The Cure

   

Issue No. 238 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 23, 2011) highlights a hot-off-the-press book from the authors of TrueFaced and Bo’s Café. It’s a powerful book to share with your staff in 2012.  Merry Christmas! And this reminder: check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings. The Cure authors say there are two options: "Pleasing God" or "Trusting God." Read why entering "The Room of Good Intentions" may not work for you. (Graphic: ChatGPT)   The Room of Good Intentions Ruth Haley Barton says that “the best thing you bring to leadership is your own transforming self.” But…what if you or the people you work with are stuck, plateaued or going south in their walk with God?  What if you can smell the dysfunction, but can’t quite label it? What if working harder and smarter still doesn’t cut it? What if sin (big sins and little sins—prioritized within your precise theology) is the perpetual obstacle to personal health and corporate health? What if (and here’s the kicker)…God isn’t who you think He is and neither are you? As you reflect on your own spiritual journey—and the spiritual journey of your colleagues, your boss, your board members, your volunteers, your spouse and/or family members—sometimes defining reality is the first big step. Trust me—this hot-off-the-press book defines reality, perhaps like no book you have ever read. The Cure gently describes (in story and commentary) two profound fork-in-the-road choices. One fork: a “Pleasing God” sign points me to a giant building labeled “Striving Hard to Be All God Wants Me to Be.” The door has a title, “Self-Effort.” Inside, I’m drawn to the Room of Good Intentions. It’s downhill from there as the co-authors invite us into the richness of the story—and the futility of this choice. The wicked hoax, as John Lynch, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall describe it, is the hopeless equation: “More Right Behavior + Less Wrong Behavior = Godliness.” (Not!) The clarity of the Good News jumps off the pages in all seven fork-in-the-road chapters: Two Roads, Two Faces, Two Gods, Two Solutions, Two Healings, Two Friends, and Two Destinies. Down the other path, gratefully, is the Room of Grace. They write: “You’re in the Room of Grace! Grace! That word appears 122 times in the New Testament. The Judaizers in the Apostle Paul’s day hated it. They feared what it would do if it got loose. ‘Paul, you can’t tell them this!’ they said. ‘These people are immature, lazy and have little religious background. They’ll abuse as soon as they can. They’ll live Christianity-lite. These people are weak and want to do whatever they want. And believe me, what they want is not good.’” We’ve been suspicious of cheap grace all our lives—so many of us hustle back to the Room of Good Intentions where we’re more comfortable with a book of rules, disciplined striving and serious sin management.  Eventually though, some of us—because of Jesus—strip off our masks. “No one told me that when I wear a mask, only my mask receives love.” Wow. Using themes from their other books, TrueFaced and Bo’s Café, these amazing friends and humble leaders have given us a precious gift—a roadmap to grace.  "The Two Healings" chapter oozes with fresh insight and descriptive markers. “If you haven’t been here yet, you will. You’ll be wronged, hurt, then feel left for dead in an environment promoting just the opposite. It’s a dangerous moment, because it causes us to wonder whether a place of safety, authenticity, grace, and love is actually possible this side of heaven. It’s here that many of us make the choice to return to our self-preserving ways.” Reflect on a recent relational conflict and maybe you will identify with this: “Suddenly, in a fight you never wanted, you discover you’re not only the victim but the issue.” Then notice how the 11 escalating responses (what…not 10?) are uncomfortably too familiar. Example: “You become intent on telling ‘your side of things’ to as many as possible.” (How did they hack my emails? Yikes.) Some readers trust me way too much when I pontificate, “Read this book!” One size (one book) doesn’t fit all.  Except this one. This one is waaaaay different and way too important. You must read this book—and share it widely. To order from Amazon, click on the title for The Cure: What If God Isn’t Who You Think He Is and Neither Are You, by John Lynch, Bruce McNicol and Bill Thrall. [2026 Update!] The Cure is Book #85 of 100 of MASTERING 100 MUST-READ BOOKS: Brief Book Reviews on Leadership, Management, Governance, and Life, by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. (Visit the webpage.)   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) The Cure’s fictional character complains, “Soon, I was back to trying to impress a God I imagined was growing more and more impatient with me.” Can you relate? 2) The authors write, “Believers in Christ additionally are tempted to wear a mask when we think we’re in competition with others, graded on a spiritual curve.” Do you have colleagues, or family members, who grade themselves?      Eliminate the Fog Factor! Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in the Printing Bucket (aka the Communication Bucket), Chapter 19, in Mastering the Management Buckets is to combat the fog factor in your written materials. Does your audience understand what you’ve written? There is an objective way to measure the fog factor. Run your newsletter—or a story on your website—through the “Readability Statistics” in your spellcheck software. For example, the Flesch-Kincaid grade level for this eNews issue is 7.1.  And the Flesch reading level is 67.9 on a scale of 100. What are your fog factor scores? For more resources, visit the Printing Bucket webpage.   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      NOTICE! As of Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite. 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 • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast

Trust

 

Issue No. 323 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (April 14, 2015) highlights a new book, Trust, by Dan Busby. He quotes what Winston Churchill said of Stanley Baldwin: “He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened.”   The Low-Trust Penalty  Dan Busby knows a thing or two about high-trust organizations. Ditto low-trust nonprofits. In low-trust organizations, Busby warns, you’ll see:    • Internal dissension. “Without trust, the office dissension machine runs at full speed—and divides a ministry against itself.”    • Disengagement.  Staff work in silos and “they shift from joyful service to turf protection.”    • Turnover. “When trust is low, turnover is disproportionately high—ministries lose the people they least want to lose.”    • Fraud. “Low trust encourages a small theft; if they don’t get caught, they may take it to the next level.” Trust me. In the first 10 pages of Busby’s hot-off-the-press book, Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness, you’re hooked—and convicted. “The largest penalty paid by Christ-centered ministries is the ‘low-trust’ penalty.” But dozens of authors (hundreds, maybe) have harangued leaders to build high-trust organizations. They are insightful and helpful—books like The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M.R. Covey, and The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni (see his five-level pyramid with “trust” as the foundation). So what’s the big deal about another “trust” book? This one, with chapter and verse, delivers a blueprint for building a biblical high-trust organization. This one, with page-turning insights, builds the case with a biblical framework (that’s worth repeating—a biblical framework) and practical, practical examples of the foundational building blocks of high trust cultures.  This one is not formulaic or flaky—it’s formative. Examples:    • Why is trust so important? Read three stunning stories from givers.    • On “The Tone of Trust,” there are eight teamwork examples from the Old and New Testaments, noting that trust starts at the top. (Raise your hand if you’ve ever given a team-building talk using Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from Daniel 3.)    • “We ignore perceptions at our peril,” notes the author, so his short chapter on “Perceptions” includes “Ten Major Issues Can Lead to Misperceptions.” (The list: compensation, fringe benefits, intellectual properties, family members paid by the ministry, related-party transactions, and five more.) Elaborating on perceptions, Busby quotes Wayne Dyer: “Your reputation is in the hands of others. That’s what reputation is. You can’t control that. The only thing you can control is your character.” The quotations, by the way, are numerous and memorable—over 100 for your PowerPoints, speaking notes, coffee break conversations, and tweets: “Our problem as leaders is we do everything we know to do.   That’s not enough.   We need to do everything God wants us to do.”   (Richard Blackaby)   •    “A Christ-centered ministry that lacks trust is like a teenager running through a fireworks factory with a lit blowtorch.  It isn’t whether something is going to blow up—it’s just a matter of when.”  (Busby) •    “Leadership is an achievement of trust.”  (Peter F. Drucker) •    “Trust is the starting point for all healthy relationships, the fuel for team ministry, and the cornerstone of group effectiveness.” (Stephen Macchia) •    “Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together.” (Warren G. Bennis) •    “The perception of a conflict of interest can be just as damaging to a ministry’s reputation as an actual conflict.”  (Busby) In 21 short chapters, Busby enriches our understanding of trust in four major areas—with a simple, but powerful premise: “Christ-centered ministries with Trusted Governance, Trusted Resource-raising, and Trusted Resource Management experience elevated Kingdom outcomes.”     As the president of ECFA (Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability), Busby inspires over 1,900 Christian ministries to meet ECFA’s exceedingly high “Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship™”—not once, but every day. It’s not a one-and-done accreditation—annual renewals and documentation are required. And get this: ECFA is the nonprofit sector’s only pass/fail approach to accountability and accreditation. Building the case for third party accreditation of ministries and churches in the chapter on “Verifiable Accountability,” we read this:  “A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody,” wrote Thomas Paine, “ought not to be trusted by anybody.” And speaking of firm foundations, the book notes Michael Armstrong’s visual metaphor: “The ancient Romans had a tradition.  Whenever one of their engineers constructed an arch, as the capstone was hoisted into place, the engineer assumed accountability for his work in the most profound way possible; he stood under the arch.”   Busby (who aspired to be a baseball umpire and has umpired hundreds of games, including at the college level) has great insights on rule-keeping, yet his chapter on “Risk Navigation” gives grace! • “If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor.” (Neil Simon) • “People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.  People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year.”  (Peter F. Drucker) Trust me. This book is jam-packed with biblical wisdom (not proof-texted) and in-the-trenches experience by a stellar Christian leader who has been named by the Nonprofit Times as one of the 50 Most Powerful Nonprofit Leaders in each of the last five years. You’ll appreciate the substance and the heart—our motivation for high-trust cultures is to elevate Kingdom outcomes. I must add these teasers before I close:    • Six descriptors of Selfless Leaders versus six labels for Selfish Leaders (page 57)    • Ten traits of courageous leaders and why courage is a building block of trust (page 70)    • Ten bullet points on obstacles to boardroom harmony (“when problem-makers outnumber problem-solvers”)    • Five myths about nonprofit finances (“Myth #2. Ministries should always balance revenue and expenses.”)    • Worth-the-price-of-the-book: “A Board Prayer” (pages 86-89). Note: One of my CEO friends has inspired his board to pray this prayer at the beginning of every board meeting. The book includes a short study guide with “9 Ideas for Inspiring Your Board and Staff to Build Trust Into Your Ministry’s DNA.” The fourth idea: “Share the Trust book with one of your stakeholders (not an ‘insider’). Recruit a donor or a key volunteer to read the book—and then meet with your board and/or senior team and share his or her thoughts.” Still not convinced? John Whitney, a prof at Columbia Business School, says that “mistrust doubles the cost of doing business.” Busby reasons in his chapter on “Minimizing Fraud” that a high-trust focus will save you money. “Fraud is a persistent risk that doesn’t discriminate by size or type of organization.  Fraud is an equal-opportunity problem.” This is must-reading. To order from Amazon, click on this title: Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness. Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Max De Pree: “When things go awry, trust powers the generators until the problem is fixed.” Does your team have adequate trust to fix big problems? #2. Dan Busby: “Verifiable accountability is not a suggestion, it is the principle Jesus taught the disciples—and us!” If our nonprofit ministry or church is not an accredited member of ECFA—why not? NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite. We Scrutinize Our Donor Methodologies    As we cycle through the 20 buckets, here is the core competency in The Donor Bucket, Chapter 11, in Mastering the Management Buckets. “We believe that extravagant generosity is the biblical norm, not the exception. We challenge donors to give liberally to kingdom causes. We urge prayerful giving to God’s work, not for tax benefits nor budget needs. We scrutinize our methodologies not against what works, but against God-honoring principles.”  Note: Chapter 17, “Honoring Giver Intent,” in Trust: The Firm Foundation for Kingdom Fruitfulness, by Dan Busby, includes “The Five Commandments of Giver Intent,” along with six pitfalls. Busby writes, “How a ministry fulfills a giver’s intent regarding specified gifts sends a strong message about whether a ministry can be trusted.” For more resources and ideas on building trust with givers, visit The Donor Bucket webpage. MORE STUFF! • 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 • PODCAST: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast  ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations” – Add your thoughts and comments to John Pearson’s latest blog, "There's an Elephant in the Room--But Let's Just Keep the Peace."

Spiritual Leadership

  

Issue No. 153 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Aug. 26, 2009) features a spiritual leadership classic.  At your next staff meeting, ask a team member to read and review it for a future meeting. Why? "Read to re-fill the wells of inspiration," wrote Harold J. Ockenga, who took a suitcase full of books on his honeymoon. (Yikes!)  And this reminder, check out my Management Buckets website with dozens of resources and downloadable worksheets for your staff meetings.      My buckets-leaning heart was blessed to know that Oswald Sanders         included a chapter on "The Art of Delegation" in this masterpiece on        spiritual leadership.  (Graphic: ChatGPT)   Enmeshed in a Morass of Secondary Detail "There is no virtue in doing more than our fair share of work," writes J. Oswald Sanders in his oft-quoted classic, Spiritual Leadership. Referencing the delegation counsel from Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, Sanders adds, "Moses could doubtless have done the task better than the 70 men whom he selected, but had he persisted in doing so, he would soon have been only a memory." My buckets-leaning heart was blessed to know that Oswald Sanders included a chapter on "The Art of Delegation" in this masterpiece on spiritual leadership.  (See the Delegation Bucket chapter in Mastering the Management Buckets.) So what's the spiritual issue at play in effective delegation? "It is a mistake to assume more duties than we can adequately and satisfactorily discharge," Sanders warns. "It is good to be able to recognize and accept our own limitations." Leaders who have spiritual depth have delegation depth also. Sanders cautions us that the person who is "in a place of leadership who fails to delegate is enmeshed in a morass of secondary detail that not only overburdens him but deflects him from his primary responsibilities." He adds, "The leader who is meticulous in observing priorities adds immeasurably to his own effectiveness." The 22 chapters have something for every leader, including: Can You Become a Leader? The Cost of Leadership, The Perils of Leadership, Replacing Leaders (good stuff!), and Reproducing Leaders. Published in 1967, Spiritual Leadership has sold more than 500,000 copies [as of 2009] and shows no signs of slowing down. When I checked its sales ranking on Amazon this week, it had a #2 ranking in one of the bestselling lists. That's amazing! If you have never read this classic, or it's been some time since you've feasted on the author's wisdom, then read it again. Or, delegate your reading to a team member who will appreciate a leadership book that soars above the trendy stuff.  TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer, by J. Oswald Sanders.     YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Why do you think Oswald Sanders included "The Art of Delegation" as one of 22 chapters in his book on spiritual leadership? 2) In groups of three, make a quick list of the other 21 chapters you might include in a book on "spiritual leadership" that will sell at least 500,000 copies and will still be valued 42 years from now!      Diminishing Returns:  Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit One of the big ideas in the Systems Bucket, Chapter 18, in Mastering the Management Buckets, is to understand the Law of Diminishing Returns. This law fits in many buckets, but it’s a frequent sin in the Systems Bucket. Ken Behr, former president of ECFA, cautions leaders and managers to evaluate growth and decline cycles so they know when it’s time to pull the plug on a program, product or service. For example, if you invest $5,000 to increase your customer base by 10 percent, should you invest another $5,000 or will you have diminishing returns? If two staff members are overloaded, does adding a third person make economic and organizational sense? Use systems thinking, Behr preaches, to analyze the Law of Diminishing Returns. Are you looking for a unique add-water-and-stir resource that is amazingly simple, yet profound? FYI: For Your Improvement: A Guide for Development and Coaching offers a systems approach to coaching your people.   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      NOTICE! As of Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite. 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 • John Pearson's Buckets Podcast

It’s the Manager

 

Issue No. 441 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (July 2, 2020) suggests you invest 15 minutes every Monday morning—for 52 weeks—to read 52 mini-chapters of a culture-changing book. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and click here to read my review of the brilliant coaching book, The Advice Trap.   The One Single Lever to Create Change—It’s the Manager “Setting aside just 15 minutes a day will enable you to read up to two dozen books in a year. Keep it up and you will have read 1,000 books in your lifetime. That’s the equivalent of going through college five times.”  (Books Are Tremendous) Here’s a crazy idea (whether you’re back at the office or still in your bunker): every Monday morning, before you look at your email—invest 15 minutes in reading.  Option #1: I’m not asking you to do this every day—just every Monday. So here is a “Thank God It’s Monday” book with 52 mini-chapters.  Option #2: Or, delegate your reading and ask team members (on a rotation basis) to give a five-minute chapter summary of this book at your weekly staff meeting.   52 MINI-CHAPTERS FOR MONDAY MORNINGS OR YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING It's the Manager: Gallup Finds the Quality of Managers and Team Leaders Is the Single Biggest Factor in Your Organization's Long-Term Success by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter  Don’t allow the mini-chapters (four pages or less each) to delude you into thinking this is light-weight content. The 52 short chapters are readable, to-the-point, and packed with promise for thoughtful implementers. Starting next Monday, what if…you invested 15 minutes to read and think about Chapter 1, “What Exactly Should CEOs and CHROs Change?” Even if you’re not the CEO or the Chief HR Officer, you will learn (and remember) the six changes recommended by Gallup, including #3, “Millennials and Generation Z don’t want bosses—they want coaches.” Sneak peek: it’s time to retire the old-style boss who leads by command and control. With your 15-minutes-every-Monday discipline, look at what awaits you for the next 52 weeks:    2) Why Organizational Change Is So Hard    3) Two Non-Negotiable Traits for Leaders    10) Hiring Star Employees    21) The Five Coaching Conversations    25) Make “My Development” the Reason Employees Stay    30) The Five Traits of Great Managers    47) Gig Work: The New Employer-Employee Relationship Based on roundtable interviews with CHROs from 300 of the world’s largest organizations, the content covers Strategy, Culture, Employment Brand, Boss to Coach, and the Future of Work.  The robust appendix (pages 189-378) includes major sections on: “Leading With Your Strengths: A Guide to the 34 Clifton Strengths Themes,” (including one unique code to take the online assessment), “Q12: The 12 Elements of Great Management,” and “The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes,” plus more.  “The Future of Work” section, Chapters 32 to 41, addresses diversity and inclusion topics—and the critical “lever” of the manager, a discussion of the gender gap, women in the workplace (work-life flexibility, etc.) and for us old guys, “Are Boomers a Burden?” Breaking News: “74% of Americans plan to work past age 65.” You have my permission to start with Chapter 26, “Moneyball for Workplaces: 12 Elements of Team Success.” Here are three:    • I know what is expected of me at work.    • In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.    • There is someone at work who encourages my development. Why this book? Gallup’s extensive research (extensive!) has concluded this: “Of all the codes Gallup has been asked to crack dating back 80 years to our founder, George Gallup, the single most profound, distinct and clarifying finding—ever—is probably this one: 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.” They add, “Usually, there isn’t a single lever to create change. In this case, there is: It’s the manager.” To order from Amazon, click on the title for It's the Manager: Gallup Finds the Quality of Managers and Team Leaders Is the Single Biggest Factor in Your Organization's Long-Term Success, by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter.  YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Positive responses to the statement, “At work, my opinions seem to count,” is one of the 12 elements of team success in It’s the Manager. How would each of your direct reports answer that question on a scale of one to five (5 = strongly agree)? 2) According to Gallup, “about one in four full-time and one in two part-time workers have a gig job.” If that were true of our employees—is that a good thing or not? And, is this “Uber economy” going to grow or decline—and how will that affect our team?  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this webpage. 30 Books to Delegate During This Crisis...And the Next Crisis  Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook  The core competency in the Book Bucket affirms: “We mentor team members with thoughtfully selected titles and chapters to help them leverage their strengths, grow in their faith, and serve others with passion. We don’t just talk about books—we actually read them!” During this COVID-19 marathon, I curated a list of “30 Books to Delegate During This Crisis...And the Next Crisis.” You’ll find them on LinkedIn and Twitter and this week I compiled them into one master list. Click here to download from the Book Bucket. The nominees include some obvious gems, including The Checklist Manifesto and How the Mighty Fall, plus a few unexpected picks, such as The Boys in the Boat and Leadership Prayers.  According to Murphy’s Law Book Three: Wrong Reasons Why Things Go More!, by Arthur Bloch, here are the things that can be counted on in a crisis:    • Marketing says yes.    • Finance says no.    • Legal has to review it.    • [HR] is concerned.    • Planning is frantic.    • Engineering is above it all.    • Manufacturing wants more floor space.    • Top management wants someone responsible. During this—and your next—crisis, are you relying on the limited experience of your in-house team, or are you going deep in your reading? Read and learn how others have weathered the complexities of the convoluted crises in past years and generations. For more resources, the 30 books, and other lists, visit the Book Bucket.                    JASON PEARSON: UNEXPECTED CREATIVE. Should your communication and marketing teams rely on more or less gig workers? Are there policies in place governing outside work performed by your full-time team members? Talk with someone who has seen it all (the good, the bad, and the ugly!). Contact  Jason Pearson at Pearpod Media (branding, digital, print, and video).  MORE STUFF! • 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 • PODCAST: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast  MORE LESSONS: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! Click here to order More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Click here to follow the new blog with 40 guest bloggers. 14 Boardroom Questions Click here to follow John's series on Ram Charan's 14 questions for board members. Follow the ECFA governance blog for Question 10, "How Do We Get the Most Value Out of Our Limited Time?"

Breakthrough

 

Issue No. 319 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 13, 2015) suggests that nonprofit leaders present “the good, the bad, and even the ugly” when inspiring donors to fund a big dream. Read about Randy Samelson’s six-step plan, courtesy of King David.    Log Jams and Planning In his new book on planning, Randy Samelson quotes military planner Helmuth Von Motke who said, “No plan survives contact with the enemy.” If you’ve ever endured a strategic planning process, you might add:    • No plan survives…contact with the board of directors.    • No plan survives…a major donor’s pet project.    • No plan survives…a wordsmith’s 17th revision of the mission statement.    • No plan survives…a simple request, “How can we make this better?” There’s help! Breakthrough: Unleashing the Power of a Proven Plan is simply that—a breakthrough for leaders! Brilliant and biblical, this six-step planning model is concise, yet comprehensive.  Every chapter is filled with the holy—and the practical (very practical). The wisdom and insights are PowerPoint-worthy, but delivered with humility and life-in-the-trenches experience.   Samelson says that “most dreams get stuck along the way to becoming reality.  ‘Stuck’ is where dreams go to die.” To get unstuck, he asks leaders to discover a 3,000-year-old template “to help you break through the barriers that will inevitably confront you.” Founder of Counsel & Capital, a nonprofit that “invigorates Christian ministries and donors by advocating biblically-based principles of governance and giving,” Samelson has inspired hundreds of nonprofit leaders by helping them merge a credible plan with a credible ask. He believes a credible plan includes three elements: 1. It is written. 2. It is measurable. 3. It is responsive to the unexpected. Serving both nonprofit ministries and givers to nonprofits, Counsel & Capital helps people identify key opportunities or obstacles. They focus on the “Key Log.”  Borrowing the perfect metaphor from Fred Smith, Sr., the author explains: “…in the lumber industry when trees are cut and floated down rivers, they are susceptible to log jams. Over time, the industry learned that through satellite images and computer modeling, they could identify the one key log that if blown-up would release the log jam allowing the logs to move toward their destination.” “Individuals and organizations also experience the equivalent of ‘log jams.’ Progress is stopped.” Samelson says “there are biblical principles that can be used to identify the key impediment and wise strategies to eliminate it.”  So grab your pen (or request help online)—and answer this brilliant question in 15 words or less (his rules!): Key Log Question “Other than money, what one opportunity (or obstacle) if captured (or removed) would most advance your mission/vision?” Using the six-step plan in 1 Chronicles 28-29, Samelson shares his color commentary on King David’s baton pass to his son, Solomon. This is one succession plan that actually worked! The temple was completed. Solomon thrived. Outgoing CEO David did not whine in the background. Skip the six-step plan, warns the author, and you’ll face at least three problems when approaching givers:    • Problem #1: “You may lose your one chance to make a good first impression. You don’t often get do-overs when you ask people to support your dream.”    • Problem #2: “You risk appearing unprofessional. Enthusiasm and passion will not trump adequate preparation.”    • Problem #3: “You fail to respect your audience. If you go public before doing the legwork, you’re wasting everyone’s time. If you are unable to provide the basic foundation of a dream, a plan, a leader, and initial funding, you don’t have the right to ask for anyone’s hour, let alone their check.” Oh, my!  In my early leadership years, I gave over 100 talks from 1 Chronicles 28-29, a favorite passage. Little did I know—I barely skimmed the surface of this profound model of biblical planning. To my silent suffering audiences—please forgive me!  But now…you must read this book and go deeper.  Randy Samelson's insights and practical planning wisdom will expand your vision and enrich relationships with your team, your board, and your givers. I’m recommending it to all of my clients. To order from Amazon, click on the book title for Breakthrough: Unleashing the Power of a Proven Plan, by Randon A. Samelson.  Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Samelson says if you read King David’s speech (1 Chronicles 28 and most of 29) out loud, it only takes about three-and-a-half minutes to communicate the vision, the plan, the right leader, and the initial funding. How long is your speech? #2. “Conventional wisdom,” says the author, “suggests you should try to communicate only the good things about your organization, but you actually gain trust when you communicate things that go wrong. (Sophisticated donors know every organization has problems.)” How transparent are you? We Energize People With a BHAG!   In my cycle through the 20 buckets, here's the core competency from the Strategy Bucket, Chapter 3, in Mastering the Management Buckets: "We plan, believing the results are up to God. We energize our people and customers with a Big Holy Audacious Goal (BHAG). We're systematic--never negligent--in our strategic planning. We know our mission statement by memory, and our programs, products, and services are in alignment with the mission." For more resources on planning, including a four-page worksheet, "The 7 Reasons Why Strategic Plans Fail," visit the Strategy Bucket webpage. MORE STUFF! • 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 • PODCAST: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast  ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations” – Add your thoughts and comments to John Pearson’s latest blog, "How Would Your Board Invest One Extra Hour?"

Leaders Eat Last

 

Issue No. 322 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (April 8, 2015) spotlights a new book recommended by Jerry White, Leaders Eat Last. The author writes, “Trust is like lubrication. It reduces friction and creates conditions much more conducive to performance.”  I Deserve a Styrofoam Cup  I know. I know. Every issue I rhapsodize about yet one more humdinger of a book. A must read. The-answer-to-all-your problems. Sorry. But…you can blame Jerry White for this one.  When Jerry and Mary White speak, I listen. I write it down. They are the real deal—and they don’t speak, write or recommend lightly. Jerry emailed me on the last day of 2014: “One of my bell-ringers this year was Leaders Eat Last, by Simon Sinek. Secular, but with such strong biblical ideas.  Gen. [4 star] Kevin Chilton put me on to that book.” You’ve likely enjoyed the TED talk by Simon Sinek (one of the 20 most popular talks) based on his book, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. Perhaps you’ve even read the book.  Some think his latest book is even better.  I’ve underlined dozens and dozens of brilliant quotes and insights in his latest gem, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t. It’s already on my Top-10 list for 2015. I’ve read it slowly over thousands of airline miles and quiet nights at home. Powerful stuff. So I’m torn: give you the 30,000-foot view—or entice you with a powerful story? Let’s go with the story. The Ceramic Cup (an excerpt from Chapter 8, “Why We Have Leaders”) I heard a story about a former Under Secretary of Defense who gave a speech at a large conference. He took his place on the stage and began talking, sharing his prepared remarks with the audience. He paused to take a sip of coffee from the Styrofoam cup he’d brought on stage with him. He took another sip, looked down at the cup and smiled. “You know,” he said, interrupting his own speech, “I spoke here last year. I presented at this same conference on this same stage. But last year, I was still an Under Secretary,” he said. “I flew here in business class and when I landed, there was someone waiting for me at the airport to take me to my hotel. Upon arriving at my hotel,” he continued, “there was someone else waiting for me. They had already checked me into the hotel, so they handed me my key and escorted me up to my room. The next morning, when I came down, again there was someone waiting for me in the lobby to drive me to this same venue that we are in today. I was taken through a back entrance, shown to the greenroom and handed a cup of coffee in a beautiful ceramic cup.” “But this year, as I stand here to speak to you, I am no longer the Under Secretary,” he continued. “I flew here coach class and when I arrived at the airport yesterday there was no one there to meet me. I took a taxi to the hotel, and when I got there, I checked myself in and went by myself to my room.  This morning, I came down to the lobby and caught another taxi to come here. I came in the front door and found my way backstage. Once there, I asked one of the techs if there was any coffee. He pointed to a coffee machine on a table against the wall. So I walked over and poured myself a cup of coffee into this here Styrofoam cup,” he said as he raised the cup to show the audience. “It occurs to me,” he continued, “the ceramic cup they gave me last year . . . it was never meant for me at all. It was meant for the position I held. I deserve a Styrofoam cup. “This is the most important lesson I can impart to all of you,” he offered. “All the perks, all the benefits and advantages you may get for the rank or position you hold, they aren’t meant for you. They are meant for the role you fill.  And when you leave your role, which eventually you will, they will give the ceramic cup to the person who replaces you. Because you only ever deserved a Styrofoam cup.” To order from Amazon, click on this title: Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, by Simon Sinek. Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Talk about the “ceramic cups” you enjoy in your present position. Are you holding onto them loosely—or with a tight grip? 2) One of Sinek’s key pillars is what he calls a “Circle of Safety” in the workplace. He says work-life balance “has nothing to do with the hours we work or the stress we suffer. It has to do with where we feel safe.” So….what enriches that safe feeling in our department or organization—and what detracts from it?(The book has insights on this.) Less Control, More Stress    As we cycle through the 20 buckets, here is an insight that parallels the big ideas in The Team Bucket, Chapter 9, in Mastering the Management Buckets. "It is not the demands of the job that cause the most stress, but the degree of control workers feel they have throughout their day.  The studies also found that the effort required by a job is not in itself stressful, but rather the imbalance between the effort we give and the reward we feel. Put simply: less control, more stress." (page 29) For more team-building ideas and resources, visit The Team Bucket webpage. MORE STUFF! • 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 • PODCAST: John Pearson's Buckets Podcast  ECFA BLOG on “Governance of Christ-centered Organizations” – Add your thoughts and comments to John Pearson’s latest blog, "A Dynamite Idea for Your Next Board Retreat."