent commentary on his own walk with God is stunning, maybe even alarming. If you’re ready—it’s gut-check time. Rodin’s new book, Enough, is already on my Top-10 list for 2026.   Enough:  Finding Deep Contentment in an  Anxious and Fearful World by R. Scott Rodin. (Sept. 1, 2026)   Oh, my. Rodin writes about his “second conversion” and doesn’t hold back. “I mentioned earlier in this book that I am in the first few years of a personal spiritual revival. At sixty-eight years old, that’s a challenging thing to say, but it is so very true. It started about three years ago when Linda and I found ourselves de-churched—not something you plan for or expect when you hit your mid-sixties.” Imagine this: Rodin and his wife are now on an “ecclesiastical journey” that includes a Sunday gathering of 65 to 80 people in a middle school cafeteria. “The unique feature of our worship is that we meet around round tables, and much of the teaching, encouragement, prayer, and insights come from us sharing life experiences together.” (Must-read: “Part 11: Contentment in the Overwhelming Love of God.”) Rodin’s words grabbed me by the throat. And yikes! If Rodin—a former seminary president and author of 17 books—needed a second conversion, what about me? And you? He goes deep on the Enough theme—and there’s no way I can communicate the heart and importance of this book in one review. (Maybe two or three reviews?) So—forgive me for taking the lazy guy’s journey through the book. Here are a dozen or more zingers to whet your appetite—if you’re longing for holy contentment. Enough is Enough. “The root of our discontentment is our unacknowledged suspicion that God may not be enough.”  I Am the Good Shepherd. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I have everything that I need.” #1. “The Desires of the Flesh and the Audacity of Psalm 23.” In the study questions for Part 1, Rodin suggests a next step: “Starting today…commit to writing Psalm 23:1 on the top of every to-do list to remind you of God’s full provision for you before you begin your work for Him.” #2. “One Kingdom Freedom.” The author notes that “Adam and Eve became the original second-kingdom builders.” And thus bondage began. Rodin adds, “As soon as we start to shift from stewards to owners, we will begin to experience bondage. Most often it starts with our stuff. This stuff can be our possessions, but it can also be less tangible, like time. Many of us would confess that God can have everything He wants, as long as He leaves our time alone.” #3. “Defining What is Enough.” Only Rodin could connect the dots between a Zac Brown Band song and Leo Tolstoy. •    “Homegrown” song: “It’s the weight that you carry from the things you think you want. I’ve got everything I need and nothing that I don’t.” •    Tolstoy: “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” (If you’ve never read this short story—read it now or listen to the story here. Hint: the answer involves six feet. Yikes.) #4. “Proclaiming Contentment in a World of Scarcity.” Rodin quotes J.D. Greear, “Most Christians haven’t rejected God; they have just reduced him.” (Note: Don’t skip the “Dayenu” exercise in Part 4’s study questions.) #5. “Living from Well Pleased.” Must-read: what Rodin experienced on “four lanes of asphalt” on I-90 in northern Idaho—that dramatically changed his life. “God spoke to me in the most powerful way that I’ve experienced in my entire Christian walk.”    • Can you relate? “I never for a moment have had the peace in my heart that I could ever produce enough fruit.”    • Read the five words that the Spirit of God spoke to him—causing him to nearly drive off the road. #6. “Success, Time, and Work.” There’s more (no pun intended). “The enemy always wants to convince us that God is a miser, doling out an increasing volume of work to be crammed into the limited time He has granted us. The comment, ‘I just don’t have enough time,’ is an admission that we have bought the lie.”    • LOL, but sadly…our Christian theology of work, says Rodin, often is shaped by country western music! Listen to Dolly Parton, Johnny Paycheck, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Travis Tritt. #7. “Everything About Money Gets Turned on Its Head.” You’ll definitely want to SKIP this chapter about the bondage of money:    • “I joke that if you don’t believe owning and possessing things puts you in bondage, buy a boat!”    • “If we are unable to define what is enough, we can never be truly joyful givers.”    • Also: read the story from his novelette, The Million-Dollar Dime. #8. “The One Thing, God’s Ultimate Priority.” Stop and think about “…the guilt we can carry over our shortcomings as disciples.” Rodin adds, “Behind some of this guilt is a distorted theology of salvation by grace. To use a big theological term, we can give in to a modern-day Pelagianism.” (Read more here.) “What Pelagianism offers fuels our pride, but it also fills us with uncertainty and robs us of peace.” #9. “The Pride of Life and Silencing the Sirens.” Wait…how did Rodin know that the movie, Odyssey, would arrive just when his book was published? He reminds us that “the  most famous encounter with Sirens comes from Homer’s Odyssey, where Odysseus, advised by Circe, orders his men to plug their ears with beeswax.” (Not a bad suggestion for some of us!) Rodin notes: “If we ever thought being envious was a minor sin, we need to think again. God commits 10% of His law to the subject. He spends additional words going into detail, so we don’t miss the point. He ends with the all-inclusive statement, ‘or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’” So Rodin confesses (again) about a gathering at a friend’s lakefront home. “All I can say is, I heard the siren song. It sounded like this: ‘Why can’t we have a cabin on the lake?’” (Read more in Enough about envy and its cousin, resentment.) #10. “The Great Unexamined Presupposition: Growth = Success.” In this chapter, you’ll laugh-out-loud first—and then search your heart. Rodin writes, “For most of my adult life I have lived and worked pursuing a goal that is nowhere commanded in Scripture. It’s as if I was reading from the ASV, the Assumed Standard Version of the Bible.” Some favorite ASV verses:    • On the second of the two great commandments: “’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. And of course, the third commandment is this: Always strive to be successful, do more and more and more for the kingdom, even if it means you can’t do the first two as much as you’d like.”     • “If you abide in My word, and grow your ministry at least 20% each year, you are My disciples indeed.” Oh, my. You must read Rodin's contrarian thoughts about the “famous (infamous) prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10, where Jabez prayed: ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my border…’” THERE'S MORE (pun intended):    • The memorable chart (page 158) contrasting Complacency (idler), Drivenness (owner), and Contentment (steward).    • How two nonprofit board candidates discerned whether or not to serve.    • And this: “Brett and Connie are two nonprofit leaders who just announced goals to grow their ministries by 20%.” (Is that a good thing?)    • The day Rodin shocked a seminar room with this: “If you do not have enough resources today to do what God has called you to do, you never will.” He adds, “Needless to say, I got everyone’s attention.”    • Gut check question: “Have you ever experienced the Holy Spirit calling you to do less, give up some responsibilities, or take a season of rest? If so, did you obey? How did it go? If not, do you think you may have missed His direction in your life?” #11. “Contentment in the Overwhelming Love of God.” Wait…this former seminary president has the guts to write: “It is the first time I’ve ever known true community in a church setting.” Rodin explains—further—what led him to write this powerful book. With lyrics from Rascal Flatts, he reminds us that detours are part of the drill. “…the question I’ve struggled with in writing this book is simply this: ‘Can you find deep contentment driving a detour?’”  #12. “Finding Contentment in the Footsteps of Jesus.” Keep your seatbelt fastened—because there’s even more about enough! Rodin explains, “I used to teach that following Jesus reorders our priorities from self-career-marriage-family-God, to God-marriage-family-career-self. I am coming to see that apprenticing under Jesus means that life has but one priority: intimacy with the triune God.”  He adds, “That is the one thing, and it is enough. When that relationship has preeminence over our entire life, everything else is filled with richness and purpose. It is the fruit promised by Jesus to those who would ‘seek first the kingdom of God’ (Matt. 6:33).” “This may seem like a paradox: we are called to a continuous process of transformation and to be content where we are at the same time. Yet both are essential for our walk with Jesus.” SAFE? Scott Rodin asks if this Psalm 23 way of living is “safe” and quotes from The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. “Perhaps the most accurate words spoken on this subject came from the mouth of a beaver. Lucy Pevensie is learning about Aslan, the great lion that rules Narnia. After hearing him described by Mr. Beaver as a King of the Beasts and the Great Lion, and anyone approaching him will have their knees knocking, Lucy replies, ‘Then he isn’t safe?’ To which Mr. Beaver replies incredulously, ‘Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But He is good. He is the King, I tell you.’” TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Enough: Finding Deep Contentment in an Anxious and Fearful World, by R. Scott Rodin. (And thanks to the author for sending me a review copy.)     View the new series, John Pearson's Buckets Podcast, with AI-generated summaries of John's book reviews (short and snappy: just 7 to 9 minutes each). View the 8-minute podcast summarizing my blog post, “The Miracle Orange.” (An "enough" true story!)   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Define “enough.” Define “holy contentment.” Now read how Scott Rodin defines those two terms in his introduction, “Enough is Enough.” 2) Try this! “I have a Starbucks card for any team member who will take an afternoon off and read one of Scott Rodin’s books.” [   ] Steward Leader Meditations [   ] The Seventh Key  [   ] Development 101  [   ] The Choice [   ] The Million-Dollar Dime [   ] The Third Conversion [   ] The Steward Leader [   ] The Sower  [   ] The Four Gifts of the King [   ] The Seven Deadly Sins of Christian Fundraising - Read more in The Donor Bucket chapter of Mastering the Management Buckets.          SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #58 of 99: Manage Your Day-to-Day For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #58 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. Manage Your Day-to-Day:  Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus,  and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei, Editor (May 21, 2013)   The unique approach for this book is compelling: 20 authors, 20 short chapters, and 20 full-page quotations, like this one from Warren Buffet: “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say 'no' to almost everything.”    • Read my review (Issue No. 285, Sept. 9, 2013)    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #18 of 20: The Systems Bucket. The 20 authors call this a “playbook of best practices—the missing curriculum that you didn't get in school” for making ideas happen. And it over-delivers. Perhaps my strongest recommendation would be this: somewhat of a life-long student of time-management best practices, I have dramatically altered my daily routine (when in my office) as a result of reading this book.    CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN     View the AI-generated summary of “Mistake Number 1: Neglecting the Mistake-Making Literature. I needed more practice and more laps in the mistake pool!” (8 minutes). 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. Manage Your Day-to-Day VIEW the AI-generated video (6.5 minutes) of John’s review of the book, Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind. Read John’s review. BONUS! As of today, 27 video podcasts (7 to 9 minutes each) are posted here. Perfect life-long 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 Podcast   Crime Page-turner! Before summer ends, squeeze this page-turning novel into your weekend reading plans from bestselling authors Trey Gowdy and Christopher Greyson. The Sound of Regret (read my review) has everything you want in a novel, including MMO (motive, means, and opportunity), plus CCC (crime, cops, and courtrooms). I just made that up! Find more book reviews at the Pails in Comparison Blog.