This past week the Conference was privileged to host the Global Leadership Summit for the second year. It’s an incomparable experience: world-renowned leaders of both sacred and secular success presenting inspiring and challenging points with the unique opportunity to contextualize the teaching with other leaders and pastors from the Pacific Conference. Quite frankly, it’s why we continue to host the simulcast.

No matter the speaker, I am always encouraged, always challenged, always inspired. I asked the other leaders to share their thoughts too so we can continue the learning.

LET’S TALK…

Here are 10 lessons we all need to be learning to be better leaders:

1. Trust God’s story-writing ability (Bill Hybels). Our God is so smart and so kind that he writes a customized future for each of us and invites us gently into it. Bill shared his own struggles with transition and endings. He said, “I have learned that God had a better story for me than I could have scripted for myself.” The good news is that God is an equal opportunity story writer! His challenge was for us to look at our own current season. Be open to God writing an ending to your current season. He recommended for us to read Dr. Henry Cloud’s book, Necessary Endings.

 

2. Recognize rather than resist (Andy Stanley). We have a natural tendency to resist what we don’t understand and control. Be a student, not a critic. Close-minded leaders close minds. If you shut your eyes and your mind, you will close the minds and eyes of the people around you. Any Stanley said, “I decided years ago that I will never criticize something that I don’t understand.” The moment you start criticizing, you stop learning and leading. Keep your eyes and mind wide open.

 

3. Everyone wins when a leader gets better (Bill Hybels).

 

4. We all need white space (Juliet Funt). Juliet pointed out that we are becoming less and less comfortable with the “” Our schedules are overflowing and the pause is becoming a memory. Having no pause has a cost. The pause is the space where we slow down enough where new ideas can grace us. The pause has been squeezed out of our schedule. We live at 100% exertion and 0% thoughtfulness. We are too busy to become less busy. We don’t really examine the costs to worshiping the false god of busyness. Whitespace is a strategic pause taken between activities. Here is a site she gave to help with creating the white space we all need: www.whitespacegls.com

5. The right culture > the right program (Bill Hybels). If we have the right culture in place, we’ll have a better chance of the right people being in place and the right decisions being made.

 

6. Humility, Humility, Humility. (Bill Hybels).

 

7. It takes courage to stay hopeful in the face of daunting problems (Bryan Stevenson). Culture and circumstances will continue to drain our hope but hopefulness is essential for leadership. You’re either hopeful or you’re part of the problem. “Rosa Parks leaned back smiling, ‘Ooooh, honey, all that’s going to make you tired, tired, tired.’ We all laughed. I looked down, a little embarrassed. Then Ms. Carr leaned forward and put her finger in my face and talked to me just like my grandmother used to talk to me. She said, ‘That’s why you’ve got to be brave, brave, brave.’” (from Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption)

8. You’ve got to know why it’s working when it works or you won’t know how to fix it when it breaks (Andy Stanley).

 

9. If you’re gonna fail; fail doing the right things instead of failing because you were afraid to act (Gary Haugen). Fear destroys the love that inspires the dream and replaces it with a preoccupation with self. Jesus’ strategy for securing courage was the power of a team humbly serving each other. But courage, like fear, is contagious!

 

10. As leaders we must model transformation (Sam Adeyemi). People try to reach a standard they can see. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1 “No one should hang around you for one year or longer without transformation in their lives.”

 

BEFORE YOU GO…

Our task is difficult; our challenge, significant; but our God has gifted us for this very thing. Let’s lead well.

Registration is already open for the 2018 Leadership Summit. Save the date for August 9-10, 2018. Or better yet, register now! Here’s the link. (Use priority code PV2018.)