Made To Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

This exceptional book grabs your attention not just because of its bright orange cover. Right in the middle of the title there is an old gray piece of duct tape. Nobody can dispute that duct tape is made to stick! The Heath brothers explore and illustrate what makes any message memorable. They give a formula for success. S- the core of the message must be Simple. U- the audience's attention is attracted when the message is Unexpected. C-the message must contain Concrete elements so that the audience can easily envision and remember it. C- the message must be Credible so that it will be believed by the audience. E-the message must stimulate an emotion that helps the audience to care about it. S- messages told through a Story will be the easiest to remember. The examples and case studies hook the ideas into the reader's psyche. This book is an essential for everyone whose business depends on persuasion. I will use this formula every day for the rest of my life.

Chip Heath & Dan Heath. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. 2007. New York: Random House.

Stealing Athena by Karen Essex

Karen Essex juxtaposed the stories of two women who bucked the conventions of their day to explore what happens to a powerful woman when she is limitted by men who think they can dominate, intimidate, and control her. Stealing Athena is historical fiction. The women are Aspasia, the Greek courtesan of the philosopher, Pericles, and Mary Elgin, the wife of the man who stripped the "Elgin" marbles from the Parthenon. They ended up in the British Museum and are back in the news today since Greece wants them back. The story is told in a compelling voice that has an underlying pathos and sexual tension. The book is more erotic than I am comfortable with but I have to admit that none of the sexuality is gratuitous. Sex is and has always been, after all, a man's primary device to entrap women. Essex explores the themes I am working with in my novel, Pastor's Ex-Wife, which you can read serialized on my website, www.teamlesley.com. My book concerns the clergy abuse scandal from the Protestant side. I plan to read more books by Karen Essex. I highly recommend Stealing Athena - but not for everyone.

Karen Essex, Stealing Athena. 2008. New York: Doubleday.

Museum Strategy and Marketing by Neil Kotler and Philip Kotler

The Kotlers have written a tremendously thorough book about the strategic planning process for up-grading and promoting a museum of any size. It is comprehensive and it is a primer filled with examples of strategies that work to develop programs, increase audiences, and build a donor base. Charts and tools pepper the text and they can be used in any nonprofit context. I whole heartedly recommend this book for everyone associated with a museum board of directors, staff or independent consultant.

Neil Kotler & Philip Kotler. Museum Strategy and Marketing: Designing Missions; Building Audiences; Generating Revenue and Resources. c. 1998. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Church Unique by Will Mancini

The marketing of the local church has become big business in the last 20 years. It is author Will Mancini's business but he approaches it with a careful spiritual sensitivity that doesn't bastardize the evangelical mission to the growth=success mantra. He gives examples from across the spectrum of American Protestantism to demonstrate how really focusing on what makes each individual congregation have unique qualities and potential allows the church to promote itself to its own niche. This does produce church growth and satisfaction. The lessons transfer to any marketing project. Mancini's ethics and perspective are quite refreshing.

Mancini, Will. Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture, and Create Movement. c. 2008. San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.

Which Big Giver Stole the Chopped Liver? by Sharon Kahn

Sharon Kahn's series of cozy murder mysteries feature Ruby, the rabbi's wife. They all take place in a small town Texas synagogue and have a sub-theme that spoofs fundraising. These are delightful stories that make me laugh. Not only do I recognize the characters from my work with nonprofit client organizations, they are the stereotypes of any spiritual community. I wish there were more of these entertaining quick reads already.

Kahn, Sharon. Which Big Giver Stole the Chopped Liver? c. 2004. New York: Scribners.

The Manual of Strategic Planning For Museums by Gail Dexter Lord and Kate Markert

Whether your client is a museum, a historical site, or another type of nonprofit organization, here is a book that informs the strategic planning process. All the case studies come from museums but the ideas and the challenges are common to any nonprofit group. The charts and graphs are particularly helpful to me as I work with a variety of nonprofit clients and, for museum strategic planners and consultants, the bibliography is a carefully constructed resource.

Gail Dexter Lord, Kate Markert. The Manual of Strategic Planning for Museums. c. 2007. Lanham MD: AltaMira Press.

Yes! by Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini

Yes! is a must read must buy and must reread frequently book for anyone whose job involves persuading others to do, give, buy, or agree to something. Each chapter considers a specific question like "How can we show off what we know without being labeled a show-off?" and is only about three pages long. There are 50 chapters, all chock full of research-based psychology packed in a case study. Read it.

Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini. Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. c. 2008. New York: Free Press

The Price of A Dream by David Bornstein

Bornstein tells the story of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. It is a window into the mind and heart of the innovative founder, Mohammad Yunnis. He did not take on social reformation by attacking things like women wearing the burkhah or domestic violence. Instead, he decided to upgrade women's positions and power by making them eligible to receive credit. The result was that after 7-10 years, women crossed the poverty thresh-hold, owning their own homes and businesses, aware of issues like family planning, safe water, and nutrition, and held accountable in a carefully structured borrowing group. The bank offered credit but never provided the business plans, committed to the premise that the individuals could best assess how to use their funds. The groups stressed that the best way to escape poverty is to "invest" but not "eat" the funds the credit made available. Eventually the bank became the providers of medical care and insurance but not as a hand out. Bank "members" received preferential pricing but everyone paid. While the bank is a nonprofit organization that receives funding from international donors, it also has grown to the point where it is able to compete for interbank loans to fund large programs. Yunnis is the genius behind the current micro-credit popularity as a development strategy for the poorest nations. This book stories the way he approached the journey before everyone knew him as a Noble Prize winner. It absolutely challenges the educated western ego that thinks it knows best how to improve the future for regular folks across the world.



Bornstein, David. The Price of a Dream. c. 1996. Simon & Schuster: NY