Here’s a couple of book reviews of some helpful books I’ve read in the last week:

- Conversational Capital – The question this books asks is, “Why do people talk about certain products?” The authors try to break down the reasons people love telling the stories of certain companies. It was an interesting book. The section on a company’s mythology was fascinating.

- Reach More, Spend Less – This little book was really helpful. I enjoyed the potential marketing plans he laid out based on the size of your budget. I think this books will be helpful for any church trying to put together a comprehensive marketing plan.

Here’s a review of a couple of books I enjoyed reading recently:

- Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven ways to be Persuasive – This was a fascinating book. I really enjoyed reading it. Some of the book is just interesting quirks about human behavior, but another 1/2 of the book is great insight about how to be persuasive. I don’t know about you, but I’d like to be a more persuasive person. What I also loved about this book is that it was 50 short (4-5 pages) chapters. All books should be written like this.

- The Ultimate Sales Letter – This book by Dan Kennedy was really helpful to me in writing good copy for series descriptions, churchwide emails, and other promotion that we do as a church. If you write an email to your church every week, a newsletter, or do direct mail or some other promotion that involves words, I’d pick this book up. Plus, it’s a quick read.

- The Encore Effect – I like Mark Sanborn. I heard him speak at Catalyst in 2004 and have enjoyed his books. The encore effect is about how to become so good at what you do that people are asking for more. Since he’s a professional speaker, he talks a lot about speaking in his illustrations, which was really helpful to me as a Pastor. It’s not a long book, so you should be able to put it away in an hour of so.

Here’s a few book reviews of books I’ve read in the last week or two:

101 Survival Tips for Your Business – I loved this book. I love books that have short, to the point chapters and no fluff. This was one of them. This is a must read for church planters. This book is filled with practical wisdom and insight into surviving and thriving in ministry.

The Ultimate Marketing Plan – I sometimes get on a kick with authors and read everything they’ve written. I’ve done that recently with Dan Kennedy. While I don’t recommend everything he writes, he has some great stuff. This book was really helpful to me. It caused me to really think through what our plan was for getting the word out about our church and improving it. This guy is a marketing genius and while everything won’t apply to the local church, there’s plenty to make this a worthwhile read.

Coaching Questions – Because I do coaching, I picked this book on the recommendation of a friend and it was a good read. I was amazed at how much great content the author fit into a 100 page book. But I found it helpful in leading staff, meeting with people, and leading myself.

I’ve read a bunch of books on time management, but No B.S. Time Management by Dan Kennedy is one of the best. Dan forces us to think about how much our time is worth and then realize how much is costs us when we waste time.

Here’s a few of my favorite quotes:

- “If you don’t know what your time is worth, you can’t expect the world to know it either.”

- “The most productive meetings last under an hour.”

- “Leadership is not about outworking everybody.”

- “If they can’t find you, they can’t interrupt you.”

- “Conversations have a way to stretch to fill whatever amount of time is available to them.”

- “People who can’t be punctual can’t be trusted.”

- “Self-discipline is the magic power that makes you virtually unstoppable.”

This book is full of wisdom. I highly recommend picking this book up. You’ll thank me later

I read 3 books this week that I wanted to put out there…

- The Powell Principles – Bill Hybels referenced this book at the Leadership Summit, so I picked it up and enjoyed it. It’s Colin Powell’s leadership proverbs that have guided him throughout his career. If you’re a leader, it’s definitely worth a read.

- Overcoming your Shadow Mission – I’ve read just about everything John Ortberg has written, but I really believe this is his best. This book is based on a fabulous talk he gave at last year’s Leadership Summit and it was a great read. I highly recommend this. I may end up doing a series on Esther next year because of this book.

- Reveal – This was so much controversy over Willowcreek’s “repentance” (which it wasn’t) over their style of ministry, but I found this an interesting read. It challenged me to “know the condition of my flock” (Prov. 27:23) and make sure I am creating the best environment for people to grow.