Archive by Author

Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars

Good book.  Not as captivating or as well written as many of the other books by Lencioni, but still worth a look.  The concept is the same as presented in his Frantic Family book, but it is applied here to businesses.  This book was written first, and then the book applying it to family was [...]

The 3 BIG Questions for the Frantic Family

This book was not Lencioni’s best, but it was a good application of the many business principles into a family situation.  I think the tool provided at the end, which you can find saved in the supplemental, PDF document below, can be very helpful in finding clarity for our families.  I wished he would have [...]

Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours

All I can say about this book is “WOW!”  Classic does not begin to describe the contents of this book and how he nails the issues on the head.  Contemporary does not begin to describe how in touch he seems to be with the current struggles within missions…and he wrote this in 1912.  He admits [...]

Death By Meeting

Great book.  Very clear, and fairly concise.  I have condensed the summary down to about 6 pages, but I reproduced a diagram from the book, and added another table of my own in at the end that shows a comparison of time spent in meetings if we do it Lencioni’s way, and the typical way [...]

The ASK

“The ASK” is a long read.  A little too long.  The summary is long as well, because there is a lot of good detail in the book, but also alot of fluff.  Each chapter has Exhibits which summarize some main points.  Then the author goes into too much detail of each one, sometimes not providing [...]

Submissions

As much as I wish I could read a book a day and post each summary, it doesn’t quite work like that. I do have reading time worked into my work schedule because it is an important part of what I do…but some days it slips through the cracks. At any rate, if [...]

The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards

This short book by Panas is another good one. It’s hard to go wrong with Jerry Panas. His excitment, enthusiasm, and experience are all helpful. There is overlap from book to book of his, but each one is helpful in it’s own way. This time I decided to break the summary [...]

ASKING: a 59 minute guide…

This book is small, but well written, and very helpful.  It is a nice mixture of encouragement and inspiration (desperately needed for the work of fund raising), with plenty of helpful conversational tips, appointment tips, asking tips, etc.  I have summarized and recorded the most significant and best examples in the summary.  Jerry has a [...]

Fundraising Realities Every Board Member Must Face

This is a good book. Easy to read and full of fairly helpful tips and encouragements for boards facing the challenge of fund raising (which is a challenge every good board should be facing). I have recently read a handful of books on the board’s involvement in fund raising, and this is one [...]

Achieving Excellence in Fundraising

This book is nothing less than excellent!  It’s HUGE, yes, and very detail packed.  If you are preparing to launch into a significant fundraising effort, and you are the person responsible for making it happen, this book will likely be very helpful.  And, given the scope and size of the book, the price is not [...]

How to Write Fundraising Materials that Raise More Money

Not sure how to say what I want to say about this book. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad book. I learned some very useful tips and mindsets from reading this. In fact, right after finishing it, I had occasion to revise a case statement for a capital campaign [...]

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

I really like the way Patrick Lencioni captures crucial issues within a story and draws them to practical, implementable steps that can be taken to produce change. He’s a decent author, and understands the issues. His books lend themselves to being summarized because of the nature of their fable/practical breakdown. His books [...]

Good to Great and the Social Sectors (non-profit)

This book is a follow up to Jim Collins’ Good to Great, which focused only on the business realm. In this version he applies the same observations, yet with the perspective that a non-profit would need to approach them from. Since I work primarily with non-profits, I found this body of work to [...]

Good to Great

Good to Great is a modern day business classic.  Chances are you’ve read it.  Even so, this little 3 + page summary I’ve posted is a great refresher of the main points.  This was one of the earliest “self-imposed book reports” I ever did, so it’s light (very light) on the diagram reproductions and visuals. [...]

my introduction

my introduction

New blog.  First post.  Books.  I like them.  I like to carry them.  I like to smell them.  I like to stack them.  I like to open them, close them, and organize them.  I like to read them and I like to write in them.  I also have a minor love affair with an instrument [...]