Turning the Flywheel

 

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

Knight of the Holy Ghost - G. K. Chesterton

 

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

Postcards from PopPop - Life Lessons

 

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

Lessons From the Church Boardroom

 

Issue No. 402 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 20, 2019) is a tad self-promotional, but only 50 percent (learn why). Read the new book, Lessons From the Church Boardroom, by Dan Busby and yours truly.  And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here for my 2018 Book-of-the-Year and my Top-10 books of 2018.   Church Boardroom Bloopers! News Flash! There’s way too much confusion in the trenches on the appropriate roles and responsibilities of church board members.    • New church board members are often overwhelmed. (“No one told me!”)    • Veteran board members have turned micro-managing into an art form.    • Senior pastors often use the mushroom management approach (Google it!).    • Senior staffers plead for more face time with the church board, then with missionary zeal, often convert board meetings into staff meetings. STOP THE MADNESS! Here’s one solution to these and many other obstacles to God-honoring governance: Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. When ECFA President Dan Busby (1941-2022) invited me to co-author a series of governance books with him, I jumped at the opportunity. We’re both passionate about good governance so we wrote 40 very short chapters in 10 irresistible categories: Part 1: The Powerful Impact of Highly Engaged Boards • Would you trust a surgeon who stopped learning? How about a church board member who stopped learning? (Lesson 1) • What’s the “Gold Standard Question” to ask after every board meeting? (Lesson 2) • Andrew Murray: “Humility is the only soil in which the graces take root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure.” (Lesson 3: Guarding Your Pastor’s Soul—a must-read chapter) Part 2: Boardroom Tools and Templates • “A BPM (board policies manual) will help your church board negotiate an emergency leadership transition, frame the strategic planning process, and give direction and boundaries in dozens of other important policy issues.” (Lesson 5) • True or False: Our church board is crystal clear on the role of the board versus the role of the staff. (Use Lesson 7’s one-page Prime Responsibility Chart to eliminate fuzziness between board and staff roles.) Part 3: Nominees for the Church Board Member Hall of Fame • Yikes! “Pastor Carlos said he didn’t have the spiritual gift of church board meetings!” (Lesson 8: Thrive With Four Kingdom Values) • Attn: All Pastors! “Don’t ask board members to vote against God!” (Lesson 9) Part 4: Epiphanies in the Boardroom • To inspire your board to go deeper into spiritual discernment, “…consider how St. Ignatius identified three distinct times when faced with making Spirit-filled choices.” (See Lesson 11 to learn more about a revelatory time, a discerning time, and a waiting time.) • “It is only with the help of the Lord—and often the Lord uses fresh faces on the board—that a church will begin the important process of governance improvement. God can move mountains, so you can also trust Him to move pendulums!” (Lesson 13: Caution! Understand the Governance Pendulum Principle) Part 5: Boardroom Bloopers • On listening: “Leave space for anyone who may want to speak a first time before speaking a second time.” (Just one of 10 pokes-in-the-ribs on effective boardroom listening from Ruth Haley Barton in Lesson 15.) Part 6: Boardroom Time-Wasters, Trouble-Makers, and Truth Tellers • “Without adequate advance preparation to fully address an issue, boards tend to function as a committee of the whole, often resorting to painfully circuitous discussion.” (See Lesson 18, “Never Throw Red Meat on the Board Table.”) Part 7: Boardroom Best Practices • How do you address Absentee Board Member Syndrome?        --Option 1: Ho Hum.        --Option 2: Hint.       --Option 3: Harass. (Read Lesson 25 for seven insights, including “Affirm. Affirm. Affirm. When board colleagues affirm each other, then engagement will heighten and board service satisfaction will soar.”) Part 8: Boardroom Worst Practices • Read “Where Two or Three Are Gathered on Social Media…” to learn why conflicts of interest always sound more questionable on the internet and social media. (Lesson 28) Part 9: Building a 24/7 Board Culture • Honest! Lesson 36 begins with Billy Crystal’s stunning performance, “15 Rounds”—honoring boxing great Muhammad Ali—in front of 20,000 of Ali’s “closest friends” in 1979. Watch it here on YouTube. Learn why the “goal of every board should be continuous improvement to make the board better than it was before.” Part 10: Boards That Lead • “As we’ve observed in hundreds of churches over the years, the numbers reveal the reality. Successfully achieving stretch goals is very uncommon, and thus reaching for the moon (and beyond!) should generally be avoided.” (Lesson 39: Don’t Stretch Credulity with BHAGs and Stretch Goals) RESOURCES: [  ] 40 BLOGS. 40 WEDNESDAYS. Dan Busby and the ECFA team are featuring 40 guest bloggers with their color commentaries to all 40 lessons. Click here for Lessons From the Church Boardroom—The Blog. (Subscribe on the blog to receive a new lesson every Wednesday.) [  ] READ the first chapter online, “Lesson 1 – Wanted: Lifelong Learners,” visit the ECFA Knowledge Center here. [  ] GUESS! And by the way, Dan wrote about half the lessons and I wrote the other half. I’ll send a Starbucks gift card (or a Chick-fil-A gift card) to the first reader who correctly guesses which lessons I wrote. (Hint: Dan’s are better!) Email me. [  ] VISIT the book’s website here for more resources.   [  ] ORDER from Amazon, click on the title for Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. [  ] BULK ORDERS: For special pricing on multiple copies for your church board and senior team, visit ECFAPress here. Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Lesson 29 asks, “Are too many staff causing the boardroom to capsize?” Is there a “right number” of board members versus staff in your board meetings? Read “Keeping the Boardroom Afloat.” 2) Lesson 30 gives seven ways to avoid a financial train wreck in your church. A graphic, “The Transparency Continuum,” urges boards to discern what “appropriate transparency” looks like—a delicate balance between two extremes: no transparency and absolute transparency (neither appropriate). Where is your board on the continuum? Eliminate Fuzziness Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook  True or False? Our church board is crystal clear on the role of the board versus the role of the staff.  If not clear, visit the Operations Buckets webpage and download the Prime Responsibility Chart template—and then customize it to eliminate fuzziness between board and staff roles. (It’s also a helpful one-pager for any project where the approval process is a tad fuzzy.) For more resources from the workbook, visit “The Operations Bucket” webpage here. JASON AND JOHN PEARSON quote Zig Ziglar in the intro to the Operations Bucket chapter of Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.” So if it’s been a very long time since you’ve coached and mentored your team in the Operations Bucket, here’s a reminder that last year’s coaching wasn’t enough. Click on the graphic below to order the workbook from Amazon.                JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Delegate your reading—and ask a team member to read Duct Tape Marketing, the classic from John Jantsch. Jump to page 32 and craft your “Talking Logo.” Then align that with the innovative ideas from Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).  JUST PUBLISHED! Lessons From the Church Boardroom: 40 Insights for Exceptional Governance, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, is now available on Amazon. Read the short posts by 40 guest bloggers here.  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here. New book reviews will also be archived at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. Or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. ASK BOARD NOMINEES THIS... Visit the ECFA Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations blog to learn why board members must "voluntarily inconvenience themselves." (Yikes!) And read more insights from The Council, by Hoag, Willmer, and Henson. Click here. MORE RESOURCES: • BLOG: Pails in Comparison • SUBSCRIBE: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews • JOHN'S BOOK REVIEWS: on Amazon  •WEBSITE: Management Buckets • BLOG: Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations