Superhabits

 

Issue No. 639 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 28, 2025)  spotlights a phenomenal book—Superhabits—and a colorful diagram based on the virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. And if your boss is now asking for a weekly progress report—and where did that idea come from? (LOL!), use my two-page template, “Weekly Update to My Supervisor.” Plus, click here for recent eNews issues posted at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, including my two-part review of Dan Heath’s new book, Reset. DILIGENCE! In 1909, R. G. LeTourneau (1888-1969) took an automobile correspondence course and granted himself a BM Degree, "Bachelor of Motorcycles,” after he learned how to take apart and put back together his newly acquired motorcycle. He did this feat in ONE day! The rest is earth-moving history!     Exercising Your Virtues Muscles! The author of Superhabits 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! Superhabits:  The Universal System for a Successful Life by Andrew V. Abela (Oct. 15, 2024)   But yikes! Our granddaughter, Annika, a high school senior, gave me this special book for my birthday almost four months ago—and I’m finally reviewing it! Why the delay? I read it slowly. I made over 50 notes. It’s that good. Meaty. Thought-provoking. And systematic. (I love systems, but I can’t decide if I’ll slot this in the Systems Bucket, the Culture Bucket, the Results Bucket, the Crisis Bucket, or maybe the Hoopla! Bucket!) In this joyful book, 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. (Bonus: Visit Dr. Abela’s Substack blog and you can download a PDF of the “Anatomy of Virtue” diagram.) ANATOMY OF VIRTUE. v. 13.0 - Based on the Treatise on the Virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas. For further information, go to https://superhabit.substack.com.  Email questions and comments to Dr. Abela at abela@cua.edu. © 2024. A. V. Abela, Ph.D. Used by permission. This business school dean is not the first to systematize virtues and/or write practical commentaries on the power of habits. (See Charles Duhigg’s bestseller.) But, if you do any coaching, teaching, preaching, or mentoring—I’m thinking your content (and your system) may be sadly incomplete without this book. And here’s another bonus: it’s a delight to read—and you’ll be sharing the dozens of stories and concepts for years to come. Promise! Abela notes, “For thousands of years, philosophers have written about what I’m calling superhabits.” But how many “superhabits” are there? Apparently no one can agree!    • Epictetus (4)    • William Bennett (10)    • Benjamin Franklin (13)    • Romano Guardini (17)    • Positive psychology (it depends: 6 or 24)    • John Garvey (29) St. Thomas Aquinas to the rescue! Superhabits shines a light on the system used by this 13th century philosopher monk “by offering a system of virtues, not just a list.” As you’ll discover, the book spotlights four cardinal superhabits: Practical Wisdom, Justice, Courage, and Self-Discipline. I counted 39 superhabits that are integral to the cardinal habits. (Trust me—you will enjoy this deep dive.) LOL! “Aquinas’ approach was much like the children’s game ‘Twenty Questions.’” (Read more about this simple explanation in Chapter 9, “The Superhabits System.”) Aquinas “presented the superhabits—the virtues—systematically in a way that demonstrates completeness, and that illustrates how the superhabits all work together.” (And don’t skip the math problem—calculators allowed—on page 102.) To explain further, Abela references “one of the most crushing criticisms you can receive” as a junior consultant at McKinsey: “Your analysis isn’t MECE” means “that you haven’t adequately separated the business problem you’re working on into its component parts.” He adds, “There had to be no overlaps among the parts, and no gaps between them: they had to be Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive, or ‘MECE.’” (Go ahead—crush someone at your next weekly staff meeting!) And this is key: you already have the superhabit “muscles”—they just need to be exercised. Abela promises, “Whatever challenge you’re facing in life, there’s a superhabit for that.” That’s a bold claim, right? But after reading and reflecting on this powerful system, I’m a convert. The spiritual life (faith, hope, and love from 1 Corinthians 13) is not neglected in this system. Pastors and priests may also want to align the “fruits of the Spirit” from Galatians 5 into this system.  There’s no need to pick my favorite chapter (they’re all very helpful)—but if you insist—I’ve already told two granddaughters about Chapter 12, “Practical Wisdom.” Abela skillfully leverages the heart-pounding events of Jan. 15, 2009, when Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in New York City. All 155 passengers and crew survived! “Practical Wisdom,” writes the author, “is the superhabit of making and implementing wise decisions, whether well-deliberated, strategic decisions over extended periods of time, or near-instantaneous ones like the ones Flight 1549 faced.” He adds, “Practical Wisdom recognizes that a decision is not properly made until it is implemented.” Practical Wisdom has eight component superhabits. Per Aquinas, there are “four for gathering the relevant information, one for reasoning, and three for implementing.” So using a minute-by-minute (actually second-by-second) view from the cockpit with Captain “Sully,” the author illustrates how each of these superhabits—learned well in advance of a crisis—enabled “Sully” and his crew to land the plane. Absolutely fascinating! The eight superhabits that back up Practical Wisdom include: Memory, Judgment, Teachability, Creativity, Reasoning, Alertness, Foresight, and Preparedness. Abela adds, “Aquinas was writing 750 years ago; but it is remarkable how closely his framework matches, and yet goes deeper than, many contemporary decision-making processes.” (I agree. Stunning!) For an old guy like me (“…why did I just come into the kitchen?”), the four pages with practical insights on memory include four suggestions from Aquinas for “how to remember things reliably.” So Abela suggests you make a “funny or unusual image in your mind of what you want to remember…” (So now when I need a pair of scissors, I’m picturing those scissors riding a Harley!)   Listen to Dr. Andrew Abela’s talk, “The Virtues as Super Habits,” presented at the 2024 Summer Conference of the Napa Institute (33 minutes.) And/or view this interview with Dr. Abela on the “This Is the Day” podcast (6 minutes, 24 seconds.) Practical Wisdom includes the superhabit of Teachability. Abela appreciates Jordan Peterson’s rule nine, “Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.” You get this, right? Imagine if everyone on your team (or in your family) devoted themselves to lifelong learning and growing in these superhabits—before the next crisis. (Yikes!) Why? “One important way Sully demonstrated the superhabit of Teachability was his determination to learn from others’ mistakes.” (See my recent blog on 16 mistake-making books.)   And talk about contrarian! While many people claim, “I’m just not creative,” Abela guarantees that the creativity muscle can be developed. At the end of those frightening four minutes and 17 seconds since takeoff, Captain Sully made an announcement to his passengers, “This is the Captain. Brace for impact.” The plane landed on the Hudson River (a very creative choice) at five minutes and 49 seconds after takeoff. Imagine! LOL! “After reaching shore, there was a humorous moment when Sullenberger called the U.S. Airways Operations Control Center to check in with them. The duty operations manager picked up the phone and in a rushed voice said, ‘I can’t talk right now. There’s a plane down in the Hudson!’” Is your team well-prepared for your next crisis? As Peter Drucker counseled leaders, “Fortunately or unfortunately, the one predictable thing in any organization is the crisis. That  always comes.” How much exercise do you and your team members get with the Alertness muscle and the Preparedness muscle? TEASERS #1:    • Humility: read what C.S. Lewis said about designing the best cathedral in the world.    • Diligence: learn why R. G. LeTourneau gave himself a one-man graduation ceremony for earning his B.M. degree for Bachelor of Motorcycles!    • Courage (“…like every superhabit, is the mean between two extremes”): the stunning WW2 story of the American oil tanker, SS Ohio, miraculously arriving in Grand Harbor at Malta to the cheers of 100,000 citizens! (See also my recent review of The Courage Gap.) TEASERS #2:    • Justice: learn about the slave trader, John Newton, and his re-conversion to Christianity in 1748. Abela ties that into Newton’s hymn, “Amazing Grace,” and learn what Mahalia Jackson said to Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.    • Perseverance: “…Donald Rumsfeld used to say, ‘Once you quit one thing, then you can quit something else, and pretty soon you’ll get good at being a quitter.’”    • Read. The. Conclusion! Don’t skip the magnificent summary. Do. Not. Skip. The. Conclusion! Abela promises, “Superhabits are contagious! Patrick Lencioni said that Superhabits is going to be a classic. I agree. Arthur C. Brooks called it a “must-read.” I agree. And—oh, my—this book deserves at least two reviews. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Superhabits: The Universal System for a Successful Life, by Andrew V. Abela.    YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) What “system” have you used to enrich your life—and those around you? Steve Macchia (see “Second Reads” below) is also the author of Crafting a Rule of Life: An Invitation to the Well-Ordered Way. (Read my review.) Macchia appreciates the first century Italian monk, St. Benedict (480-547) and his classic, Little Rule for Beginners. 2) Staying on the superhighway of saints (or perhaps the Camino de Santiago), let me also recommend the wonderful book, 30 Days Unplugged: How a Catholic Priest Turned Off His iPhone and Took a Call From God, by Father Darrin Merlino, CMF. You’ll learn about the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). Gutsy! (Read my review.) Could you unplug for 30 days? (How ‘bout one day?)        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #9 of 99: Becoming a Healthy Team For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #9 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. Becoming a Healthy Team:  5 Traits of Vital Leadership  by Stephen A. Macchia (LTI Publications, Feb. 7, 2014, 188 pages) Raise your hand if your team is humming along with no hiccups. (I thought so!) You can never have enough help when inspiring your team members—day after day, after day. (Just ask Elon Musk if it’s easy to keep team members focused on priority tasks!) This book will help.    • Reviewed in Issue No. 15, Dec. 4, 2006.    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant companion resource. When scanning this book again, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Steve Macchia and Justin Schell wrote a companion tool, Becoming a Healthy Team: Workbook and Exercises. This 100-page resource guides your team through collaborative exercises which reinforce the book’s themes: Trust, Empowerment, Assimilation, Management, and Service (T.E.A.M.S.). Utilizing creative team building experiences, the exercises include: Bible study, reflection, confession, lectio divina, shared practices, and fun activities. Fun? Yes! For the “Healthy Teams Empower” exercise, group members need new names! “…make up one of the most outlandish names for yourself. Create nametags using these names and call one another by these names for the rest of your time together.” (I’d start a new study group—just to have fun with this exercise!) For more resources, including a 30-question team assessment, visit Leadership Transformations. (Note: Macchia's book, The Discerning Life, was my 2022 book-of-the-year.)   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: The Best Leaders!  Welcome back to our new mini-feature, “BucketCast.” Click here to listen to the AI-generated podcasters (14 minutes, 6 seconds) who comment on my book review of Be the Unicorn: 12 Data-Driven Habits that Separate the Best Leaders from the Rest, by William Vanderbloemen. (Read my review.) For more podcasts, click here. IMPORTANT NOTICE! SEffective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. 16 Books on Mistake-Making! Really! At least once a year, you should read a book on mistake-making! So, here’s my latest blog with 16 books—one for every mistake flavor. Patrick Lencioni suggests you keep Mistakes Leaders Make on your desk all year—and read it once a year! Click here for mini-reviews of 16 books. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

Reset: How to Change What's Not Working (Part 2 of 2)

 

Issue No. 637 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Feb. 13, 2025) features the second review of a brilliant book on how to change what’s not working. Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Click here for Part 1 of 2 of the two-part review of Reset: How to Change What's Not Working. FOR YOUR NEXT WEEKLY STAFF MEETING! In Chapter 9, “Tap Motivation,” of Dan Heath’s new book, Reset, he 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.”      The Twin Mistakes! “They undercoddle their best customers and overcoddle their worst.” (Part 2 of 2) Since writing my Part 1 of 2 reviews of Reset, I’ve done another deep dive into this phenomenal book. I urge you—and your team and board—to read or listen to:   Reset:  How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath (Jan. 21, 2025)   This bestselling author is often hilarious (see his footnotes)—yet insightful. With practical and pragmatic examples, the book also delivers contrarian counsel. Don’t skip Chapter 8, “Do Less AND More.” In that chapter, Dan Heath spotlights a consulting firm—zealots for the Pareto principle (the 80/20 rule)—that helps clients change their operational approaches based on the 20 percent that yield 80 percent of the revenue. One problem though: The firm had “found that his clients make twin mistakes: They undercoddle their best customers and overcoddle their worst. Often those mistakes derive from a noble desire: These companies aspire to treat customers the same.” Heath adds, “But to treat a $1 million customer the same as a $100 customer? It’s like treating your hamster the same as your daughter because they’re both mammals.” The consultant discovered that “paradoxically, the biggest customers are often treated worse than the smallest.”   Personal example! A colleague told me years ago about a nonprofit organization that invited every donor to give an extra $15—over and above their regular giving—to meet a special need. Sounds reasonable, right? “Dear John…Last month you gave $25. This month, please consider giving $25 + $15 = $40.” Except…a major donor received the same ill-conceived generic one-size-fits-all appeal: “Dear Jane…Last month you gave $1 million. This month, please consider giving $1 million + $15 = $1,000,015.” Oops! LOL! I recently had my car serviced. When reading Chapter 2, “Consider the Goal of the Goal,” I couldn’t stop laughing! Similar to the story of Ryan, who was inundated with customer satisfaction surveys from his car dealership (Heath labels the looney practice, “the customer shakedown”), I was also the victim of way too many texts and emails—begging me to respond to their incessant surveys. I did not complete the surveys. But I'm thinking about bringing a copy of the book (and my two reviews) over to the dealership and presenting them to the General Manager! (Too cheeky, perhaps? I think not. It’s a great dealership, but reading “How to Change What’s Not Working” will be helpful to the leader and her team.) LISTEN TO CHAPTER 2. Dan Heath’s entertaining podcast, “What’s It Like to Be…” featured a bonus podcast last month on his new book, Reset, with the full audio of Chapter 2, “Consider the Goal of the Goal.” Listen here. (He begins with the "customer shakedown" story.) CHAPTER 8 WILL SHOCK YOU. You may find, like one organization did, that 80 percent of their customers were costing them money! Have you applied the 80/20 test to your customers, clients, or donors? The wisdom in “Do Less AND More” is jam-packed: • Family and Relationships: “What if we are undercoddling the most important people and overcoddling the least?” (Gut check!) • Why a consultant skipped a client dinner to play ping-pong with his son. • The value of a 2x2 quadrant (Stop, Start, Less, More). See also Mark Matlock’s three headers in Faith for the Curious. • Read why—before he said yes to being CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, the candidate volunteered for the organization and made a $25 donation “to experience the organization from the outside.” (See also Chapter 1, “Go and See the Work.”) He got the job and “within a month, a third of the board and a quarter of the staff were gone.” (Sound familiar to today’s news?) WAIT…WHAT? Are you telling me that after reading my Part 1 of 2 review of Reset, you still haven’t visited DanHeath.com for a one-page summary of the book? And you still haven’t listened to Heath’s 10-minute video summary of his book? (Do it now. I’ll wait.) REFRESHER! Reset has two parts: • Part 1: Find Leverage Points. (Go and see the work. Consider the goal of the goal. Study the bright spots. Target the constraint. Map the system.) • Part 2: Restack Resources. (Start with a burst. Recycle waste. Do less AND more. Tap motivation. Let people drive. Accelerate learning.) Don’t ask me for my favorite chapter—because every one of the 11 chapters are seminar-worthy. (Your consultant is reading this now and will be poking-you-in-the-ribs yet this quarter!) And get this: every chapter includes a "Whirlwind Review." There's even more at the author's website: end-of-chapter resource recommendations, with live links to articles and value-added resources. Brilliant! MORE INSIGHTS: LET PEOPLE DRIVE. When Guy Krueger was not selected for the US Olympic archery team, he switched to coaching. He wasn’t a great coach and after a humiliating experience, he enrolled in a training program for coaches. Finally—he stopped “bossing” his athletes. “Because the coach can’t shoot the arrows for them. The coach should let the athletes drive.”  My suggestion: read Chapter 10 and then post the book cover on your office wall—to remind yourself that you can’t shoot the arrows or throw the darts. “Let People Drive.” ZINGERS: • Cool Cats! Read about the dangerously overpopulated animal shelter in Jacksonville, Fla., and the question that the new director asked—that started a national movement. “He didn’t know what he didn’t know. But that ignorance would turn out to be genius.” • Church “Deadtime.” In Chapter 7, “Recycle Waste,” learn how one pastor cut out “watching” and trimmed 5 to 10 minutes from the service time without cutting any of the actual worship.” (Just one of many examples of early wins—“putting points on the board in weeks or months, not quarters or years.” Plus eliminating “deadtime” gave church members “a precious head start in beating other congregations to local restaurants for Sunday lunch.” LOL!) • “Nitpicked Every Decision!” Heath pulls a few punches from Ed Catmull’s book, Creativity, Inc. The co-founder of Pixar could see that the “oversight group” (re: budget and deadlines) was basically at war with the creative team. Solution: “They eliminated the oversight group.” Yikes! (The brilliant explanation will give you courage. Heath also recommends the “Type 1” and “Type 2” decisions at Amazon.) FINALLY… (Finally? This is pure torture—because I still have dozens of teasers that I can’t squeeze into this review. A third review maybe?) • In Chapter 4, “Target the Restraint,” Heath discusses the “constraints” (aka “bottlenecks”) at Chick-fil-A. Fascinating and timely. See the recent WSJ article on Chick-fil-A*. • For more on constraints, Heath recommends the novel, The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Or read my review of The Goal: A Business Graphic Novel  (2017, 129 pages). *And speaking of Chick-fil-A, congrats to Orange County Rescue Mission for receiving the company's very generous "True Inspiration Award" in 2024. Bryan Crain leads the executive team at OCRM. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Reset: How to Change What's Not Working, by Dan Heath. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 17 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Lifelong learning advice: never skip a book’s concluding chapter. Dan Heath’s last chapter spotlights “Joy at Work” and how to move an enormous boulder uphill (one of Heath’s themes). A gutsy hospital nurse and director in Brazil asked team members to post “What matters to you?” and “What are the impediments to what matters?” SHOCKER: The public bulletin board was crammed with 300 Post-Its! Brilliant: the leaders focused first on “quick wins” (fix the coffee maker!) and “stone in the shoe” issues. QUESTION: Are you gutsy enough to ask this question at work? 2) “You get what you celebrate,” preached Frank Blake, the former CEO of Home Depot. His view: no one cares what your memos say! At your next weekly staff meeting, read the story in Chapter 9, “Tap Motivation,” about the Home Depot cashier who was ringing up the lumber purchases of an elderly gentleman—and then asked him about his project. He replied that “his grandson had passed away, and he had decided to build the coffin with his own hands.” QUESTION: If you were the cashier, what would you say and do next?        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #7 of 99: How to Deal with Annoying People For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #7 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. How to Deal with Annoying People: What to Do When You Can't Avoid Them by Bob Phillips and Kimberly Alyn (Harvest House Publishers, March 1, 2005, 320 pages) While this book's title is humorous, the content is extremely serious.    • Read my review (Issue No. 67, Dec. 17, 2007)    • Order from Amazon.    • Management Bucket #7 of 20: The People Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant idea the first time I read this. From the first hour of the first of many all-day social styles training sessions led by Don German—I would be hard-pressed to name anything that has been more helpful to me (personally and professionally), except my Christian faith. I’ve read and recommended numerous books about the four social styles (Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables, and Expressives)—yet I’m always looking to learn more. When I picked up Bob Phillips’ book again, I was shocked that I had not underlined anything in Chapter 15, “Dispelling Ten Stereotypical Gender Myths.” (Excellent reminders!) I’m a Driver (see the charts on the People Bucket website), so perhaps I rushed through this book unwittingly. I also missed Chapter 16, “Mottos and Sayings of Annoying People,” especially the two pages of “Conflicted Sayings.” (Two styles affirm, “Look before you leap” and two styles believe, “He who hesitates is lost.”) And how did I miss the page, “Quotes of Famous Leaders”—including their social styles? You’ll love the quotes from Dale Carnegie, Theodore Roosevelt, Norman Vincent Peale, Golda Meir, and others, and this from Winston Churchill: “Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.” BONUS! View this 10-minute video, “The 4 Social Styles in the Boardroom,” I presented at the 2020 virtual conference of Christian Ministry Advancement (formerly Christian Management Australia).   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 A Comedian’s Prayer Book, by Frank Skinner, plus 2 additional LOL books (7 minutes).  IMPORTANT NOTICE! Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Someone on Your Team Should Read This! Is DeepSeek for real? While this book was published just 12 months ago, someone on your team and/or your board should digest Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet. The book’s not for everyone. In fact, I’m surprised I read it—I’m hardly a tech guy. Yet the author, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, hooks you into the history, the promise, and potential of the Internet and AI. For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.

Reset: How to Change What's Not Working (Part 1 of 2)

 

Issue No. 636 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Jan. 23, 2025) features my first of two reviews of Dan Heath's new book, Reset. Must-read! Plus, click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Click here for our recent review of The Purpose Code.     Why “Guess-a-thons” Don’t Work: Part 1 of 2 What’s not to like about a hot-off-the-press book by one of the Heath brothers? This one, by Dan Heath, hits the bullseye (pun intended)!   Reset:  How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath (Jan. 21, 2025)   Just one chapter in, I knew it would take two reviews to adequately inspire you and your team to dive into this Very Relevant Topic. Does your organization, company, or church struggle to “escape the stifling gravity of entrenched systems?” Are these familiar phrases?    • “We’ve always done it this way!”    • “It always takes this long!” (Read the Introduction about the hospital receiving area. It took three days to dispatch incoming packages to the right department. Honest.)    • “My boss is oblivious to the real problems here.”  Learn about the “progress principle”—and why “the biggest motivator of employees is nowhere on the screen of the average boss.”  This fabulous book will hook you immediately. Heath promises: “We’ll encounter cases involving:    • military planes, music apps, radiology clinics,    • church services, car dealerships, and archery competitions.” This bestselling author adds, “We’ll investigate mysteries: Why the middle is the roughest part of a change effort. Why inefficiency can sometimes accelerate progress. Why ‘getting buy-in’ is the wrong way to think about change.” Chapter 1, “Go and See the Work,” is must-read. Learn why “people may think they understand the systems they depend on better than they actually do.” This is brilliant! See what an assistant principal learned from the “Shadow a Student Challenge”—and the grades she gave her own school! View the PBS News Hour video. Read the script.  Warning: When you “go and see the work”—on the frontlines of your operation—get ready for a wake-up call! “If you aren’t embarrassed by what you find, you probably aren’t looking closely enough.” As in other books by Heath and/or Heath, you’ll want to read the funny footnotes first. Per the “embarrassment warning” above, Dan Heath footnotes this: “Note that this spirit of examination—the genuine desire to get closer to the truth—is the heart of ‘going and seeing the work.’ This is in sharp contrast to the CEO who conducts a stage-managed visit to a factory or field office for the sake of good optics: I am an enlightened leader who enjoys mingling with you common folk!” This is the fifth book I’ve reviewed by Heath and/or Heath, including:    • The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (I named this my 2017 book-of-the-year. Read my review.)    • Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, by Dan Heath. (Read my review.)    • Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (Order from Amazon.)    • Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers, by Chip Heath and Karla Starr. (Read my review.) MORE TEASERS: Don’t wait for my second review coming—just order the book or audio today so you can add value to the water cooler gripe sessions at work. (You’re back in the office, right?)    • LOL! “I went to Chick-fil-A to fetch dinner for my family, and unexpectedly, I came home with a book idea. (Also, more expectedly, some fries and nuggets.)”    • Learn how and why Dan Heath’s local Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru can serve 400 cars in an hour. (“That’s a car every nine seconds. Your kids could get through college before Hardee’s would finish 400 cars.”)    • “You’ll also learn how five million cats’ lives were saved, and perhaps most dramatically of all, how one father got his kids to clean their room. With enthusiasm.” GUESS-A-THONS:    • “Glaring problems are sometimes the legacy of past solutions—improvisations and workarounds.” (Although, read here why some workarounds actually work.)    • Why “mapping out the flow” makes the “invisible visible. Think whiteboards and markers.” (This reminded me of Gen. McChrystal’s whiteboard in Team of Teams.”)    • Decision-making exposed! Read about “guess-a-thons,” and “substituting experience for conjecture,” and “decisions based on cognitive vapor.” (Oh, my!) SOUND FAMILIAR? Heath writes, “Going and seeing the work can be particularly important when things stop working. Your marriage hits a rocky patch. Your sales start drying up. Teachers leave your school faster than you can replace them.” He adds, “Because 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? Go ahead—score yourself and then watch this hilarious and insightful video, “You Don't Know How Toilets Work: The Illusion Of Explanatory Depth.” Did I mention? Stay tuned for my second review in the next issue—and learn why it pays to give “your team the autonomy to own the change effort.” TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for Reset: How to Change What's Not Working, by Dan Heath. Listen on Libro (6 hours, 17 minutes). And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) Visit DanHeath.com for a one-page summary of Reset, plus Heath’s 10-minute video summary of his book. Who will you empower to present three key ideas from the book for your “Ten Minutes for Lifelong Learning” segment at your next staff meeting? 2) Are you giving your frontline people autonomy to improve your systems? (See Chapter 10, “Let People Drive.”) My brother, Paul (1939-2015), beautifully demonstrated this principle at a CLA (CMA) national conference in Nashville one year. Click here to read “Add Process Management to Your Resume. Mentor your people to ‘think systems’” from Chapter 18, "The Systems Bucket," in Mastering the Management Buckets.        SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #6 of 99: The Power of Moments For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #6 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. The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath and Dan Heath  (Simon & Schuster, Oct. 3, 2017, 320 pages) I named The Power of Moments my 2017 book-of-the-year and reviewed it twice!    • Read my review: Issue #370, Oct. 11, 2017.    • Order from Amazon.    • Listen on Libro (6 hours, 24 minutes).    • Management Bucket #6 of 20: The Program Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant idea the first time I read this. This month, I was reminded of this New York Times bestseller when I had coffee with a friend who shares my appreciation for The Power of Moments. (He’s writing a book and is also reading Dan Heath’s new book, Reset.) So in looking at “Moments” again—I realized I have been neglecting this really Big idea about milestones. The Heaths write: “…there are some milestones that seem to get ignored. Students get short-changed, for instance. Sure, they advance in ‘grade,’ but why not celebrate their 1000th day in the classroom, or their 50th book read? And why don’t we celebrate teachers for their 1,000th student taught?” And I would add: while nonprofits celebrate the generosity of “major” donors, why not also recognize the milestones of all donors? “Dear Maria: We rang a bell in our office today because your faithful giving of $10 per month since November 2016 has now totaled $1,000 of lifetime giving to our camp. Thank you!”  By the way, Free Wheelchair Mission is a nonprofit leader in celebrating milestones. (Visit their website and read my review of Miracle Wheels, by Don Schoendorfer.)   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 Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders, by Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle. I named this my 2024 book-of-the-year.  IMPORTANT NOTICE!  Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Don’t Read This Book When You're Hungry! This book is so delicious—I reviewed it twice! Learn about “The Four Nevers” at In-N-Out Burger: 1) "Never give excuses. 2) Never argue with the Customer. 3) Never put the Customer on the defensive. 4) Never make a big deal of a complaint.” Click here to read my review of The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger, by Lynsi Snyder.

The Purpose Code

 

Issue No. 635 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting (Jan. 16, 2025) features a new book that urges you to be goal agnostic and focus on Little P purpose. Contrarian! Plus, click here for my 2024 Top-10 Books and Book-of-the-Year. And go here for four lists of books reviewed from 2006 to 2024. Plus, find more book reviews at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog—and click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies). Click here for our recent review of Don't Say Um. Jordan Grumet, MD, author of The Purpose Code, warns about this BIG mistake! “I thought that the bigger the purpose, the more gratifying it would be to pursue it. It took many years and quite a bit of emotional heartache to reach the conclusion that I hope to convince you of now: when it comes to purpose, bigger is not better."     Big P Purpose and Little P Purpose Really, Pearson? In an ocean of books about “purpose,” do we really need yet one more expert’s three-points-and-a-poem platitudes? Trust me—last week I would have agreed with you. But then…a colleague urged me to read this book—and I did a 180. Read why you’ll recommend this gem to colleagues, your kids and grandkids, and the people you’re coaching.   The Purpose Code:  How to Unlock Meaning, Maximize Happiness,  and Leave a Lasting Legacy by Jordan Grumet, MD (Jan. 7, 2025)   10 INSIGHTS: #1. RELIEVED AND MORTIFIED! When the author, Jordan Grumet, a physician, hospice care expert, and storyteller, realized that becoming financially independent (see his previous book) was not the end game, he experienced an epiphany about “community.” He writes: “…I realized immediately that I felt closer to my fellow bloggers and writers within minutes than a few of my doctor 'friends' who I had known for more than a decade. I was both relieved and mortified. Relieved that there wasn't something wrong with me and mortified that I had been hiding all these years.” He adds, “Years later, I am living a life that I could have never imagined while being an actively practicing physician.” And get this: “I am happier today than at any other time in my life—and none of it cost a single cent.” #2. “IT’S STRESSING ME OUT!” After a weekend seminar in Julian, Calif., where he spoke on “building financial independence and living a regret-free life,” Dr. Grumet was accosted by a woman. “Her upper lip was curled into a snarl. Somehow my talk had gotten her into such a lather that she wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to confront me in person. I was shocked: The purpose of the talk was to help people. Shrinking back, I braced myself. As she opened her mouth to speak, I had no idea what she was about to say. “I’m so sick of people telling me to find my purpose. I don’t know my purpose and it’s stressing me out!” (As he listened more intentionally in the months that followed, he heard the same message from others.) “Curious, I dug into the data. It turns out that even though having a sense of purpose can increase lifespan, health, and happiness, it is also associated with anxiety in over 91% of people at some point in their lives. I was dumbfounded. How can we explain this paradox?” #3. CRACKING THE CODE. Gratefully, Dr. Grumet is a gifted storyteller and this is not a self-focused “Here’s How I Did It” book. With dozens of real-life stories about people of all ages and backgrounds, we meet Sarah. Her story weaves in and out of many chapters to explain his big idea: Big P purpose and Little P purpose.  The author promises: “For most people, purpose has become a kind of indecipherable code, sealing away true fulfillment and lasting happiness. But the purpose code is one that can be cracked. And anyone can do it. This book will show you how.” #4. THE FALLACY OF “BIG P” PURPOSE. Are you big on BHAGs? Warning—says the author. “I thought that the bigger the purpose, the more gratifying it would be to pursue it. It took many years and quite a bit of emotional heartache to reach the conclusion that I hope to convince you of now: when it comes to purpose, bigger is not better." #5. THE JOYS OF “LITTLE P” PURPOSE. Dr. Grumet describes “Little P purpose” as “a process-oriented purpose that is impossible to fail. It is associated with health, longevity, and happiness.” He adds, “Little P purpose doesn't deny or detract from the joy of setting and achieving goals, it just doesn't depend on them. This type of purpose is concerned much more with the process involved and much less with the product. Those who enjoy the benefits of little P purpose immediately win because they enjoy doing an activity regardless of whether anything comes of it.” Read more on why “Little P purpose espouses the idea of incremental change.” Dr. Grumet details the data and the anecdotes from his ongoing hospice care practice. “The ultimate outcome of focusing on little P purpose is that people have fewer regrets when they die.”  And another warning—he is a gifted debater! He writes, “The skeptic in you is undoubtedly questioning my theory.” He applauds that—but then through a series of chapters and exercises, I found myself agreeing. “This makes sense, John. Keep reading!”   Yikes! At Paradigm Community, San Clemente, Calif., on the first Sunday of the new year, every attendee received a 100-centimeter disposable paper tape measure. The speaker, Jim Glynn, instructed us to estimate our age at death—and then (gulp!) tear the tape off at that number. Next, he asked us to tear the rest of the tape off at our current age. Some of us had very short tapes (!), but we looked longingly at those in their teens, 20s, and 30s.   Glynn’s message, “Focus for the Future,” was a stark reminder about purpose. When we exited the church service, each person received a list of 25 Bible verses from Glynn’s message. My remaining “centimeters” are now taped to my home office wall with this verse from Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days…” #6. AGNOSTIC GOALS. Chapter 6, “The Climb,” is a memorable metaphor and useful process for cultivating and enjoying your Little P purpose. We learn more about Sarah’s angst over her current job and lack of purpose—yet the joy she finds in editing humorous stories. She also loves horses. So she starts her “climb” with some guidelines from Dr. Grumet:  “There are rules on how to participate in a healthy climb. These rules will remind you of the properties that define little P purpose. First, your climb should never be goal oriented—it should be goal agnostic. If all you can concentrate on is the top of the mountain, you are bound to falter.” #7. THE ART OF SUBTRACTION. Grumet suggests you grab an extra-sharp pencil and get ready to slash, slash, slash! “The art of subtraction is the process of removing things from your life that no longer serve you.” (LOL! I did not read this paragraph to my wife!) He adds, “I sat down with a pen and pad of paper one day and wrote down all my rules and responsibilities as a physician. I included ever job description I had, and every title I carried.” Then he slashed/slashed/slashed. When he finished, after several days, “…the paper was totally filled with haphazard slashes except for one lonesome corner with a barely readable entry. Hospice.” His epiphany: “Suddenly my sense of loss no longer felt so great. I would do hospice work no matter what I was paid for it. I would do it for free. I would do it because it felt like part of the purpose I was put on Earth to fulfill. Not a big audacious purpose that would change the world, but little daily activities that made me feel connected to my own abilities as well as my hospice team, and those patients that were so badly in need of help. I found my anchor.” (Read more in Chapter 3, “You Can’t Find What Isn’t Lost.”) #8. LIFE REVIEWS. Dr. Grumet describes a “life review” process that is often used in hospice care. (Chapter 3 includes 40 questions—plus “A Purpose Prescription: Performing a Work Audit.” And note: each chapter concludes with “A Purpose Prescription” on the chapter topics—see #9.) #9. END-OF-CHAPTER AUDIT QUESTIONS. Each chapter includes “A Purpose Prescription” audit—with numerous convicting questions for a social media, a home audit, a personal narrative audit, a time audit, a community audit (all the various communities you are part of or want to join), a generational audit, and a regret audit. Be honest now—are you gutsy enough to read this book and look in the mirror? #10. YEARS OF SOUL-SUCKING TASKS. Dr. Grumet, in finding his “anchor”—now helps others, like Sarah, to refresh their lives and to find “the one part of her job that she truly loved throughout all those years of soul-sucking tasks.” How? “…recalling the passions of your childhood is a quick way to remind yourself of what lights you up.” He adds, “Parents tell kids that they should become doctors or lawyers, not journalists who love horses and like to edit humorous stories.” MY FAVORITE ONE-LINERS: • “We all want to be unique, just like everyone else.” • “According to Zippia, at least 30% of people admit to lying, or at least ‘bending the truth,’ on their resume.” • “As mentioned in previous chapters, I have been very clear about the toxicity of goals.” • On Dr. Grumet’s podcast: “I would do this even if no one listened. Even if I had zero downloads per year.” • Note: Dr. Grumet’s take on “happiness” is contrarian, yet: “My happiness has made me a better father and husband. I am also a better friend.” • “I also reinvigorated my love of reading. Not reading that was focused or goal driven, but frivolous, joyful reading.” (My recommendation below: Gilead.) Opps! I had planned for shorter reviews in 2025, but I can’t help myself. I hope you’ve figured it out: this is an important book. TO ORDER FROM AMAZON, click on the title for The Purpose Code: How to Unlock Meaning, Maximize Happiness, and Leave a Lasting Legacy, by Jordan Grumet, MD. And thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy.   YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS: 1) This week a friend, Scott Anderson, shared some insights on "community" (see above) at a Tuesday morning prayer group. He referenced Henri Nouwen's short book of talks and articles, Community. "...Henri describes how following Jesus involves the spiritual practice of creating space for God through solitude, community, and ministry." I bought the book! How does your team create space for community for each person? 2) Should you read The Purpose Code every year? My friend and mentor, George Duff (1931-2023) re-read Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive every year. Or…should you read a different book on purpose every year? What titles on “purpose” are on your resource bookshelves at work? (You do have a resource bookcase, right?) Visit Pails in Comparison Blog (PIC #92) for a short list of books on “purpose.”         SECOND READS: Fresh Solutions From Classic Books You have changed—and your problems have changed—since you read this the first time! Book #5 of 99: Gilead For your team meeting this week, inspire a team member to lead your “10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning” session by featuring Book #5 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. Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Nov. 4, 2004, 256 pages)   I titled my first review of Gilead, “Slow Down for Excellence.” Like a Rembrandt or a Gauguin, or an exquisite gourmet dinner, you will savor the writing, the language, the nuances and the hidden humor in this week’s masterpiece novel, Gilead.    • Read my original review (Oct. 1, 2007).    • Order from Amazon.    • Listen on Libro (8 hours, 53 minutes).    • Management Bucket #5 of 20: The Book Bucket My SECOND READ Insights/Ideas: I missed this brilliant idea the first time I read this. Last week, I was reminded of this Pulitzer Prize-winning book when The Wall Street Journal’s weekly column, “Five Best,” spotlighted Gilead and four other “epistolary narratives.” Jennifer Acker writes a brief summary about the third-generation preacher John Ames, born in 1880, who “suffers from a heart condition and must say goodbye to this world.”  The book is written “as a long, elegiac letter to the preacher’s 7-year-old son.” But yikes! When I read this in 2007, I was a young 61. Back then, I pictured Pastor Ames as very old. Very old! (His first wife had died and his much younger wife had given him a son.) But Marilynne Robinson places him in 1956 at 76 years-old. Yikes again. Here in 2025, I’m now older than this aging and frail pastor! So I’m reading Gilead again to enjoy the extraordinary writing—but also to discern what thoughts I could or should leave behind for my son, daughter-in-law, and five grandkids—when I “must say goodbye.” Yikes.   CLICK HERE FOR BOOKS BY JOHN        New AI Podcast: BucketCast  Today we’re launching a new mini-feature, “BucketCast.” Click on this link to listen to the AI-generated podcasters who comment on my book review of Paradise Found: A High School Football Team's Rise from the Ashes, by L.A. Times sports writer Bill Plaschke. As you follow the devasting Southern California wildfires, you’ll be inspired by a football coach’s response to the 2018 fire in Paradise, Calif. (For more podcasts, click here.) IMPORTANT NOTICE! Some of the above links may not work. (Sorry!) Effective Oct. 1, 2025, all 657 eNews issues, previously archived on Typepad.com are slowly (!) being movedto this website. New book reviews will also be archived here at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. And/or, click here for John’s recent book reviews on Amazon. Pastoral Malpractice Confession Read my review of God Loves Your Work: Discover Why He Sends You to Do What You Do, by Larry Peabody.  Learn why Pastor Tom Nelson confessed his “pastoral malpractice” to his congregation. Yikes! For more book reviews, visit the Pails in Comparison Blog.