Top-10 Books of 2017

 

Issue No. 376 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 31, 2017) delivers my Top-10 book picks from 2017 (and my Book-of-the-Year) and three master lists of books I’ve reviewed since 2006. Also, Happy New Year! And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies).                He finally had time to read Pearson's book recommendations. Top 10 Books for 2017 John Ortberg asks in The Life You’ve Always Wanted, “If you were marooned on a desert island and could have only a single book with you, what would you choose?” He noted that “somebody once asked this question of G. K. Chesterton. Given his reputation as one of the most erudite and creative Christian writers in the first half of the twentieth Christian century, one would naturally expect his response to be the Bible. It was not. Chesterton chose Thomas' Guide to Practical Shipbuilding.” Good news. You can choose more than one book today from my 2017 book reviews. I don’t speed-read my book picks—and I was blessed with a full client load again this year, so I decreased my output in 2017 (you’re welcome).  This last issue of the year features books I reviewed in Issues No. 355 to 375. To download a PDF of the chronological list of book reviews since 2006 through, visit the Book Bucket on my Management Buckets website. You’ll also find my 2016 personal list (not prescriptive for you) of my Top-100 books (I add a few and drop a few every two years or so.) In 2017, I published 22 issues, some with multiple books. It's a tough assignment to narrow it down to 10 books that all have popular appeal, because all of us are at different levels of competency across the 20 management buckets. What were your top 10 books in 2017? 2017 Book-of-the-Year [   ] The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Read my review.) Numerous colleagues and clients have raved about this book and are already implementing the stunning ideas in The Power of Moments. (The book is also on this week’s Wall Street Journal business books bestseller list.) Jason Pearson bought five copies for the staff at his church. Gift it to your department heads, parents and grandparents, and especially—your HR team:    • On creating extraordinary moments on a team member’s first day on the job: “Imagine if you treated a first date like a new employee.”    • The dinner table question from Spanx founder Sara Blakely’s dad: “What did you guys fail at this week?”     • Innovative teams can orchestrate extraordinary experiences along the way—by defying “the forgettable flatness of everyday work and life by creating a few precious moments.” The Other Nine on My 2017 Top 10 Book List (With brief excerpts from my reviews, these nine are listed in random order.) [  ] The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, by Chris Whipple (Read my review.) This book was so good, I wrote two reviews. Andrew Card, 1st Chief to President George W. Bush (2001-2006): “I broke the job down into the care and feeding of the president; policy formulation; and marketing and selling. You have to make sure the president is never hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, and that they’re well prepared to make decisions that they never thought they’d have to make. And the last category is marketing and selling. If the president makes a decision and nobody knows about it, did the president make a decision?” [  ] Illuminate: Ignite Change Through Speeches, Stories, Ceremonies, and Symbols, by Nancy Duarte and Patti Sanchez (Read my review.) OK, I admit it. I wrote three reviews of this book—it’s that meaty. I also roped my son, Jason, into helping me with the reviews. 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) [  ] Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe the World, by Admiral William H. McRaven (U.S. Navy Retired) – (Order from Amazon.) Short and powerful! “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.” Click here to watch the 19-minute YouTube video of Adm. McRaven’s university commencement speech that spawned this perfect gift book.   [  ] Growing Weeders Into Leaders: Leadership Lessons from the Ground Level, by Jeff McManus (Read my review.) 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 hosts 64,000 people on game days! 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. [  ] The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse, by Tom Verducci (Read my review.) You don’t need to be a baseball fan or a Cubs fan to discover gold in this one. I rounded the bases of this book and collected 10 home run ideas, including why managers must be excellent teachers. In his early years, Cubs Manager Joe Maddon led baseball clinics across Europe and “the preparation and teaching emboldened him.” He observed, “You will remember 75 percent of what you write down…and you will remember 90 percent of what you teach. So I wrote it down and then I taught it.” What’s the learning style of your team members? [  ] Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges, PhD with Susan Bridges (Read my review.)   Patrick Lencioni wrote the foreword to the 25th anniversary edition of this classic: “All too often, people and organizations that are confronted with change find themselves struggling and don’t know why. They’ve applied every practical solution, quantitative method, and technical approach to managing change, and they’re at a loss for why it’s not working. And then they learn about the Bridges transition model and realize that change and transition are very different animals.” [  ] Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry, by David L. McKenna (Read my review.) The author defines an important fork-in-the-road for boards: “A major difference between Christ-centered ministries and for-profit or nonprofit organizations is in the question, ‘Who gets the credit?’” Special Note: Pair this book with the classic I reviewed in late 2016, Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board, by Max De Pree. I milked this 91-page gem for 30 blogs posts in 2017 on the Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations blog.)   [  ] Barna Trends 2017: What’s New and What’s Next at the Intersection of Faith and Culture, by Barna (Roxanne Stone, Editor-in-Chief) - (Read my review.) Deep and wide! Board members at Christian Community Credit Union (I’m privileged to serve on the board) each read and reported on a chunky chapter at our 2017 planning retreat. This amazing book is not only crammed with careful research, but it’s one of the best designed books to come along—colorful charts, infographics, fast facts, snapshots and much more on most pages—and hundreds of mini-discussion topics for the dinner table, water cooler, the pulpit, and your prayer list. Special Note: I have not yet read or reviewed Barna Trends 2018 (published Dec. 19), but I will. Click here to order.   [  ] Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson (Read my summary of the second edition.)   Really, John? You’re promoting your own book in your Top 10 list? Well…not really.ECFA President Dan Busby and I each wrote 20 short lessons—for a total of 40, but you’ll have to guess who wrote which lesson. However, Dan’s lessons are so good—even after 12 years of governance consulting—I find myself echoing numerous Busby boardroom insights with my clients. Be sure to read Lesson 17, “Sidetrack Harebrained Ideas: Some motions should never gain unmerited oxygen.” (But I can’t tell you who wrote that lesson.) Special Note: Follow our “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” posts with 40 guest bloggers. (Click here for the index to all 40 lessons.)   MORE BOOKS EVERY MANAGER MUST READ: For quick summaries of my Book-of-the-Year Honors, search here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog, by year, for "Top-10 Books of ..."   P.S. Master List of Book Reviews: Click here to download these lists:    • List #1: Books by Management Buckets Category    • List #2: Chronological list of issues of Your Weekly Staff Meeting from 2006 through today    • List #3: John Pearson’s Top-100 Book List    Delegate Your Reading in 2018 Insights from Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook C.S. Lewis said, "It is a good rule after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between." And by the way, back in 2013, several readers submitted photos for “My Ideal Bookshelf.” (Thanks to Jeff Lilley, David Curry, Jason Pearson, and others who submitted their Top-10 lists—of all time!) IDEAS FOR 2018: 1) Delegate your reading. Assign books to other team members and ask for mini-reports at staff meetings. 2) Read relevant chapters only. Don't feel guilty for not finishing a book. 3) Hold high the value of sharpening the saw and model it yourself and reward others who read. 4) Budget for books. Invest in your people by investing in books. 5) Discover whether your people are readers or listeners. Audio books might be helpful to some.    I have some fantastic book reviews coming in 2018! OK…one more! Check out the tools, templates, and worksheets for all 20 buckets in Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates, and Tips From John Pearson (2nd Edition). The workbook includes color commentaries by Jason Pearson. For more on the Book Bucket, visit this webpage. And if you have not read the Buckets book (or the workbook), click on the graphics below to order from Amazon.         Note in 2026: 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 LESSONS FROM THE NONPROFIT BOARDROOM Dan Busby and John Pearson are authors of the new book, Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Order from Amazon and follow the "40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays."