Notes from the 2011 Global Leadership Summit
August 11-12, 2011, Willow Creek Church, Chicago, IL
Orchard Hill Church Satellite Site
- Bill Hybels
- Len Schlesinger
- Cory Booker
- Rev. Brenda Salter-McNeil
- Seth Godin
- Steven Furtick
- Mama Maggie Gobran
- Michelle Rhee
- Dr. Henry Cloud
- John Dickson
- Patrick Lencioni
- Erwin McManus
Bill Hybels – “Has Your Leadership Bell Been Rung?”
The Global Leadership Summit
- Unapologetically Christian
- “Agnostic” when it comes to what leader we learn from
- Leaders need to be incurable, insatiable, learners.
- When a leader stops learning, he should stop leading.
- Leadership really matters. When a leader gets better, everybody wins.
- Every leader has the capability to get better.
5 Critical Questions
Question #1: What is your current challenge level at work?
Len Schlesinger – “Action Trumps Everything”
Len had his bell rung during Bill’s “Here to There” talk at the 2010 Summit
- There are systematic inadequacies when leaders get fired up about a vision when failing to recognize how comfy the followers are currently
- The “I have a dream speech” is always shared. What we didn’t see was the 3-4 years worth of work that led to the speech
- You can’t get ‘there’ without being very clear about aspects of ‘here’ that you personally find unacceptable.
Cory Booker – “Stand Up”
What it means to stand up for something
- Story of school lesson: “If you think you’re stupid, stand up right now.”
- Cory’s dad stood up, “I don’t think I’m stupid, I just didn’t want you to be the only one standing…”
- You will always face outrageous adversaries. People will try to trip you up
- Regardless of the storm, you must be willing to stand.
- Are you going to grow dumb, fat & happy on the blessings you have or will you stand up and use them for what they are for?
Rev. Brenda Salter McNeil – “Courageous Leadership for Catalytic Times”
“Where have you been? Why didn’t you come sooner?”
How to feel a Catalytic Event
- When the airbags drop & cabin pressure is lost
- Resist the temptation to pull back and instead move forward
Seth Godin – “Poke the Box”
Someone watching this today is going to change everything.
- Not because they were told to or b/c it’s their job
- They will do it because they decided to
A lot of us grow up with the Betty Crocker model
- If we just put out a product and make it available then people will like it
- The legend of Betty Crocker is fading
- We’ve grown up with the idea that we can promote an idea from a position of power
- We’ve grown up with the notion of “more”
Steven Furtick – “Audacious Faith”
We tell our kids to say please and thank you. God’s protocol is thank you and then please
I am just “dumb enough” to believe that God can do anything.
God has not called me to survive the world but to change it. Let’s share our stories of how God came through, big.
2 Kings 3:9-20 – An account of an incident Elisha’s life
- He did miracles dripping in awesome sauce all the time.
- “If I didn’t respect Jehoshaphat then I wouldn’t even notice you…”
- They’re dying of thirst. King says, consult a prophet, Elisha says bring a harpist.
Mama Maggie Gobran – “Tough Callings”
“Thank you, Jesus. You are the almighty. The Chief of Life.”
We do not choose where to be born, but we do choose either to be sinners or saints. To be nobody or heroes.
If you want to be a hero, do what God wants you to do.
To follow Jesus, you must:
Michelle Rhee – “Students First”
Question 1: You must have felt so alone, why didn’t you give up?
- I loved my job every single day.
- Getting yelled at was a part of the job
- I was thinking about the fact that the children in the district were so under priviledged
- It was criminal what was happening.
- I was not going to allow this to happen on my watch
Dr. Henry Cloud – “The Evil, The Foolish, The Wise”
It’s not long into the conversations we have before the topic turns to “That guy”
- I’ve got ‘this guy…’
- Once you understand that ‘this guy’ is not unique then you can save years of time
- Wherever you are, God has called you to be a steward over a vision. A steward over a vision to change the world.
- Are you going to allow ‘this guy…’ to stop your vision?
John Dickson – “Humilitas”
We are challenged with paradoxical ideas that shape our world and culture.
The character trait of humility has been a challenge to leaders for centuries.
- Moses was a humble man. More so than any man on the face of the earth.
- …and Moses wrote that book (!)
Patrick Lencioni – “Getting Naked: The Importance of Vulnerability in Service”
Faith influenced his ability to be vulnerable.
Out of college, his first firm taught them to never be vulnerable
- Act like you know it all
- Never let the client feel like he knows more than you
Erwin McManus – “Chasing Daylight”
Thought from God over the past two days
- There are moments in our lives when we are inspired to act
- We look for strategies
- What is really necessary is a mind-shift
- We must begin to have a different relationship to the future
