highlights two books that deepen our understanding on how to leverage defining moments to produce memorable results. And this reminder:
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.
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