{"id":1074,"date":"2009-07-18T14:55:34","date_gmt":"2009-07-18T18:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=1074"},"modified":"2009-07-18T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2009-07-18T18:56:10","slug":"book-review-killing-cockroaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=1074","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: Killing Cockroaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Just finished reading Killing Cockroaches<\/a> by Tony Morgan<\/a>. \u00a0I got it in the mail a few weeks ago and was dying to read it. \u00a0I heard from some friends that the book was Tony’s blog basically printed out and bound as a book. \u00a0I read his blog on a regular basis, so I decided to put the book aside instead of diving right in. \u00a0I was sort of disappointed thinking I had already heard all of the material.<\/p>\n

I am so glad I finally picked it back up yesterday. \u00a0It is Tony’s blog all put together in a book, but that is what makes it such a great tool for leaders. \u00a0I was reminded of some great leadership nuggets that hit me differently now than the first time I read them.<\/p>\n

Killing Cockroaches <\/em>really focuses on some areas that I need to grow in as a leader. \u00a0I have been privileged to hold some leadership positions at a relatively early age. \u00a0Most of these have been in a ministry context where resources and manpower are both in short supply. \u00a0As a result, as a leader, I have not only build the team, trained the team, and led the team, I have also had to spend a lot of time on the details. \u00a0That is what Morgan refers to as “killing cockroaches”. \u00a0He encourages leaders to take time to assess what they are spending their time on and ask the question, “who else could be doing this at least 80% as well as I can do it?” \u00a0If you can think of someone on your team that fits that bill, they should be doing it.<\/p>\n

He reminds leaders that we are to cast vision and make sure the team, ministry, insert your context here, is working together towards that common goal. \u00a0If not, either you aren’t a great leader, or you haven’t surrounded yourself with a great team.<\/p>\n

He also focuses a lot on simple and strategic moves over more complex ones. \u00a0In reading, I was challenged to ask myself, can I explain my goals to my team in a 5 minute meeting? \u00a0If not, you might want to look at simplifying in order to be excellent in a few areas rather than scattered in several.<\/p>\n

My goal was to read this book just for pleasure reading and give my well-used highlighter a little bit of a summer vacation. \u00a0However, I realized that instead, I was dog-earing every page I wanted to go back to, so I just whipped out the highlighter at the end. \u00a0Here are a few of my take-aways.<\/p>\n