All posts tagged Willow Creek Leadership Summit

Never, Ever, Give Up :: Jim Collins

by Tim Schraeder on 08/05/2010 in Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit 2010 with 39 Comments

Jim Collins, nationally acclaimed business thinker, serves as a teacher to leaders throughout the corporate and social sectors. Author of the best-selling books Good to Great and Built to Last, he is a student of companies—how they grow, how they attain superior performance, and how good companies can become great companies. His writings, based on groundbreaking research, have been featured in Fortune, BusinessWeek, The Economist, USA Today, andHarvard Business Review. His latest volume, How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In, looks at common mistakes of organizations in a state of decline and what leaders can do to reverse negative patterns and flourish anew.

  • In Good to Great he explored the idea of companies going from average to extraordinary.
  • Good is the enemy of great.
  • It taught us that greatness is not entirely a matter of circumstance, it’s largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.
  • To be great we must have great social enterprises, schools, homeless shelters, hospitals, cause-driven organizations, and church leaders building churches around the globe.
  • Instead of looking at how enterprises become great, they shifted their focus to How the Mighty Fall.
  • Some of the greatest enterprises in history fall from great to good, to mediocre to bad, to irrelevant to gone.
  • No company, no church, no nation, no society, or no individual person is immune.
  • Anyone can fall and many do, but not all.
  • We can be sick on the inside but look strong on the outside.
  • In the Five Stages of Decline, you don’t fall until Stage 4.
  • The disease analogy is helpful but it’s wrong in one crucial way.
  • These stages are largely self-inflicted.
  • Organizational decline is more about what you to do yourself than what happens to you.

The Five Stage of Decline

Hubris born of success.

  • The undisciplined pursuit of more is how the mighty fall.
  • Success doesn’t lead to failure.
  • Outrageous arrogance inflicts suffering on the innocent.
  • Outrageous arrogance leads us to believe that even though we have good intentions and noble aims that our decisions must be good.
  • Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions.
  • Great leaders know it’s not all about them and they never give up… they are Level 5 Leaders.
  • The signature of what separates the good leaders from great leaders is humility.
  • Humility isn’t taught, it’s a burning ambition to do whatever it takes no matter how painful it is.

The Undisciplined Pursuit of More

  • The mighty fall is by over-reaching.
  • The biggest sign of falling is breaking pace.
  • Regulate growth by the number of great people you have in the key seats.
  • Do you have all of your seats filled with fantastic people? If no, you must resist growth until you have them in the right place before you grow.
  • Good to great leaders do not set a vision and motivate leaders to get there first.
  • They get the right people on the bus first and figure out where you are going.

Denial of Risk and Peril

  • Elements and information can trip us off to see that things aren’t right [decline in numbers, negative feedback, etc.]
  • The problem is we deny it
  • When a culture of denial takes hold, we are fully in stage 3.
  • From the outside, you really look great.
  • That makes it easy and plausible to deny.
  • How do we move forward in a world filled with great difficulty?
  • The Stockdale Paradox: Never confuse fate and facts. [ check out In Love and War ]
  • Never give up, never lose faith with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts today.
  • The ability to put faith and facts together is what makes great teams.

Grasping for Salvation

  • We fall when we neglect the facts and pursue more.
  • Greatness is never a single event, silver bullet or breakthrough… it’s a cumulative process.
  • It’s the flywheel effect… disciplined people engaged in disciplined thought doing disciplined action.

Capitulation to Irrelevance of Death

  • We have squandered everything, and we are out of choices and options.
  • Great companies succeed because they have a reason to endure.
  • If you measure your success by money you always lose.
  • They’ve answered the question what would be left behind if they ceased to exist.
  • We struggle because we have to endure.
  • Our purpose must be rooted in our core values.
  • Imagine the power of the values and purpose in our work.
  • The truly great enterprises have values that are not open for compromise or change, they hold things together.
  • If you lose our values we lose our soul, if we lose our soul we lose everything.
  • The signature of mediocrity is not the inability to change, it’s chronic inconsistency.
  • It’s not either/or it’s AND.
  • There is one huge AND behind every great business …
    • Preserve the Core – unchanging: “We hold these truths to be self evident…”
    • Stimulate Progress  - changing: “I have a dream…”
  • It’s combining core values and BHAGS … Big Hairy Audacious Goals

10 To-Do’s

  • Do Your Diagnostics
  • Count Your Blessings, Literally
    • When you begin to account for all the good things that have happened to you that you did not cause, all the success you did not cause are humbling. Count it.
  • What is your Questions to Statements Ratio? Can you double it in the next year.
    • Great leaders don’t know all of the answers, they ask great questions.
  • Answer the Question “How many key seats do you have on your bus?”
  • Do the How the Mighty Fall Teams on the Way Up/Teams on the Way Down Diagnostic
  • Create an Inventory of the Brutal Facts
  • Stop Doing Something
    • Great teams/companies are defined by what they’ve said “no” to so they can pursue what they are called to truly be doing.
  • Define Results and Show Clicks on the Flywheel
  • Double Your Reach to Young People by Changing Your Practices without changing your Core Values.
  • Set a Big, Hairy Audacious Goal

If you truly set out to be useful you can never capitulate, never give in, never ever, ever, ever.

Never give up on the idea of building a great Church.

Never give up on the discipline to create our own future.

Be willing to embrace loss, endure pain, but never give up the faith to prevail.

Never give up on your core values.

2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit

by Tim Schraeder on 07/12/2010 in Notes with 20 Comments

In the past ten years I’ve attended over 30 different conferences. Yeah, crazy I know.

Having not attended college, conferences have served as a learning opportunity for me, and I’ve valued the opportunity I have to learn and grow by attending them.

While there are many great conferences out there, one I consistently look forward to is the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit.

I attended my first Leadership Summit in August of 2002. I’ll never forget Bill Hybels talking about “Courageous Leadership” and the fact that  “the local church is the hope of the world and its future rests in the hands of its leaders.” That moment marked me, gave me passion for the Church and began a leadership journey that continues today.

Leadership Summit delivers fresh insights from some the best speakers from both the religious and business communities to over 100,000 leaders around the globe.

The 2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit is coming up August 5-6 and this year’s lineup includes:

  • Bill Hybels – Founder & Senior Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church
  • Jim Collins – Best-selling author, nationally acclaimed business thinker
  • TD Jakes – Best-selling Author, Chief Pastor of The Potter’s House
  • Jack Welch – Best-selling Author, Former Chairman and CEO of General Electric
  • Andy Stanley – Senior Pastor, North Point Community Church
  • Christine Caine – Author and Director of Equip & Empower Ministries, Founder of The A21 Campaign
  • Tony Dungy – Winning Coach of 2007 Super Bowl, NBC Analyst
  • Zhao Xiao – Leading Chinese Ecnomist, Chairman of Cypress Leadership Institute, Professor, University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China
  • Blake Mycoskie – Founder and “Chief Shoe Giver” of TOMS Shoes
  • Terry Kelley – President and CEO of W.L. Gore & Associates, Innovation Leaders and makers of GORE-TEX® Products
  • Daniel H. Pink – Best-selling author, Business thinker, Former White House speechwriter
  • Adam Hamilton – Founder and Senior Pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
  • Jeff Manion – Senior Pastor, Ada Bible Church

And, I’m excited to let you know that this year I’ll be the official blogger for the Global Leadership Summit! I’ll be blogging notes from each session here on my blog and on the Willow Creek Association Blog.

There’s still time to register! Visit their website to find a satellite location near you.

Here’s some highlights from last year:

Thanks to the Willow Creek Association, you can download three of my favorite sessions from last year…

And, as a special giveaway this week, I’m giving away a copy of the 2009 Leadership Summit Team Edition DVD which includes the three talks above along with sessions featuring: Bill Hybels, Gary Hamel,  Dave Gibbons, Andrew Rugasira, Wess Stafford, David Gergen, Chip Heath and Dan Heath,  and Tony Blair.  [Retails at $299!]

Here’s how to enter:

  1. Tweet This: I just entered to win a copy of The 2009 Leadership Summit Team Edition DVD. Comment here and RT to enter: http://bit.ly/9L8NJp  #wcagls
  2. Comment Below: With your Twitter handle [so I can verify you did the first step] and share the speaker you are looking forward to hearing from the most this year.
  3. Check back at noon on Friday, July 16. I’ll announce the winner then!

Stay tuned and watch for notes August 5-6 from the 2010 Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit!

Lead Where You Are

by Tim Schraeder on 08/08/2009 in Leadership Summit 2009, Notes with 3 Comments

I’ve been to the mountain… well, The Summit.

This year’s Leadership Summit was fantastic. Thanks to all of you (well over 3,000!) who found your way to my blog. I guess I take good notes? [By the way, I'm still taking 'Notes for a Cause' donations to go to Kiva.org!]

So I was at The Modern Wing at The Art Institute of Chicago today with a friend and overhead someone saying near the end of their trek through the galleries, “wow, I’m saturated…”

I think that sums up how I feel right now. Absolutely saturated.

There was so much information, inspiration and ideas that leapt out at me over the past couple of days and I’m still processing everything… but while it’s fresh, I thought I’d share a key thought or take-away I had from each session.

  • Bill Hybels’ first session, Leading in a New Reality, reminded me that I need to slow down and gently listen to God, even in the midst of the chaos of the world around me.
  • The panel discussion on Hiring, Firing, and Board Meltdowns challenged me to think of the kind of work culture we are creating at Park and how I, as a part of the team, am contributing.
  • Gary Hamel blew me away. There was so much he said, I don’t think I caught it all. But the one thing he did say that’s going to stick with me is that the Church is God’s plan for humanity and He has no “plan B.”
  • Tim Keller’s session, Leading People to the Prodigal God, was a sobering reminder to remember the true heart of the Gospel.
  • Jessica Jackley’s insight on the whole idea of co-creation totally excited me when thinking about new ideas and possibilities that are out there. It just starts be taking one, small step.
  • Harvey Carey didn’t have to do much to convince me that I just need to do something!
  • I could have listened to Dave Gibbons a lot longer, but I did get a copy of his book. I’m stoked to read more about his thoughts and insights on creating a Third Culture, a culture of adaptation.
  • Andrew Rugsira really challenged me to think differently about the continent of Africa and to not just look through the lens of compassion, but to also see the opportunity that is in the people there.
  • Wess Stafford… wow. What an amazing story. And how humbling to think that nothing is wasted, everything is redeemable.
  • David Gergen had tons of great insights but the one that stuck with me was the idea that who we are says a lot more about us than what we actually say.
  • The Heath Brothers were stellar, as usual. I’m going to really cherish their statement that “failure is oftentimes an early warning sign of success.”
  • Bono was great, too. I think the biggest challenge from him this year wasn’t so much about the HIV/AIDS as it was what he said about the Church. He said some things I think we really need to take to heart.
  • Tony Blair’s interview was way too short, but I think more than anything his reminder of what a privilege it is to be in leadership was something I needed to hear.
  • And although not a formal session, Bill Hybels’ closing remarks were a great way to end, reminding us that the little things are often the most important.

So, after all that… what’s my final thought?

I think the theme of this year’s conference says it all: lead where you are. No matter who you are, where you are, what you do, what you have or what you don’t have, God is calling you to do something. To lead where you are.

In thinking through each of this year’s speakers, they were all the first to admit their flaws and shortcomings but also the first to admit that in order to make a difference, you have to be willing to take a risk and do something. Even in the midst of your own failures or at the risk of failure.

I cannot think of a more exciting time and opportunity to be a part of the Church and to be a part of what God is doing in our generation. I’m so thankful for the experience of the Leadership Summit to remind me of the importance of the call to leadership, but more importantly, to remember first and foremost, before I do anything, I’m called to be a child of God.

So how about you?

What’s are your take-away’s from the Leadership Summit? What challenge are you going to face? Or what simple thing are you going to do differently? Would love to hear!

The Simple Things

by Tim Schraeder on 08/07/2009 in Leadership Summit 2009, Notes with 4 Comments

Hybels is the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, and the chairman of the board for the Willow Creek Association. He convened The Leadership Summit in 1995, following a God-given prompting to help raise and develop the spiritual gift of leadership for the local church. Both visionary and passionate about seeing every local church reach its full God-given potential, he speaks around the world on strategic issues to Christian leaders and is a best-selling author of more than 20 books, including Courageous Leadership and Axiom: The Language of Leadership.

Story of Naaman

  • The OT book of 2 Kings tells the story of a military leader from Syria.
  • They went from one military conquest to the next.
  • He was the rock star military leader of the day.
  • He got a certain death sentence: leprosy.
  • He goes to a prophet to seek help and got instructions to dip into the water of the Jordan River seven times.
  • He was offended.
  • His soldiers reminded him that if the prophet had asked him to do something great that would have required great effort and achievement, he would have done it.
  • He was a great man who had done great things in great ways.
  • The prophet had asked him to do something very simple.
  • He was told to do something simple and to see what God would do.
  • When he did it, he was healed… perfectly healthy, perfectly whole.
  • He said: “There’s no other God but the God of Israel.”
  • The great temptation for some of us is to think that we have to set our minds to go out and do some great thing.
  • Launch some new idea.
  • Double or triple our size.
  • Go global with our local thing.
  • But we should do simple things, every day.

Simple Things We Should Consider Doing…

1 – Consider establishing a time and place where you will meet personally with God every day.

  • So often what gets compromised in our doing great things for God is our meeting with God.
  • In Ephesians 6, Paul asked for prayer to fearlessly proclaim what he needed to proclaim while he was doing what he was supposed to be doing.
  • Leaders need something fresh from God every day.
  • When you establish a meeting time and place, there’s some days the fireworks won’t happen, and day when the words will seem just like word on a page.
  • But if you are in the routine of it, God will speak to you.
  • It’s a simple thing, really.

2 – Commit to reading good books at least 30 minutes a day.

  • Steve Sample said, “I challenge you leaders to read something substantial 30 minutes a day for the rest of your life.”
  • It’s a very simple thing.
  • Bill has read hundreds of books since that have helped him along the way.

3 – Review your replenishment strategy

  • Romans 8:6 – if you are filled with the Spirit you will be filled with peace.
  • Is your “bucket” too depleted?
  • Instead of doing something big, maybe you should do something simple
  • Are you on a net gain or in depletion mode?
  • God will show you what to do.

4 – Decide to say “yes” to God every time His Spirit prompts you to do something.

  • This is advance decision making.
  • It means you saying “yes,” then asking God what the question is.
  • You don’t have to understand it, just test it against the Gospel… and just say yes.
  • “Some of the most fruit-bearing events I’ve ever been a part of came out of saying yes to God even I had no idea where they are going.”

Other Decisions…

  • Maybe it’s deciding what your key seats are.
  • Maybe it’s forgiving someone.
  • Maybe it’s reconciliation.
  • Maybe it’s time to stop complaining about the lack of resources and equipping people with what you have.
  • Maybe it’s time be innovative.
  • Maybe it’s time to consider a simple way to serve the poor.

The Simple Things

  • It’s often in the doing of the certain number of simple things that leaders build into their lives that often, over the years, compounds and increases their effectiveness, influence, and impact as a leader.
  • These simple things are the building blocks of God doing the “great thing” through us some day.
  • When we do the simple things, God takes responsbiilty for the big things.

Your Life Matters

  • Your life matters.
  • This isn’t the pre-game, this is THE game.
  • You have one life to live full-on for God.
  • You have one life to develop your leadership to the fullest potential.
  • You have this life to do something that will last for eternity.
  • “I only have today to fight for God and for His plan and purposes.”
  • I will fight hard.
  • It’s a personal decision we all have to arrive at.
  • What are you going ot live for?
  • What will you lay it down for?
  • What race are you running?
  • The curious thing God does when we all gather together and submit ourselves to the One, true Leader, Jesus Christ, and the combustible energy that happens when we are together is unlike anything else.
  • There’s a challenge we, as leaders, offer to each other.
  • We are building His church, for His glory through His power.

Do some simple things that will compound over the weeks and months ahead… who knows what God will do.

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