Exploring Books, Life, and Writing
“Dad, what would you say is your calling in life?”
The question seemed to come out of the blue from my college-age daughter. As we stood in the kitchen, inwardly I was a bit taken aback. It was totally legitimate to ask, but it got so quickly to the core of things that I felt momentarily stunned. Did I have a calling? Had I thought about it much? What was I good at and motivated to do? What was my purpose for being on this planet?
Continue reading “What Are You Passionate About?”
Last month I was at a conference in Toronto and spoke on the history of InterVarsity Press. One of the themes I highlighted was how IVP has been a conduit for British-style evangelicalism into North America over the last sixty years, a tradition that continues to this day. This is a brand of Christianity that is more comfortable interacting with culture than its American counterpart and is not afraid of the intellectual enterprise. We think the influence of the Brits on the American scene in this way has been very salutary.
Continue reading “Long, Long-Range Planning”
John Stott has had a relationship with InterVarsity Press for half a century. You can read more of my thoughts on Stott’s legacy in Behind the Books.
OK, is there anything I don’t like about First, Break All the Rules? Yes. The title.
Continue reading “For Those with Management Talent”
Is there anything in First, Break All the Rules about sales and marketing? You bet. Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman identify four levels of customer satisfaction (pp. 128ff.).
Continue reading “What Do Customers Want?”
I’ve been blogging about First, Break All the Rules, calling it the best management book I’ve read. Here’s more of what it says that I find so helpful.
We measure all kinds of things in our organizations—sales, profit, growth, productivity, square footage and so on. But Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman say that there’s no measuring stick for a manager’s ability to find, focus and keep talented people. They try to fill in the gap by identifying the key questions every employee asks, consciously or unconsciously (pp. 43ff.).
Continue reading “Why Do Employees Stay?”
As I wrote in a previous blog entry, First, Break All the Rules is the best management book I’ve read. One of most useful concepts that Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman offer is that of distinguishing talent (p. 71) from skill and knowledge (p. 83). Talent is “a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied.” Talents are “the driving force behind an individual’s job performance.” They are “the four-lane highways in your mind.”
Continue reading “Nothing Beats Talent”
First, Break All the Rules is without a doubt the best management book I’ve ever read. All I can say is read it and do likewise.
Well, actually, I can say more. Why is it good? The way it was put together. It’s not just some management consultants giving you their dog and pony show. Two Gallup Organization leaders, Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, took the results of surveys and interviews with eighty thousand managers in over four hundred companies, summarizing what the best actually do best and how they do it.
Here’s a sampling of the management myths they bust.
Continue reading “The Best Management Book I’ve Read”
For years people have been telling me that The Art of Pastoring by David Hansen is a great book. They said it really isn’t just for pastors but for any Christian who seeks to minister to others. They said it was not superficial but full of deep insights. They said the author, David Hansen, told great stories.
Even though InterVarsity Press published it a baker’s dozen years ago, I had never read it. Until now. What I have discovered is that everyone was right.
Continue reading “The Art of Pastoring”
Much has been made of the massive effort Scholastic, Harry Potter’s publisher in the United States, has made to keep the final book secret till it is revealed (and sold!) to all on July 21. Scholastic says it is to keep the plot from becoming known and spoiling it for all those Potter fans out there. (The cynic in me wonders if it isn’t to create more hype and sell more books. After all, on July 22, anyone can be a spoiler by putting key plot points on the web.)
Nonetheless, Time magazine’s article on Scholastic’s efforts concludes with an interesting reflection on what in fact does make reading enjoyable.
Continue reading “The Joy of Reading”