Smart Moves for People in Charge - 130 Checklists

   

Issue No. 227 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 20, 2011) highlights a book of 130 checklists, including 14 ways to facilitate a meeting—and how to infuse them with energy and substance. You’ll also note a way to leverage this book’s wisdom once a week for over two years. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

130 Checklists!

Rats! I wish I had written this week’s book!  It’s very, very good and will probably make my Top-10 list for 2011. It’s got checklists and I’m big on checklists.  (FYI: one of my Top-10 books from last year, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, was just ranked No. 7 on this month’s New York Times’ paperback business bestseller list.)

So when Jim Canning recommended Smart Moves for People in Charge: 130 Checklists to Help You Be a Better Leader, I was immediately hooked—even before the book arrived.  It exceeded my expectations by about 129!

The “checklists” run about three pages each, but each item on the checklist has been expertly honed down to just the big idea, with three to five lines of color commentary. That’s it—the big idea, an insight—and you’re in and out.  Examples:

Checklist No. 48: Nine Guidelines to Make Praise Motivating
   #1. Overcome your reasons for not praising enough (there are three).
   #9. Initiate a team-of-the-month program. “Your company will be one of the very few that elevates work teams in this way.”

Checklist No. 50: Seventeen Inexpensive Ways to Reward Employees
   #12. Taking a member of the support staff on a sales call. “People in support roles may spend their entire careers without meeting those people who ultimately pay their salaries—customers. What this trip will cost is puny compared to the motivation it will purchase.”

Checklist No. 56: Thirteen Tactics for Increasing Teamwork
   #1. Create a teamwork culture. “Rename staff meetings ‘team meetings.’”

Checklist No. 61: Eighteen Tips for Conducting a Selection Interview
   #7. Stay away from hypothetical questions. “Whenever you ask, ‘What would you do if…’ you encourage the candidate to guess at what answer you’re looking for rather than tell the truth.  These are hypothetical questions calling for hypothetical responses. Since you’re not hiring a hypothetical candidate, it’s best to avoid them. Instead ask, ‘When was the last time you encountered…? How did you handle it?’”

Each of the 130 checklists has an average of 10 to 20 big ideas—with easily 1,200 ideas in this 296-page goldmine. The first of nine sections, for example, “Build Your Executive Power,” has more than 150 ideas, plus the short color commentaries and some memorable call-outs. You’re probably familiar with half of the ideas (but maybe not practicing all of them)—but likely 20 percent of the ideas are new gems for you, or certainly many of your team members, including those you’re mentoring.

Each of the nine sections, like Spread the Word, Lead Your Team, Build Your Team, Stay Close to the Customer, and Find Your Balance, conclude with a dozen or more pithy quotations. Example: under “Twelve Quotes Worth Quoting About Teamwork,” the authors include this from former Boston Celtics NBA Coach Red Auerbach, “They said you have to use your five best players, but I found you win with the five that fit together best.”

The call-outs scream-out to be shared immediately! For example:

“A consultant advised one manager to initiate a gripe session with several dissatisfied employees. The manager responded, ‘Are you crazy? All they’ll do is complain!’ To which the consultant retorted, ‘I hope so—that’s just what a gripe session is for.’”

Speaking of consultants, there’s a checklist titled, “Ten Tips for Hiring a Consultant.” The call-out is brilliant! “If you can’t fully identify the problem in advance, consider using one consultant to identify the problem and another to help you solve it. Here’s one reason why. Let’s say you know you’ve got serious morale problems but haven’t figured out why. If you hire a human relations consultant both to pinpoint the cause and to recommend solutions, you’re tempting that consultant to find the problems he knows how to solve.”

Or, as Abraham Maslow said, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything like a nail.”

How can you not buy this book when the checklists are so tempting?
   --13 Ways to Get Employees to Keep You Informed
   --  6 Red Flags of Burnout
   --13 Steps to Delegate Effectively
   --17 Ways to See Your Business Through Your Customers’ Eyes
   --10 Steps to Resolve Customer Complaints
   --  9 Tips for Creating a Succession Plan

   --  8 Ways to Get Great Value From Mentoring
   --  9 Methods to Handle an Insubordinate Manager
   --13 Ways to Make Sure Your Incentives “Incent”
   --18 Management Classics You Should Read
   --15 People to Listen To
   --64 Business Terms to Have on the Tip of Your Tongue
   --  7 Tips for Giving Off-the-Cuff Speeches

[x] Check! Like I said…this is a goldmine!

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Smart Moves for People in Charge: 130 Checklists to Help You Be a Better Leader, by Sam Deep and Lyle Sussman.

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:
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1) Gutsy idea: “From this book’s table of contents, select the 25 leadership behaviors you believe are most essential to your success (e.g. ‘Managing your time effectively’). Give the list to your employees and ask that they identify the three behaviors that you display most consistently and the three you display least consistently. Tabulate the results. Ask humbly for explanations and perhaps examples of feedback you don’t understand. (For even greater impact, ask employees to choose the 25 leadership behaviors they’ll evaluate in you.)”

2) OK…who wants to borrow this book for a week? Your assignment: report back at our next team meeting on just one checklist—and what you learned.  Then inspire another member to do the same for next week. (Note: with 130 checklists, you can keep your team meetings energized for over two years with just one book!)

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Hire Healthy People!
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Culture Bucket, Chapter 8, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to hire for attitude, not aptitude. Other thoughts on culture and core values:

Max DePree: “The corporation can never be something we are not.”

Miles McPherson: "One way to get a healthy culture is to hire healthy people."

For five book recommendations on culture and core values, plus other resources, visit the Culture 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! 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).

Little Bets

   

Issue No. 217 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (May 15, 2011) highlights a page-turner book on innovation and experimentation with dozens of “I didn’t know that” examples from Pixar, Frank Gehry, early-era HP, and many others. I read it on my new Amazon Kindle, but I think I prefer books you can touch, feel and loan out. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

Fail Quickly to Learn Fast

“The writers for the humor publication, the Onion, known for its hilarious headlines, propose roughly six hundred possibilities for eighteen headlines each week,” reports Peter Sims in his fascinating book, Little Bets. That’s just a three percent success rate for headline writers. Yikes. Or maybe not yikes.

Subtitled, “How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries,” we quickly learn—through dozens of mini-case studies—that innovation comes through hard work, experimentation, and bosses who are cheerleaders for failure. (And I would also guess innovation happens with a healthy dose of weekly staff encouragement, motivation and hoopla-type fun.  I mean, what if your best headline ideas were ranked 19th each week?)

Example: Comedian Chris Rock tests, tests and re-tests every joke—and every word—for up to six months (or even a year) at his local comedy club before he takes his hour-long act on the road or on national television.

Example: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has built an “experimental discovery mentality” so that “whether or not employees are doing so is a part of their performance reviews.” (Read more about Amazon.)

The author adds, “Like Chris Rock, Bezos has accepted uncertainty; he knows that he cannot reliably predict which ideas for new markets will work and which won’t. He’s got to experiment. One such example is a feature the company launched that would compare a customer’s entire purchase history with its millions of other customers in order to find the one person with the closest matching history. In one click, Amazon would show you what items that customer purchased.

“‘No one used it,’ Bezos has said. ‘Our history is full of things like that, where we came up with an innovation that we thought was really cool, and the customers didn’t care.’”

It’s all about making a series of little bets—not one humongous bet—just little ones with the hope that just a couple will pay big dividends. “Experimental innovators like Rock, Brin and Page, Bezos, and Beethoven don’t analyze new ideas too much too soon, try to hit narrow targets on unknown horizons, or put their hopes into one big bet. Instead of trying to develop elaborate plans to predict the success of their endeavors, they do things to discover what they should do. They have all attained extraordinary success by making a series of little bets.”

The book surprised me.  I expected cute little success stories like, “Well…I just flipped the spaghetti onto the wall—and it stuck!” Instead, the innovators of little experiments were actually productive creative teams of “rigorous, highly analytical, strategic and pragmatic” people. There are no step-by-step formulas. 

Instead, there is a focus on five fundamentals: 1) Experiment (fail quickly to learn fast); 2) Play (a fun environment never snuffs out or prematurely judges the ideas—the case study on Pixar is amazing); 3) Immerse (get out with customers and learn from the ground up); 4) Reorient (make small wins and necessary pivots); and 5) Iterate (repeat, refine and test frequently).

Caution though: this approach is a 180-plunge from what the profs taught us. He quotes Sir Ken Robinson, “We are educating people out of their creativity.” Plus, most management approaches are all about reducing errors and risk—not giving license to having a good whack at a half-baked idea. Goodness, this is God’s money we’re wasting!

So…is this just one more niche business book—a good read, a few memorable stories—and then back to real-life-in-the-trenches? Hopefully, no.  Leverage the insights of Little Bets in your planning process—with one mega-caveat. “The fact is that much of what we would like to be able to predict is unpredictable.

"Global market movements, political and cultural complexities, and demographic shifts constantly reshape the ground beneath us. This certainty of uncertainty is becoming ever more evident with the accelerating pace of technological change. The Internet has reduced communications barriers and allows new players from different corners of the world to rapidly emerge and compete globally. Thus a key flaw with the top-down, central planning approach is how limited it is in allowing us to be limber and able to discover new ways of doing things.”

Yikes…I’ve exceeded my prudent word limit—but I have another 100 paragraphs or whole pages of Little Bets highlighted you’ll have to discover for yourself. BTW, I read this on my new Amazon Kindle—and love the highlighting and note-making options. Perfect for airplanes; but not as easy to pass around the room during my workshops and board consultations! I’m still undecided about it.

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries, by Peter Sims.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 
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1) Sims quotes from the book, The Fog of War, saying former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (under Kennedy and Johnson) fell prey to the “illusion of rationality.” He says “it happens when ideas or assumptions seem logical in a plan, spreadsheet model, PowerPoint, or memo, yet they haven’t been validated on the ground or in the real world.” Do we have any recent examples of this in our shop?

2) How effective are we at “failing quickly” to learn fast?

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Singing From the Same Songsheet
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Printing (Communications) Bucket, Chapter 19, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to choose a stylebook and stick with it.

I use the Associated Press Stylebook as my bible for abbreviations, capitalizations, style, dates (is it December 10 or Dec. 10?), etc. For example, the AP Stylebook says San Clemente, California (in a sentence) should be abbreviated as “San Clemente, Calif.” not “San Clemente, CA.”  Every stylebook is different, but you must pick one.  In your newsletters, websites and press releases, you’re striving for consistency—so every team member is singing from the same songsheet.  

For more help visit the Printing 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! 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).

Being Generous

  

Issue No. 166 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 4, 2009) highlights a remarkable hot-off-the-press new book to spark generosity in your own life. It’s also the perfect Christmas gift for donors and colleagues. And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.

Bon Appetit!

The author of Being Generous shares a transparent axiom at the beginning of his 139-page panoramic and profound sweep of global generosity. He confesses, “I had to practice religious disciplines in order to become more generous. This is something I still must work at constantly, for ultimately the business of giving is unfinished business.”

The good news: this is a no-brainer gift book for every person who wants to be a God-honoring and generous giver.  The bad news: just when you thought you understood generosity and believed yet-one-more-book is certainly not needed on the subject, Theodore Roosevelt Malloch serves up a sumptuous feast.  In 139 pages, no less!

You may be tempted to sample the dessert first: 27 one-page profiles of generous givers from the Pew Family to the Maclellan Family.  From George Cadbury to William Wilberforce. From Bach and Mendelssohn to J.C. Penney, John Walton and Eli Lilly.  Then there’s Joan Kroc, Mother Teresa, Oprah Winfrey, Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett and C.S. Lewis.  The profiles will enlighten and, often, surprise you. 

Malloch writes, “The story is told that when a friend heard that Lewis had given money to a beggar in Oxford, the friend remarked that he shouldn’t have done so because the beggar would only spend the money on alcoholic drink. Lewis replied, ‘If I kept the money, I would only have spent it on drink!’”

But the profiles are just the dessert.  The meat and potatoes (10 short chapters) offer remarkable and synergistic insights.  Malloch delivers a smorgasbord of generosity research and commentary: historical, political (why socialism inhibits generosity), religious (all the major religions promote generosity), theological, physiological (our brains are hardwired to give), societal, scientific and cultural.  You’re quickly convinced. You must embrace generosity as a virtue—and help others to do the same.

Being Generous is profound—yet very, very readable. It’s not yesterday’s leftovers—it’s new thinking pulled from the widest array of knowledge—served up with inspiring side dishes that motivate and are generously seasoned with wisdom.

Malloch suggests we give greater priority to a balanced diet of time, talent and treasure (not just treasure) when practicing the virtue of generosity.  He proposes a “Generosity Index” that would chart two items along an axis:
   • How you use your time (your date book)
   • How you use your money (your check book)

“By calculating these two points along a graph,” he adds, “you could see where you are in terms of generosity. You could tell if you are living a generous life and if any axis is falling short. You could compare yourself with others and against yourself over time, year-to-year, decade-to-decade.”  He’s on to something.

If you’re a pastor, or a CEO or development officer of a nonprofit, this is a no-brainer Christmas gift for yourself and for your Top-100 donors. If you’re just hungry to be a more generous person, bon appetit! 

To order this book from Amazon, click on the title for Being Generous, by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch.

Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 
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1) How much should we keep for ourselves—and how much should we give?  C.S. Lewis said, “I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.” Do you agree?

2) The author describes an entrepreneur who started his company one year and then a company foundation by the second year. He said, “I believe you start giving when you have nothing. Then, when you become successful, it’s a habit from the heart.” What giving habits have you formed in your own life and in the lives of the children in your circle of influence?

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Extravagance & Exuberance
Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit

One of the big ideas in the Donor Bucket, Chapter 11, in Mastering the Management Buckets is is that generosity should be marked by extravagance and exuberance.

In 1 Chronicles 29 (The Message), King David addressed the nation and announced he was giving his personal fortune of gold and silver for the temple project. He challenged the people: “And now, how about you? Who among you is ready and willing to join in the giving?” (v. 7).

The leaders and the people then gave extravagantly! According to verses 6 through 8, the fundraising campaign contributions totaled 188 tons of gold, 377 tons of silver, 679 tons of bronze and 3,775 tons of iron, plus precious jewels! (Note for the file: God is not short of money.) The Scriptures record the people’s response in verse 9: “And the people were full of a sense of celebration—all that giving! And all given willingly, freely! King David was exuberant.”

For more books, insights and resources, visit the Donor Bucket webpage at the Management Buckets website.

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).

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: 
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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.
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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).