PIC No. 122: Pails in Comparison (Oct. 8, 2026)
• Title: Hand Me Another Brick Bible Companion: Timeless Lessons on Leadership – How Effective Leaders Motivate Themselves and Others
• Author: Charles R. Swindoll
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 18, 2007, 224 pages)
• Management Bucket #1 of 20: The Results Bucket
Welcome to Issue No. 122 of PAILS IN COMPARISON, the value-added sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—shorter reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system.
I’m old enough to remember—back in 1978—when Chuck Swindoll wrote his classic book on Nehemiah, Hand Me Another Brick. (I loved the title and I read the book.)
Last week, while exploring the new resource, The Singing Bible (read my blog), I listened to all 13 chapters of the Book of Nehemiah—sung in the style of a barbershop quartet! (You read that right—and that’s just one of 22 musical styles I could have chosen.)
So, of course, while listening to Nehemiah, I thought about Swindoll’s book. And get this: he’s still writing at age 91 (almost 92!). Watch for my review—of his latest book, Awakened by Grace: The Life Story of Chuck Swindoll, by Charles R. Swindoll (Oct. 13, 2026).
The original Hand Me Another Brick includes leadership lessons on how to:
• Overcome discouragement
• Relate to your boss
• Get over jealousy
• Handle money wisely
• Practice the fine art of insightful thinking
• Develop self-control
• And how to be aware of details without getting lost in them
While I never tire of reading the latest leadership books (see my blogs!), it’s rare to find books that are both biblical and leadership-relevant. (Many authors try—but too often their use of Scripture is to prove their predetermined biases. Yeah—that happens!)
The original Hand Me Another Brick reminds us about:
The story of a leader who faced a massive assignment: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
The walls were broken. The people were discouraged. The job was huge. The critics were loud. And…LOL…Nehemiah didn’t have a 47-page strategic plan!
HAND ME ANOTHER BRICK (The Book)
He had a burden, a calling, a prayer life—and a lot of bricks. Here are five leadership lessons to note:
#1. Pray First. Then Pick Up a Brick. Nehemiah didn’t begin with a committee meeting or a PowerPoint, he began on his knees.
#2. Don’t Just Identify the Problem. Own It. Nehemiah heard about Jerusalem’s broken walls and was deeply burdened. The lesson: Don’t just point at the hole in the wall. Pick up a brick.
#3. Expect the Critics. Nehemiah had hardly started rebuilding before Sanballat and Tobiah showed up. (Of course they did. Critics have excellent timing.) Every leader who attempts meaningful change eventually encounters resistance. Some criticism is legitimate and should be heard. Other criticism is simply noise. Note: Nehemiah didn’t allow the critics to become the architects of his project. I found this zinger recently, “Don’t let the peanut gallery hold the hammer!”
#4. Build With People, Not Just Plans. There are tons of books about delegation, team-building, and how to coalesce everyone around the vision. “If you’re carrying every brick, you’re probably not leading.”
#5. Keep Building—One Brick at a Time. Hand Me Another Brick is an old book—but jammed with reminders for 2026. (We forget the basics, don’t we?)
If the message of Nehemiah resonates with you—perhaps because of your current leadership situation—then find a friend, a mentor, or a colleague, and read the book and then dive into the study guide (the “Bible Companion”).
Hand Me Another Brick Bible Companion (the study guide)
If you’re serious about a biblical conversation on God-honoring leadership—here’s a helpful study guide. Examples:
DIFFICULT BOSSES (page 25). “An appropriate subtitle for this lesson could be, ‘How to Handle a Difficult Boss.’ Almost every person in leadership today is also under leadership—or at least accountable to a board of directors. One of the best ways to be a great leader is to learn how to be a great follower. And for those of us who strive to be good, faithful followers, we know it isn’t easy.”
I’ll add two resources:
• I’ve Got Your Back: A Leadership Parable — Biblical Principles for Leading and Following Well, by James C. Galvin (read my review)
• “Managing Your Boss,” by John Kotter (Harvard Business Review)
TIMING (page 31). Nehemiah waited four months before asking the king for help. “…how do you think Nehemiah discerned the proper timing for this crucial conversation?”
PROBLEM PEOPLE (page 34). In the leadership conversation about working with problem people, Swindoll asks this gut-check question: “Could it be that you are the ‘problem person’ for someone else? How would you want that person to communicate this to you?”
And oh, my! Read about "The Guy" (an elder!) in Swindoll's new book, Awakened by Grace.
HUMILITY (page 47). The study guide quotes from Spiritual Leadership, by J. Oswald Sanders (read my review). “No leader is exempt from criticism, and his humility will nowhere be seen more clearly than in the manner in which he accepts and reacts to it.”
Note: Also read the very short book, Humility, by Andrew Murray. (Wow.)
CRITICISM. While Swindoll gives very practical and biblical wisdom on addressing criticism, he doesn’t let leaders off the hook! When thinking about your critics, he asks two convicting questions:
• “Describe their mannerisms, methods, and motives when they offer criticism.”
• “How have you handled their attacks in the past? By avoiding, ignoring, defending, or fighting back? Why do you think you tend to respond in this way?”
For more on “behavioral tics and tweaks,” read my review of my 2013 book-of-the-year, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: Discover the 20 Workplace Habits You Need to Break, by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter. (View the 9-minute video summary here.)
HOW TO HANDLE A PROMOTION (page 81). Have you ever read a chapter on “How to Handle a Promotion?” (Me neither.) You’ll appreciate how Nehemiah addressed his promotion—and you’ll be reminded of others who let it go to their heads—and failed.
Read my review of The Panoramic Leader and learn why “…at least half—somewhere between 50 percent and 70 percent—of new executives fail within their first 18 months on the job. That number is as shocking as it is catastrophic, for both the leaders who are affected by this silent epidemic and for the organizations they lead.”
Oh, my. Both resources by Chuck Swindoll go deep—and they are worth your time.
PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of the Results Bucket and other must-read books in the 20 Management Buckets organizing system.
[ ] The 1978 book: Hand Me Another Brick: Timeless Lessons on Leadership, by Charles R. Swindoll (Order from Amazon.)
[ ] The 2007 study guide: Hand Me Another Brick Bible Companion: Timeless Lessons on Leadership – How Effective Leaders Motivate Themselves and Others, by Charles R. Swindoll (Order from Amazon.)
[ ] Awakened by Grace: The Life Story of Chuck Swindoll, by Charles R. Swindoll (Oct. 13, 2026) – Watch for my review. (Order from Amazon.)
[ ] Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer, by J. Oswald Sanders (read my review).
[ ] Managing Our Work, by John W. Alexander. (Order from Amazon.) This was the first leadership and management book I read in my early leadership years. It was transformational, especially in that era when "business-thinking" and "management-thinking" was looked upon with suspicion by church leaders. So helpful and still relevant. The author, then president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, wrote it originally as a staff manual for IVCF.
MORE RESOURCES:
• John Pearson’s Buckets Blog
• Subscribe: Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews
• John Pearson’s book reviews on Amazon
• Management Buckets website
• Governance of Christ-Centered Organizations Blog
• John Pearson's Buckets Podcast (YouTube)
NOTE: This is the NEW location for John Pearson's Pails in Comparison Blog. Slowly (!), the previous 100+ blogs posted (between 2022 and 2025) will gradually populate this blogsite, along with new book reviews each month.
© 2026 John W. Pearson. All rights reserved. New blogs for Pails in Comparison are posted every once in a while. We do not accept any form of compensation from authors or publishers for book reviews. As an Amazon Associate, we earn Amazon gift cards from qualifying purchases. As a Libro.fm Affiliate, we earn credits. By subscribing to Your Weekly Staff Meeting, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.
No comments:
Post a Comment