1. Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli
2. Quitter by Jon Acuff
3. Necessary Endings by Dr. Henry Cloud
4. Today We Are Rich by Tim Sanders
5. Poke the Box by Seth Godin

Several years ago, I made a connection with Mark Hughes as a result of reading his book called Buzzmarketing. Mark’s life has radically changed in the years since then. With that, he’s released a new book on grace. I’ve asked him to share his story. I hope you’re encouraged and inspired by this interview.

TONY: What prompted you to write Sons of Grace?

MARK: Massive conversion. For 30 years of my life I’d turned off the switch to God. I was successful; my resume spanned from PepsiCo to VP of Marketing of Half.com which we sold to eBay for $300 million. I was author of the book Buzzmarketing and was a sought-after marketing speaker travelling to Europe, the Middle East and middle America.

But Thanksgiving 2007, I realized I had no purpose. I was self absorbed; self centered. I realized I had treated my family and wife pretty poorly for most of my married life. My life had to have more meaning, and when I looked deep inside my life, it was empty of many things.

Around the same time, a friend of mine had asked me if I wanted to attend a men’s spiritual group which met about an hour before we met each week. I was scared to death. I was skeptical of everything religious…perhaps afraid of anything that might replace numero uno (me at the time). But I knew for many years, though, that some kind of faith awaited me.

So Friday mornings, I showed up. Fifteen to twenty men from contractors to multi-millionaires shared openly about the baggage in their lives while reflecting on a passage from the Gospel. I was so removed from Christianity, I didn’t know that the Gospel was the first four books of the New Testament. I was so lost, but I could relate to these honest and flawed men, because I was flawed in so many ways.

I showed up, I stayed, I shared. Then a Marine approached me, knowing that I had written the book Buzzmarketing, and asked how to write a book. We talked, and it quickly evolved into a compilation book where ten tough, flawed men would write their own chapter of how they pushed God away, wreaked havoc and eventually embraced God — finding a peace never experienced before. It took three years from start to finish.

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A few weeks ago I picked up a free copy of Read This Before Our Next Meeting by Al Pittampalli. It offers an interesting twist on the strategy for meetings in organizations. Here are some of the highlights from my reading:

• “We’re now addicted to meetings that insulate us from the work we ought to be doing.”
• “When’s the last time any one of us made a game-changing decision that made our hearts race?”
• “I can think of no single great innovation that has ever happened without the presence of opposition.”
• “Regularly interrupting the day to bring our best minds together to focus on the urgent makes it impossible for these people to spend their focused energy on what’s actually important.”
• “Peter Drucker tells us that meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization. We either meet or work. We can’t do both at the same time.”
• “Meetings need to be less like the endless commercial breaks during a football game, and more like pit stops at the Daytona 500.”
• “Meetings have become a tool to delay decisions. They have become our default stalling tactic.”
• “We must structure the Modern Meeting so that bold decisions happen often and quickly, and those decisions are converted into movement that leads our organization forward—fearlessly.”
• “Modern Meetings can’t exist without a decision to support. Not a question to discuss—a decision.”
• “I believe that just about anyone is capable of participating productively in a brainstorming session, but with one important caveat: the closer the topic is to the work you do all day, the worse you will perform.”
• “Group decision making often leads to a culture of compromise.”

I don’t necessarily buy into all the principles discussed in the book. For example, I’m not sure what I think about every decision happening outside the context of a team meeting. However, I think this is a good read for anyone who is responsible for organizing and leading people to reassess the effectiveness of meetings.

Here’s my Amazon link if you’d like to pick up a copy to read and discuss with your team.

Wow! It’s been quite a week around here. We launched the latest eBook last Monday, and lots of people have generously been sharing the love. Since Hanging Up the Leisure Suit: How to Get Unstuck was released, over 5,000 people have already viewed/downloaded it. I really appreciate the response.

Over the last week, several folks have shared reviews on their websites. Here are a handful of reviewers that sent me their links:

• Bob Adams
• Louie Marsh
• Steve Stewart
• Charles Cole
• Paul Alexander
• Steve Blumer
• Mike Morris
• Matthew Costner
• Tom Jamieson
• Ryan Stigile
• Nick Blevins
• Billy Ritchie

It’s no secret — organizations must have leaders in order to accomplish their mission. However, as I work with churches across the country, the development of leaders seems to be a huge challenge every one is facing these days. That’s why I’m excited about this new eBook from Mac Lake. Until now, it’s been difficult to recommend specific resources for churches to help with leadership development. In Building a Leadership Development Culture, Mac addresses the core issues of this challenge and gives practical steps to help you and your organization begin building many reproducing leaders.

Many leaders are paralyzed by the seemingly impossible challenge of building new leaders.  In this book, you will find practical ideas that can be implemented right away to help you start building a culture of leadership development in your team, department or organization.  If you implement the strategy provided in this resource, the leadership landscape of your organization can look drastically different 12 months from now.

Here’s the truth: Leaders develop leaders. It’s not enough to depend on conferences for leadership development. It’s time to challenge leaders to get their hands dirty once again in raising up new leaders. When an organization learns how to reproduce leaders, it will impact their growth and health for generations. Don’t settle for a one-generation run of ministry. God has a bigger vision for you and your church. Real leaders leave a legacy of new leaders.

Building a Leadership Development Culture is available through Leadia. Leadia is a new venture from the Leadership Network that provides resources to leaders through an integrated media experience. If you have an iPad or iPhone, you can download the app then purchase Mac’s resource on leadership development.

I also have a couple of FREE copies to give away to TonyMorganLive.com readers. To win one of those copies, just leave a comment on this article. Again, you need to have an iPad or iPhone in order to access the resource. I’ll select the winners tomorrow evening.

UPDATE: The winners have been selected and notified by email. Thanks for participating!

John Maxwell

Yesterday, John Maxwell’s newest book, The Five Levels of Leadership, was released. I caught up with John a few days ago and asked him several questions about the book. Here’s our interview. Check out the opportunity to win a free copy at the end of the article.

TONY: What prompted you to write The Five Levels of Leadership?

JOHN: In the early 1980s, I hit a wall in my productivity as a leader. I realized I needed to shift from leading followers to developing leaders. Since leadership is influence, this got me thinking about the nature of influence. What emerged from that study is what I called the 5 Levels of Influence (later renamed 5 Levels of Leadership). And I began using it to help others understand how influence works and begin developing themselves as leaders.

In almost 30 years of teaching 5 Levels of Leadership, it gradually became my most requested lesson. And that demand prompted me to go back and really dig into it, to see if it could be expanded into a book. To my delight, I realized that there was plenty of content, and I could’ve written more about it than I did.

TONY: I know that Jim Collins wrote about “Level 5″ leadership in Good to Great. What did Jim get wrong on this topic?

JOHN: I don’t think he got anything wrong. It’s just a different way of looking at leaders. His level 5 hierarchy is very different from my 5 Levels of Leadership. What he’s really talking about is five levels of contribution or individual growth. And he focuses mostly on his Level 5, but doesn’t really go into the other levels at all. His levels are also not sequential. Bottom line: I think Jim and I just happened to use the same terminology, but it’s a different perspective on the subject.

My 5 levels is not only a picture of leadership, but also the process of how leadership works: How a leader starts with a Position, then has to gain Permission to lead by developing relationships. Then they have to achieve Productivity by getting results with the team. That earns them the credibility to begin People Development so others can reach their potential. Finally, at Level 5, the Pinnacle, they develop leaders who develop leaders.

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Big news today! We’re launching the second eBook in the Leisure Suit series. This one is called Hanging Up the Leisure Suit: How to Get Unstuck. Among other things, this resource includes strategies and practical steps for:

• making the necessary changes to get different results
• bridging the gap between vision and execution
• following God’s blueprint for fulfilling his purposes
• avoiding over-reliance on teaching to produce change, and
• creating healthy systems in your church

Like my previous eBooks, this one is FREE. (You can share it with your teammates.) It’s short. (You won’t have to invest much time reading it.) It includes exercises and discussion questions. (My goal is for you to have healthy conversations that lead to positive change.) And, you’ll get to start those conversations immediately–no need to visit the bookstore or wait for the Amazon box to show up on your doorstep. (Do people still read hardback books?)

Again, I’m grateful for the partnership with Church Community Builder. Because of their very generous contribution to Engage Burkina, this entire series will be delivered to you for free.

My primary mission in life is to help leaders and churches have a bigger impact. I don’t want you to be stuck. I’m praying this eBook helps you take your next steps in your leadership and in your ministry.

And don’t be stingy. Share this with a friend so they can experience it too.

In a couple of weeks, I will be releasing my newest eBook. It’s called Hanging Up the Leisure Suit: How to Get Unstuck. It’s the second in a series of eBooks I’m releasing this year to help churches get unstuck. The first one, The Leisure Suit Trap: 8 Reasons Your Church is Stuck, is available as a free download.

I’d like to give some of you the opportunity to read the eBook before everyone else gets it. I’m looking for 100 bloggers who will read the eBook and then post a review the week of October 3. If you’d like to participate, leave a comment on this post. Act quickly. The last time I did something like this, the 100 copies were claimed in about 30 minutes.

For the rest of you, stay tuned for more details about this resource in the coming weeks. I’m really looking forward to the conversations this eBook is going to generate.

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who has responded. I’ve closed the preview requests. Watch for the release the week of October 3.

My friend Jon Acuff from Stuff Christians Like recently released a new book called Quitter. Though the book is written to encourage and challenge people who are experiencing a gap between their day job and their dream job, I think the principles can apply to anyone who is looking to find their purpose and take their next steps. Quitter offers some great insights. The bonus is that you also get Jon’s excellent writing and humor.

Here are the highlights from my reading:

• “Quitting a job doesn’t jump-start a dream because dreams take planning, purpose and progress to succeed.”
• “‘Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity.’ It’s true, and the opportunity to quit your job will always be there. The real question is whether you’ve prepared.”
• “You don’t ask the bottomless, ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ but instead, ‘What have I done in my life that I loved doing?’”
• “Quit perfect. It’s an unnecessary obstacle. Chase the idea of your dream being better finished at 90 percent than perfect and not pursued.”
• “You have the perfect amount of time each day for the things that matter most. The key is spending time on those things.”
• “I don’t think any of the information in this book works without applying hustle to it.”
• “Hustle isn’t just doing the things you love all the time. Hustle is doing the things you don’t enjoy sometimes to earn the right to do the things you love.”
• “Do more of the things you love and less of the things you like.”
• “Pitting your dream against someone else’s is a fantastic way to get discouraged and depressed. Nothing good comes from measuring your dream against your competition.”
• “If I say yes to this opportunity and am successful at it, what will be the long-term outcome?”
• “The reward of getting really good at something less significant than your real dream is that you get to do it more often. That’s not a reward; that’s a punishment.”