Marketing Your Ministry

     

PIC No. 100: Pails in Comparison (April 28, 2025)

• Title: Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles
• Authors: Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D. (1944-2023) and John W. Pearson
• Publisher: Wolgemuth & Hyatt, Publishers, Inc. (Jan. 1, 1990, 116 pages)
• Management Bucket #6 of 20: The Program Bucket

Welcome to Issue No. 100 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. 

Give people the choice to say “no” to a few options—yet still say “yes.”

When our son, Jason, was about four, I taught him an important marketing principle I learned from Bob Hisrich, the co-author of the book Bob and I wrote, Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles.

Late one afternoon, Jason asked his mom for a cookie. “No,” Joanne said. “It’s too close to dinner time.”

I took Jason aside and gave him my fatherly advice on effective marketing. “Here’s how to get your cookie, Jason,” I began. “Tomorrow, go into the kitchen and ask Mom this simple question, ‘Mom? Can I have one cookie or two cookies?’”

My street-smart kid learned fast and was patient. The next day he joined his mom in the kitchen and nonchalantly asked, “Mom? Can I have one cookie or two cookies?”

The answer was immediate. “Just one!”

Jason enjoyed his chocolate chip cookie that afternoon because he gave his mom the opportunity to say no and still say yes. He gave her choices. It’s a simple marketing rule of thumb, but it’s easy to overlook in the Program Bucket: “Give people the choice to say no to a few options—yet still say yes.” (For more examples, see Chapter 6, “The Program Bucket” in Mastering the Management Buckets.)
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CLICK HERE to view this AI-generated summary of John's summary of “Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles,” by Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D. (1944-2023) and John W. Pearson.






Below are the 10 critical principles from the book, Marketing Your Ministry. It reads like a business novel, similar to The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey and other business fables. Suggestion: Identify the one principle that is most urgent for your organization to address:

#1. If you have $10,000 to spend, invest $5,000 in researching and understanding your audience.

#2. You can’t be all things to all people.

#3. Ask people what their real needs are—then listen, listen, listen.

#4. If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.

#5. Know your strengths, roll out from them, and then make sure others know them, too.

#6. Don’t be the 8th lemonade stand in a row of 9.

#7. Don’t over-engineer. Your audience won’t pay extra for something they cannot appreciate.

#8. Caution! People are creatures of habit.

#9. Give people the choice to say “no” to a few options—but still say “yes.”

#10. One clever direct mail piece does not a marketing plan make. People buy a total package.

Robert D. Hisrich, Ph.D. (1944-2023), authored or co-authored more than 35 books and wrote more than 300 articles on entrepreneurship, international business management, and marketing. He served as the Bridgestone Chair of International Marketing, Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, at Kent State University, and was on the faculty at other universities including Boston College and Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Hisrich presented these 10 critical principles three times a year for several years in the 1980s at the Leadership Development Institute for executive directors of camps and conference centers. The program was organized by Bob Kobielush when we worked together at Christian Camping International/USA (now CCCA). Marketing Your Ministry was born out of these day-long sessions taught by Bob Hisrich. (Note: I also featured this book in Issue #52 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews on Sept. 3, 2007.)

Note: When the book was published in 1990 (35 years ago!), videotape teaching series were the hot new thing! Read the eight questions that Skip (the consultant) asked Brooks (the nonprofit CEO) regarding how much he knew about his customers. Learn why the organization should have invested $5,000 in researching and understanding their audience FIRST! While the example is out-of-date (videotapes!), the principle is as relevant as the corporate missteps in today's Wall Street Journal.
 

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Program Bucket, plus other buckets/core competencies.

[   ] Entrepreneurship, by Robert D. Hisrich, Michael P. Peters, and Dean A. Shepherd. (Order from Amazon.)

[  ] Corporate Entrepreneurship: How to Create a Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit Throughout Your Company, by Robert D. Hisrich and Claudine Kearney. (Read my review.)

[  ] “Entrepreneurial Wisdom: 5 Career-saving Principles for Ministry Entrepreneurs,” by John Pearson (from Outcomes Magazine, Winter 2010) – (Read the article.)

Note! The 10 critical principles in Marketing Your Ministry are also summarized in the following book and workbook:

[  ] BOOK. See Chapter 6, “The Program Bucket,” in Mastering the Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Nonprofit, by John Pearson. (Order from Amazon and visit the 20 buckets here.)

[  ] WORKBOOK. See Chapter 6, “The Program Bucket,” Mastering the Management Buckets Workbook: Management Tools, Templates and Tips from John Pearson, with commentary by Jason Pearson (2nd Edition, 2018) – (Order from Amazon.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles, by Robert D. Hisrich and John W. Pearson. For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews.

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

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. 

Speak Memorably: Cliché Swap-Out

   

PIC No. 103: Pails in Comparison (June 26, 2025)

• Title: Speak, Memorably: The Art of Captivating an Audience
• Author: Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva
• Publisher: Harper Business (June 10, 2025, 272 pages)
• Management Bucket #19 of 20: The Printing Bucket (aka The Communications Bucket)

Welcome to Issue No. 103 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. 

Pop Quiz: The Cliché Swap-Out Exercise!

It's the rare (but excellent!) book that I review twice. But three reviews? Stay tuned.

I hope this short "niche chapter" review (and Pop Quiz) will inspire you to order this new book. But, oh...my. There is still so much meaty content, I'm thinking about a third review next year.

In my Book Bucket, I suggest four “balls” in this bucket. Ball #2: “Mentor Your Team Members with Niche Books: Leverage their strengths with thoughtfully selected chapters.”

After you’ve read Speak, Memorably, I’m guessing you might select Chapter 6, “The Conformity Trap: Jargon and Cliché,” as a likely nominee for best niche chapter. (And you probably already know the person on your team that should read this poke-in-the-ribs—the know-it-all who is also your Jargon Meister!)

The section, “Cliché Swap-Out,” is brilliant. The authors list 11 commonly-over-used business clichés. Here’s my idea:

POP QUIZ! After Helena, our new intern, gives us a 10-minute summary of Chapter 6, your assignment is to rewrite these clichés, with a new-and-improved “Cliché Swap-Out” phrase. You’ll learn that the author, Bill McGowan, hates clichés with a passion. (Is that a cliché?) And yes, Helena has 10 Starbucks cards for the winners. We’ll use #1 as an example:

#1. “We put consumers at the heart of everything we do.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out: “Every decision we make is filtered through one primary consideration: Will this result in a better experience for the people we serve?”

#2. “Surprising and delighting consumers.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#3. “We’re consumer-centric.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#4. “We meet our consumers wherever and whenever they are.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#5. “Winning the hearts and minds of consumers.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#6. “On a go-forward basis.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#7. “Leveraging core assets.”

The Cliché Swap-Out:

#8. “Future-proofing the business.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#9. “It’s early innings.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#10. “Guided by our North Star.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

#11. “We’re on a journey.”

     The Cliché Swap-Out:

EXTRA CREDIT! Confess to at least one cliché you use often—and suggest a better Cliché Swap-Out. 

By the way, as you’ll read in my review at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog, I realized I’ve been doing it all wrong! Speaking. Presentations. PowerPoints. Storytelling. Humor. Metaphors. Analogies, and so much more. I have work to do on my next presentation!

How about you? Do your speaking tools enable your great ideas to “ricochet in people’s heads for hours, days, or even weeks after you’ve said them?” Read (or listen to) this very helpful book.

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Printing Bucket, plus other buckets/core competencies.

In my 2022 book, Mastering 100-Must Read Books, I included five titles in “Part 16: Keys to Memorable Speaking and Writing.” They include:

[   ] Book #87 of 100. 15 Minutes Including Q&A: A Plan to Save the World From Lousy Presentations, by Joey Asher. (Read my review.)

[   ] #88. Public Speaking Laws of Success: For Everyone and Every Occasion, by Richard J. Goossen. (Read my review.)

[   ] #89. You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard: The Complete Book of Speaking…in Business and in Life, by Bert Decker. (Read my review.)

[   ] #90. Keys to Great Writing: Mastering the Elements of Composition and Revision, by Stephen Wilbers. (Order from Amazon.)

[   ] #91. Gilead: A Novel, by Marilynne Robinson, (Order from Amazon.)

[   ] Bonus! Don't Say Um: How to Communicate Effectively to Live a Better Life, by Michael Chad Hoeppner. (Read my review.)

[   ] Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate and Inspire, by Cliff Atkinson (Order from Amazon.)

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Speak, Memorably: The Art of Captivating an Audience, by Bill McGowan and Juliana Silva. Listen on Libro (8 hours, 20 minutes). For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews.

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

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. 

Margin

  

PIC No. 107: Pails in Comparison (August 29, 2025)
Book #4 of 12 in the Time Management Series

• Title: Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives
• Author: Richard A. Swenson, MD
• Publisher: NavPress (Oct. 25, 2004, 240 pages)
• Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket

Welcome to Issue No. 107 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. 

The Cure for Overload

LOL! Dr. Richard Swenson’s book is very, very practical. The “margin doctor” suggests you deactivate your voicemail, or record this message, “Please wait for the beep and hang up.”

You must read this! This is Book #4 of 12 in our time management monthly series.

Margin features the cure for overloaded lives. If you don’t have time to read this book…nuff said!

Would it be a tad smug to mention that I wrote this issue a week in advance? Truth be told, that’s rarely the case—it’s often down to the wire. But back in 2008 in the new wireless, marginless age, I noticed that I was often the only relic on the rental car bus without his nose buried in his Blackberry or iPhone. (You remember "Blackberries," right?) Not that I have this subject mastered—far from it. It’s a daily discipline to build margin into my life.

So, tell me. How do you relate to Dr. Dick Swenson’s eloquent description below of the difference between living a marginless life versus the real thing? He writes:

Marginless is fatigue. Margin is energy.
Marginless is red ink; margin is black ink.
Marginless is hurry; margin is calm.
Marginless is anxiety; margin is security.
Marginless is culture; margin is counterculture.
Marginless is the disease of the new millennium; margin is the cure.

It’s likely that you—or several team members—live on the precipice of a marginless life, without adequate emotional energy, physical energy, time, or finances. A life WITH margin honors God—the opposite does not. If you’ve never read this classic, or it’s been a while since you’ve done a margin self-assessment, you’ll deeply appreciate Swenson’s practical and biblical look at a healthy life that is characterized by contentment, simplicity, balance, rest and authentic relationships.

Who are the mentors, role models and bosses or supervisors in your life? Do they live lives with margin—or are they are marginless? How does that affect you? This book is a keeper and it deserves a place of honor in your organization’s resource library.

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Team Bucket, plus other buckets/core competencies.

[  ] Hot-off-the-press, here's a time management book for your entire organization—but it’s so much more. Might be my book-of-the-year in 2025. Read There's Got to Be a Better Way: How to Deliver Results and Get Rid of the Stuff That Gets in the Way of Real Work, by Nelson P. Repenning and Donald C. Kieffer. (Read my review.)

[  ] Read this very helpful blog from Time Boss, “When Helping Stunts Your Team's Growth (And Burns You Out).”

[  ] Visit the Time Boss website. “Time Boss helps high-performing leaders master their time, scale with focus, and lead without overwhelm.”

[  ] See above for the list of books in our once-a-month time management series.

To order from Amazon,  For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews.

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, by Richard A Swenson, MD. Listen on Libro (7 hours, 26 minutes). For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews.

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

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. 

© 2025 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. 

Crazy Busy

 

PIC No. 105: Pails in Comparison (July 29, 2025)
Book #3 of 12 in the Time Management Series

• Title: Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem
• Author: Kevin DeYoung
• Publisher: Crossway (Sept. 23, 2013, 128 pages)
• Management Bucket #9 of 20: The Team Bucket 

 

Welcome to Issue No. 105 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. 

Frazzled? “A one-point plan with no guaranteed results!”

Just when you think you can teach the course on time management and life management, along comes a quick-reading 128-page book by a pastor who wrote the book because—wait for it—he was yes… “crazy busy.” I will read this book again. I may even review it a second time. It won the 2014 ECPA Book of the Year Award (and my book of the month honors!). This is Book #3 of 12 in our monthly time management series.

WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN (and workaholics) to this month’s Book Award Show. Our Book-of-the-Month Award goes to Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem, by Kevin DeYoung. This book won ALL the awards this month!

BEST SUB-TITLE!
“A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem”

BEST FINAL CHAPTER: “The One Thing You Must Do”
Gratefully, the author doesn’t promise a “a great five-point plan to simplify your life; a brilliant ten-point manifesto on restoring sanity to your world; a simple twelve-step program to becoming a less hectic you in forty days.”

But Kevin DeYoung does recommend one thing: “… I don't have a self-help makeover to offer. I can't fix your broken, busy life. I'm having enough trouble dealing with my own. But what I can give you is one thing you absolutely must do. Think of it as a one-point plan with no guaranteed results. Except that it will bring you closer to Jesus. Which, come to think of it, is positively the best way to handle your busyness.”

In Chapter 1, “Hello, My Name Is Busy,” Kevin DeYoung begins, “I’ve yet to meet anyone in America who responds to the question, ‘How are you?’ with the reply, ‘Well for starters, I’m not very busy.’” LOL!

BEST COMMENTARY ON LUKE 10:
“At the end of Luke 10 we find the closest thing Jesus gave to a sermon on busyness.” It’s the Mary and Martha story and DeYoung confesses, “No matter how many times I read this story I always sympathize with Martha.” He labels this section, “A Martha Work Ethic in a Lazy Mary World!” LOL!

DeYoung pushes back on what Jesus said to Martha and notes, “Besides, Martha was doing important things. It’s not like she was glued to her phone, watching kittens breakdance.” Then he twists the busyness knife: “Someone has to set the table and preheat the oven so that the Marys of the world can have their spiritual epiphanies.”

BEST DRUCKER QUOTE:
How did I miss this? Quoting from The Effective Executive, the classic book by Peter Drucker, DeYoung urges readers and leaders to establish “posteriorities” and adds, “This is Drucker’s word for the things that should be at the end (posterior) of our to-do list. These are the things we decide not to do for the sake of doing the things we ought to do.” (See also Worksheet #16.4, “My Don’t Do List” in the Delegation Bucket.)

BEST PASTORAL COUNSEL FROM ELDERS:
DeYoung writes, “Making goals is not enough. We must establish what tasks and troubles we will not tackle at all.” At his church, the “elders made a rule that I couldn’t do any more premarital counseling.” (That’s not prescriptive for every pastor—but it’s a good question to ask: Are your bosses, boards, and/or elders discerning what you should not do?)

BEST THERAPY:
Addressing “apostolic anxiety,” the author writes, “Second Corinthians 11:28 always seemed like a strange verse to me. Until I became a pastor. This is a must-read chapter (well…actually every chapter is must-read). See Chapter 9, “Embracing the Burdens of Busyness.” DeYoung writes:

“Paul was busy, in all the right ways. If you love God and serve others, you will be busy too. Sometimes we will get frazzled. We will feel pressure. We will be tired. We will get discouraged. We will feel exhausted.” (He goes on and on…!)

But DeYoung also urges us to read 2 Cor. 12:9 and then adds, “Paul had pressure. You have pressure too. But God can handle the pressure. Do not be surprised when you face crazy weeks of all kinds. And do not be surprised when God sustains you in the midst of them.”

BEST SEVEN-POINT OUTLINE!
I would be remiss if I failed to mention Kevin DeYoung’s diagnoses for busyness (he lists seven!)—and you would be remiss in not reading these seven chapters:

• Diagnosis #1: You Are Beset With Many Manifestations of Pride
• Diagnosis #2: You Are Trying to Do What God Does Not Expect You to Do
• Diagnosis #3: You Can’t Serve Others without Setting Priorities
• Diagnosis #4: You Need to Stop Freaking Out about Your Kids*
• Diagnosis #5: You Are Letting the Screen Strangle Your Soul
• Diagnosis #6: You’d Best Rest Yourself before You Wreck Yourself
• Diagnosis #7: You Suffer More because You Don’t Expect to Suffer at All**
     *Note: Read more on raising your kids in this Wall Street Journal article (July 25, 2025), "Goodbye, Gentle Parenting."
     **Note: Speaking of suffering, watch for my review of Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers, by Dane Ortlund (written seven years after Crazy Busy was published.)

Oh…there is so much more. Even with just 128 pages, I’ve barely skimmed the surface. If you’re “crazy busy,” I urge you to read this important book. And…I hope DeYoung will write an update. Since 2013, our lives are even crazier today, right? The “screen strangling your soul” is now 10x the problem—thanks to artificial intelligence and all of our frazzled friends. (By the way, check out my AI-generated podcasts here. Oh wait…you’re too crazy busy!)

PAILS IN COMPARISON: Reading this book reminded me of several other must-read books in the Team Bucket, plus other buckets/core competencies.

[  ] Read about my workaholism journey in Chapter 9, “The Team Bucket,” in Mastering the Management Buckets. (Order from Amazon.)
[  ] Read these two chapters in Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes and What I Learned, by John Pearson with Jason Pearson:
   • Mistake #8: "Incessantly Whining About Being Too Busy: My default conversations were         about busyness, not results."
   • Mistake #20: "Trying to Fix Workaholism on My Own: I should have asked a counselor for        help much, much sooner."
      
NOTE: I quote from this book in Mistake #8: Leadership Briefs: Shaping Organizational Culture to Stretch Leadership Capacity, by Dick Daniels 

NOTE: I quote from this book in Mistake #20: Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry (Expanded Edition, 2018), by Ruth Haley Barton (Note: I reviewed this book three times! Read the review here.)

[  ] Free Study Guide (13 pages) to Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem. (Download free e-book of the study guide here.)
[  ] Read the short chapter, “Delegation,” in Leadership Prayers, by Richard Kriegbaum. (Read more.)
[  ] Read this very helpful blog from Time Boss, “Are You a Time Prisoner?”
[  ] Visit the Time Boss website. “Time Boss helps high-performing leaders master their time, scale with focus, and lead without overwhelm.”

To order from Amazon, click on the title for Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem, by Kevin DeYoung. Listen free to the first five minutes of Chapter 1 on Libro (the audiobook is 2 hours, 56 minutes). For more reviews, visit John Pearson’s Buckets Blog and subscribe to Your Weekly Staff Meeting eNews.

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

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. 

© 2025 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. 

Mistake-Making: 16 Books!

 

PIC No. 94: Pails in Comparison (Feb. 24, 2025)

• 1 of 16: Mistakes Leaders Make
• Author: Dave Kraft
• Publisher: Crossway (Sept. 30, 2012, 128 pages)
• Management Bucket #13 of 20: The Crisis Bucket

Welcome to Pails in Comparison, the sidekick of John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. This blog features my “PICs”—short reviews of helpful books—with comparisons to other books in my 20 management buckets (core competencies) filing system. 

Read At Least One "Mistake" Book Every Year!

The introduction to Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned, by yours truly and our son, Jason, features a 2021 “Q&A With Son & Pearson.”

Jason: So, Dad…you wrote a book during the COVID marathon. Way to go, but how are you coming on cleaning out the garage?

John: LOL. The garage is my next project. But, yes, this book project was an excellent distraction from the COVID news. And—wow—I’ve learned so much about mistake-making.

Jason: I noticed. And—wow—back at you…you’ve made a lot of mistakes in your career! I’ve made my mistakes too—but I missed the memo about highlighting them in a book! And why only 25 chapters? Are you saving the best mistakes for your next book?

John: Bingo! Several friends (actually, former friends) have suggested this book should have at least 200 chapters for my Top-200 mistakes. They’re probably right. As you know, your Mom (aka Joanne) was my cheerleader for this book. She also believes that leaders are readers—and kept asking me if every chapter truly connected the dots between the mistake and a book.

Jason: Explain that. Is that the big idea in the book?

John: Yes. Every chapter (mistake) follows these three bumper sticker points:
1) Here’s a mistake I made in my leadership and management years.
2) If I had only read a book on that topic, maybe I could have avoided the mistake.
3) Here’s what I learned from that mistake. (You can read the book and avoid this mistake.)

Jason: Come on, man! It can’t be that easy! Just read a book—and you’ll avoid a mistake?

[NOTE: Read Mastering Mistake-Making to learn my full answer to Jason’s convicting question. But now in this blog in 2025, I’m way behind (my mistake) on suggesting more books to help you fine-tune your mistake-making competencies. Read on.]

As I confess in Mastering Mistake-Making, I was fearful of making mistakes in my early leadership years—even though I made many. But I learned later to jump into the mistake pool with both feet—cannonball style—and then learn from the mistakes. I’m praying that this book (and others) will inspire you to also do some laps in your pool’s mistake lane.

INSIGHTS FROM THE MISTAKE-MAKING LITERATURE

My recommendation: Read at least one mistake book every year! Here are some options for you. We’ll start with a book recommended by Patrick Lencioni, who wrote: “The lessons in Mistakes Leaders Make are timeless, and this book should be required reading for every ministry leader. Keep it on your desk and read it at least once a year.”

[  ] Mistakes Leaders Make, by Dave Kraft (Crossway, Sept. 30, 2012, 128 pages) - Order from Amazon.



Across 10 short and convicting chapters, the author calls out the “blind spots” of leaders. The format is brilliant: “CCC is not a real church but a composite of churches I have worked with in 43 years of ministry. Although the church is fictitious, the mistakes are not.”

Kraft highlights eight ministry leaders (Norm, Jim, Suzie, Bob the elder, and others) and spotlights 10 mistakes these leaders made over a five- to 10-year period. After comparing King Saul to King David and studying 1 Samuel 13-15, Kraft also notes that King Saul “could very well be the poster child for mistakes leaders make.”

Don’t skip Chapter 4: “Allowing Pleasing People to Replace Pleasing God,” or Chapter 8, “Allowing Perennially Hurting People to Replace Potential Hungry Leaders.” He begins Chapter 8 with this: “Without a doubt this chapter will be the most controversial and receive the most push back.”

[  ] *The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make, by Hans Finzel (David C Cook, Oct. 1, 2007, 224 pages) - Order from Amazon.



Finzel quotes Mario Andretti: “If everything seems under control, you are not going fast enough.” From the “Dirty Delegation” chapter: “Nothing frustrates those who work for you more than sloppy delegation with too many strings attached.” Bonus Book! Read my review of Finzel’s book, The Power of Passion in Leadership: Lead From Your Heart, Not Just Your Head.

[  ] The Book of Mistakes, by Corinna Luyken (Rocky Pond Books, April 18, 2017, 56 pages)



When this book by a first-time author/illustrator landed on The Wall Street Journal business book bestseller list in 2018, I immediately ordered it. This gorgeously-illustrated coffee table-perfect children’s book will also inspire the big “kids” on your team. Read my review which includes one of my classic mistakes: why a national committee’s full day’s work landed in the hotel dumpster!

Note: My review of the above book also mentions five other books (and links) on mistake-making including:
   •The Power of Moments (my 2017 book-of-the-year), by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, notes the dinner table question from Spanx founder Sara Blakely’s dad: “What did you guys fail at this week?”
   • Johnson & Johnson’s Robert Wood "General" Johnson II proclaimed, “If I wasn’t making mistakes, I wasn’t making decisions.” Tom Peters highlights another mistake-tolerant company that fired a cannon to celebrate (not condemn) whopper mistakes. Read more: In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies, by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. (Read my review.) 
   • In the book, What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, Jeffrey Pfeffer champions IDEO’s belief that “failing early and failing often is better than failing once, failing at the end, and failing big.” (Read my review.)

   • And Jim Collins reminded us about “First Bullets, Then Cannonballs.” He says that discipline and creativity will push you to test, test, test—with low risk bullets, then re-calibrate, fire another low risk bullet, more re-calibration—then when the empirical side of creativity has honed in on the target—let the cannonball rip! Collins has six bullet points (sorry) on “The Dangerous Lure of Uncalibrated Cannonballs.” Brilliant. Read my review: Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen.
   • And speaking of little bets, giving freedom for mistake-making is a 180-degree shift from what the profs taught us. Peter Sims quotes Sir Ken Robinson, “We are educating people out of their creativity.” Most management approaches are all about reducing errors and risk—not giving license to having a good whack at a half-baked idea. “Goodness, this is God’s money we’re wasting!” Read my review for Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge From Small Discoveries, by Peter Sims. 

[   ] The Top 10 Leadership Conversations in the Bible: Practical Insights From Extensive Research on Over 1,000 Biblical Leaders, by Steve Moore (nexleader, Sept. 20, 2017, 208 pages) - Read my review.



The chapter on risk is convicting. Referencing Luke 19, Moore cautions about “the consequences of risk-averse discipleship.” And stop-and-reflect on this quote from Larry Osborne: “The journey to accidental Phariseeism begins with a blind spot, not a sin spot.”

[   ]  *101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make and How to Avoid Them, by Mary Albright and Clay Carr (Penguin Publishing Group, Jan. 9, 1997, 336 pages)



There’s something for everyone in this book, including Mistake #2-7, “Not allowing workers to make their own mistakes.” (Order from Amazon.)

[   ] *The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets to Creating a Successful Future, by Skip Prichard (Center Street, Jan. 8, 2019, 191 pages) – Order from Amazon.



With significant endorsements (Michael Hyatt, Ken Blanchard, and Stephen M.R. Covey), you’ll share Mistake #4 with everyone you’re coaching: “Surrounding Yourself with the Wrong People.” Prichard writes: “Replace naysayers, doubters, and energy drainers with encouragers, winners, and motivators.”

[   ] *Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) Third Edition: Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts, by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson (Mariner Books, Aug. 4, 2020, 464 pages) - Order from Amazon.



An “Amazon Best Business Book of 2008,” The Wall Street Journal wrote, “Anecdote rich . . . A ramble through the evasive tactics we employ when we've done something wrong and don't want to face up to it . . . By turns entertaining, illuminating, and—when you recognize yourself in the stories it tells—mortifying.”

[   ] *Why Smart Executives Fail: And What You Can Learn from Their Mistakes, by Sydney Finkelstein (Penguin Publishing Group, May 25, 2004, 336 pages) - Order from Amazon.



Warren Bennis called this “a landmark book.” The Wall Street Journal called it “required reading not just for executives but for investors as well.” You’ll likely read Chapter 9 first: “Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful People: The Personal Qualities of Leaders Who Preside over Major Business Failures.”

[   ] *4th Quarter Fumbles: Keys to Finishing Strong, by Glenn K. Gunderson Jr. with Kathy Gisi Wimbish (Xulon Press, Jan. 5, 2017, 162 pages) - Order from Amazon.



Glenn Gunderson knows his way around a pulpit and he generously shares his research on almost a dozen Biblical characters: Saul, David, Solomon, Asa, Joash, Jehoshaphat, Amaziah, Hezekiah, Josiah, Uzziah, and Manasseh. The book is endorsed by John Jackson, president of William Jessup University. Also kudos from Grant Thorne, former Green Bay Packers strength and conditioning coach, and now Director of Sport Science for the Tennessee Titans.

Pop Quiz! Name 10 or more “Famous Fumbles.” Gunderson lists his favorite 16 and you’ll love his list: Milli Vannilli, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (and two other husbands!), The Berlin Wall, Edsel, The Titanic, Elvis Presley and “Glenn Gunderson’s hair!”

[   ] Mastering Mistake-Making: My 25 Memorable Mistakes—And What I Learned (The 10 Minutes for Lifelong Learning Workbook), by John Pearson with Jason Pearson. (Download the 25 mistakes here.) - Visit the mistakes webpage to order from Amazon.



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DISCUSSION QUESTIONS!
10 Minutes For Lifelong Learning With Your Team

#1. Fess up time! Describe one of your biggest mistakes—and what you learned.
#2. Should our team be more intentional about reading the mistake-making literature? Why?
#3. In Call Sign Chaos (my 2019 book-of-the-year), Jim Mattis writes, “…every time I made a mistake—and I made many—the Marines promoted me.” What should we learn from this?
#4. So…what “mistake” book will you read this year?

*Watch for my reviews here at the Pails in Comparison Blog or at John Pearson’s Buckets Blog. 

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