The Imperfect Board Member - 2026

 

Issue No. 693 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 30, 2026) admits we all must work with “imperfect” board members—but Jim Brown has refreshed ideas for you. Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of two new leadership books. And check out these bite-sized book summaries (7- to 9-minute videos)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   The Imperfect Board Member is the perfect book for your next board retreat or your "10 Minutes for Governance" slot at your next board meeting. 10 Boardroom Shifts Since 2006 Brilliant idea! Take a great book that I’ve recommended to every board I’ve consulted with since 2006—and enrich that book with more resources and practical help. Congrats to Jim Brown for this 20th anniversary expanded edition—just published. The Imperfect Board Member:  Discovering the Seven Disciplines of  Governance Excellence  (20th Anniversary Updated & Expanded Edition) by Jim Brown (Sept. 29, 2026) I’m often asked by nonprofit CEOs and board members, “What’s the best board governance book we should read?” (You already know my answer: “It depends.”) That’s why in 2018-2019, I created my list of “18 Best Board Books.” The Imperfect Board Member is Book #2. (Read my 2006 review. See the list of 18 board books, plus five “bonus books.”) Jim Brown, the founder of OrgHealth, consults with corporate boards, nonprofit boards, and church boards (he’s one brave guy!)—and knows his way around the boardroom. Here are seven reasons you’ll appreciate this 20th anniversary update: #1. Board Members Will Read it! The “fable” format is real life. David, the CEO in this story, wakes up in a cold sweat—six nights, six nightmares. Board members will read and identify with the organizational challenges at work—and at home. (Spoiler alert! A pastor mentors this corporate guy on governance excellence!) #2. Lencioni Loves It! Patrick Lencioni, who wrote the foreword to the book, writes: “Finally, a book about boards that isn’t boring!” (High praise from an author who knows something about writing business fables.) #3. Twenty Years of Change Explained. What’s different now in 2026 versus 2006? Must-read: Chapter 14, “Twenty Years of Change in the Boardroom.” (Brilliant!) #4. Memorable Model. Part 2 of this expanded book drills down on Brown’s “Secret Formula for Organizational Effectiveness” (not secret anymore!) and “The Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence.” (A colleague who read the book in 2006 can still quote the seven disciplines—because they’re memorable.) #5. New Coaching Highlights. “Compass icons” in the fable spotlight 10 coaching highlights (with application) in Part 3’s short chapters. You’ll be tempted to read these first: “Manipulating the Board,” “Forgiveness Versus Permission,” “Handling Conflict,” and “The Power of Owning Mistakes.” #6. New Nonprofit & Church Board Insights. Read the very practical chapter on “Governing Churches and Charities,” including an affirming section, “What Churches and Charities Can Teach Corporations.” #7. More Book Recommendations! Brown includes a recommended reading list of 15 titles—plus short paragraphs for each book explaining, “Why this book?” (Brilliant.) SO INSIGHTFUL! Brown details 10 shifts in the chapter, “Twenty Years of Change in the Boardroom.” (Why doesn’t every second edition of a book do this?) He notes that the shifts “…form the backdrop for everything boards must navigate today. Each represents both progress and a new layer of complexity.” Aligned with the new coaching highlights in this 2026 update, the shifts address board culture, chair leadership, and the complexity of governing organizations with multiple owner groups. Here are five of the 10 shifts over the last 20 years. (Each shift includes a lesson to be learned.)    • From Compliance to Strategic Stewardship    • From CEO-Controlled Agendas to Shared Leadership at the Top    • From Not Enough Information to Too Much at Once    • From Technology as Infrastructure to Technology as Strategy    • From Annual Evaluations to Continuous Board Learning BOARD BOOK/BOARD RETREAT. If I were still a CEO (I’m saying that a lot lately), I’d create a discussion guide for The Imperfect Board Member and inspire the board to make this their book-of-the-year; or use the guide for pre-reading prior to the next board retreat. (See Tool #13 from ECFA, “Board Retreat Read-and-Reflect Worksheets.”) MORE RESOURCES! Jim Brown also publishes two eNewsletters: [  ] The Imperfect Board eNews (subscribe here) [  ] The Imperfect Church Leader eNews (subscribe here) THE IMPERFECT CEO! Jim Brown is one busy guy. Also in 2026, he wrote The Imperfect CEO: Making the Climb to Organizational Health. [   ] Read my review. [   ] Order from Amazon. [   ] View the interview with Jim Brown on the “Life After Ministry” podcast (31 min.) . [   ] View the summary video (7 minutes) of my review of The Imperfect CEO.   THERE’S MORE! Raise your hand if your board chair has a business card that reads, “Cultural Architect.” Brown believes that every board member helps shape culture, “but the chair is the architect. The best chairs are more than meeting managers. They’re facilitators, tone-setters, and bridge-builders." He adds, “And the chair’s work doesn’t stop when the gavel drops,” because board chairs “see culture as a living system that needs constant tending." This reminded me of David McKenna’s book, Call of the Chair (read my review). He defines nine roles of the board chair: Missionary, Model, Mentor, Manager, Moderator, Mediator, Monitor, Master, and Maestro.  Should the CEO also serve as board chair? (This is common in some companies and organizations, very uncommon in others.) Brown confesses that when he wrote The Imperfect Board Member in 2006, he “sidestepped one of governance’s most loaded debates.” Now in 2026, this gutsy guy writes an entire chapter: “To Chair or Not to Chair: Why Splitting the Roles Makes Sense for Most." (Don’t skip pages 205-206, “Four Common Risks of CEO-Chair Duality” and “Recognizing the Dark Side.”) Bottom Line for Me: The Imperfect Board Member (2026 edition) remains on my “18 Best Board Books” list. Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado, president and CEO of Compassion International, calls this new update “an indispensable guide to governance.” I just ordered the book for the elder board at our church. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for The Imperfect Board Member: Discovering the Seven Disciplines of Governance Excellence (20th Anniversary Updated & Expanded Edition), by Jim Brown.    YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) What book did you read 20 or more years ago that needs an updated and expanded edition now in 2026? 2) In the foreword to The Imperfect Board Member (2006), Patrick Lencioni wrote, “The author—a friend of mine—often jokes that a greeter at WalMart gets more orientation than most board members ever do. We all know that’s no joke. It’s true for boards of every description. And it’s appalling. Although it sounds extreme, management guru Peter Drucker wrote, ‘There is one thing all boards have in common . . . They do not function.’” QUESTION: How would your three newest board members evaluate the recruitment and orientation process they endured? (There’s help!)          SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #60 of 99: $50 Fine for Boring Meetings! For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #60 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. Unbroken:  A World War II Story of Survival,  Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Nov. 16, 2010)   Wait…what? Yes…I’m recommending the page-turner, Unbroken, as an antidote to boring meetings. Learn why.     • Read my review (Issue No. 308, Oct. 2, 2014).    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #20 of 20: The Meetings Bucket $50 Fine for Boring Meetings! After 30 years of CEO work, I turned in my keys and credit cards at the end of 2005, and there are days I wish I could rewind the video—and get a do-over on my leadership years. For example, I would institute a $50 fine for every boring staff meeting—and I would double the fine for myself if anyone caught me leading an uninspired, ho-hum meeting. Today, I would follow “Pearson’s Radical Wall Poster Team-building Exercise: 4 Easy Steps.” One idea: plan a “Book-of-the-Quarter” event.  P.S. Oops! By the way, if you’re taking notes, in my 99-book journey through “Second Reads: Reread to Lead,” I mistakenly spotlighted Thinkpak - A Brainstorming Card Deck in both #60 of 99 and #23 of 99. (My bad!) So, this is a substitute blog for #60 of 99. (At least I admit my mistakes!)   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN     View the video summary of “Mistake #4: Not Learning How to Listen. Way too late in life, I’m learning ‘the case for listening’” (8 min.). (Lee Strobel was talking. I wasn't listening. LOL.) See the workbook, Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. The Imperfect CEO View the summary video (7 minutes) of John’s review of The Imperfect CEO: Making the Climb to Organizational Health, by Jim Brown. (Read the review.) BONUS! As of today, 32 video podcasts (7 to 9 minutes each) are posted here. Perfect life-long learning snippets for your weekly staff meeting. 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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  Transforming Church Boards “Perhaps the most important difference between corporate governance and church board leadership is the task of discernment.” That’s from Book 3 of 3 in the series, Transforming Church Boards: For Churches in Transition (read my review), by Dennis Baker, David C. Fisher, and John Vawter (yes, the same guy who wrote the hilarious golf book!). For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

2 Leadership Books

 

Issue No. 692 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 25, 2026) asks if you should read another leadership book—or use the money for lunch? Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of A Talent for Giving: Creating a More Generous Society That Benefits Everyone. And check out these bite-sized book summaries (7- to 9-minute videos)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   Another leadership book? Are you serious, John? You need help!    "The Messy Everyday Reality" Really, Pearson? The world needs two more books on leadership? Well…perhaps. Read my short reviews of two new books—and then you decide:    • Read none, one, or both?    • Delegate your reading?    • Or announce to your spouse or a colleague: “Instead of buying another book, I’m taking you out to lunch today!” The Catalyst CEO:  Why CEOs Can't Lead Transformation Alone —And What the Best Do Instead by Constantine G. Alexandrakis (Sept. 22, 2026) The Panoramic Leader:  How Great Leaders See Differently Cornelia Choe and Marshall Goldsmith (July 7, 2026) THE CATALYST CEO Favorite Chapter: The introduction. Really! Read that and you’re hooked. One of the author’s team members at Russell Reynolds (the global leadership company) writes about the “ghosts” of your predecessors, “who somehow seem to get wiser and taller the moment they leave office.” LOL! Favorite Quote: “To be clear, this book isn't intended to be some grand thesis on transformation. The world already has plenty of those. McKinsey, BCG, PwC, and others have written thousands of pages full of strategies, models, and insights about how organizations change. Most of them are excellent. But what they don't often capture is the human part: the messy everyday reality of how you get your teams to actually own the transformation journey and see through it." Favorite Takeaway: Every chapter concludes with a summary, “The Transformation Ledger.” More zingers than you can count—and these are just from Chapter 1, “Strike the Match.” (Required reading.)    • “If you don’t define the burning platform, someone else will, usually a journalist.”    • “You can’t outsource urgency; the CEO has to feel it, and make others feel it, too.”    • “Comfort is more dangerous than competition.”    • “Manufactured urgency beats manufactured excuses.”    • “If everyone looks calm, you may be leading them into irrelevance.”    • “Transformation is a muscle, not a miracle.”    • “The real enemy is rarely outside the building; it’s the voice that says, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’” Favorite Question: From Chapter 10, “What I Wish I’d Known About Becoming a Catalyst CEO,” the author asks, “Do you see your role as the ultimate decision-maker, or the person who enables better decisions?” (That’s just one of eight poke-in-the-rib questions in this final chapter—another must-read.) I’m guessing he’s read one or both books by Dennis Bakke, Joy at Work (2006 book-of-the-year) and/or The Decision Maker (read my review, “The Problem Was Me.”) Watch for My 2nd Review! I just might convince you that Chapter 2, “Get the Board Onboard” will be your favorite chapter.    • When Greg Creed became the CEO of Yum! (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, etc.), he admits that he “could toss out a hundred ideas before breakfast.” But through new CEO eyes, he faced a board-approved “sprawling list of 36 priorities that the company was expected to deliver.” (Must-read: how he reduced that list to four!)    • “Brutal simplicity beats polite abstraction. A hard truth lands faster than a hundred charts. If it stings, it sticks.”    • “If you don’t translate, you don’t persuade. Boards don’t want 50-page decks; they want a story they can tell themselves on the car ride home.”    • Read the research: “Global Board Culture and Director Behaviors Study.” THE PANORAMIC LEADER Favorite Chapter: “Expertise can sow the seed of blindness,” is just one of dozens of wake-up alarms in Chapter 4, “Mindset First.” In addition to detailing the creativity of the Spanish restaurant, El Bulli, authors Cornelia Choe and Marshall Goldsmith deliver a stunning graphic on page 81, “When Mastery Becomes Risk – The Hidden Cost of Unconscious Competence.” The four levels up to the mountain top:    • Unconscious Incompetence (the bottom of the mountain)    • Conscious Incompetence    • Conscious Competence    • Unconscious Competence (the top of the mountain—yikes!) Favorite Quote: (Marshall Goldsmith is no slouch! I named What Got You Here Won’t Get You There my 2013 book-of-the-year, thanks to Gordon Flinn.) Yet "the World's #1 leadership thinker and executive coach" transparently shares the feedback he received from his mentor. Dr. Paul Hersey told him, “You are completely screwing up. You are selling the same thing day after day after day. You are not thinking, you are not writing, and you are not developing new material. If you continue doing what you are now, you will have a successful life, but you will never become the person you could be—and you will regret it. You can be more.”  Favorite Warning: (Maybe? Maybe not? Read another leadership book?) “According to research published by the Corporate Executive Board, at least half—somewhere between 50 percent and 70 percent—of new executives fail within their first 18 months on the job. That number is as shocking as it is catastrophic, for both the leaders who are affected by this silent epidemic and for the organizations they lead.” Favorite Question: “How often do I actively seek out contradictory information or dissenting opinions to guard against confirmation bias in my personal decisions?” Watch for My 2nd Review! I made more than 30 notes for my review but I promised a short review today. So I’m planning a second review later this year. Watch for:    • Yes, you need to view the dance floor from the balcony, but you also need to invite others to join you on the balcony—“people who see the world differently”—and can spot the “gatecrashers” you may be ignoring. (This reminded me of Ram Charan’s “perceptual acuity dinners.”)    • Why, when co-author Cornelia Choe received an honorary Ph.D. from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, she led a standing ovation for the bottom half of the class!    • Yikes. Why Apple pulled the plug on their $10 billion project to build a fully autonomous car. (The authors name the culprit: the core problem at Apple—and yes, pun intended.) SO…read one book, two books, delegate your reading…or buy lunch? TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the titles for: [   ] The Panoramic Leader: How Great Leaders See Differently, by Cornelia Choe and Marshall Goldsmith.  [   ] The Catalyst CEO: Why CEOs Can't Lead Transformation Alone—And What the Best Do Instead, by Constantine G. Alexandrakis. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 50 minutes). (And thanks to the publishers for sending review copies.)         YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Cornelia Choe and Marshall Goldsmith write, “Leaders don't fail for lack of intelligence. They fail because they're navigating with partial maps. We call this perspective blindness—the tendency to mistake an incomplete view of reality for the whole. In an increasingly volatile world, that mistake compounds quickly. Panoramic leadership is a strategic advantage.” QUESTION: What are you missing? Who should read The Panoramic Leader? 2) Constantine G. Alexandrakis quotes Mark Twain, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” QUESTION: How are you going to find out what you know that ain’t so? 3) Click here for my favorite cartoon, plus mini-reviews of six more leadership books including True North: Leading Authentically in Today's Workplace, Emerging Leader Edition, by Zach Clayton and Bill George. Who will read and report on one of these books?          SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Resource #60 of 99: Thinkpak: A Brainstorming Card Deck For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Resource #60 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. Thinkpak:  A Brainstorming Card Deck by Michael Michalko (June 1, 2006)   Imagine being called “one of the most highly acclaimed creativity experts in the world.” That’s Michael Michalko, who organized a team of NATO intelligence specialists and international academics in Frankfurt, Germany, to research, collect, and categorize all known inventive-thinking methods.”    • Read my review (Issue No. 261, Nov. 26, 2012)    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #20 of 20: The Meetings Bucket The result: the “S.C.A.M.P.E.R." process. This fun-to-use brainstorming card deck has 56 cards including two instructional cards, four or five cards for each of the nine key processes, plus seven cards with creative ways to evaluate ideas. It’s a brilliant instant brainstorming system. But caution! It could be dangerous to your boring, status quo meetings!   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN     View the AI-generated summary of “Mistake #3: Reading Too Narrowly—Stuck in My Lane. I should have read a book on ‘how to read a book’ 50 years ago.” (8 minutes). See the workbook, Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Learning to Lead View the AI-generated summary video (8 minutes) of John’s 2019 book-of-the-year, Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, by Jim Mattis and Bing West. (Read the review.) BONUS! As of today, 30 video podcasts (7 to 9 minutes each) are posted here. Perfect life-long learning snippets for your weekly staff meeting. 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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts  Finding Lost Golf Balls! John Vawter (author, pastor, coach to pastors, and very funny guy) reports that American golfers lose 300 million golf balls per year! His hilarious book is now in paperback. Your golfing friends will love this! Just 61 pages. Read my review. View the YouTube video summary.

A Talent for Giving

 

Issue No. 691 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Sept. 18, 2026) expands the “time, talent, and treasure” axiom. Warning! You’ll need to buy 20 copies of this book! Plus, click here for back issues posted at the new location for John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my review of Enough: Finding Deep Contentment in an Anxious and Fearful World, by R. Scott Rodin. And check out these bite-sized book summaries (7- to 9-minute videos)—perfect for your weekly staff meeting.   Suggestion: Send the book, A Talent for Giving, to 20 business leaders and invite them onto a Zoom call conversation about entrepreneurial giving. (Graphic: ChatGPT)   The Giver’s Lazy Option! If I were still a CEO of a nonprofit organization (which would make me 20 years younger), I would buy 20 copies of A Talent for Giving and send this book to 20 key people—with an invite to a Zoom conversation on entrepreneurial giving. Must-read:   A Talent for Giving:  Creating a More Generous Society That Benefits Everyone by John Studzinski (Sept. 17, 2026 – paperback)   The author, an American-British investment banker and philanthropist, is on a crusade to inspire donors to become entrepreneurial partners. He writes: “By simply giving money to charity you are, in a way, conveniently forgetting about it. You can click the ‘Pay’ button and get on with your day. With a single neat transaction your donation is out of the way and now you can leave the charitable work and the worry to someone else.” John Studzinski, CBE, adds: “In a way, it's a lazy option, though hopefully a safe one. If your money is going to a reputable well-run charity that knows what it's doing, it's reasonable to assume it will be put to good, purposeful use. How often, though, do you actually follow up on what is happening to money you've donated?” If…I were to invite 20 entrepreneurs (including young wanna-be entrepreneurs) onto a Zoom conversation, I would ask five of them to each pick their favorite chapter and share a five-minute summary. (Generous Starbucks cards for stopping at the buzzer!). I have five favorite chapters! Chapter 5: “The Ts of Entrepreneurial Giving.” You’ve likely mentored others on Time, Talent, and Treasure. Likely heard a sermon or 20 on that theme (just before the church building fund drive). But the author urges entrepreneurs to go beyond the 3 Ts. Way beyond! Count ‘em: “Talent, Time, Treasure, Trust, Temperament, Tenderness, Temerity—Tenacity—Toughness, Ties—Teams—Tribes, Two, Technology, Trial, and Transmission.” (Trust me, this will preach!) Fun comparison: see Steve Macchia’s 5 Ts in his book, Crafting a Rule of Life.   Chapter 1: “Giving: It’s All About You.” The author is a big fan of lifelong learning. (I agree. That’s why I’m still reading and reviewing books.) He shares a poignant word that Mother Teresa of Calcutta “once, unforgettably, said to me: ‘You can only change the world one person at a time.’”  But…is it “all about you?” Studzinski responds, “Ambition and humility are not mutually exclusive: we will achieve more if we don’t overreach ourselves.” Chapter 2: “Beyond the Selfie.” Read why the author prefers the word “giving” to the word “philanthropy.” He adds, “It has its place, but is too big and too heavy for this book, too loaded with conventions, implications and assumptions.”  Chapter 4: “Talents, Parables, and Growth.” The author begins with the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 and wakes us up with this: “…but you might be surprised by the straight-talking tone it takes.” He adds that the parable “does not make comfortable reading for any of us. It is an exercise in tough love, highlighting the risks if we fail to recognize the true nature of our gifts.” Rarely do those Sunday “stewardship sermons” feature the boss in the parable. Studzinski: “The boss is clearly a man who has talents in the modern sense. For a start, he is successful in material terms. He is also an astute judge of his staff's abilities, as he demonstrates in the way he allocates the money in line with each servant's potential. But that doesn't mean he has nothing to learn about nurturing talent.” Chapter 6: “Trailblazing.” Gut-check? The author shares wisdom if your entrepreneurial genes persuade you to “launch your own project or create your own organization.” He cautions: “You won't be doing this to satisfy your ego and to show the world you can go it alone. It will be because you believe it is the best way of solving a problem you have identified—and because no one else seems to have come up with precisely the solution you have in mind. Essentially, you see your solution as a way to start changing the world one person at a time.” John Studzinski speaks from experience. He’s both a visionary and very hands-on (in an appropriate way). Check out the Genesis Foundation and The Passage. He credits Cardinal Basil Hume (1923-1999), then Archbishop of Westminster, for his patient mentoring. The author unequivocally writes about his own “faith in God and its expression through my identity as a Catholic.” 3 MORE. I’ve already mentioned my five favorite chapters, but I actually have more! If you volunteer to highlight a chapter in a Zoom conversation, check out these options:    • Chapter 8: “Trust Is Key.” He writes, “If the charity in question is entrepreneurial in its thinking, it will take the opportunity to find out more about you too.” (See also why Studzinski volunteers regularly.)    • Chapter 9: “The Time of Your Life.” Learn why the author became a perfectionist at “ladling soup dead-center with no splashes” at age six! Studzinski is contrarian also: Why the glib equation, “time is money,” is not helpful.    • Chapter 10: “Hunting for Buried Treasure.” Do you agree? “…my belief is that there is an entrepreneur to be unearthed in nearly all of us.” And this? “Only when you enrich it with time and talent does money become treasure.” (See my reviews of Entrepreneurial Leadership, Entrepreneurial StrengthsFinder, and my article on entrepreneurial wisdom, published by CLA. Plus, stay tuned for my review of The Social Entrepreneur.) This book reminded of the blurb I clipped in 1983 from the summer brochure of the Montrose Bible Conference in Pennsylvania. The article noted that the ministry was “sustained by the prayers of God’s people and their financial gifts. The latter are fully tax-deductible!” On heaven’s side, apparently, we’ll see the impact of our prayers. And you’ll love this: On the first page of more than 20 endorsements for the book—including current and former prime ministers of Australia, Canada, and the UK—there’s a sweet recommendation from Aves Finn-Dean, a fifth grader! “A Talent for Giving is the handbook kids need today. It's not a boring lecture. It's a simple plan for finding ways to give in your life. It inspired me to create a new fundraiser at our school in California, and I bet it will help you to give, or give more. You could start by giving this book to a friend!” The book is also endorsed by Ken Langone, co-founder of The Home Depot; Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo; Michael Bloomberg, and the presidents of the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Ford Foundation. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for A Talent for Giving: Creating a More Generous Society That Benefits Everyone, by John Studzinski. Listen on Libro (4 hours, 24 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.     View the new series, John Pearson's Buckets Podcast, with AI-generated summaries of John's book reviews (short and snappy: just 7 to 9 minutes each). View the podcast summarizing my blog post, “Clear Thinking Masterclass” (my 2023 book-of-the-year).   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Warning, says John Stuzdinski: “If you’re looking for the easy option, entrepreneurial giving might not be for you." (Must-read: Chapter 12, “Toughing It Out.”) He also reminds us, “Let us not become weary in doing good…” (Galatian 6:9). Are you, as the Message reads, allowing yourself “…to get fatigued doing good”? 2) The author acknowledges Charles Handy (1932-2024) “who continually inspired me to consider philanthropy as a way of life.” (Read my review of Handy’s book, Myself and Other More Important Matters.) Handy’s contrarian request to a client: “…could you arrange for us to have an hour alone with each of the four most interesting people in Calcutta?" QUESTION: Who would you like an hour with?  MORE RESOURCES ON GENEROSITY AND GIVING: [   ] Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast (Sept. 8, 2026) - “The Giving Disruption Coming for the Church: Pat Gelsinger on AI and Mental Health” (Note: The segment on giving begins at about 55 minutes.) [   ] The Generosity Factor: Discover the Joy of Giving Your Time, Talent, and Treasure, by Ken Blanchard and S. Truett Cathy (Read my review—and note several other generosity resources.) [   ] The Donor Bucket: six resources. [   ] Being Generous, by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch (read my review) [   ] The Sweet Spot for Success: Finding the Place Where Your Talent and Passions Meet, by Pat Williams with Jim Denney          SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #59 of 99: How to Work a Room  For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #59 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. How to Work a Room  (25th Anniversary Edition): The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections—in Person and Online by Susan RoAne (Dec. 31, 2013)   Wow! How did I miss this stunningly practical book? While I was dithering and missing important connections (in person and online), more than a million others bought this book and have learned How to Work a Room! Guy Kawasaki recommends you buy three copies!    • Read my review (Issue No. 285, Sept. 9, 2013)    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing (aka Communication) Bucket The practical tricks and tactics ooze out—and with 400 pages—start with the 11-page table of contents (why doesn’t every author provide this level of detail at the front end?). Oh, my. What to read first?    • Five roadblocks and five remedies when working a room    • Prepare Your Small Talk    • Name Tags That Pull    • Great Opening Lines    • Five Fundamental Laws of Casual Conversation    • Fatal Flaws of Casual Conversation    • The Ten Commandments of Connecting    • Working the World: Trains and Boats and Planes    • Plus: check out the author’s recommended reading and listening list   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN     View the AI-generated summary of “Mistake #2: Reading…But Not Learning. I’ve always been a reader, but not a lifelong learner” (7 minutes). See the workbook, Mastering Mistake Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—and What I Learned (10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being moved to a new website here at John Pearson's Buckets Blog. Stretching Leadership Capacity View the AI-generated summary (8 minutes) of John’s review of the book, Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels. Read John's review. BONUS! As of today, 30 video podcasts (7 to 9 minutes each) are posted here. Perfect life-long learning snippets for your weekly staff meeting. 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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts Leadership Briefs (2nd Ed.) Read John's updated review of Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels (John's 2015 Book-of-the-Year). Now in 2026, Daniels just released the second edition with a very helpful new preface, new introduction, and a graphic of the six-stage “Culture & Capacity Model.” Read the updated review, “When Do You Stop Leading?”

Leadership Briefs - Revised 2nd Edition

  

2015 BOOK-OF-THE-YEAR Issue No. 318 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 21, 2015) spotlights a new leadership book with—trust me—at least a dozen chapters you’ve never read before. I’ve exhausted my inventory of affirming adjectives for this refreshing resource, Leadership Briefs. It’s amazing. [2026 Update! Read the latest edition!]   When Do You Stop Leading? Aw, heck.  Just when you think you can pontificate on all-things leadership, along comes a phenomenal book that hammers your ego. I still have much to learn. Case in point: Ask me how to build a healthy culture on your team—and I can give you three steps and three books.  Ask Dick Daniels the same question and he delivers eight core elements and seven steps. (Where does he get this good stuff? It’s off-the-chart insightful—and packaged brilliantly.) In the new, hot-off-the-press book, Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, Daniels says that “building a healthy culture requires a carefully crafted blueprint.” He starts with four foundational building blocks: vision, mission, values…and one more we often minimize: leadership. Then in less than a page, he outlines the four sides of organizational framing: strategy, structure, staffing, and systems. He notes, “Staffing follows structure. A change in strategy leads to a change in structure which impacts staffing.”  But…there’s more! His seven steps to building culture are short and crisp (three to five lines each), yet comprehensive. The outline:    1. Declare it.    2. Define it.    3. Model it.    4. Defend it.    5. Expect it.    6. Measure it.    7. Reward it. He elaborates: “Culture is evidenced in specific and measurable behaviors. People consistently perform according to what is measured.” That’s Chapter 3 on organizational culture—a feast in just four pages, plus an eye-catching “Leadership Debrief” three-line chapter summary on the fifth page. (Some chapters—with equal punch—are just two pages. My kind of book!) So imagine…40 very short chapters in nine major leadership categories with tempting subtitles:    • CULTURE: Leadership Friendly Places to Work    • FORMATION: Building Leaders from the Outside—In    • CHARACTER: Building Leaders from the Inside—Out    • STRATEGY: The Intuition of Leadership Judgment    • LEADING: The Daily Agenda    • TEAMS: Collaboration and Cross-Functional Alignment    • FOLLOWERS: Engaged and Growing    • COMMUNICATION: Everyone Knows Almost Everything    • ETCETERA: Behind the Scenes Honest.  Scan the table of contents—and you’re hooked. If you’ve got even a hint of leadership in your bones, you can’t resist cancelling your next meeting and digging deeper into these life-long learning leadership briefs.  There are gems in every chapter: • Chapter 9: The Trusted Leader • Chapter 10: Emotionally Smart Leaders • Chapter 11: The Social Graces of Memorable Leaders Yikes! Under six “Graceful Reminders” in Chapter 11 he warns about “the danger of the 15%. Some people can be right 85% of the time. It is a powerful gift. The danger is when they assume they are right 100% of the time. They become relationally dangerous 15% of the time when they are wrong but think they are correct.” How can you not read these chapters?    • Chapter 14: When Leaders Look for the Silver Bullet    • Chapter 18: The Point of Creativity in 31 Leadership Polarities    • Chapter 22: When Do You Stop Leading? In Chapter 22, Daniels cautions, “There is a disruption in leadership continuity when you stop doIng the critical exercises needed for sustainability.” Then his poke-in-the-ribs includes 12 “Don’t Stop” warnings, including: Don’t Stop Learning. Don’t Stop Listening. Don’t Stop Confronting. Don’t Stop Celebrating. Don’t Stop Studying the Competition. Don’t Stop Taking on the Next Challenge.  There’s more!    • Chapter 23: The Delicate Dance of Team Chemistry    • Chapter 25: Counterintuitive Conflict    • Chapter 30: Delegating Developmentally Gimme a break, Dick!  I’ve written a whole chapter on the Delegation Bucket, so how come I just learned a new insight that’s going right into my PowerPoint?  “Leaders have three options: (1) Not delegating, (2) Delegating prematurely, or (3) Delegating developmentally.” And more:    • Chapter 33: The Emotional Flow of Employee Disengagement    • Chapter 35: The Power of Thought-Provoking Questions    • Chapter 38: Formulas for Succession Planning Gut check on employee disengagement: “When the problem is organizational,” says the author, leaders fix it. “When the problem is a team member’s personal baggage, they find a way to help. At last resort, leaders will carefully calculate if it is necessary to release and replace the disengaged. How this transition is handled impacts the attitude and engagement of every other team member who is watching.” ‘Nuff said. Just buy the book. As I wrote in my endorsement, “I could have used this book 30 years ago—and saved myself and my team members from unnecessary leadership pain! Every chapter begs to be discussed and implemented in a weekly staff meeting. The chapter on delegation is worth the price of the book. I've already borrowed his memorable outline: Think, Talk, Act, and Ask. Brilliant!” To order the REVISED 2ND EDITION from Amazon, click on the book title for Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels. BONUS! View the podcast (8 minutes).   Your Weekly Staff Meeting Questions: 1) Dick Daniels peppers his book with stunning insights from leaders, like this from Tom Peters: “Leader’s don’t create followers, they create more leaders.” How effective is our team’s leader-creation plan? 2) BONUS! The 2026 2nd Edition describes six stages for developing and keeping your best talent: 1) Reality Check. 2) Development Game Plan. 3) Focused Learning. 4) Reflect Collaboratively. 5) Intentional Application. 6) Your Change Story. (See the value-added graphic also, "The Culture & Capacity Model.") Charles, You're Fired!   In my cycle through the 20 buckets, here’s a reminder from the Culture Bucket, Chapter 8, in Mastering the Management Buckets. In their book, Winning The Answers—Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today, Jack and Suzy Welch comment on “The Ultimate Values Test.” They warn not to get rid of value offenders with surreptitious excuses such as “Charles left for personal reasons to spend more time with his family.”  Instead, they say, inform your team publicly and “announce that Charles was asked to leave because he didn’t adhere to specific company values.” 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 • PODCASTS: John Pearson's Buckets Podcasts 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.