Book Report: The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni

Well, I might as well admit it. I'm a sucker for this genre. The novella has proved to be a powerful medium for business writers. I love the stories, but beyond that I love the lessons they teach. All the way from Ken Blanchard's The One Minute Manager to the latest, hot off the press volume I find the management and relationship principles conveyed through these little books both fascinating and inspiring.

Now, if I could just learn to apply all this inspiration . . . .

The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni doesn't disappoint. The storyline takes some unexpected twists along the way, but the underlying lessons are framed and focused. The four principles Lencioni teaches in this book are:

1. Build and Maintain a Cohesive Leadership Team


2. Create Organizational Clarity


3. Over-Communicate Organizational Clarity


4. Reinforce Organizational Clarity Through Human Services

Of course, this is all written with the business community in mind. I read these books through the lenses of a church pastor thinking, "How can this be applied to church organizations, and specifically to MY church?" I'm thinking, that shouldn't be so hard, but inevitably it turns out to be much more difficult in real life than on paper.

If anybody actually reads this note, how about it? Give me some brainstorm ideas of applying those four principles of a healthy organization to a local church. I would really be interested in your thoughts.

Loren