Top-10 Books of 2025

 

Issue No. 668 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 31, 2025) announces my Top-10 Books of 2025 and my Book-of-the-Year. Also, Happy New Year! Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies), and for more book reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and the Pails in Comparison Blog. Bonus! Visit the Book Bucket for the updated master lists of book reviews as of Dec. 31, 2025. Brake for Breaking News! Here are my Top-10 Books of 2025, plus my Book-of-the-Year pick.     2025’s TOP-10 BOOKS  & Book-of-the-Year! This issue features my favorite books from my 2025 reviews. To read all the 2025 book reviews, visit the archives at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and the Pails in Comparison Blog. (Note: Some issues are currently being moved to these new blogsites.)    In 2025, I published 35 issues of Your Weekly Staff Meeting and added 21 posts at Pails in Comparison. Some issues included more than one book, so I reviewed about 50 books in 2025, including a "museum" review and two special tributes. I also had fun with AI and Google’s NotebookLM and created more podcasts adding to the 14 we posted in 2024. (Watch for a master list in 2026.) What did you read (or listen to) in 2025? 2025 BOOK-OF-THE-YEAR GENTLE AND LOWLY: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by Dane Ortlund. (Read my review.) I read this book twice, thanks to Paul Lewis and Paul Fleischmann. It's a holy ground page-turner with dozens of PowerPoint-worthy quotes. The author affirms: “This book is written for the discouraged, the frustrated, the weary, the disenchanted, the cynical, the empty. Those running on fumes. Those whose Christian lives feel like constantly running up a descending escalator.”   Favorite Quote: Ortlund appreciates theologian Louis Berkhof who wrote, “It is a consoling thought that Christ is praying for us, even when we are negligent in our prayer life.” Ortlund adds, “Our prayer life stinks most of the time. But what if you heard Jesus praying aloud for you in the next room? Few things would calm us more deeply.” (Order from Amazon.) 2025 TOP-10 BOOKS Note: Books are listed by 2025 review date (earliest first). 1. RESET: How to Change What's Not Working, by Dan Heath. (Read my two reviews! Part 1 and Part 2.) One-half of the bestselling Heath brothers team, writes that “when unexpected problems arise in our organizations, it often reveals that we didn’t know as much about our ‘system’ as we thought we did.”  Heath quotes two psychologists who “asked people to assess how well they understood certain familiar devices. How well do you understand how a zipper works? A flush toilet?” Read my Part 1 review and watch the hilarious and insightful video.   For Your Next Staff Retreat! In Chapter 9, “Tap Motivation,” Heath describes a staff retreat assignment. Using sticky notes, “write down one task that's on your plate today that you would pay someone to take over for you. Then…on a second sticky note, write down one task you'd be so excited to do that you'd pay for the privilege.” (Order from Amazon.) 2. SUPERHABITS: The Universal System for a Successful Life, by Andrew V. Abela. (Read my review.) The author warns us: “A mid-air crisis is not the time to be learning many new things.” Hopefully, you’re not in crisis mode today. So it’s the perfect time to be learning from the founding dean of Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. (Dr. Abela was also a brand manager at Procter & Gamble, and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company.) You’ll love this book! FREE POSTER! My granddaughter, Annika, gave me this joyful book for my birthday. Andrew Abela generously shares the results of his diligent deep dive into the Treatise on Virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. He calls his project, “Anatomy of Virtue: The System of ‘Superhabits’ for Making Life Easier, Happier, and Healthier.” And get this! The hardcover copy of Superhabits comes shrink-wrapped with a stunning 16” x 21” full-color poster, plus access to the Busch Virtue Diagnostic. (Order from Amazon.) 3. THE 10-SECOND RULE: Following Jesus Made Simple, by Clare De Graaf. (Read my review.) Must-read! “Just do the next thing you’re reasonably certain Jesus wants you to do and commit to it immediately—in the next 10 seconds—before you change your mind!”   My friend, Dan Busby (1941-2022) gave me this book in 2012. I finally read it in 2025! So…can we really be sure to trust the “impressions” from the Lord to take action within 10 seconds? De Graaf acknowledges, “…when we’re not sure, we tend to play it safe—and do nothing.” But he cheers us on with this: “…I only need to believe it’s the kind of thing Jesus himself might do if he were me. I don’t need to be 100 percent certain. In fact, the need for certainty is often the enemy of obedience.” (Order from Amazon.) 4. SPEAK, MEMORABLY: The Art of Captivating an Audience, by Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva. (Read my review.) Oh, my. I’ve been doing it all wrong! Speaking. Presentations. PowerPoints. Storytelling. Humor. Metaphors. Analogies. How about you? Do your speaking tools enable your great ideas to “ricochet in people’s heads for hours, days, or even weeks after you’ve said them?” Be honest now. (OK. You better read this new book!) THE COPPOLA STORYTELLING FORMULA. After you read Chapter 2, you’ll embrace Francis Ford Coppola’s formula for making movies: “Look and decide what’s the best thing you have, the second-best thing, and the third-best thing.     • “Take the best thing you have and make it the ending of the movie,    • and take the second-best thing and make it the beginning of the movie,     • and the third thing put in between those two.” (Order from Amazon.) 5. THE GUNS OF AUGUST: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I, by Barbara W. Tuchman. (Read my review.) In 2021, when I reviewed Becoming Trader Joe, by Joe Coulombe, the chain’s founder, I was stunned to read what he said about The Guns of August. “It’s the best book on management—and, especially, mismanagement—I’ve ever read.” So, of course, I had to read it. 1,000 IDEAS! “Unlike General de Langle of the Fourth Army whom Joffre had just found calm, confident, and ‘perfectly master of himself’—the one essential duty of a commander in Joffre’s eyes—Ruffey appeared nervous, excitable, and ‘imaginative to an excessive degree.’ As Colonel Tanant, his Chief of Operations, said, he was very clever and full of a thousand ideas of which one was magnificent but the question was which.” Ruffey was replaced. (Order from Amazon.) 6. GENTLE AND LOWLY: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by Dane Ortlund. (2025 Book-of-the-Year: see review above.) 7. HOW LEADERS LOSE THEIR WAY: And How to Make Sure It Doesn't Happen to You, by Peter Greer and Jill Heisey. (Read my review.) Ten years ago, everyone was talking about Mission Drift: The Unspoken Crisis Facing Leaders, Charities, and Churches, by Peter Greer and Chris Horst, with Anna Haggard. That book was much easier to read. Sure, organizations drift and sometimes fail. But not me! No need to read this new book, right? Wrong! YIKES! Dip your toe in the water—any chapter—and try to delude yourself into thinking you’re not susceptible to the dangers of personal drift: The Allure of Achievement, The Mastery of Money, The Pursuit of Pleasure, The Problem with Power, The Quest for Control (definitely skip this chapter!), The Need for Speed, The Island Effect, and Self at Center. (Order from Amazon.)   8. TIME TO STAND UP, by Bill Hull. (Read my review.) Oh, my. I needed reinforcements to review this outstanding book! (Gratefully, my friend, Connor White, and I discussed the book over fish and chips!) Connor notes: “I loved this book. As a Christian leader, pastor, and author (and a fan of Bonhoeffer and Dallas Willard)—the author dares to allow himself to be misunderstood. No dumbing down of his content. The debate chapters in his book spotlight his incredible creativity. And—he is so, so funny!”   Bill Hull writes, “The gospel begins to penetrate when one day you realize, ‘I’m the schmuck,’ ‘I’m the idiot,’ ‘I’m the jerk,’ ‘I’m the sinner.’ G.K. Chesterton entered the London Times inquiry contest to the general public, ‘What is wrong with the world?’ Chesterton answered, ‘I am.’ One day it was a revelation to me, ‘What is wrong with this congregation?’ The answer came to me, ‘I am.’ This revelation started a journey for me to have a satisfied soul.” (Order from Amazon.) 9. CEO READY: What You Need to Know to Earn the Job—and Keep the Job, by Mark Thompson and Byron Loflin. (Read my review.) Quick! Give me 10 key points to share with a candidate who thinks he or she is ready for the top spot: CEO. (I thought of three—but then I read this book. Oh, my. I know nothing!) The 20-page chapter with “Ten Ways to Work with Peers in Order to Be CEO Ready” is worth the price of the book. Chapter 5’s subtitle is a warning: “C-suite colleagues can’t get you the job, but they can kill your chances.” CEO Ready is not just for future CEOs. Current CEOs—all leaders and managers—will benefit from reading this book. The authors quote former HBS dean Nitin Nohria’s research on why leaders must distinguish between four different types of incoming challenges:     • Normal noise (“the small stuff”)    • Clarion calls (“the big ones—loud and sustained")    • Whisper warnings (“the trickiest to spot”)    • Siren songs (“the seductive distractions”) (Order from Amazon.) 10. GOD: THE SCIENCE, THE EVIDENCE—The Dawn of a Revolution, by Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies (Read my review on the Pails in Comparison Blog.) published in English in October 2025 (and already an international bestseller with more than 400,000 copies sold), “the book everyone is talking about” features a diverse collection of endorsers: “15 personalities from all walks of life.”  The co-authors note that “To our knowledge, no other book like the one you are holding in your hands exists. We have aimed to make it easy and enjoyable to read for all, while ensuring accuracy. The chapters are independent, so readers can approach them in any order of their choice. We have done our best; we leave the rest to your free judgment.” “THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE LIVES.” On the book’s website, others weigh in, including Fr. Robert Spitzer, Astrophysicist and Philosopher, and former president of Gonzaga University. “This book will change lives,” he writes. (Order from Amazon.) Note: I’ve attended Father Spitzer’s lectures on The Shroud of Turin and he’s the real deal. (By the way, check out the “Ask Father Spitzer” feature when you visit The Shroud of Turin: An Immersive Experience, the stunning new museum at the Crystal Cathedral Campus in Garden Grove, Calif.) Read my "review" of my visit to The Shroud museum.       THE BOOK BUCKET!  2 Book Lists! Just posted! Visit the Book Bucket on the Management Buckets website to download: • List #2: Chronological List of 668 Issues of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (updated 12/31/2025) Note: List #1 will be updated and posted by Jan. 15, 2026. • List #1: Books by Management Buckets Categories (updated 12/31/2024) BONUS LISTS! • List #3: John Pearson's Top-100 Book List (updated 12/31/2022) • List #4: Mastering 100 Must-Read Books (published 9/14/2022) CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. 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

Hallelujah!

 

Issue No. 667 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 24, 2025) features a special Christmas greeting to my faithful readers, a poignant "Hallelujah" podcast from John Ortberg, and a 1984 color commentary on a “book” from my all-time ideal bookshelf. And watch for my December 31 eNews with my 2025 Book-of-the-Year selection and my Top-10 list.  Why does Handel write the word, "_________," 48 times? Listen to this 10-minute podcast, "What Handel Saw When He Wrote 'Hallelujah,'" No. 10 in the current series of Become New with John Ortberg. Merry Christmas! No book review today! Please enjoy this special treat from author, pastor, and podcaster John Ortberg.    What Handel Saw When He Wrote "Hallelujah" Become New with John Ortberg (Podcast) In this podcast episode of Become New with John Ortberg (his brilliant and poignant series on Christmas songs and hymns), Ortberg shares the story behind Handel’s "Hallelujah Chorus" and why this "single word shows up 48 times without losing its power. From Handel’s health collapsing to writing a 260-page oratorio in 24 days to the deep meaning of the word hallelujah itself, this episode is an invitation to let your whole life become an act of praise. If you need joy, strength, or a reminder that Jesus comes to imperfect people, this will speak to you." LISTEN on Apple Podcasts (10 minutes) VIEW on YouTube (10 minutes)   Note: At my age, I am planning to rerun the following Christmas meditation every Christmas the Lord continues to grant me. If you missed it last year (or in 2013), please enjoy! Turn the volume way up and imagine singing George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” with The Tabernacle Choir (4 minutes).     Singing Bass in the Do-It-Together Messiah A few years ago, I reviewed a brilliant coffee table book, My Ideal Bookshelf, which prompted me to select my own Top-10 list for my ideal bookshelf. Six readers also sent me their lists. (What's on your Top-10 list?) One treasure on my all-time Top-10 list is: The Messiah: An Oratorio by G.F. Handel (composed in 1741) I wrote this Christmas meditation in 1984: “IS THIS SEAT TAKEN?” I asked, fumbling over his feet in the section marked “B” for basses. “Nope. Do you sing bass, too? Have you ever done this before? I hope so, because this is my first time,” he laughed nervously. “Mine too,” I smiled, showing him my mint condition vocal score, all 252 pages. “Good,” I thought, and then worried about who would sit on my left. Probably some pompous virtuoso with bushy raised eyebrows, who would sneer every time I missed a note. It was almost 7:30 p.m. on this freezing Chicago Friday. The tickets were three bucks a head and over a thousand voices were clearing their throats in the Norris Cultural Arts Center auditorium in St. Charles, Illinois. On stage, the incessant whining and percussion bursts of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra tuned-up for this annual event. The crowd hushed as polite applause began in the soprano section and then, like a football stadium wave, spread over to us basses, as we honored the arrival of the evening’s four soloists.  “Good planning,” I thought, noting that the alto had a red gown and the soprano had chosen a Christmas green formal. The bass and tenor, of course, wore routine tails—with collars that accentuated their double chins, and it seemed to me, prevented full-throated swallowing. Our celebrity conductor, Margaret Hillis, followed to the thunder of grateful applause. Two nights before, she had done similar duty at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall with a cast of thousands. The P.A. didn’t work, but her booming voice didn’t need this temperamental technology. “Welcome to our annual performance of the ‘Do-It-Yourself Messiah.’ How many of you are singing this for the first time?” I looked both ways and decided I could raise my hand, up to my chin maybe. More than half of us were rookies. A minute before, I’d learned from the bass on my left that he played the cello in the Elgin orchestra, but was sitting it out this year to enjoy the choral experience. “At least I’ll know when to come in,” I mused, leaning a little closer to his side than the former jazz band trumpet player on my right. I had impressed the horn blower sufficiently when I recounted my stint as a church choir director in my college days. “You mean you can read music?” he asked in awe. “Yeah,” I answered, trying to sound humble, so he wouldn’t expect too much help from me during the challenging parts. (And there are challenging parts. One reviewer recently observed, “Handel may have been making a little joke by setting lyrics about Christ’s ‘easy’ yoke to a challenging fugue!”) Hillis rehearsed one difficult section with us for two minutes max, and before we were ready, the December 7, 1984, Norris Center whoever-is-here-sings thousand-voice audience became the performers for G.F. Handel’s The Messiah, perhaps one of the most loved and enduring musical classics of all time. The full, strong melody of the overture to The Messiah filled the auditorium as hundreds of nervous performers tapped toes and fingers to keep pace with the orchestra. The first recitative for tenor, “Comfort Ye My People,” was both familiar and soothing. At page 16, Hillis turned from the orchestra and motioned for us to stand. The altos, rich-sounding and bountiful, stirred our anticipation with their three-measure head start. “And the glory, the glory of the Lord.” The sopranos, tenors and our bass section joined in: “And the glory, the glory of the Lord— shall be re-e-e-ve-e-e-e-al-ed.” I was singing The Messiah! It did not matter that the performers were the only audience. We were continuing a musical tradition, begun by the composer in 1742. The comforting and deep meaning of the words from Isaiah, Matthew and Romans were a solace to my soul, as they had been to other performers and audiences over the last 200 years. “Thank you, Father,” I prayed, “for granting such genius to George Frideric Handel and for preserving this masterpiece.” The soprano’s air, “Come unto Him, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and He shall give you rest,” embroidered its message on my heart. One thousand responded, “His yoke is easy and His burden is light.” All evening, we drank deeply of both words and music. Sometime after 10 p.m., throats weakened, we sang page 252’s final “Amen.” Our applause energized us. We smiled, eyes cheering, and called the conductor and soloists back for two curtain calls. “Encore! Encore!” we demanded. We needed no cue from Hillis, reminding us to remain standing. The orchestra’s introduction to the “Hallelujah!” chorus renewed us in just three measures: “Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: And He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, HALLELUJAH!” TO ORDER the 252-page musical score from Amazon, click on the title for The Messiah: An Oratorio for Four-Part Chorus of Mixed Voices, Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass Soli and Piano, by G. F. Handel.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) George Frideric Handel wrote this enduring Christmas oratorio in 1741 in just 24 days. If you had 24 days of uninterrupted focus, what would you enjoy creating? 2) According to Hymnary, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) “became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer.” (Attn: Parents & Grandparents! Imagine a world without the “Hallelujah Chorus”…if Handel had followed his father’s preferences.)   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        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 Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.

Anatomy of 55 More Songs

 

Issue No. 638 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 18, 2025) trumpets a toe-tapping book on 55 rock, pop, and soul hits (plus three more). And…this bonus: Click here for the Johnny Be Good 2025 Awards Show—honoring the guest bloggers who wrote about their favorite rock, R&B, and pop songs (plus the index to 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song.) You know you want to! View this 75-second opening scene of James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me. Factoid: Carole Bayer Sager was the first female cowriter of a 007 movie theme song.      My 7 Favorite Songs (from a list of 55) “Alexa! Play my seven favorite songs!” (Warning! If you read this special edition of Your Weekly Staff Meeting, get ready to start toe-tapping to your own favorite songs.) Why? Once again, I’m detouring off the leadership and management grid to serve up a fun book:   Anatomy of 55 More Songs:  The Oral History of Top Hits  That Changed Rock, Pop and Soul by Marc Myers (Dec. 5, 2023)   I’m guessing Marc Myers has seen a doctor about his incessant toe-tapping because Myers’ latest book (the 2023 paperback features 58 songs) is a rock, pop, and soul music feast. Using the same format as Anatomy of a Song (45 rock, R&B, and pop iconic hits), the author is having way too much fun! I’m meandering through Anatomy of 55 More Songs, but I’ve already picked my seven favorite chapters—and listened to my favorite versions of these seven songs on YouTube. Enjoy! #1. “Walk on By” (Dionne Warwick - Listen on YouTube). Written by lyricist Hal David and composer Burt Bacharach, the song was released in April 1964 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Read this lead-off chapter in Anatomy of 55 More Songs to learn why Bacharach “answered” Warwick’s “walk on by” line with two flugelhorns (not trumpets). Toe-tapper! #11. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (Diana Ross - Listen on YouTube). Cowriter Valerie Simpson warns about what happened with her cowriter Nickolas Ashford. “I’ll just say that when you’re writing love songs all day long with someone, you can wind up falling in love. We did, and Nick and I married in 1974.” Simpson and Ashford met in church (he was homeless). This memorable “power ballad” was released in July 1970 and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. #22. “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (Roberta Flack - Listen on YouTube). Those “jot-it-down-on-a-napkin” stories that entrepreneurs like to tell? Ditto: Roberta Flack. In 1972, on a flight from NYC to LA, she hear Lori Lieberman’s version of “Killing Me Softly” perhaps four times on the American Airlines music channel loop. Leveraging her church music (organ and piano) background, she arranged the song for her style—and the rest is history. It was released in January 1973 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. It has been covered over 400 times! Bonus Song! I can’t resist. Listen here to one of my favorite all-time versions of “Come Ye Disconsolate” by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. #27. “Sundown” (Gordon Lightfoot - Listen on YouTube). “Jealousy isn’t healthy for a relationship, but it tends to work out pretty well when writing a song,” Gordon Lightfoot told Marc Myers in Chapter 27 of Anatomy of 55 More Songs. Read how Pops Staples, of the Staple Singers, influenced this song. (See more on “Pops” in Song #29 of 45 in Anatomy of a Song.) Released in March 1974, “Sundown” was the biggest hit for “Canada’s most revered folk singer-songwriter.” #36. “Nobody Does It Better" (Carly Simon - Listen on YouTube). Did you know that by 1979, four of the nine James Bond films produced had themes sung by women? Yet “Nobody Does It Better,” the theme written for The Spy Who Loved Me, “marked the first time a woman was credited as the cowriter of a Bond theme.” Carole Bayer Sager was the lyricist for the song that was released in July 1977. The soundtrack album was nominated for an Oscar. View the iconic opening parachute scene from the movie. #39. “The Gambler” (Kenny Rogers - Listen on YouTube). You’ll love songwriter Don Schlitz’s commentary on the creative process for this Kenny Rogers hit. (According to author Marc Myers, Rogers had 420-plus hits across a spectrum of genres.) Schlitz dropped out of Duke University at age 20. When his bus arrived in Nashville (“Music City”), he had just $89. He credits his tenth-grade English teacher who taught him the importance of memorable titles. Hence: “The Gambler.” He wrote the lyrics on his dad’s L.C. Smith manual typewriter. Schlitz and Rogers both won Grammy Awards for this November 1978 release. (This chapter reminded me of the documentary, “It All Begins With a Song.”) #43. “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (The Charlie Daniels Band - Listen on YouTube). LOL! Read why “The Devil Went Down to New Hampshire” doesn’t have the poetic power like “Georgia.” You’ll remember the fiddle in this classic song, but did you know Charlie Daniels never had fiddle lessons? And did you know that the classical violinist Itzhak Perlman (listen to “Fiddler on the Roof”), and his children, were big fans of Daniels?  The inspiration for this song? Stephen Vincent Benet’s 1925 poem, “The Mountain Whippoorwill.” 55 SONG TITLES. Click here for a master list of the 55 songs from the original hardback. (Note: Click on “Table of Contents.”) For more on author Marc Myers and his “Jazz Wax” website and newsletter, click here. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Anatomy of 55 More Songs: The Oral History of Top Hits That Changed Rock, Pop and Soul, by Marc Myers ("New and expanded now with 58 songs!"). Listen on Libro (9 hours, 37 minutes).   ANATOMY OF A SONG (45 HITS) INDEX & 2025 GUEST BLOGGERS 2025 AWARDS SHOW! Congratulations to our faithful guest bloggers who added so much to our 2024 marathon through the 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read my review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes).  Click on this link to view the 2025 GUEST BLOGGERS AWARDS SHOW and learn which bloggers were recipients of the "BEST OF..." awards.        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #8 of 99: Humility For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #8 of 99 in our new series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books and niche chapters still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. Humility by Andrew Murray Wilder Publications (April 2, 2008, 60 pages) What’s the balance between pride and humility when we tell our organization’s story in publications, brochures, donor letters, and fundraising events?    • Read my review (Issue No. 141, May 25, 2009)    • Order from Amazon.    • Listen on Libro (2 hours)    • Management Bucket #8 of 20: The Culture Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant truth the first time I read this. “Oh, beware of the mistake so many make, who would fain be humble, but are afraid to be too humble. They have so many qualifications and limitations, so many reasonings and questionings, as to what true humility is to be and to do, that they never unreservedly yield themselves to it.”   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: BucketCast  Welcome back to our new mini-feature, “BucketCast.” Click on this link to listen to the AI-generated podcasters who comment on my book review of The One Year® Book of Hymns: 365 Devotions Based on Popular Hymns (18 minutes, 49 seconds). For more podcasts, click here. Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. The Courage Gap “Fear is the most used word in the Bible racking up a whole 365 mentions,” writes Margie Warrell in her new book, The Courage Gap: 5 Steps to Braver Action. This book is short and important. Read my review. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

Qualified

 

Issue No. 640 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (March 12, 2025) features a new book that explores the issue (often heartbreaking) of “How competency checking and race collide at work.”  Shari Dunn writes: “My intention with this book is to get us to see past ill-timed Band-Aid actions—ineffective corporate DEI initiatives, ‘color-blind’ solutions, individual mentorship, among others—and provide the hardworking antibiotic that will clean the wound that is racism in the workplace in the United States once and for all.”   Band-Aids vs. Breakthroughs A friend asked me this week why I would want to read Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work, by Shari Dunn. I told my friend about my new favorite quotation from Warren Buffett’s former partner, Charlie Munger (1924-2023). Munger said, “I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything unless I know the other side’s argument better than they do.” (Read more in my 2023 book-of-the-year, Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results.) That’s a very high bar. It’s much easier to coast and give in to the social media partisans and the talk show host dogmatists and let them try and persuade me on any given issue. But wait…who do I listen to? And why? And can I articulate Shari Dunn’s voice better than she can? No way. But Munger’s wisdom inspired me to try. So will you read this? Qualified:  How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work  by Shari Dunn (Feb. 25, 2025)   Frankly, I was somewhat reluctant to do a deep dive into Qualified, but now I’m grateful that the author did some of the hard work for me. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about racial issues that continue to divide our workplace and our country. (I can do better.) Dunn’s book, at least for me, was not a comfortable read. (Heart-breaking, at times.) But it’s an important book—and I urge leaders, readers, pastors, priests, CEOs, department heads, and HR team members to give it a try. My very limited journey on understanding racial issues began—in earnest—during my seminary years when I met William E. Pannell at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. I read his 1968 book, My Friend, The Enemy, described by one of his friends as “a passionate corrective to a white evangelical community that he both loved and distrusted.”  In 1970, I led a Wisconsin winter retreat for high school students from 70 churches and Pannell agreed to be our speaker. Looking back now, I realize our Baptist churches were not ready for his winsome, but hard-to-hear message. And get this—all the way up to his homegoing at age 95 in 2024, he continued to challenge the status quo. That takes guts. In the 1990s, he suggested that the magazine, Christianity Today, should be rebranded, “Suburban Christianity Today.” For more on Dr. William E. Pannell (1929-2024), read this tribute from Fuller Theological Seminary. Click here for the 2024 feature-length film, “The Gospel According to Bill Pannell,” and here for the film’s trailer. Click here for a five-minute “Message from Bill Pannell,” shown at the premiere of the film. Read this tribute in Christianity Today and this obituary in CT. [THANKS…for allowing me to reminisce about Bill Pannell and my own journey. I wonder if author Shari Dunn and Bill Pannell ever met? And would they agree on most issues? Now…back to our regularly scheduled programming.] COMPETENCY CHECKING. Let’s restart with this question—a key focus of Qualified. Pop Quiz: Define “competency checking.” Dunn documents and defines “the Shifting Standards Model (SSM)” which she says “can help explain . . . [why Black employees must meet a higher standard]. Simply put, you shift the requirements or ‘standards’ based on who it is.” She makes a compelling argument about this. Dunn adds, “Because white employers frequently assume Black people are unqualified or incompetent, they competency-check them by paying more attention to any mistake made during the interview (or on the job) in writing samples, conversations, etc. The SSM could be one factor as to why employers consciously or unconsciously set the bar higher when reviewing the background and qualifications of Black and other candidates of color.” In the chapter, “The Roots of Competency Checking,” the author’s extensive research and memorable anecdotes combine to make her case—a case that is tough to ignore. Oh, my. (The notes in the back of the book—a full 50 pages.) BOOK’S PURPOSE. On how to “Move Past the Past,” Dunn employs an apt analogy—why an entire house is at risk when the foundation is poorly laid. She’s hopeful that we can fix the foundation. Her history lesson is helpful. (Did I also mention heartbreaking?) She writes, “Dismantling systemic racism might require a combination of foundational fixes and ‘tear-downs,’ and the purpose of this book is to reveal a blueprint for you to follow to help you identify what you should be aware of and lay out the tools you will need as we jointly begin this work toward building a more equitable and just society that doesn’t pretend not to see race but acknowledges and accounts for its role as a destabilizing factor.” (Note: There’s a lot of pushback on the term “systemic racism.” Have you done a deep dive on both sides of this concept?) I CONFESS. The first half of the book was tough to read—on many levels. I kept wishing that those who hold different views on some of the issues could be invited into the conversation—right in the pages of the book. Dunn is no fan of many influential people on the other side of some of the issues. She disagrees with the stated positions of many, including the governors of Texas and Florida, several Supreme Court Justices and one TV network (guess which one). She takes a well-deserved swipe at what the CEO of a major bank said in 2020. The CEO is quoted: “While it might sound like an excuse, the unfortunate reality is that there is a very limited pool of Black talent to recruit from.” (Must-read: her response to this alarming and incorrect statement.) See also this from the WSJ, “Big Banks Are Scrubbing Their Public Mentions of DEI Efforts.” I kept reading—and I kept wondering: is Dunn hopeful? She shares a “Band-Aid” metaphor which is both hopeful and helpful: “My intention with this book is to get us to see past ill-timed Band-Aid actions—ineffective corporate DEI initiatives, ‘color-blind’ solutions, individual mentorship, among others—and provide the hardworking antibiotic that will clean the wound that is racism in the workplace in the United States once and for all.” Ironically, Qualified was published just last month—on the heels of more than a dozen major corporations (and other organizations) that are disbanding DEI initiatives. (Some are keeping it intact.) Read this and this. Perhaps she speaks to this prophetically: Saying much of this push-back “…comes disguised as ‘anti-woke’ rage,” Dunn adds this. “These are people who have used rhetoric and obfuscation on personal and national platforms to hijack the terms, malign the methodology, and confuse the debate so that people believe diversity is the illness, inclusion is exclusion, equity is biased, and up is down.” Yikes. Did I mention this book may challenge your strongly-held views and opinions? I will read this book twice, along with others books (including Jason Riley’s book coming May 6, 2025)—and my goal is to be able to thoughtfully articulate both sides (the many sides?) of this heartbreaking issue.   I appreciated Dunn’s “Epilogue”—just four pages. It’s also hopeful. She writes. “Here is where I leave you. I hope this book is received as it was intended: as an invitation. A call to action, not just to acknowledge the profound challenges we face, but to actively and even enthusiastically engage in the hard work of dismantling them.” I urge you to read this book.  TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work, by Shari Dunn. Listen on Libro (9 hours, 57 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.     WANT TO GO DEEPER? Listen to the Bloomberg Businessweek podcast interview with Shari Dunn, “Challenging the Narrative that Diversity Equals a Lack of Qualifications” (11 minutes, 57 seconds).   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Shari Dunn quotes James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Is our company or organization intentionally facing the issue of “competency checking” at work (or even in our volunteer arenas)? 2) Is the “Band-Aid” metaphor relevant in your company or organization? If not, what analogy or metaphor would you use to describe your aspirations for a healthy workplace where you are leading and managing with God-honoring integrity in your relationships? What Scripture verses are relevant to your HR culture? (In the “Acknowledgments” section of Qualified, the author mentions Proverbs 27:17.)        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! "Book" #10 of 99: 8 Leadership Flicks! For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring “Book” #10 of 99 in our new series, “Second Reads.” The big idea: REREAD TO LEAD! Discover how your favorite books (and movies!) still have more to teach you and the people you’re coaching and mentoring. 8 LEADERSHIP FLICKS! 11½ Hours of Movies, Videos & YouTube   To celebrate the Hoopla! Bucket this week, you don’t have to read anything! Enjoy this curtain call for eight movies I featured at the start of COVID in 2020. Including comedy, these flicks address leadership issues, insights, and ideas.    • (2025 update: Links to the eight mini-reviews from Issue No. 433, April 2, 2020, will be posted here in 2026.)    • Management Bucket #10 of 20: The Hoopla! Bucket Will your team learn more from your next boring talk—or from an afternoon of popcorn and picture shows on leadership? Ask: if this is your second viewing, what did you learn this time that you missed the first time? #1. HARRIET (2019). You’ll want to watch it twice. I was stunned by Harriet Tubman’s attentive heart—always listening for divine direction. Memorable Line: “The hole in my head just made God’s voice more clear.” #2. WE HAVE A POPE (2011). Memorable Line: “Not me, Lord! Not me!” #3. THE SECRET OF SANTA VITTORIA (1969). I stumbled across this one during COVID when the WSJ recommended the novel by Robert Crichton (which I have not read). Set during WWII and directed by Stanley Kramer, and starring Anthony Quinn, a wine-producing Italian village must hide a million bottles of wine from the Germans. #4. TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (1949). Starring Gregory Peck, this film is often used in MBA courses (google it). Constantino Salios taught a course at Biola University’s Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program in 2007 and invited me to join the class for this powerful film. #5. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (2007). Memorable Line: “And of course at that time, the Atlas boosters were blowing up every other day down at Cape Canaveral. And it looked like a very, you know, a good way to have a short career.” (Jim Lovell) #6. SESAME STREET: ERNIE PUTS DOWN THE DUCKIE (2003). Memorable Line: “Put down the duckie if you wanna play the saxophone.” #7. OUR DAILY BREAD (1934). Memorable line: “Ya gonna follow me or quit like yellow dogs?” (NYT: “One of the 10 best films of 1934.”) #8. MAKE YOUR BED (2014). Memorable Line: “If you want to change the world, start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.”   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: Miracle on a Bus!  Click here to listen to the AI-generated podcasters (13 minutes, 28 seconds) who comment on the stunning “orange” story recently featured on the God Reports website, “Retired Church Secretary’s Miracle on a Bus.” (Read the article.) For more podcasts, click here. Note: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 650+ blogs posted (between 2006 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month. Your City Needs a Mary Henry! Every major city in the nation needs an author like Mary Henry to write 50 or more tributes to the “Black People Whose Names Grace [Our City’s] Sites.” Read why in my review of Tributes: Black People Whose Names Grace Seattle Sites, by Mary T. Henry. (Note: She wrote this at age 99 and is now 101!) For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.