Global Leadership Summit 2012 Recap

While most people may spend their vacations on the beach, I took two of my vacation days and spent them at a leadership conference. In fact, throughout the past few years most of my vacations have been used to attend conferences. A long time ago I developed a love for learning and since my church is a host site for the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit I decided to go this year. Let me assure you, it was worth every bit of the two days I took off work. The amount of knowledge I gained was invaluable and massive, but I am going to share just a few key takeaways I found from what seemed like drinking leadership information from a fire hydrant.

 

Each speaker of the conference had a very impressive resume, but one thing struck me as I listened to the stories of huge mountains they have moved-each of them started from humble beginnings. None of them woke up to fame; they worked hard each and every day to attain the positions of great leadership they all held. As Jim Collins put it, they developed a 20 mile march. They put into place strict discipline which allowed them to slowly, 20 miles at a time, grow and mature into leaders who have changed the world, shaped culture, business, politics, and even inner city Harlem.   I have pages and pages of notes and lists of books I want to read, but for now I will keep it simple and short. We were challenged to come with 3×5-three things to takeaway by 5:00pm the second day of the conference. I will share with you my 3×5 and write more in future posts.

 

Jim Collins talked about Roald Amundsen’s trek to the South Pole and how he got there by consistently marching 20 miles a day-whether the weather was good or bad. His discussion led to my first takeaway.

 

Takeaway #1: Develop a 20 mile march in my own life. One of my favorite new terms came from Jim Collins-SMaC: specific, methodical, and consistent.  In everything I do, I can apply SMaC. Thus, over the past few weeks I have been working on my 20 mile march. Slowly, but surely I have been working on small steps to consistently press on to a dream of mine that at times seems impossible. Those days when I feel like giving up, I remind myself-20 mile march.

 

Pranitha Timothy was one of my favorite speakers from the two-day conference. While each speaker was excellent in their own way, Pranitha is the Director of Aftercare in India for IJM and passionate about a cause that is very near and dear to my heart-the rescue and restoration of slaves. A brain tumor survivor with a raspy voice, she captured the attention of everyone in the room-so much so you could have heard a pin drop. Her message of God’s goodness resonated with me and gave me the sentence I have clung to over the past few weeks.

 

 

Takeaway #2:  God is faithful to His call on your life, even when it seems impossible under current circumstances. Even when no one believes you. Even when the dream seems too big. Even when you are ready to give up.

 

The last item that stood out to me and became the last of my 3×5 was from Pastor Craig Groeschel.  If you have never listened to him, you are missing out! During the summit, he spoke on bridging the generation gap within the church. I appreciated his humor and honesty. I also felt that he communicated very clearly how essential each generation is to the church.

 

Takeaway #3: Get a mentor. And learn to think like they think. Read the books they read. I really liked this point because I think too often we overlook the value of learning from someone else.

 

 

To be honest, the conference was great and I learned so much, but my favorite part of the two-day event was the time spent getting to know those in leadership at my church. The conversations I had motivated, inspired, and pushed me to think about my dreams as goals to reach not far-off wishful thinking. I came away with a renewed hope in the church when it functions as the body of Chris and with a thankfulness for where I am and what I am doing.  As I look forward to next year, I hope that the spark that started will have action behind and next year’s summit will be another push-off to greater things.