Top-10 Books of 2024

 

Issue No. 633 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Dec. 31, 2024) announces my Top-10 Books of 2024 and my Book-of-the-Year. Also, Happy New Year! Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Bonus! Visit the Book Bucket for the updated master lists of book reviews as of December 31 of every year. Breaking News! Here are my Top-10 Books of 2024, plus my Book-of-the-Year pick. (*Well…actually, there may be more than 10 books.)   2024’s TOP-10 BOOKS*  & Book-of-the-Year! This issue features my favorite books from my 2024 reviews. In 2024, I published 44 issues of Your Weekly Staff Meeting and added 32 posts at Pails in Comparison. Some issues included more than one book, so I reviewed about 80 books in 2024, including two children’s books, plus several films; and I wrote tributes for four special leaders. I also had fun with AI and Google’s NotebookLM and created 14 podcasts. What did you read in 2024? 2024 BOOK-OF-THE-YEAR LEAD WITH PRAYER: THE SPIRITUAL HABITS OF WORLD-CHANGING LEADERS, by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle. (Read my review.) The authors invested three years in research and over 100 hours of interviews with leaders across the globe. (I love the international stories.) They asked leaders about their very personal and private prayer habits. How? When? Where? Why? You’ve never read anything like this. And Ryan, Peter, and Cameron transparently share their own missteps in prayerlessness. (Amazing.) The reality: none of us are spiritual giants. And this I affirm: learning more about the spiritual habits of God-honoring leaders—it changed me. Favorite Quote: Ryan Skoog writes about being at the National Prayer Breakfast “in a breakout session for business leaders. A French Canadian businessman stood up to pray. He was a wise and accomplished leader with thousands of employees. But what most affected the room was his prayer—more specifically, the single word he prayed.” Read more here. (Order from Amazon.) 2024 FAVORITE BOOKS: Personal & Spiritual Development [  ] WHEN KINGDOM LIGHT SHINES: Stories That Inspire Faith, by Mark Ellis. (Read my review.) This new book—jam-packed with 60 inspiring stories that have been featured on the God Reports website—is so, so powerful that I’ve already gifted the book to eight people! Favorite Chapter: “How God Answered Francis Chan’s Ridiculous Prayer for a Son-in-Law.” (Order from Amazon.) [  ] FAITH FOR THE CURIOUS: How an Era of Spiritual Openness Shapes the Way We Live and Help Others Follow Jesus, by Mark Matlock. (Read my review.) Mark Matlock is one creative guy! During the pandemic, he “…facilitated numerous workshops with church and nonprofit leaders, and one of the games we played was ‘keep it, curb it, refresh it.’ Never before has the church had an opportunity to ‘curb’ so many relics we have accumulated over time.” He suggests churches have a “massive garage sale!” Fascinating Chart! How are we communicating to the spectrum of spiritual views today? See Matlock’s chart contrasting “Curiosity” with “Supernaturalism” and these segments: Naturalists, Curious Skeptics, Spiritually Curious, and Practicing Christians. (Order from Amazon.) [   ] UNCOMMON GRACES: Christlike Responses to a Hostile World, by John Vawter. (Read my review.) “When ‘safe sins’ go unchallenged, something of a Christian fantasy religion is allowed to thrive—a religion that condemns alcohol and adultery, yet condones, say, arrogance and abrasiveness.”  Convicting Poke-in-the-Rib! “There should be a support group in the church for those addicted to ‘safe sins’—an AA for the arrogant and the abrasive.” (Order from Amazon.) [   ] BECOMING A FUTURE-READY CHURCH: 8 Shifts to Encourage and Empower the Next Generation of Leaders, by Daniel Yang, Adelle M. Banks, and Warren Bird. (Read my review.) Each chapter includes a “One Degree of Change” self-assessment with five to seven questions to prompt leadership conversations on the eight big shifts, “from this to that.” Gut Check: “Most churches in North America have more in common with 1950 than with 2050.” (Order from Amazon.) [   ] GLAD I DIDN'T KNOW: Lessons Learned Through Life’s Challenges and Unexpected Blessings, by Vonna Laue. (Read my review.) Before reading this book, you’d find me in the “I Want to Know Now” camp. Yet, 32 powerful first-person stories later, I’m a fully devoted convert to the “Glad I Didn’t Know” spiritual principles that ooze out of Vonna Laue’s life lessons book. This book may change your mind (and your heart).   Speed Bump. Jim West was grateful he didn’t know—in advance—that after seeing a throat cancer doctor in 2022, the physician would urge him to go home and prepare his will and estate. Jim writes: “I am glad I didn’t know that God had this speed bump in front of me.” (Order from Amazon.)   2024 FAVORITE BOOKS:  Leadership & Business [  ] THE 365 DAY LEADER: Recalibrate Your Calling Every Day, by Dick Daniels. (Read my review.) Dick Daniels has done it again! Two of his earlier books captured my “book-of-the-year” honors. (I was tempted on this one also!) You will love this “daily dose of Dr. D.” Each page features a short “snapshot of what exemplary leaders consistently do.”    Day 3 is titled, “LEADERSHIP DELUSION!” The convicting question: “Have You Ever Had a Coach? The leadership delusion is to assume everyone needs a coach except you.” (Order from Amazon.)   [  ] THE PROBLEM WITH CHANGE: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance, by Ashley Goodall. (Read my review.) Page after page, learning about the unhealthy results of change foisted on previously healthy team members, I was reminded of the many missteps in my leadership years—totally missing the trauma that I unwittingly perpetrated on employees. (So sorry, friends—if we’re still friends.) My entire view of CHANGE has changed.   Favorite Quotes: Ashley Goodall is a writer’s writer. I’m on my second black felt tip pen—underlining his pokes-in-the-ribs glossary, including: “Financification of business,” “Tagline-ification,” “big shiny change levers,” and “shiny new mission statements” (Order from Amazon.) [  ] THE ILLUSION OF INNOVATION: Escape "Efficiency" and Unleash Radical Progress, by Elliott Parker. (Read my review.) Parker writes, “Innovation efforts pursued inside corporations too often look like theater—people acting busy doing something so executives can explain to the board and investors that innovation is definitely, without a doubt, a top priority. But when reviewed after the fact, most of the effort produces little impact.” Fascinating! The takeaway in Chapter 9, “Selecting Shots,” will be challenging for most—but critical: “Run more experiments: fast, cheap, and weird.” Fascinating: what happened when the NBA adopted the three-point line in the 1978-1979 season—a metaphor for innovation. (Order from Amazon.) [   ] HOW LEADERS LEARN: Master the Habits of the World's Most Successful People, by David Novak with Lari Bishop. (Read my review.) This book is very, very practical and the format is brilliant: 27 short chapters (in bite-sized, 15-minute insights)—with each chapter featuring the learning habits of three to five leaders. You’ll be familiar with many of the 105 people spotlighted, including Patrick Lencioni. Favorite Quote: Novak quotes Henry Kissinger on what you can learn from a crisis: “There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full.” (Order from Amazon.) [  ] IRREPLACEABLE: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together, by Kevin Ervin Kelley. (Read my review.) Must-read! “Standing around for weeks on end watching people look at Harleys may not be for everyone, and it created an awkward moment when I first met my wife and told her how I spend my days in disguise as a customer. But it’s what I do.” He adds, “But I’m not just a watcher. I’m also a fixer, adjuster, tinkerer, rethinker, and experience designer.” Favorite Quote: The author’s unusual approach, when his team is stuck on solving a client’s problem, is to “find the funny.” (Order from Amazon.)   2024 BONUS BOOKS:  Nonprofit Management [  ] NEXT LEVEL NONPROFIT: Build A Dream Team + Increase Lasting Impact, by Chris Lambert. (Read my review.) When our son, Jason, and I published Mastering 100 Must-Read Books in 2022, this book had not yet been written—so now in 2024, we have a problem. Should we edit the title so it reads “Mastering 101 Must-Read Books?” Or…maybe I’ll go out on a limb here and add it to my Top-20 book recommendations (see Resource 5.2). Either way…if you understand the power and the importance of nonprofit organizations, this is a must-read. CONFESSION. I confess. I read Chapter 10 in the “Disciplined Execution” section first. “The Weekly” aligns beautifully with this eNews and my Meetings Bucket—and Lambert gives away the store revealing how he and his leadership team conduct purposeful weekly meetings. They are evangelists for weekly meetings. (Order from Amazon.) [  ] LOST IN TRANSITION: Lessons from the Most Disastrous & Successful Ministry Successions, by Steve Woodworth with James Lund. (Read my review.) The author quotes Edgar Sandoval, who followed Rich Stearns as World Vision’s CEO. “According to Edgar, every new leader should ask the former leader, at regular intervals:    • ‘How are you doing?    • How are you feeling?    • How am I making you feel?’” GUT CHECK! “Finding the sweet spot” for outgoing leaders is not easy. Read about John (not me!) who “failed at retirement” within the first 24 hours! He confessed, “I’m a micromanager by nature. I didn’t know it would take so much energy to keep my hands off things.” (Order from Amazon.) [  ] THE CULTURALLY CONSCIOUS BOARD: Setting the Boardroom Table for Impact, by Jennifer M. Jukanovich and Russell W. West. (Read my review.) If you thumbed through my well-worn copy of The Culturally Conscious Board, you’d likely comment, “John! You’ve underlined something on almost every page!” This book changed my thinking! LOL! Leveraging the story of Crystal, a new board member at her first meeting of the fictitious City Farm board, the authors invite us inside this dysfunctional boardroom. (Order from Amazon.) *UM, ER...TOP-14 BOOKS This “Top-10 Book List for 2024” may actually add up to more than 10 books. Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. Way too many good books this year!   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: In my review of the 2019 book-of-the-year, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, by Jim Mattis and Bing West, I quote General Mattis, “If you haven’t read hundreds of books, learning from others who went before you, you are functionally illiterate—you can’t coach and you can’t lead.” Certainly not all of the Top-10 books (or the Book-of-the-Year) will have popular appeal—because all of us are at different levels of competencies and curiosities across the 20 management buckets. But perhaps someone you are coaching or mentoring will appreciate one or more of these top picks for 2024.  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