Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom

 

Issue No. 373 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Nov. 30, 2017) is a tad self-promotional, but only 50 percent. Read the new book by Dan Busby and yours truly. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Boardroom Bloopers and More News Flash! There’s way too much confusion in the trenches on the appropriate roles and responsibilities of the board of directors: • New board members are often overwhelmed. (“No one told me!”) • Veteran board members have turned micro-managing into an art form. • CEOs often use the mushroom management approach (Google it!). • Senior staffers plead for more face time with the board, then 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 Nonprofit Boardroom, the new book by Dan Busby and yours truly. (Note: The link is for the second edition published in 2018.)   When ECFA President Dan Busby invited me to join him on this book project, I jumped at the opportunity. We’re both passionate about good governance so we wrote 40 very short chapters in 11 irresistible categories: Part 1: The Powerful Impact of Highly Engaged Boards • Would you trust a surgeon who stopped learning? How about a board member who stopped learning? (Lesson 1) • What’s the “Gold Standard Question” to ask after every board meeting? (Lesson 2) Part 2: Boardroom Tools, Templates, and Typos • “A BPM (board policies manual) will help your board negotiate an emergency leadership transition, frame the strategic planning process, and give direction and boundaries in dozens of other important policy issues.” (Lesson 4) • True or False: As a board member, “I receive way too many emails from our CEO, and I can’t discern what’s really important and what’s just an FYI.” (Lesson 6 on a nifty template, the “CEO’s Monthly 5/15 Report to the Board.”) Part 3: Nominees for the Board Member Hall of Fame • 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 9) • General Norman Schwarzkopf: “Leaders need two things—character and strategy. If you can do only one, drop strategy.” (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.) Part 5: Boardroom Bloopers • “Harebrained motions rarely pass. However, they may get unmerited oxygen resulting in a compromise with the strong support of an ‘out to lunch’ board member. (Read Lesson 17 for more on sidetracking harebrained motions!) 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 19, “Never Throw Red Meat on the Board Table.”) Part 7: Boardroom Best Practices • On mission impact and sustainability, quoting Elmer Towns and Warren Bird, “Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.” (Read Lesson 23 for more on the “dual bottom line” which equips boards to address dead horses and sacred cows.) Part 8: Boardroom Worst Practices • On spotting, catching, or exiting a falling CEO: “It was obvious to many others that our CEO was utterly failing, but our board was blind to what was happening right before our very eyes.” (Lesson 26) Part 9: Holy Ground and Other Locations • “Ruth Haley Barton puts a sharp stick into the heart of board decision-making that masquerades as discernment: ‘One very common leadership mistake is to think that we can take a group of undiscerning individuals and expect them to show up in a leadership setting and all of a sudden become discerning!’” (Lesson 28: Slow Down and Wait on God) Part 10: Building a 24/7 Board Culture • On four types of board members: “When you have board members in Group 4 (not performing and not living the values), invite them to exit the board. Then as you recruit new board members, remember this: if you want a healthy board, recruit healthy people.” (Lesson 31: Cut the Cord!) Part 11: Boards That Lead and Boards That Read • “As we’ve observed in hundreds and hundreds of ministries 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 37: Don’t Stretch Credulity with BHAGs and Stretch Goals) 40 BLOGS. 40 WEDNESDAYS. Dan Busby and I have recruited 40 guest bloggers to add their color commentary to the 40 lessons. Click here for the Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom Blog. SAMPLE CHAPTER. To read full chapters, visit the ECFA Knowledge Center. And by the way, Dan wrote 20 lessons and I wrote 20 lessons. I’ll send a Starbucks gift card to the first reader who correctly guesses which 20 lessons I wrote. (Hint: Dan’s are better!)  AMAZON. To order from Amazon, click on the title for Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom (2nd Edition), by Dan Busby and John Pearson. Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Lesson 27 urges staff and board members to “report once and report with clarity,” noting that hearing the same report more than once is a “10” on the pain threshold. Do your committees and staff tend to regurgitate the same report endlessly (and needlessly)? Does your full board trust—or not trust—your committees? 2) Lesson 30 shares the inspiring story, “The Truck Driver Was No Match for the Faith-Filled Board Chair.” How effectively do your board members share your organization’s tribal stories?    Date Board Prospects Before You Propose Marriage! Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook Imagine…if every person in your boardroom would prioritize their charitable giving so that your organization was in the Top-3 for each board member! That’s possible if you bring board prospects inside the concentric circles of involvement from event participant to donor and then into the generous donor circle. But! You must date board prospects before you propose marriage. Read more in Chapter 14, “The Board Bucket," in the new workbook. That’s just one of the 99 take-aways from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (2nd Edition), a Pearpod Resource). Created by John Pearson, it also includes color commentaries from Jason Pearson. For more on the Board Bucket, visit this webpage. And if you have not read the Buckets book, click on the graphic below to order from Amazon.         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 color commentary on "Agenda Clutter." John quotes Ralph Enlow, “…I find that the fatal combination of passivity and agenda clutter conspires to crowd out efforts to walk the talk of continuous board development.”

Growing Weeders Into Leaders

 

Issue No. 371 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 17, 2017) will surprise you! The director of landscape services at Ole Miss reveals proven principles from his unique leadership development program, Landscape University. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Growing Weeders Into Leaders OK…this is big. Here’s a leader who understands the importance of weekly staff meetings—but has reduced his own talking time in meetings down to five percent. Incredible! Here are 10 reasons you’ll want to read Growing Weeders Into Leaders: Leadership Lessons from the Ground Level, by Jeff McManus. #10. FIRST IMPRESSIONS. If you’ve always intoned the cliché—“You never have a second chance to make a first impression”—but never figured out how to live it out, this quick-reading 129-page book shows you how. The author is the director of landscape services at Ole Miss where the University of Mississippi Rebels football team, by the way, beat Vanderbilt 57-35 last Saturday at home. Imagine hosting 64,000 people in your backyard! #9. WEEDING BY EXAMPLE. If your organization has grass (and/or weeds), trees, a front door, or a large campus (think camps, schools, churches, headquarters, or your reception desk), this is a must-read.When McManus accepted the job at Ole Miss, he asked for a direct reporting relationship to then Chancellor Robert C. Khayat, who said his mother mentored him to “make a place look loved.” The chancellor often stopped on a walk across campus to pull a weed or two—“weeding by example,” he labeled his leadership style. #8. LEAD YOURSELF FIRST. The big idea of this book—whatever department or niche you lead, you can grow leaders. I was skeptical. Do the men and women on the lawn mowers really aspire to leadership? McManus is brilliant. Leadership, he says, is learning how to lead yourself first. So he created Landscape University for the people in his landscape services department. (Did I mention brilliant?) #7. WHAT’S WORSE? PowerPoint-worthy quotes on almost every page will juice your coaching competencies, like this one from John Maxwell: “What’s worse than training your people and losing them? Not training them and keeping them.” #6. ICONIC PHOTO AREAS. He quotes Ansel Adams, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” McManus brilliantly (there’s that word again) notes the importance of creating iconic photo settings. “Always create areas where people want to take photos. People appreciate those unique spaces, and they want to take that memory home with them.” He adds, “In marketing terms, creating iconic photo areas helps reinforce the brand to consumers.” (It reminded me of Aristotle’s observation, “The soul never thinks without a picture.”) #5. TRANSPARENT. If you’ve ever inherited a dysfunctional department or organization (or likely will someday), you’ll learn how Jeff McManus discerned next steps (with few options and fewer funds). And wow…is he transparent describing his own leadership failures and foibles. The first chapter is powerful. #4. GUT CHECK. Are you growing your people? McManus quotes Jack Welch, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” #3. TRAINING TOURS. The author knows that training happens in those teachable moments along the journey—not always in the classroom, so he leads his team on tours to other SEC campuses. Noting some embarrassing first impressions on one (unnamed) campus, McManus commented, “That one four-hour tour was worth 100 hours of training.” #2. SECRET SAUCE. “Growing weeders into leaders” is the secret sauce that has garnered numerous “most beautiful campus awards” for Ole Miss. Not easy on a 1,000-acre campus where the grass grows 24/7. Learn how they created a culture of excellence. #1. APPENDIX OF LEADERS. Show me another book that features short bios of five team members/leaders in the appendix. Jeff McManus practices what he preaches—and his leadership lessons from the ground level meant that he didn’t hog the book to himself, but he highlighted the work of five key leaders, by name, also. Brilliant! BONUS REASON #11: About those weekly meetings, McManus writes, “The more people speak, the more they feel ownership and build their leadership skills. I’m amazed at how over time we changed the tone of our meetings to be more engaging. My speaking part in meetings these days is down to five percent.” Read the section, “Monday Morning Meeting,” to learn more about the one-page meeting agenda which also includes space for a team member’s personal goals. Brilliant! To order from Amazon, click on the title for Growing Weeders Into Leaders: Leadership Lessons from the Ground Level, by Jeff McManus.  Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Jeff McManus said he listened to the audio book, It’s Your Ship, by Capt. D. Michael Abrashoff, and immediately began having one-on-one meetings with his direct reports. How often has a book you’ve read (or listened to) caused you to do something new or innovative? 2) In a nod to the Hoopla! Bucket, McManus quotes Tom Peters: “Celebrate what you want to see more of.” What does your department or organization celebrate?   It's OK to Skip Our Next Meeting! Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook Jeff McManus, author of Growing Weeders Into Leaders, wanted input from his team when writing their “Landscape Creed”—but added a nice twist to the obligatory meetings syndrome. “One wintry day, we scheduled a 60-minute meeting of the entire staff to walk through the process of developing our very own Landscape Creed.” His goal was “to let everyone participate in some way,” so McManus asked team members to invest just one hour. But then this brilliant left turn: “While everyone had a voice at the first meeting, the next meeting was set up as voluntary.” The most interested came—and the creed was written with maximum ownership.  For more on crafting your team’s core values, order the just-published resource Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (A Pearpod Resource). Created by John Pearson, it also includes color commentary by Jason Pearson. And for more on the Culture Bucket, visit this webpage. And if you have not read the Buckets book, click below to order from Amazon. 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 2017 series on Max De Pree's book, Called to Serve. Read the 30th blog, "No Board Detail Is Too Small."  This post also includes an index (and links) to all 30 blogs in the series.

Illuminate - Part 3

 

Issue No. 370 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Oct. 11, 2017) highlights two books that deepen our understanding on how to leverage defining moments to produce memorable results. And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). TrendSpotting: The Power of Moments (Part 3) This is the third (and final) installment on the phenomenal book, Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) The Illuminate authors say that movements follow a story structure with five actions:    • Dream (the moment of inspiration)    • Leap (the moment of decision)    • Fight (the moment of bravery)    • Climb (the moment of endurance)    • Arrive (the moment of reflection) So...what fun...to compare and contrast Illuminate with a hot-off-the-press book (Oct. 3, 2017) by best-selling authors, Chip Heath and Dan Heath, The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. And, since I’ve begun delegating my reading (as all leaders should do), once again I’ve asked my son, Jason Pearson, to have a conversation with me on both of these fascinating books. Jason: As you know, I’m a listener (not a reader), and from the get-go, the Heath brothers on audio captivated my interest. (Why don’t all books do that?) The Power of Moments opens with this amazing story—an epiphany that changed the trajectory of young lives in a Houston charter school.  They designed a defining moment, the “Senior Signing Day,” much like the ESPN Signing Day TV broadcast which annually features the college-pick announcements from high school athletes. More than 450 friends and family attended the first signing day event at YES Prep (great name!). And get this—six years later, more than 5,000 people jammed a college basketball arena to watch 126 charter school seniors announce their college selections! John: That reminded me of how the book Illuminate uses ceremonies to drive home a big point. And by the way, I’m a reader, but I’m also a listener. I know we both inspire our clients to be trendspotters—and here’s a trend. Illuminate has five stages: Dream, Leap, Fight, Climb, and Arrive. Similarly, The Power of Moments says that defining moments are the result of one or more of four elements: Elevation, Insight, Pride, and Connection. So…if you dig deeper on “Climb (the moment of endurance),” you’ll find similarities with “Elevation,” like the moment onstage for graduating seniors. And, by the way, is this the moment when I mention another book? Back in 2007, you might remember that many leaders read Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, also by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The Power of Moments aligns nicely with their “sticky” messaging, like this “Plan A” or “Plan B” question: When President John F. Kennedy was ready to announce a big idea, which statement was stickier?  [  ] Plan A: “Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives.”  [   ] Plan B: “We will put a man on the moon and return him safely by 1970.” Jason: Uh, Plan B? Of course, ceremonies can be simple—especially if they help people draw a line in the sand. Illuminate talks about a new Boeing CEO who inherited major tensions between management and disgruntled employees. After a series of listening sessions, he hosted a dinner at his home. I’m quoting: “After the meal, the group gathered outside around a giant fire pit and told stories about Boeing. They wrote down the stories, keeping the inspiring ones and tossing the negative ones into the flames to banish the memory of them.” John: Sounds like the Boeing CEO had a defining moment, previously, around a Friday night campfire at Bible camp! Jason: You recommend way too many books, but I predict The Power of Moments might be your 2017 book-of-the-year. Our clients are pretty good at creating defining moments—but this book will help them dramatically push the barriers out and create “peak” experiences. The Heath brothers note, “Peaks don’t emerge naturally. They must be built.”  And they explain that those memorable defining moments (like—remembering a class you took 20 years ago) are possible by structuring both the art and the science of powerful moments. There’s nothing like this book. John: A good day—for me—is when a book inspires someone else. Nice! And just imagine…if more schools, churches, organizations and companies would focus on creating defining moments. And by the way, nice work—Jason—on connecting the book, Invisible Neighbors, by John Ashmen, to the Oct. 20 premiere of the movie, Same Kind of Different as Me. To order from Amazon, click on the title for  [  ] Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, by Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez [  ] The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath       Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) The Illuminate authors note Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was a “Leap” message (the moment of decision)—inspiring people to operate under the rules of God’s eternal kingdom, not the world’s way. What is your organization’s “Leap” message—and does it prompt a moment of decision? 2) The Power of Moments describes how John Deere turned an employee’s first day on the job into a memorable experience versus a fill-out-the-forms snoozer day. What is the most powerful moment you’ve had at work this year? Why? Silence in the Meetings Bucket! Insights from the new Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook In his color commentary intro to the Meetings Bucket chapter of the new workbook, Jason notes that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos begins every team meeting with up to 30 minutes of silence. Team members read and digest the printed memos in total silence—so everyone is well prepared to engage in the discussion. (Read more here and thanks to Chip Watkins, reader and trendspotter, for sharing this.) We've just published the second edition of Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (A Pearpod Resource). Created by John Pearson, it also includes color commentaries by Jason Pearson. To order from Amazon, click on the title for Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook. For more resources, visit the 20 management buckets here. And if you have not read the Buckets book, click below to order from Amazon. 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 2017 series on Max De Pree's book, Called to Serve. Read the 30th blog, "No Board Detail Is Too Small."  This post also includes an index (and links) to all 30 blogs in the series.

Illuminate - Part 2

 

Issue No. 369 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 27, 2017) features a case study on Chick-fil-A’s venture into an innovation center—and a conversation with Jason Pearson on breaking stuff! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Break Stuff and Get Messy! (Part 2 of 3) As I reported in the last issue (click here), I’ve waited all year to launch a series of reviews on one phenomenal book. Meet my new best friend, Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols. The authors say that movements follow a story structure with five actions:    • Dream (the moment of inspiration)    • Leap (the moment of decision)    • Fight (the moment of bravery)    • Climb (the moment of endurance)    • Arrive (the moment of reflection) The case studies (and mini-stories) are stunning. So I’ve asked my son, Jason, to have a conversation with me on these five transformational phases for effective movements. John: Leaders will resonate with the Chick-fil-A case study—but warning: it’s bold and messy—and stuff gets broken! Jason: But with messy, you get innovation, right? Chick-fil-A leaders had always inspired a “culture of continual improvement,” but not necessarily innovation, according to Illuminate. Imagine this: their first mall restaurant opened in 1967, but by the mid-1980s they anticipated the decline of malls—and moved out. (That was foresight, right Macy’s?) John: Right, but the company had this “don’t mess it up” culture—and risk and failure were avoided at all costs. (We know organizations like this—and it’s not pretty.) So I was impressed that in 2008, Chick-fil-A leaders traveled the country to visit leading innovation centers like Lucasfilm, Pixar, Google, Stanford d.school, and Hewlett-Packard. And you know me—any chance I get, I’ll mention another book. Pixar is mentioned in this fun, short-reading book about failing quickly: Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries, by Peter Sims.   Jason: Great book! But…back to Chick-fil-A…and as you mentioned, their travels convinced them to build a large innovation center. And get this great name—Hatch. John: I love it. Let me quote from Illuminate: “Leadership needed to convey to employees that it’s okay to try new things at Hatch. Instead of a traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony, the VP of design and construction stood on a lift fifteen feet in the air and dropped three paint-filled eggshells onto the floor. The ceremonial act was a dramatic statement that Hatch was a different work environment, where people could, and should, be breaking things, taking risks, and getting messy in the pursuit of innovation.” Jason: And it gets better—even though their corporate culture salutes suits and ties, Hatch is messy. And so after the speeches that first day, “more than 250 staff members threw paint-filled eggs onto canvases, which now hang in the reception lobby as art pieces.”  John: Brilliant—and the physical act of breaking something created a powerful moment and memory.  Jason: But you don’t need to dedicate a new building for innovation—just to get “messy,” right? John: Exactly. It’s a mindset. It’s a culture. It’s a fork-in-the-road leadership decision about the safe way—or the innovative way. But remember what Peter Drucker said: "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." Jason: Preach it! I appreciate a comment in this Illuminate case study from Steve Nedvidek, who is Hatch’s innovation specialist. He said, “The executive committee, especially Dan Cathy, had our backs. Executive commitment took the fear of failure away.” John: That’s rare. Really rare. So…how about lunch at Chick-fil-A? To order from Amazon, click on the title for Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, by Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez.  Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) The Illuminate authors note that innovation, in reality, was started with Chick-fil-A's first restaurant in 1946. “Truett [Cathy]’s innovation lab was his first restaurant.” So where is your organization’s innovation lab? 2) Where is your organization today: Dream, Leap, Fight, Climb, or Arrive? To ignite change, should you be using speeches, stories, ceremonies, or symbols? What team should read Illuminate this week? New Buckets Workbook! Insights from the new Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook (2nd Edition) Here's the latest edition of Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (A Pearpod Resource). Created by John Pearson, it also includes color commentary by Jason Pearson. With 232 pages, in a helpful workbook format, this resource includes worksheets for each of the 20 management buckets (core competencies), plus an appendix with more than 400 leadership and management books and resources, all categorized within the 20 buckets. It’s perfect for a team to study together, but also works for individual study. Some leaders and managers are working through the 20 buckets in 20 days, 20 weeks, 20 months, or 20 years (if you’re young enough!) To order from Amazon, click on the title for Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (A Pearpod Resource). The workbook includes new material, not previously offered in the two-day Management Buckets workshop. Example: read the commentary on The Results Bucket and learn why Fred Smith, Sr. quoted a friend on the difference between activity and results, who said, “Please show me the baby and don’t tell me about the labor pains.” For more resources, visit the 20 management buckets here. And if you have not read the Buckets book, click below to order from Amazon.  NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite 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 2017 series on Max De Pree's book, Called to Serve. Read the 28th blog, "Don't Neglect Your CEO's Growth."

Next Level Leader

 

Issue No. 687 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (July 24, 2026) wonders if you’re a “Next Level Leader”—and what’s your default coaching style? Didactic or Socratic? Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my “cancel your staff meeting” ideas for this month—with 15 podcasts and 15 pop quizzes. And click here to download four lists of books I’ve reviewed over the last 20 years. What’s your default coaching style? Socratic coaching or didactic coaching?  (Graphic: ChatGPT)   Are You Managing or Coaching? Here’s another hot contender for my 2026 book-of-the-year, but—oh, my—where do I start? When reading a book, I often write a Big “S” on a page that is perfect for starting my review. But Big Problem: I’ve made four Big “S” notations for:   Next Level Leader:  Beyond Manager. Beyond Coach. A New Leadership Paradigm  for Mission-Driven Organizations by Chris Lambert (July 13, 2026)   BIG “S” #1. “A direct support makes a mistake.” (Note: Chris Lambert is very precise with language. “Just as we refer to those in leadership positions as coaches rather than managers, we refer to those they lead as ‘direct supports’ rather than ‘direct reports.’”) The problem: “David sends an email to a major donor with incorrect information. The donor is confused and offended, and calls you directly.” How do you coach your direct support?    • The Didactic Response: “David, you can’t make mistakes like this with our major donors. From now on, I need to review every major donor email before it goes out. This is unacceptable.”    • The Socratic Response: “David, I need to talk with you about the email you sent to that donor. Can you walk me through what happened?”  Note: read the three scenarios on “Practical Coaching in Action” and the five additional questions the coach asked David—without interrupting! (Chapter 7 on the “Socratic Coach” is worth the price of the book X 100. Honest!) BIG “S” #2. “The Problem with Didactic Leadership.” The author, who also wrote Next Level Nonprofit (read my review), lists five problems “when we default to telling instead of asking.”    1. Our teams stop thinking for themselves.    2. We become the bottleneck.    3. Our team doesn’t develop capacity.    4. Dependency increases.    5. We can’t scale. On the bottleneck problem, Lambert adds, “Every decision has to go through us. Every problem lands on our desks. We’re working sixty-hour weeks while our team works forty, and we resent it—but we created this dynamic.” BIG “S” #3. “Cozy Culture or Thriving Culture?” The author wrote this book for nonprofits. “Instead of writing a business book that nonprofit leaders can adapt, I’ve written a nonprofit book that business leaders can’t afford to ignore.” You’ll immediately begin using the 2x2 matrix on page 57 on the “Four Leadership Cultures” addressing Affirmation and Challenge. Brilliant!    • Low Challenge, Low Affirmation: “Apathetic Culture”    • High Challenge, Low Affirmation: “Stressed Culture”    • Low Challenge, High Affirmation: “Cozy Culture”    • High Challenge, High Affirmation: “Thriving Culture” And get this! Every 90 days, Lambert pulls out the “Affirmation/Challenge Matrix” during his quarterly one-on-ones and invites his direct supports to score him honestly. “Where was I on each axis over the past quarter?” He asks for specific ratings (from +5 to -5) and to be “completely candid.” (Yikes! The author shares his ratings!) “Culture is revealed under pressure—when deadlines are looming, when stress is high, and when leaders feel the urge to step in and fix what isn’t working.” So how do you respond when a stressed team member gives you bad news? The cozy culture response sounds like this: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take it from here. You focus on your other work. I’ll get this done.”  Lambert then sticks the knife in: “You’ve rescued your direct support by shouldering the challenge yourself. It feels kind in the moment. But here’s what actually happened: You solved the immediate problem, they felt relieved, and you just reinforced that when things get hard, you’ll swoop in to save them. Next time they’re overwhelmed, they’ll come straight to you again. You didn’t coach them, you comforted them.” BIG “S” #4. “Culture & Capacity Assessment.” Noting the bus metaphor by Jim Collins, Lambert delivers a brilliant chart. “While culture fit answers who belongs on the bus, capacity fit answers where they belong.” (Good news: maybe you don’t need to fire that employee. Read Chapter 4, “Right People, Right Seats.”) This is simple—and revealing. List your Culture values and Capacity criteria across the top of the chart. Then list your direct supports in the left hand column. Color-code performance for each person in all six categories: Green, Yellow, or Red. Lambert uses these categories:      CULTURE (Right Person)      • Community First      • Always Find a Way      • Bold Humility      CAPACITY (Right Seat)      • Understands what the job requires.      • Committed to passionately do everything the job requires.      • Has all abilities necessary to do the job with excellence. What if there are too many yellow and red scores? Read this chapter and learn why the right kind of coaching might help a team member. But if needed, read the five-point outline for a dismissal conversation, including #2: “We let the Culture & Capacity Assessment do the talking.” “Constrained by Unhealthy Leadership Systems.” In the foreword, Jim Brown, author of the new book, The Imperfect CEO (read my review), adds this wisdom: “Many nonprofits are fueled by noble purpose but constrained by unhealthy leadership systems. The mission is worthy. The team cares deeply. The vision inspires. Yet somewhere along the way, exhaustion replaces energy, confusion weakens execution, accountability becomes inconsistent, and leaders find themselves carrying burdens they were never meant to bear alone.”   Did I mention? Next Level Leader is in the running for 2026 book-of-the-year. In just 136 pages, plus “Coaching Calendar Templates” and info on the Next Level Leader certification program, you’ll keep this book close—and buy copies for others. It’s the perfect book for your next senior team retreat: 12 short chapters and convicting questions at the end of every chapter. Example: “Who is one person on your team who is capable of more than you’ve been allowing them to do? What would it look like to start developing them instead of directing them—and what’s one conversation you could have with them this week?” But this caveat: is Socratic Coaching for everyone—every time? I sensed that Lambert chuckled when he wrote this: “Let’s be honest. There are moments when Socratic coaching is incredibly frustrating—when asking questions feels inefficient, exhausting, or pointless. I can almost picture Socrates himself occasionally wanted to scream, ‘This is how you should do it!’” LOL! TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Next Level Leader: Beyond Manager. Beyond Coach. A New Leadership Paradigm for Mission-Driven Organizations, by Chris Lambert. Listen on Libro (4 hours, 41 minutes).     View the new series, John Pearson's Buckets Podcast, with AI-generated summaries of John's book reviews, including Podcast #16, "Mastering the Weekly Meeting," a 7-minute chapter from Chris Lambert's book, Next Level Nonprofit.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Chris Lambert notes that “Most people have never been asked these questions by their managers:      • “What kind of work makes time disappear for you?”      • “And what kind of work leaves you feeling more alive at the end of the day than when you started?” (Note: Lambert loves the Working Genius assessment.) How would you answer these questions? 2) Pop Quiz! Describe how the following coaches would define success: Traditional Manager, Sports Coach, Executive Coach, and Next Level Leader. (Answers: page 23.) 3) Think of a new team member. What kind of coaching do they need?       • I do, you watch.      • I do, you help.      • You do, I help.      • You do, I watch. (Answers: Chapter 10, “One Size Fits None.”) BONUS! Visit the Pails in Comparison Blog for a list of 27 coaching books (soon to be 28!).       SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #55 of 99: The Minister’s MBA For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #55 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 Minister's MBA: Essential Business Tools for Maximum Ministry Success by Michael Zigarelli and George Babbes (Sept. 1, 2006)   The authors quote Charles Kettering with this poignant reminder for churches and organizations, “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” Ouch!    • Read my review (Issue No. 9, Oct. 30, 2006)     • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #15 of 20: The Budget Bucket. Most of my readers are long past the so-called divide between sacred and secular (which is not biblical), especially as it relates to ensuring effectiveness in ministry. Should churches use “Madison Avenue” techniques to “market” to their communities? This book quotes A.W. Tozer, “It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything.” The book features 12 “courses” (chapters) including: your mission, creating a high performance DNA, retaining great people, leading with shrewd stewardship, and how to use the balanced scorecard for measuring strategy.  The “Strategy Map” chapter is excellent and every pastor, staff member, and key church volunteer must read it. You’ll learn how to get beyond lagging indicators (past performance) and onto leading indicators like member satisfaction (where you’re headed).  AND...OH, MY! You must view this 7-minute video by Professor Zigarelli from 2014, "The Case of Marsha and The Apprentice."   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN      For more on the Budget Bucket, read Chapter 15 in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook, and why you must budget for an annual surplus and a growing reserve. Also read Mistake #6 in The 8 Big Mistakes book—“Encumbering Your CEO  With 25 Annual Goals!” NOTICE! As of Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to this blogsite. The Imperfect CEO LISTEN TO the AI-generated summary (7 min.) of John’s review of the new book, The Imperfect CEO: Making the Climb to Organizational Health, by Jim Brown. (Read John's review.) 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 "Little Is Much" Do you know the “rest of the story” about a powerful hymn written in 1924—but still reverberating today? Listen to the podcast, “Little Is Much When God Is in It—The rest of the story!” Read more here and see more reviews at the Pails in Comparison Blog.