Will Mancini’s book doesn’t just make a case for vision, but he does some unique work on how vision can be developed and how it serves to fuel a missional movement.

Amazon Description:

Written by church consultant Will Mancini, an expert on a new kind of visioning process to help churches develop a stunningly unique model of ministry that leads to redemptive movement. He guides churches away from an internal focus to emphasize participation in their community and surrounding culture. In this important book, Mancini offers an approach for rethinking what it means to lead with clarity as a visionary. Mancini explains that each church has a culture that reflects its particular values, thoughts, attitudes, and actions and shows how church leaders can unlock their church’s individual DNA and unleash their congregation’s one-of-a-kind potential.

“The book, complete with an appendix as well as logos and icons illustrating various churches’ visionary thinking, is strengthened by numerous flow charts, diagrams, graphics, and pithy quotes. It has the potential to unseat Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Church in popularity. Yet academic libraries may want to pass on this title for its admitted lack of supporting empirical evidence.”

- C. Brian Smith, Arlington Heights Memorial Lib., IL (Library Journal, May 1, 2008)

Andy Stanley is a good leader and in this classic book, he unpacks his thoughts on visionary leadership.

Amazon Description:

Story Behind the Book
Andy Stanley, the pastor of more than 15,000, knows a lot of people, and is well aware of the overwhelming and mutual desire nearly every Christian holds to find and fulfill God’s purpose for their lives. This book was written to stir these hearts and move people forward by providing tangible steps to getting from Point A to Point B. “As Christians,” states Stanley, “we do not have a right to take our talents, abilities, experiences, opportunities, and education and run off in any direction we please.” This book was written to provide a specific plan for going in the right direction. It truly is “God’s blueprint for developing and maintaining personal vision.”

About the Author
Andy Stanley is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and the founder of North Point Ministries. He serves as pastor of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, with a congregation of more than 12,000, as well as Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia, with more than 3,000 attendees. Andy is the bestselling author of The Next Generation Leader, The Best Question Ever, and How Good Is Good Enough? Andy and his wife, Sandra, have two sons and a daughter.

Jim Collin’s description of “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” brings the notion of vision down to managable reality. Many leaders will find that BHAGs serve a visionary function.

Amazon Review:

Built to Last became an instant business classic. This audio abridgement is read by the authors, who alternate chapters. Collins is a bit breathlessly enthusiastic, but clear and interesting; Porras, unfortunately, is poorly inflected and wooden. They set out to determine what’s special about “visionary” companies–the Disneys, Wal-Marts, and Mercks, companies at the very top of their game that have demonstrated longevity and great brand image. The authors compare 18 “visionary” picks to a control group of “successful-but-second-rank” companies. Thus Disney is compared to Columbia Pictures, Ford to GM, and so on.

A central myth, according to the authors, is that visionary companies start with a great product and are pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. Usually false, Collins and Porras find. Much more important, and a much more telling line of demarcation between a wild success like 3M and an also-ran like Norton, is flexibility. 3M had no master plan, little structure, and no prima donnas. Instead it had an atmosphere in which bright people were not afraid to “try a lot of stuff and keep what works.”

I am not a Stephen King fan. I don’t like scary movies and not surprisingly have never been interested in reading any of his books. However, I have heard that as a writer he is rather amazing. So, when I heard good reviews of his book on the process of writing, I thought he deserved a shot. It was the right call.

Far more than a textbook, this is a story-driven invitation to consider his development as a writer, the practices that shape the rhythms of his writing, and his insights into what makes for good and bad writing. Yes, sometimes he is a bit crass and certainly he is focused on writing fiction, but the book is loaded with lessons and ideas that have implications for everyone who writes. I loved his notion that writing is magic-a form of telepathy. The thoughts, ideas, and images in the mind of the writer are teleported through the page into the mind of the reader. In the end, people you have never met are touched through the magic of what you write. The book includes his insights on:

• when and where to write
• where good ideas come from
• daily practices that make a difference
• the role of vocabulary, grammar, etc.
• the relationship between the first draft and the re-writing processes

My personal bias is that non-fiction writers would do well to consider how to better tell stories. Decide for yourself, but if you have contemplated any significant writing, it is a worthy read.

Why is it that some ideas are so inherently unforgettable while others are nearly impossible to remember? Why do urban legends survive while truthful principles are ignored? Why is it so hard to get some jingles, slogans, or TV commercials out of your head? And, why is it so stinking hard to get what is in your mind out of your mouth or down on paper without losing the clarity and passion that made it so important? Why is it so easy to excrete words that obscure the very thing you intend to convey? Leaders are in the communication business whether they know it or not. Good leaders learn to communicate with power and clarity. If you lead others in any form then you are constantly engaged in the communication process. You write emails, you make presentations, you draft proposals, you seek to tell your story, you try to sell ideas, and you solicit participation. Your effectiveness as a communicator has direct correlation to your effectiveness as a leader. That’s why this is such an important book Made to Stick, is a look at the complexities of communication. The authors offer astute analysis of how communication goes awry and a prescriptive approach for how to operate differently. This book is a goldmine. A sample nugget:

“Here’s the rub: The same factors that worked to your advantage in the “Answer” stage will backfire on you during the “Telling Others” stage. To get the Answer, you need expertise, but you can’t dissociate expertise from the Curse of Knowledge. You know things that others don’t know and you can’t remember what it was like not to know them. So when you get around to sharing the Answer, you’ll tend to communicate as if your audience were you.” (pg. 245)

The heart of their prescription for more compelling communication is this:

“There are two steps in making your ideas sticky. Step 1 is to find the core [the key to making any idea simple] and Step 2 is to translate the core using [their] SUCCESs checklist.” (pg. 28)

Their SUCCESs framework says that for any message to be “sticky,” it must be:

• Simple
• Unexpected
• Concrete
• Credentialed
• Emotional
• Storie(s)

If you are still reading this deep into my review, then you understand the issue. So, read the book! Click the cover image above, go onto Amazon and order it. Then, after you’ve read it, drop me a note. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it, too.