Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit [Hardcover]

Mr. John Pearson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2008

In the most practical, humorous and fast-moving chapters you’ve ever read on business and non-profit leadership and management, this in-the-trenches management expert presents his 20 Management Buckets System for understanding and organizing your important mission. “When you don’t know what you don’t know,” says John Pearson (with 30 years of CEO experience), “the Law of Unintended Consequences will derail you every time.” Based on Pearson’s 48-hour Management Buckets Workshop Experience, Mastering the Management Buckets offers detailed implementation tools, including 99 practical takeaways that a leader could implement immediately, plus nine management breakthrough strategies. Learn how The People Bucket, The Donor Bucket, The Hoopla Bucket, The Customer Bucket and others can make or break your organization. For managers and leaders to use on their own, in weekly staff meetings, mentoring young leaders and managers and a host of other ways.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

You've probably observed that lots of CEOs practice "Management by Bestseller."  They hiccup from one hot business book to the next--leaving their loyal, but confused team members wondering where the target is.  So the foundational idea behind Mastering the Management Buckets is to think of leadership and management as a three-legged stool: Cause, Community and Corporation. The 20 buckets (core competencies) fit under one of those arenas--and wise leaders know that you need a balanced approach of all three legs. 

Why 20 buckets/core competencies? Leadership is complex; often chaotic.  We all grow weary of "five ways to do this" and "seven steps to XYZ."  Nonsense. Life is much more messy. That's why no one person can master all 20 core competencies, but a team can and should.  While the book is faith-based (I'm a follower of Jesus), it's not preachy. 

Enjoy your dip into the buckets.

From the Back Cover

In the most practical, humorous and fast-moving chapters you’ve ever read on business and non-profit leadership and management, this in-the-trenches management expert presents his 20 Management Buckets System for understanding and organizing your important mission. “When you don’t know what you don’t know,” says John Pearson (with 30 years of CEO experience), “the Law of Unintended Consequences will derail you every time.” Based on Pearson’s 48-hour Management Buckets Workshop Experience, Mastering the Management Buckets offers detailed implementation tools, including 99 practical takeaways that any leader can implement immediately, plus nine management breakthrough strategies. Learn how The People Bucket, The Donor Bucket, The Hoopla Bucket, The Customer Bucket and others can make or break your organization. For managers and leaders to use on their own, in weekly staff meetings, mentoring young leaders and managers and a host of other ways.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 284 pages
• Publisher: Regal (May 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830745947
• ISBN-13: 978-0830745944
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Pearson, a management and board governance consultant, served 30 years as a nonprofit CEO, including 25 years as CEO of three national associations: Christian Management Association, Willow Creek Association and Christian Camp and Conference Association. He conducts workshops in the U.S. and worldwide on his Management Buckets approach to the leadership and management of organizations. Focusing on 20 core competencies (the buckets), Pearson coaches clients on the Results Bucket, the Customer Bucket, the Strategy Bucket, the Hoopla Bucket, the Culture Bucket and 15 other buckets. He is also the editor and publisher of "Your Weekly Staff Meeting," a complimentary eNewsletter that includes a book review and a bucket commentary every week. John has reviewed more than 200 leadership and management books since 2006 and his articles have appeared in numerous magazines and journals over the years. John is also the president of CEO Dialogues, Inc., and is the co-author of "Marketing Your Ministry: Ten Critical Principles," with Dr. Robert Hisrich of the Thunderbird School of Global Management. His consulting firm, John Pearson Associates, Inc., is based in San Clemente, Calif.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive set of best ideas and practices, July 4, 2008

By 

Michael Lee Stallard (Greenwich, CT) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit (Hardcover)

After starting to read this book my reaction was WOW! I've never seen so many practical ideas for leaders in one book. John Pearson draws on a vast array of sources that he came across over his long career including time he spent with Peter Drucker. The book describes 20 critical competencies are broad and include topics you don't usually find in books on leadership such as systems, board, budget, operations and crisis.

The competencies are what Pearson calls "management buckets." Some people will like this description, others may be tempted to dismiss the bucket metaphor as lite. That would be a mistake. The book is jam-packed with substantive ideas and insights. I was glad to see that Pearson covers the "hard" issues such as being results oriented to the "soft" issues such as caring for employees. I'm recommending this book to leaders as one to take their leadership team through. It will surely stimulate a list of actions that will benefit their team and organization.

The book does have a lot of references to Christianity because John is a Christian and he has primarily worked for and with Christian organizations. If you work for a Christian organization, this is a must read. If not, or if you are not a Christian, you will still benefit from the ideas and practices described in the book. Because social sector organizations rely so much on volunteers they have learned much about motivating them and for-profit organizations can learn a lot from effective social sector leaders such as Pearson.

I also want to point out that the book is well-organized into short sections so it's ideal for most leaders who prefer bite-sized readings. Too many books these days fail to include end notes and I was glad to see that Pearson provided extensive endnotes that will allow readers to dig even deeper into the many sources he drew upon to write the book.

Bottom line: I highly recommend this book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buckets of Ideas, June 14, 2008

By 

Ron Mattocks "Ron" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit (Hardcover)

Only John Pearson could pour the insights gleaned from twenty five years in chief executive roles at three different associations into twenty management buckets: six buckets focused on The Cause, seven buckets for The Community, and seven buckets for The Corporation. The language of The Cause is purpose driven. The language of the Community is warm affirmation. The language of The Corporation focuses on operations, systems and fiduciary responsibilities.

Chapter by chapter each of Pearson's twenty buckets gets filled with "strategic balls" that leaders can utilize to enhance their management of each bucket theme. The chapters are filled with anecdotes about real life experiences in the workplace.

My favorite is The Hoopla! Bucket. Spring-boarding from Dennis Bakke's Joy at Work, Pearson articulates a value proposition for Hoopla as a way to relieve stress and build team spirit in the workplace. This is a critical concept for the great number of nonprofit organizations that have squeezed the pennies so tightly that they have made their workplaces blatantly undesirable and unhealthy.

Mastering the Management Buckets is a straightforward refresher course in critical competencies critical for successful leadership in organizations of all kinds. The book serves it up straight, consistent with Pearson's persona as a straight shooting leader, a man of integrity and a follower of Jesus. If you're looking for ways to enhance your management skills, built on a Biblical platform that views leadership as a spiritual exercise, this book is for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mastering the Management Buckets, May 13, 2008

By 

Robert J. Neill (Covina, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mastering The Management Buckets: 20 Critical Competencies for Leading Your Business or Non-profit (Hardcover)

Mastering the Management Buckets provides invaluable guidelines, profound insight, and clear direction. There's more solid, practical advice for managers and leaders than can be received in many of the books I've read in my forty-years of ministry. I'm a visual guy. So the illustrations of the 20 buckets concept really rivots my attention. This book is a hands-on resource, it transforms my leadership thinking. I only wish I had this resource in my hands ten years ago!