Books @ Leadership Network

I have always appreciated the research and writing of Jim Collins. Built to Last, Good to Great, and How the Mighty Fall have all clarified, reaffirmed, and provided a scientific research basis for many concepts I have been using in 35 years of consulting. I have had a lot of "Ah ha's" when reading Jim's books and hearing him speak.

This adventure of learning from Jim that is now about 17 years old is continued wonderfully through his latest book with Morten Hansen entitled Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.

Too many concepts abound in the book to try to talk about them in one sitting. Today, however, I was struck by the application of the principle of the 20 Mile March which he introduces in his chapter on fanatic discipline.

The basic concept--although there is deeper stuff when you get into it--is that it is better for an organization to journey a measured amount of distance forward each year than it is to rush forward and burn out. The measured journey will make much more significant progress in the long-term. [Jim is always about the long-term.]

The applications for this are virtually limitless. The one that smacked me in the face today relates to collective missional strategies by networks of congregations or denominational Great Commissions efforts. When a bunch of folks, congregations, and others put on a big push in a give metropolitan area, country, etc. to try to do something big and impactful in the short-term, they often totally miss the need to develop capacity and sustainability in the people on the field, in the grassroots, who will seek to harvest the impact in the days, weeks, months, and years following the emphasis.

Steady strategy implementation is always better than the big bang theory. Yet there is so much excitement and self-satisfaction for the providers of the Great Commission effort, that they can only see the short-term thrill and not the long-term capacity and sustainability needs.

Sad.

Posted via email from George Bullard's Posterous

 

Reading Preferences Gone Digital?

Leadership Network recently polled Advance readers on their reading habits.  We also asked participants how much of their consumption of information happened digitally.  While close to 30% indicated that over 50% of their reading happened without paper, there still seemed to be a preference for print media, especially when it comes to books. 

A year from now, will the preference for paper remain?  My guess is that as the options for digital readers continue to grow, we will see a swing in this data.  My colleague, @stephanieplagens reported on preferences among the early digital reading devices here and there is some speculation that by 2012, the vast majority of cell phones in use will be smart phones with digital reading capabilities.

 

Approximately what percentage of your reading materials are read in a digital format?

1-25%	44%
26-50%	23%
51-75%	22%
75-100%	6%
I don't read anything in digital format.	5%

Powered by Zoomerang® Online Surveys

 

What do you think?  Comment below or contact me at greg.ligon@leadnet.org

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

twitter - @gregligon

Delivering Happiness

About a month ago I was sent an advanced copy of Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. I was planning on just lightly skimming it, but I ended up really falling in love with the story.

Most of the business principles you’ll find in the book have been around forever, but Tony does a great job of describing how he’s actually practiced them in his life and his company (http://zappos.com)

The opportunities / crises he faced in growing the company are riveting. What gets under my skin about the book is that as a person deeply connected to communities of faith, Tony’s passion puts many of us to shame.

In his story you’ll find huge leaps of faith, creativity spawned out of desperation, and sacrifice to the point of liquidating everything he owned… and all this to sell shoes!

Our world needs more people committed to Delivering Happiness.

Lon Wong 
http://solarcrash.com 
http://twitter.com/lon

The Fourth Book of Vacation – The Power of Pull

For those just catching up to the series, you can read the first post here on how I picked books for my recent quick vacation.

The next post was on the first book – Soccernomics

The next on A Perfect Mess

And the one before this on In Defense of Food.

Ok, The Power of Pull is much like other business books I have read lately. It is sort of a combination of Tribes+Trust Agents with an academic’s slant.

On the one hand, I felt I had read all of this before in other works. While some of the case studies are original to the book, they are so similar to others that I didn’t get a lot of fresh discovery. On the other hand I did note that in my note-taking in the back flyleafs, I had jotted down multiple page numbers for reference.

The contrast of the book is between “Push” – sort of the idea that we used to push products and ideas out to consumers and they would respond, instead of crowdsourcing and co-creating with users to create “Pull”.

I did find one section very useful in describing “a shaping view”. In the authors’ view it describes “a vision, a shaping view, a galvanizing statement about the future of a market, an industry, or a broad social arena that says how tomorrow will be different from today and how everyone will be better off thereby.” (I note how the editor probably put that last word in there to not end the sentence in a preposition)

I think they have hit a good description of powerful vision in our niche arena here. I think what passes for vision in churches and parachurches is often too specific and descriptive. But good vision is broader – a shaping view – that helps guide all the actors towards a direction AND shows how things will be better. I think that type of vision empowers. It assists leads in making iterative decisions to move in a direction that allows for flexibility.

I am going to try and use “shaping view” as a description rather than vision in the future.

For my money, there are a few good observations as well about the power of weak ties theory, which I think is also huge in our arena. But after that, very skip able book.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

My Stack of Books Today

Here is my current stack.

What’s in your stack for the summer?

We are doing our current survey of readers.

Send me a photo or post in the comments.

Will post more vacation reviews later today.

 

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

dave (dot) travis (at) Leadnet (dot) org

Vacation Book 2 – A Perfect Mess

OK, I admit it. A colleague wanted me to read this several years ago and I read it quickly. I know because I made a few notes in the margins at the time. But this time I gave it a deep, thorough read making lots of notes for takeaways.

Basic message is: Don’t let some messiness in a home, workplace or life fool you into thinking the person is unproductive. Many productive inventions, discoveries and people are not the hyper- organized types. Lighten up on yourself.

It doesn’t say that disorganization leads to creativity and productivity, but it doesn’t say the opposite either.

When we try to tie things down too tightly, make them too scripted and too systematic, we lose some of the essence of life and miss out on the happy accidents and serendipitous discoveries.

We all have to manage the tension between order and chaos. But the boss that only wants clean desks also tends to discourage creativity that leads to break throughs.

This is a good balance book to Getting Things Done and even Making Ideas Happen which are both books I really like.

Dave Travis

Managing Director

Leadership Network

Steve Saccone on the Road with Relational Intelligence

Last week I had the chance to connect with Steve Saccone during Catalyst 2009 in Atlanta.  Leadership Network recently partnered with Steve and Jossey Bass in the release of his first book – Relational Intelligence.  You can check out our conversation here.  Also once you get to YouTube be search “relational intelligence” for some “Relational Intelligence meets The Office” clips – funny stuff and a great book.  You can also connect with Steve on his road trip by going to his blog and checking out his speaking schedule.

Greg Ligon

Vice President and Publisher

Leadership Network

twitter - gregligon

My Business, My Mission

Lloyd Reeb in his book Success to Significance writes about the 4 stages of the Halftime Journey.  At each stage the Halftimer is asking different questions and requires different tools and resources to answer those questions.  In the first stage of the Halftime journey, Lloyd tells us that the Halftimer needs to hear of other people like him or herself who have traveled down the road beforehand.  They need to hear stories that will not only inspire, but engage the Halftimer to want to take the first step.  There heart is stirring for something different and they need to know that there are other options than golf for their second half.  Doug Seebeck and Timothy Stoner have developed a great tool for innovative ministry leaders to use in order to help their business leaders who are in the first stage of the journey.

 

As I read My Business My Mission cover to cover, I did feel a little bit like I was reading the same chapter over and over again, however, the stories were compelling enough to still want to continue on to the next chapter.  For a Halftimer who is looking to be inspired, thumbing through this book and picking out two or three stories that resonates with his/her heart would be a perfect on-ramp to a conversation about how they might begin to use their marketplace skills for the Kingdom.  It takes an innovative minister to dare to inspire a business leader to do something other than serve on the elder board or write a big check, but a conversation with a business leader to help them use their marketplace skills for a global impact might just be what the world needs.  My Business My Mission is a great catalyst for this type of conversation. 

My Business, My Mission: Fighting Poverty Through Relationships by Doug Seebeck and Timothy Stoner.

Available here.

Reviewed by Mike Hall, Director of Engagement for Halftime, an initiative of Leadership Network

Do the Mighty Always Fall?

I’m a big fan of Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last. So when I received a copy of his newest book, How the Mighty Fall, I put my other reading aside and dug in.

Collins takes an interesting turn in his latest, research-based project. Rather than focusing on greatness, he examines why successful companies fall and how they might prevent or reverse a meltdown. He identifies five stages of decline that form a consistent pattern in these riches-to-rags stories. Interestingly, the first two stages (and even some of stage 3) occur when a company is still on the way up.

As with Collins’ other works, the lessons for churches are readily transferable. I’ve known far too many that are guilty of “grasping for salvation” (stage 4), thinking that all they need is the right leader or the latest fad program. And I wonder how many of today’s newsmakers might have entered stage 1, “hubris born of success.”

There’s one caveat to this recommendation. Even though How the Mighty Fall is based on the same type of in-depth analysis as Collins’ other books, this one is not as lengthy nor did I have as many “aha” moments. Collins explains in the preface that the project began as an article, but then “evolved into this small book.” The flip side is that it’s a quick read – only 123 pages plus appendices. My bottom line: it’s a worthwhile investment to learn (as the subtitle says) “why some companies never give in.”

Mike Bonem

www.SecondChairLeaders.com

Who Killed Change? Solving the Mystery of Leading People Through Change

If you like a simple story, a murder mystery no less, that teaches an important leadership lesson, then you may like Who Killed Change? by Ken Blanchard and a team of colleagues. Personally I always like the stories used by Blanchard to get his leadership points across although few, if any, are the foundation for a great screenplay.

The core truth surrounding this story is that many people in organizations—even congregations—intentionally or unintentionally wound or kill change efforts. And, it starts at the top as often as its starts in the ranks of employees or members.

The story of this book involves the questioning of 13 primary suspects in an organization to discover who killed Change. My favorite suspect is Carolina Culture—and it is not because I live in South Carolina. It is because I see dysfunctional and/or controlling cultural patterns as the villain in too many congregations.

A close second is Clair Communication since poor communication strategies and tactics often doom change efforts in congregations. That is why I focus so much on transition before change as the mantra of congregational change efforts I coach.

The concluding truth in the book is worth noting: “Change can be successful only when the usual characters in an organization combine their unique talents and consistently involve others in initiating, implementing and sustaining change.” [144]

Like many Blanchard books it can be read in one evening, or in my case, one airplane flight. My only significant disappointment is that the book is written for people and organizations who do their work in a linear fashion. It is hopelessly left-brained. But, who am I to talk. All too often that is me also.

I recommend this book to you. Read it, have your staff team read it, then engage in a couple of hours dialogue together about how the story and principles of this book are found in your congregation, denominational organization, or parachurch organization. Develop and take action on a short list of three to five things you are doing to do different as an organization in light of what you learn.

George Bullard, The Columbia Partnership, www.TheColumbiaPartnership.org, GBullard@TheColumbiaPartnership.org