I am Jamaica's husband, Foursquare's comm director, Personality's founder, and a catalyst for CFCC.
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Reading Room Archives
October 30, 2008
Tribes by Seth Godin
Filed under: Reading Room
I've been a Seth Godin fan for many years and appreciate so much of what he suggests through his books and his blog. As with most things that become increasingly popular and mainstream, my enthusiasm and interest has the tendency to dwindle a bit. I like discovering unknown people and ideas, as Seth was so many years ago. I realize this is a direct result of my own pride and arrogance, but I'm working on those issues. So forgive me if this reflection of Tribes is more a reflection of my temperament.
I had the opportunity to read Seth's latest little gem, Tribes, this past weekend. The first third of the book is excellent. Fresh, insightful and worth the cost of admission alone. The remainder of the book, as with so many of Godin's goodies, seems to be redundant and tangent-filled as you progress to the end. This is the case for most books so Seth is not alone. I'm sure it's that balance between having enough pages to justify a book versus a booklet. I digress. Again.
The big shift for Tribes is that Seth has moved away from his familiar marketing speak to a different conversation about leadership. In his previous books, Seth suggests that "everyone is a marketer." In Tribes, he suggests that "everyone is now also a leader."
Being both a member of several tribes and a leader of a couple tribes, I resonate with so much of what Seth writes about. "You can't have a tribe without a leader, and you can't have a leader without a tribe."
Seth's big call to action is that there are tons of different tribes all waiting to be led and "We need you to lead us." "It takes only two things to turn a group of people into a tribe: 1) A shared interest and 2) A way to communicate."
If you're looking for a fresh take on leadership, this is an easy-breezy read. Tribes will give leaders a game plan for:
- Challenging the status quo
- Creating culture
- Developing your curiosity
- Using charisma to attract followers
- Communicating your vision
- Committing to a vision
- Connecting followers to each other
Go tribes!
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October 21, 2008
Jesus Wants to Save Christians
Filed under: Reading Room
Have you ever read a book and had that overwhelming sense that what you're reading is not just another book? A book that has that 'my-life-is-about-to-be-changed' quality that doesn't seem to go away, page after page after page?
It's not often that I have this experience, but this latest manifesto from Rob Bell and Don Golden has done exactly that. Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile was so stirring, I finished it in two days and I've been reading it a second time to Jamaica this week. Wow.
Unfortunately, there is no way I can capture or convey my thoughts and feelings in a blog post or book review. This just doesn't do it justice. But I'll try.
Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a re-telling of the Bible in a way most of us here in America have never read or experienced. It's the story of humanity and how we've been moving "east of Eden" ever since we were kicked out of the Garden. Not only have we been moving east, we've been settling there, establishing ourselves and getting further away from the way things are meant to be. "From the very beginning humans [have been] moving in the wrong direction."
Continue reading "Jesus Wants to Save Christians"
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October 18, 2008
Strength to Love
Filed under: Reading Room
For awhile now, Jamaica has been lovingly encouraging me to read Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr. I finally took her advice and wow, what a book. It's a collection of sermons that King re-assembled into book form, but he was clear that "a sermon is not an essay to be read but a discourse to be heard." Strength to Love could perhaps best be summed up into King's pursuit of "a tough mind and a tender heart." "Never must the church tire of reminding men that they have a moral responsibility to be intelligent." His clarity is poignant: "A nation or civilization that continues to produce softminded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan."
King was a man of action, not one to let good intentions end there. "One of the great tragedies of life is that men seldom bridge the gulf between practice and profession, between doing and saying." He was also convinced that action by a few wasn't enough, it would take everyone getting on board the justice train. "I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be."
The "worship of bigness" is something King wrote strongly against. "Success, recognition, and conformity are the bywords of the modern world where everyone seems to crave the anesthetizing security of being identified with the majority."
But King aimed some of his choicest words directly at the church. "Nowhere is the tragic tendency to conform more evident than in the church... the church has hearkened more to the authority of the world than to the authority of God."
He continues: "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority."
Speaking about the significant progress being made in America, King doesn't mince words. "Through your scientific genius you have made of the world a neighborhood, but you have failed to employ your moral and spiritual genius to make of it a brotherhood." "But, America, I wonder whether your moral and spiritual progress has been commensurate with your scientific progress."
Strength to Love is a great book, but it would be unfortunate if it stopped there. This is a call to action!
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October 14, 2008
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Filed under: Reading Room
I just finished another Kindle book by Patrick M. Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. I enjoyed Lencioni's Three Signs of a Miserable Job so much I knew I'd like this one.
The five dysfunctions are really basic:
1. Absence of Trust, no one is open or vulnerable
2. Fear of Conflict, incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas
3. Lack of Commitment, no buy-in because trust and healthy conflict are lacking
4. Avoidance of Accountability, no commitment to a plan means nothing to measure
5. Inattention to Results, no individual accountability means collective goals are dormant
Another way to look at the five dysfunctions is next to their evil cover up. The dysfunctions look less dysfunctional because they disguise themselves in what most of us would dismiss as petty weaknesses.
1. Lack of Trust is because of Invulnerability
2. Fear of Conflict creates and Artificial Harmony
3. Lack of Commitment fosters Ambiguity
4. Avoidance of Accountability means Low Standards
5. Inattention to Results leaves room for Status and Ego
So with my teams, I am resolving to turn these dysfunctions upside down:
1. We will trust one another
2. We will engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas
3. We will commit to decisions and plans of action
4. We will hold one another accountable for delivering those plans
5. We will focus on the achievement of collective results
This won't always be easy, but we can do it!
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August 27, 2008
The Three Signs of a Miserable Job
Filed under: Reading Room
I've been on a book-reading binge with my Kindle! Next up, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees) by Patrick M. Lencioni. First things first, the title of this book is misleading. It appears the publisher—in all of their marketing wisdom—attempted to appeal to a mass audience of miserable workers. That may work for book sales, but it's why I stayed away from reading it for so long. I don't feel like my job is miserable so why did I need this book? Boy was I wrong.
Three Signs is really about how to help the teams that work for you have a fulfilling job and avoid the misery that often sets in with so many people in the workplace. The premise of the book is so simple you feel dumb for your delay in living out its wisdom. Somewhat empathetic to this, Lencioni affirms us with words from Samuel Johnson. “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
In typical Lencioni fashion, as he has done with his other books, Three Signs is a fable, so you're soaking up the principles by learning and living them through a story. Simple. Genius.
Lencioni's three signs are:
1. Anonymity: People cannot be fulfilled in their work if they are not known.
2. Irrelevance: Everyone needs to know that their job matters to someone.
3. Immeasurement: Employees need to be able to gauge their progress and level of contribution for themselves.
The prescription to these three signs, in my own words that begin with the letter "m" so that I can remember, are:
Continue reading "The Three Signs of a Miserable Job"
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August 25, 2008
The Starfish and the Spider
Filed under: Reading Room
One of the first books I read on my Kindle was the The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafmanand and Rod A. Beckstrom. It's "a book about what happens when there's no one in charge. It's about what happens when there's no hierarchy."
The metaphor of a starfish and spider is spot on. Spiders can only operate when the central system (the head) is alive and intact. If you cut off the head of a spider, or cripple its legs, it will die or be destroyed. Starfish, on the other hand, do not have a centralized command system. If you cut off one of the "arms" they will either grow back or learn to function without it. There is not a head to a Starfish, rather an interdependent decentralized system that adapts and mutates.
Using this metaphor, the authors explore centralized and decentralized systems throughout history. They pay special attention to decentralized systems—including Alcoholics Anonymous, eBay, Kazaa and eMule—since the point of their book is the rise in power of powerless (or leaderless) organizations. "The absence of structure, leadership, and formal organization, once considered a weakness, has become a major asset."
Continue reading "The Starfish and the Spider"
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May 28, 2008
Finding Your Soul
Filed under: Reading Room
On the Personality blog I wrote a review of the book by Hamid Bouchikhi and John R. Kimberly called The Soul of the Corporation: How To Manage The Identity of Your Company. It's a brilliant study on why organizations need to be aware of their soul and how their identity flows from that. The case studies were very enlightening and provided great context for the authors' arguments.
I'm planning to use some of this stuff for a few upcoming talks I have later this year. It's also a great setup for so much of the consulting work I do.
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May 18, 2008
The Shack
Filed under: Reading Room
Two weeks ago somebody in the office asked me if I had read a booked called The Shack by William P. Young. I had never heard of it. Last week, I saw that Mark Batterson was reading it after having it recommended to him by our mutual friend Brad Lomenick. I went ahead and ordered it (thanks Amazon Prime). This book is gaining major momentum--500,000 sold in the first 11 months--and it's self-published.
William Young is a great storyteller. I started the 253-page book yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. It's the first work of fiction I have read in a long time. I'm not a fan of fiction, especially "Christian" fiction. This book is a rare exception.
The story is about a father of a kidnapped daughter who everyone presumes is dead. Mack is tormented by the loss of his daughter and is trapped in a world of grief and guilt. One day Mack receives a letter--presumably from God--that invites him to the scene of the crime. What Mack finds there is what changes him forever.
The Shack is a mix between Pilgrim's Progress and The Chronicles of Narnia, although not as theological or fantastic in its content. It's written perfectly for the big screen, which I later learned is already in the works.
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April 26, 2008
The Journey of Desire
Filed under: Reading Room
A few months ago Jamaica gave me a copy of John Eldredge's book, The Journey of Desire. She already knew I wasn't a big fan of Eldredge from back when I tried to read his Wild at Heart. I couldn't get through the first couple chapters without feeling bored or neutered. John is a man's man and I am not. I can't relate to camping stories and fishermen tales. I don't really care to either.
Nonetheless, I told Jamaica I would read this one. She was really inspired by the quantity and quality of quotes that Eldredge incorporates into Desire, and she wanted me to share in the inspiration.
After a bumpy beginning--three pages into the book and I'm already hiking and swimming with John in the Tetons--I knew the next 209 would be a challenge. Three months later I made it to the end and I'm glad I did.
The Journey of Desire boils down to this:
- We are desire.
- Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished with it.
- Desire fuels our search for the life we prize.
- We must go into our desire if we are to meet God.
Unpacking the above took me on a journey of patient redundancy, but I found some treasure. All quotations that follow are from John Eldredge unless otherwise noted.
Continue reading "The Journey of Desire"
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April 4, 2008
Phil The Cooker
Filed under: Reading Room
Earlier this week I had lunch with "media guru" Phil Cooke. I've been a Cooke observer over the last few years and have only recently met him in person, even though we've worked indirectly with each other on some projects in the past. I also just finished reading Phil's latest book, Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don't, which I reviewed on the CMS blog.
We had a great conversation over lunch and talked a lot about his own journey and the worlds he straddles. Phil has a big heart for helping churches and ministries communicate better, and a lot of talent to do so. His ministry-minded (and poorly named) Cooke Pictures, as well as his founding partnership in TWC Films (a commercial production company) speak to his gifting.
I'm looking forward to getting to know Phil more.
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March 26, 2008
Finding God In Unexpected Places
Filed under: Reading Room
During the car-ride to and from Sedona this past weekend, Jamaica and I listened to Philip Yancey's gem Finding God In Unexpected Places. I must admit, I've never been a big fan of Yancey because the books I've attempted to read of his are a little dry. This one was definitely an exception.
Finding God was an encouraging book. It's 49 easy-to-digest chapters are loaded with wisdom and wonder. I love Yancey's stories and tangents. His life is full of experiences that are too good not to tell. From his city life in Chicago to his overseas travels visiting prisoners in Russia and Chile, God was showing up everywhere. Yancey also had a pleasant trail of humor throughout the book which was unexpected.
Unfortunately, because I listened to this book, I wasn't able to highlight and bookmark favorite selections. The bummer of audio books!
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October 10, 2007
Sex God
Filed under: Reading Room
I finished reading Sex God by Rob Bell during my week-long trip to Atlanta, Charlotte, and Christiansburg, Virginia, this past week. Great book. Way more about spirituality than sex, but leave it to Rob to raise eyebrows and book sales at the same time. Who wouldn't want to read a book that includes chapters such as "Leather, Whips, and Fruit" and "Whoopee Forever?"
The big takeaway for me is how Rob breaks down the concept of angels and animals. Although both were created before humans, the important thing is that humans are not angels and humans are not animals.
When we aspire to live like angles (all spirit), we forget that we're also physical beings. And when we're all physical (like animals without spirit), we forget that there is so much more to life. This is the beauty of humanity. We're spirit and body. Physical and spiritual. We're both. Rob says, "Living like angels can be just as destructive as living like animals."
How we live matters because God made us human.
Which means we aren't angels.
And we aren't animals.
Is sex a picture of heaven?
"...marriage is always about something bigger than itself. It's two people, in their unconditionally loving embrace of each other, showing each other in flesh and blood what God is like. These two are naked, and they feel no shame."
"To pursue being naked, you have to believe that this person is worth getting to know for the rest of your lives. Being naked is peeling back the layers, conversation after conversation, experience after experience, year after year. It's rooted in a belief that the soul has infinite depth and you'll never get to the bottom of it."
"To be known fully and still loved, still embraced, still accepted" is what people "crave in sex."
Rob opens the book talking about creation. He reminds us that how we treat creation is a direct reflection for how we feel about the creator. From the way we treat earth to the way we treat people, it's directly connected to how we feel about God.
Sex God.
Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality.
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September 23, 2007
The Irresistible Revolution
Filed under: Reading Room
As much as I dislike flying, I do love being able to read a book from start to finish in a round-trip. My trip this past week to Grand Rapids was no exception with The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
I grew up a good "Christian" boy. Church every week, sometimes twice a week. A student leader for youth gatherings. Mission trips to domestic and international places of need. I prayed and read my Bible. I obeyed my parents. I never did drugs. Unfortunately, I think I spent more time learning the Gospel than living the Gospel. And I continue to suffer with this despicable disease.
It seems as though Shane Claiborne can relate. Quoting from a letter he received sometime ago, Shane echoes that we're living in days full of "unbelieving activists and inactive believers." Fortunately for his readers, Shane Claiborne is not just another guy teaching us how to live, he's showing us how to die.
This is a book for ordinary radicals. It's for "a generation that stops complaining about the church it sees and becomes the church it dreams of."
Continue reading "The Irresistible Revolution"
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September 15, 2007
John Wood the World Changer
Filed under: Reading Room
I don’t typically buy books from over-priced airport newsstands, but this week was an exception. I usually always have a backlog of magazines to catch up on (I subscribe to a couple dozen different publications), but for some reason, my stack was empty. So I faced a couple options for this trip to Nashville: 1) pull out the ‘ol laptop to catch up on work during this four-hour flight, or 2) rely on the in-flight movie option. As I made my way down the terminal toward the departure gate, a book caught my eye that was proudly displayed in a kiosk that protruded into the terminal walkway. Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood. I impulsively developed a third option: read a new book from start to finish on this trip.
And read I did.
The first 177 pages of this 260-page book were literally page-turners. I got choked up twice and that doesn’t happen to me very often (much to my wife’s chagrin).
Continue reading "John Wood the World Changer"
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July 9, 2007
Surnames
Filed under: Reading Room
One of the other things I liked about reading Benjamin Franklin was the tangents that Walter Isaacson goes of on. For example, Isaacson gives a little background about surnames, and how they were a reflection of their context. The upper classes tended to take on the names of their domains, like Lancaster or Salisbury. Tenants of the wealthy would reflect their own little turf of land like Hill or Meadows. Artisans would assume a title of their trade like Smith, Taylor, or Weaver. Franklin comes from the Middle English word "frankeleyn" which means freeman.
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July 8, 2007
Benjamin Franklin
Filed under: Reading Room
I don't make a habit of picking up books with more than a few hundred pages, but I've been wanting to read former Time editor Walter Isaacson's 590-page Benjamin Franklin for quite some time. Thanks to a long flight back and forth between Israel last month, I was able to do just that.
"Benjamin Franklin is the founding father who winks at us," says Isaacson in the opening pages of this truly engaging read. I definitely appreciated the first half of the book more than the last half, most likely because the first half had so many details about Franklin and the historical events surrounding his life that I was not aware of.
Franklin is credited with doing a lot. From coming up with the idea for fire stations and libraries, to establishing the matching grant and the middle class, he would also, in January of 1751, start what is known today as the University of Pennsylvania.
In addition to being "American's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist...," Isaacson says Franklin was also "America's first great publicist who continued to reinvent himself."
Continue reading "Benjamin Franklin"
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March 18, 2007
The Life I've Always Wanted
Filed under: Reading Room
Just finished reading The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg. Jamaica read it several years ago with a small group she was a part of. I don't remember her sharing much of the journey with me as far as what she was learning from the book. Had she shared just a few glimpses I would have read this thing a long time ago. In terms of spiritual formation, this book is incredible. I've been a fan of Dallas Willard--another spiritual formations author--for a long time, but every time I attempt to read his stuff, I get a little lost. He's just too smart for me. John Ortberg is kind of like Dallas Willard for dummies.
In The Life You've Always Wanted, Ortberg does a masterful job at framing up what a spiritual journey can look like against the backdrop of now. This is not about studying monks and monasteries, attempting to re-order a life that is caught between traffic jams, long days at the office and marriage problems. Quite the contrary. This book is really about re-ordering the heart so that the realities of today are filtered through the lens of celebration, "slowing," prayer, serving, confession, reflection and suffering.
Continue reading "The Life I've Always Wanted"
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March 17, 2007
This Beautiful Mess
Filed under: Reading Room
Last month I read the book This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley. I never wrote about it because I didn't quite know what to say. The book was a major kick in the butt for me, especially in light of Jamaica and I living down here in the city. The mess is life. The beauty is God. The conflict is in the mash-up of the two. They are not mutually exclusive.
Jamaica wanted to read the book as soon as I was done. I really didn't want her to because now we would both be held hostage to the words churning in our heads and hearts.
I still don't know what to write about. All I know is that we're in this city for a purpose. And that purpose has to be more than just a shorter commute to work, a better view and great restaurants within walking distance.
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February 13, 2007
Mind Your X's and Y's
Filed under: Reading Room
Last week I finished reading Mind Your X's and Y's by Lisa Johnson. I wrote a review over on Personality's site, as well as a follow-up post that made me giddy about how well Personality is positioned for the next generation.
The wisdom from this book will come in handy for so many things I am working on now, including the Foursquare NextGen Summit. If you're interested in how the next generation is going to interact with the world, this is a great look ahead.
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January 31, 2007
Vital Friends
Filed under: Inspiration
Finished reading Vital Friends by Tom Rath earlier this month. Tom is a Gallup guru so the book is driven by deep research and analysis.
The premise is that we spend too much time focusing on the wrong kind of relationships in our lives. We focus a lot on psychology (our relationship with ourself), sociology (our relationship with groups), and anthropology (our relationship to culture). We spend very little time focusing on that one-on-one relationship with another person.
Rath started his initial research when he was working on a Gallup project about homelessness. He found that the reason many people become homeless was due to a relationship with someone (perhaps the last and only relationship they had left) that was lost. Perhaps a spouse who gave up, children who won't talk to them anymore, or a parent who has resolved to let the child fend for themselves. Furthermore, Rath found that many people get out of being homeless because someone began and cultivated a relationship with a homeless person.
It was the absence of a one-on-one relationship that resulted in homelessness. It was the presence of a one-on-one relationship that resulted in home-full-ness.
Continue reading "Vital Friends"
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